Now this is excessive shipping

Note sure if the link will work, but the seller stampblue_0 has a couple of CBH's for sale that require a minimum of 30 dollars shipping to my zip. One is item 230198504492 or try this link. I wondered why the coins were so cheap.

 

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Been checking other auctions - wow $15 to ship stamps. Why haven't people reported him. Oh well - I did. It was $51 bucks to my zip for that 1 coin. Shesh!

 

At least he's honest about his reserve fee evasion.

 

I tried that with the whole ebay thing. I would list coins at really low prices and then base a high shipping fee on what I wanted for the coin. Say I wanted $50 for the coin I was selling, I would list the coin at $10 and the shipping at $40. As an attempt to save some money on ebays listing fees and on their final value fees. Doing that would save me about $4 or $5. Because ebay does not charge you a fee based on the shipping costs. So if you figure, Id save money like that on every listing, it was adding up really fast. I was saving alot of money on ebays fees. But it didnt work out, I had some people complain about excessive shipping fees and I had someone leave negative feedback. Anyhow, I explained to the person that left negative feedback, and he withdrew the bad feedback. He told me it makes sense and it was a good idea, but before he knew my reasoning behind it, he was not happy. But, the shipping fees are clearly listed and if they are bidding, they should take the shipping fees in to consideration when they determine how much they are willing to pay for the coin. Anyhow, it was a good idea that saved me lots of money, but in the end I gave up, people didnt get the concept.

 

You realize that you are, in essence, shoplifting from eBay by doing this.

 

Well, maybe so, but I would do it in moderation. The $10 for the coin and the $40 for shipping was just an example. I wouldnt set the difference that drastic. Maybe $30 for the coin and $20 for the shipping. But the only reason I did that, was after ebay jacked up their already excessive fees. You do have to admit that ebays fees are horribly excessive. It seemed like a good idea that I tried for about a month, but it didnt work out. I just got sick of Eaby charging a listing fee, then charging a final value fee and then paypal taking a percentage as well. When I was selling real heavy, my monthly ebay bill was around $150 and paypal would take close to that as well. I thought that was really excessive and I wanted to cut that number down alittle bit. I figure ebay makes enough money and they could afford it more than I could.

 

eBay too expensive? Who is cheaper? Heritage? Teletrade?

Had I seen one of your auctions, you would have lost your listing fee when eBay pulled your auction.

 

Is it really??? And no, I havent sold anywhere else. Anyhow, It seemed like a good idea to save myself alittle money. But it didnt work out.

 

Ebay has changed dramatically over the years. I can remember when people charged their ebay fees to the buyer.
Ebay nixed that.
Now people want to charge huge shipping fees which IS against the rules

I'm not too fond of ebay anymore but as GDJMSP said it IS a bargain if you get down to it.

My biggest problem with ebay anymore is that people want LEGITIMATE coins well under dealer bid. My solution? I just rarely sell these days.
I'm not going to tarnish my reputation by blatant over grading or charging excessive shipping fees.

 

All I got to say is that ten years ago, I would be STUCK with my coins.

I would be at the mercy of the local coin dealer here.

With EBay, I got the whole world watching! And I can even sell my old socks - as long as they look like Jesus!

 

What's a little petty theft among friends?

Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and I was young, I was taught that you can't be a little bit pregnant or honest.

 

I've seen people doing that trick with excessive postage and I really didn't like it - having free postage (even it's silently included into the coin price) would sound to me a lot more, on the other hand. But I have to say that I really didn't like all fees ebay and paypal were charging me. Unless you're selling "most wanted" coins for bargain prices, chances are they're not going to get sold at one go, and you still have to pay ( boo I gave up on ebay and have been using http://trademe.co.nz for quite a while now - they only thing though, it's for new zealand (mainly) and australia only... - they DO NOT charge any listing fees, but restrict the number of listings you can list for free depending on how well you're selling your stuff - very fair.

Cheers,
Mik

 

"Shoplifting.......in moderation" Now THATS a good one if I ever heard it. ebay calls that " fee circumvention" and has a link to report those listings.

Play by the rules...or don't or play I guess. On a good week on ebay I might sell a grand or two, good week that is. I'll pay ebay $60-75 plus 3% to paypal, another $60 tops, less than or equal to the cost of a table at a show. No show I have ever been has a million people walking thru on a weekend.

 

I'll stick my $31.14 in here. I am one of the lucky people with a great local coin dealer. The last time I purchased something from him that was over $1,000, I was reminded that I live in a state with 7% sales tax. Even a shipping fee of $31.14 would have been a lot cheaper. The other thing you have to keep in mind is that insurance can add up on an expensive item. For the $1,000 item that fee would be $10.90.

These issues certainly don't t apply to this auction. For a $13.00 item, charging $31.14 is inexcusable.

I recall a thread here a few months ago where there was a debate about whether sellers should make a profit on shipping. There was a consensus that expenses for packing material, time for packing and travel to the post-office could reasonably be considered "handling". I'm not sure I agree with that. Sure, you might have to drive 30 miles to the post office, but if you've sold 100 items and you ship them all at the same time, you shouldn't charge each buyer the full cost.

However, this should be limited to a reasonable percentage of the cost of the item. I think 240% is a bit excessive.

 

With Paypal shipping now, or clicknship from USPS, you print your postage at home and they pick it up. No gas, no driving, no nothing but ink and paper.

 

Actually, not quite. eBay rules specifically exclude travel to the post office and time involved there. I have posted the rules previously,but, of course, I cannot find it now. It show many specifics excluded - trips to the post office, time for such, printing ink etc. However, a "reasonable handling" fee is permitted, but it is not fully defined.

If I can find it again, I will post it later.

 

Finally found it. Here is the link http://pages.ebay.com/help/tutorial/feecirctutorial/intro2.html

Here is the pertinent referrence.

BTW: The links are not working again.

 

Those shipping fees are not allowed by eBay.
What a rip off, unless you calculate them into the bid.

 

Interesting thread with various thoughts. One thing that I have seen brought up is the free shipping issue.
I read one person here (in a different thread) that said they would only leave a full star feedback for reasonable shipping charges if the seller had free shipping.
If you think about it, if a seller provides free shipping they are actually getting charged a final value fee from ebay on the actual shipping cost. Why would I want to do that?
I have came to believe the only fair way to do it is to charge only actual shipping plus whatever the packing costs are.

Also I might add, if I come across an auction with exessive shipping, I usually pass. I figure if I have to (choose to) play by the rules others should to.