As a buyer I personally add the shipping + cost of item and make decisions based on whatever that amount is.
Sellers who offer free shipping simply added the cost of shipping into the cost of the item.
Auctions should have a shipping cost imo, especially if the item is expected to sell for a low dollar amount. You don’t want to lose money on an auction that does poorly because of shipping costs. It basically acts as a reserve so that you don’t get hosed by expenses.
Shipping models where the seller combines shipping, but charges an additional .25, .50 per item are OK with me. I’m assuming they’re just trying to squeeze out a bit of extra profit by charging for the labor of packing multiple cards in the same package (also covers them if a card was going to ship in a envelope, but you order too many cards and they upgrade it to first class.)
If you’re not sure whether or not a seller offers combined shipping ALWAYS ask the seller directly or at leaast read the listing before bidding.
Tldr: I agree with Gary that buyers should focus on the total cost of the item and never assume a seller offers a combined shipping discount.
despite who thinks what about shipping and combining and ball scratching etc, this is what I have learnt…low cost internet sales are not advantageous to anyone. With certain sites having a monopoly on the scene, other sites forcing everyone to “charge” nothing for shipping and ingrain that into the psyche of all humans who think they are entitled to something more from a person they dont even know. Shipping is a reality, it is looked at by a seller as a cost of business and a buyer as nothing. If you sell a card for $1 shipping looks ridiculous, if you sell a $200 card, shipping is a minority. I personally start campfires with low cost cards and sell the ones that compensate my time accordingly. Its your choice on either side of the coin, no one else’!
I’m from Europe and with shipping from the US typically costing around 20$, combined shipping is an absolute must have. I don’t care if you add a small handling fee of 1-2$ per item, but 20$ per item is excessive.
Generally, if you don’t combine shipping, you obviously do not combine shipping, which means that you send a separate package for each item. If you don’t send them individually, but got the shipping charge for each item, the very least you are scamming the customer for is the used packaging material.
All you need to do is add up what an item will cost you and bid accordingly.
If a seller combines and the two cards you want are 100 each with one shipping charge of 20 then add it up…220.00 total.
If he doesn’t combine regardless of how he packages them, and the exact same two cards are 80 each with two shp/hdl charges of 20 each then add it up.,.200.00 total.
If he offers free shipping and the exact same two cards are 120 each with free shipping then add it up…240.00 total.
You’re going to buy from the seller who doesn’t combine, cause it adds up to less.
You see, it doesn’t matter how it adds up. All that matters is what it adds up to.
Hence, shipping charges don’t matter. Total price does:)
I understand where you are coming from, but the calculations only work if you have identical shipping rates worldwide, including North Korea and Syria.
You could also assume that I want multiple packages to reduce customs charges, depending on how they are calculated that might even make sense.
I’m just offended, if the seller keeps the money he saved from buying less shipping labels for himself, especially, if they make up a significant part of the transactions value.
if you buy an item from the usa and ship to the uk thats 14.99 and 10 shipping if you value the package at 14.99 and pay the 10 for the shipping the person gets no custom charge? if you value the item at 24.99 the person then has to pay a custom charge + a fee that will end up costing more then the 14.99 the item is worth.
isnt that fraud tho? dont you declare the value just in case something happens in transit your item is insured for that amount and if you put it higher then doesnt that count as fraud? when i send it always say declare the items value not the item + the shipping cost to send it. if i was to keep my highest bid on an item at 14.99 just so i dont get the charge then the seller is fraudulent and valuing it higher making me not only pay more in custom + if anything did happen they claim more back i would be pretty mad.
its definitely more profitable selling items as a higher price with free postage. it hides how much you are charging for shipping so you can charge more and makes it easier to calculate for things like customs for buyers but i still stick to its not ok to charge for postage but then claim thats the value of the item when sending it.
I don’t see anything fraudulent about you adding up the total cost of an auction then basing your decision on that total? Just take everything into account and if you’re not happy then pass.
I tried it both ways. When I was selling I listed the shipping exactly as it was charged, but also had tested free shipping on everything. I saw minimally more sales from free ship listings which I believe was in part because it’s a more simplistic business strategy and leaves less to question.
I think the core issue is perceived deception somehow with regard to shipping cost in the case where there is not a combine shipping rule described in the listing. The seller has option
A) charge a buyer the exact shipping costs/handling/supplies and defer savings back to the customer,
or B) charge buyer actual shipping + handling etc. and pocket the remainder (where the perceived desception exists).
The presumption is that shipping cost is just for shipping, but you’re trying to teach people to see in technicolor when many people are still living in black and white.
The technicolor view is, C) charge the buyer for the service of delivering the card. There is no deception because the total can easily be calculated.
It’s the semantics of your argument that’s wrong, not your mindset. Saying there’s no such thing as a shipping charge is semantically wrong, because nobody ships cards for free; therefore, there is a charge. If you change your wording to ‘It doesn’t matter how much people charge for shipping’, you’d have less opposition.
I think that was the implication with the title already used. And I agree. Gary’s title is just a more streamlined course of thought. That type of thinking comes when you get the grey/silver hair.
