I am selling some coins on ebay and have a shipping charge of $3.00 per coin. Someone, not a bidder, sends me the following email: 'Your feedback rating indicates you're fairly new to eBay. Those sellers who've been around for a while have learned that an excessive mailing charge discourages bidding. At the very most (and that means mailed in a 'bubble' mailer), only $1.37 is needed to mail this single raw coin. $3 is not the Priority rate, so buyers already know something is 'fishy'. The consequence is that you'll be dealing with someone (if at all) by low bids, and poor feedback. Toward your success, you'd be doing yourself a favor by revising the charges being demanded.' I mean come on, is $3.00 really excessive for shipping costs for a coin. I figure it's $1.37 plus the cost of the envelope at the post office plus delivery confirmation and or insurance. Every item I have sold on ebay, granted I have not sold many, I have eaten shipping costs because I list it for less then it actually costs me. But seriously, this guy makes it sound like people will be completely unwilling to bid 'you'll be dealing with someone(if at all)', over his estimate of $1.63 in shipping charges that he can't account for... Sorry, had to vent, carry on...
Are you selling $5 coins or $100 coins? Have you thought of itemizing in your listing exactly what shipping costs you incur?
Four of the coins are in 2X2 holders, the other one is PCGS and the other is a third tier grading company. Do you ship with insurance or anything?
they are no reserve auctions, but all 6 coins should sell for $50-$100. I have not thought of that, but it's a great idea. To be honest, I am also just thinking about setting it to free shipping too, because really I don't care too much about $3 on these coins and it may make it more attractive and less of a headache...
$3 is reasonable. Don't lose sleep over this. A few years ago I was looking for free large cardboard moving boxes and placed an ad on a bulletin board at Safeway. The first email I got was from some guy calling me a mooch and that I should get a job and stop looking for handouts. Some people don't have a life.
Not to discourage your sales but honest shipping charges attract more buyers, sorry! A buyer sees someone gouging them on shipping and then thinks perhaps they are not as honest about the coin as could be. now it you are selling high dollar coins and paying insurance you can add the insured cost to shipping but let bidders know that it is insured. I personally send everything in bubble mailers from walmart which are cheap when bought in bulk total cost is about 1.50 but free shipping is what I usually do, it does attract buyers who will bid higher on a coin if they are not fiquring in shipping. low grade and low money coins can easily be shipped in a plain envelope in a 2x2 for .44$. none of this really matters as you can set your rates when you want them, but if buyers start complaining about your shipping fees to ebay you will get dinged, they are really cracking down on that as they consider it a loss of money to them as shipping charges don't get tallyed in your fees. sorry if this is not what you wanted to hear.
Exactly, and some people should just keep thier opinions to themselves. Honestly, if your coins are worth that much, a $3 shipping charge should be a non-issue.
If you're shipping first class with no insurance, then a slabbed coin should sail through the system with a buck or so worth of postage on it. If it's a .99 cent coin ship it in an envelope with a stamp. Of course there is also the expense of the padded envelope, etc. to ship the slabbed item. Shipping charges is something that actually pi**es me off with Ebay and with buyers. The shipping method and charge is clearly listed in the auction, so I'm one of those who believes that a buyer should factor this into their bid(and they will) and not gripe about what they OPENLY agreed to. As for people who use Ebay's "ask the seller a question" function to do nothing more than try to complain or insult me, I normally just tell them to go.....themselves.
I really appreciate the suggestions, very much what I wanted to hear. I understand the issue about people charging $8 to ship a single small size currency with a book value of $10, thus using shipping charges to evade the ebay fees, but that is not what I was trying to do. It seems like if I charge a shipping fee I should disclose in the ad exactly what I am charging them for to make it clear. I think I am just going to make these free shipping and forget about it as the shipping costs will be less then %5 of the sale cost...
beef: Overall, that's a pretty obnoxious note you received. Sounds like the 'buyer' wants to bid on the piece(s) you've got listed and is trying to bully you into bending to save them a buck or two. I'd ignore them if you have your fees in order to do your thing. If a given buyer doesn't like your terms they can move along. If you can't take the hit on loosing the item sending it uninsured then insure it. Unethical buyers exist, beware of them. Stuff gets lost but rather rare in occurrence. Perhaps, find the value of each item over what you can't take the loss from and insure from there up, otherwise insure everything. Excessive maybe but it comes down to your responsibility if the buyer wants a refund and claims they never got the item(s).
Beef-One more thing; add the person who sent you that message to your "banned bidder" list. They'll be nothing but trouble.
This is the other side for me too, It's not like after the sale I am charging the shipping costs, it's disclosed up front, and in my opionino not totally outrageous, but whatever. I was so close to sending that exact response to his next email to me: 'Yes...that's one. The other is inability to find an image large enough (both sides) to evaluate quality of the coins being offered.' I have a huge, as large as it would let me do, closeup of the obverse and reverse of the coin you donkey... Glad I did not sent it because a couple minutes later he apologized and said that was intended for someone else... Anyway, I am going with the free shipping option to avoid the headache, and who knows, maybe the offer of free will make people forget basic math, become irrational, and overbid Thanks again.
As long as your rates are sort of reasonable, your postage should not make a dramatic difference, but most bidders bid cost including shipping. However, there are a lot cheaper ways of doing thing than you seem to be. In quantity, you can get 4X8 (000) envelopes for less than 10¢ each. I memory serves me, $1.37 is what you pay for shipping including delivery confirmation if you use PayPal (or other similar mailing services) to print your own shipping labels. All you have to do is buy the labels (about 15¢ each), but you save a lot more than that. Doing all of that looks like it will save you about $1.00+ each. That way you can charge $2.25 and still come out ahead of where you are now.
Again, thanks for the input. I am new to selling on ebay and having to deal with the shipping issues, and admit I have a lot to learn, and this info helps.
I wish I knew how to properly charge for my coins. I always list the coins to be shipped in a small flat rate box which is $4.95. I just recently picked up some bubble envelopes and was wondering whats the cheapest way to ship something.
