No wonder people can't make money selling coins

I agree with you fully. For some reason buyers' expectations have reached the point where they almost won't buy from you if you don't offer free shipping, which is fine if you're selling an item that's valuable enough that you can cover the cost off what you make off the item, but on low-value items or items that don't sell you lose money even listing it. That's why I gave up ever selling anything on eBay anymore.

Even though I have never charged anyone a penny more for shipping than it cost me, I would still have people tell me they think my shipping is too high. I'm trying to make a profit; this isn't a public service for your benefit lol... I'm not trying to make a profit by jacking up the shipping like some do.

The best I can say for eBay is it's a lot friendlier to buyers than it is to sellers. Which might sound nice, until you realize that you can't buy anything if nobody's around that wants to sell to you anymore.

 

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Not common I would hope.

 

Ed, I have bad gnus for you...

 

So Ethan, what do you find objectionable?

 

Sounds perfectly acceptable for a $1.29 coin. What problem do you see with this exactly?

 

That's exactly what happened. He set a shipping charge at the price of certified mail. This took away the flexibility to send non-certified should the item sell for less than he anticipated (and less than the cost of total loss) - which it did.

EDIT: Or was the shipping charge on listing less than what he paid?? That would really make no sense. Unless he felt you were not trustworthy, for whatever reason. ???

 

Incidentally, "Certified Mail" is about as worthless a service as you can buy. It provides ZERO indemnity. All it does is "certify" that you mailed "something," to a specific Zip Code. Also, Certified Mail is now $3.30 down the toilet. You could "certify" an empty envelope.

Certified Mail® $3.30 (from USPS website)

 

He charged much less for shipping than he paid for it. $1.95 is what he charged, which is around what it costs to print a label off of eBay which has tracking included. I don't know why he wouldn't trust me when I have more than 3,500 feedback as a buyer and seller and have been a member since 1999.

 

Yes, this is exactly what is needed to ship cheap coins. It will get there fine 99 times out of 100, and for that one time when it gets lost, you issue a refund. I've purchased hundreds of coins shipped like this and as long as the coin is well secured there have never been problems. If you are buying an expensive coin you want more precautions taken, but for a cheap item it's a waste of money for both of us to overprotect it. I'm not saying the seller is a bad person or anything, just he's wasting money for no good reason.

 

Yea it doesn't make sense. I'm totally lost on this one. I guess maybe he likes losing money haha.

 

Good stuff Doug. Anything larger than a nickel I add the extra 21 cent non-machinable stamp. All cardboard flips get the .70 postage. What I'm now learning is anything under $10 is just not worth selling, IMO. Too much time and little nitpicking to make such little money. And if one or two coins get lost than you have to sell 20 to overcome the loss. Just not worth it man. At the same time, I don't think anything above $50 is worth selling on eBay either. Too much risk. The sweet spot is $10-$50, IMO.

 

It depends what you pay for it. It's worth it if you have the time and you get the coins for very little. I was recently at a coin shop that allowed me to cherry pick their world coins for $8 a pound, which is probably 5 cents or less per coin. I bought about 400 or so and I will sell many of them with the bid starting at $1. I'll wait for a free listing promo so I won't pay insertion fees. I should have no trouble covering my costs and then some and still being able to keep many for myself. I do it for fun as much as anything though. It does take a lot of time.

 

Now that small Priority Boxes carry an automatic $50 insurance, I have moved my selling limits upwards a little bit. I use them for 25 to 200 picture postcards selling for about $40 and upwards. I don't use cardboard flips; I cut off the corner of a small glassine envelope (from stamp collecting, and, so that no tape touches the coin), tape it to card stock somewhat heavier than index cards, and again position it in the bottom half of the envelope.

Once you pay the non-machinable rate of 70 cents, the item's supposed to be hand-cancelled, but often it's not. The same 21c non-machinable rate applies to international mail too. Slightly larger items go out in a 5 x 8 cardboard mailer (cost about 20c each in quantity) which qualifies as a LETTER, not a parcel (much higher), provided it fits the dimensions, weighs less than 3.5 ounces, and fits through the ¼ inch slot in the plastic template. I guarantee you, I seldom overpay for postage, plus I'm using discount postage that costs me 70c on the dollar.

 

Was it sent in a regular envelope or a large envelope or a bubble mailer? I don't know if you can add just the tracking to a small envelope at the PO.

It's not hard to make money selling on ebay. But if you're going to sell cheap stuff and make only a couple dollars per sale you'd have to be very fast to make it worth the time.

 

Well, I was thinking that costs did not really mean that much to the seller in this case. They wanted to make sure that the buyer felt good and they got good service. As for insurance, certified, and etc, that is maybe a little overboard yes, but customer loyalty comes at what price. I have had some add 'extra' coins as a gesture, send business cards, its about image I guess.

 

"its about image I guess..."

The IMAGE is thoroughly hijacked, and the opportunity wasted, the minute the Buyer sees $1.95 postage to ship ONE coin. Follow the money.

 

This came in a regular envelope and he bought postage at the post office instead of printing himself from eBay, so he doesn't get a discount on shipping that way.

 

I am a seller of coins on ebay.. average price a little over $300. If the coin is under $250, I ship in a small padded envelope with nothing else (my usps adds tracking for free, even if you don't pay for it now, even though they will charge you for it if you tell them you want it). From $250-$400 I do signature confirmation, no insurance. Over $400 I usually will do the blue insurance which includes signature required. I've lost a few $400 coins, but usually come out ahead, since insurance costs so much and they usually only lose a few a year. For a couple dollar item, I would not even bother selling it, and if I did, you can bet I would not be buying certifies mail, signature conf, etc. Not worth it. If it is lost or stolen, oh well, you are only out a few bucks

 

Incidentally, if any of you insure your coins with Hugh Wood, Inc., the policy includes shipping insurance; I do not recall the terms, but think it was reasonably favorable and efficient. In most cases, then, you don't need postal insurance. For something you believe requires Registered handling (another worthless service), I'm not sure how they handle those shipments. There may be a deductible.

 

The only thing I can think of is that he doesn't want the coin lost in the mail and risk a negative feedback.