How do I find out actual shipping costs as opposed to what seller charged me?

[luv4orphans]

How can I find out what actual shipping costs are as opposed to what seller actually charged me. When printing labels through paypal postage amount does not show up. So is there somewhere in paypal or ebay where I know I paid way too much for this item. Can somebody let me know how we find this out.

[pierrelebel]

"How can I find out what actual shipping costs"

Why do you want to know?

Postage cost (the value of the postage on the parcel) does NOT represent the total cost of shipping and handling for the seller.

For example, if the seller is Canadian, the post office will charge up to 15% tax (HST or GST).  The tax is not reflected on the postage printed on the box.

Then you have other costs such as packaging.  In some instances it may be minimal; in other cases very substantial.

At the end of the day, buyers make a decision to buy based on the information supplied by the seller: cost + shipping charge

It does not matter if the item is priced at $40 with "free shipping" (shipping included in the price)

or $35 + $5 shipping and handling

or $30 + $10 shipping and handling

or $20 + $20 shipping and handling.

In all instances, your purchasing decision is based on your cost $40.  How the seller breaks it down is his business.

The actual cost to the seller for postage (generally a small portion of the overall transaction) is no more relevant than the actual cost of the item to the seller.  His profit is his business.

How do you feel when the shipping charge by the seller is $5.00 and you see an accumulation of stamps valued at $5.75 on the parcel?  Does it feel better to know the seller may have lost money of the shipping?  What if the seller purchased these stamps at 20% or 30% below face value?  Will you be unhappy because he found a way to buy postage cheaper?

[lady.stark · Accepted solution]

If the item is coming from Canada, you can calculate shipping costs on www.canadapost.ca

If the item is coming from USA, you can calculate shipping costs on www.usps.com

If the item is coming from another country, you can verify on the shipping website of this country.

You will need exact size and weight of the box/shipment. But as Pierre mentioned, shipping costs can include a lot of things such as packaging material, not just actual shipping.

[marnotom!]

Just to underscore the previous two excellent posts, "shipping and handling" is not the same as "postage".  A seller's shipping charges reflect what he feels the service is worth, within eBay guidelines, of course.

Presumably, you felt the shipping charge was fair or at least you could hold your nose and pay it at the item you committed to purchasing the item.  Unless the shipping method was grossly misrepresented in the listing--i.e. you paid for "express" shipping and it's apparent that the seller sent it by slow boat up the Mississippi--you need to ask yourself why you feel you didn't get your money's worth from the seller's service of shipping the item to you.

[luv4orphans]

I want to know because I want to know how much a seller charges for handling. I get dinged for 50 cents to $1.00. Excuse me.

And if you feel that a $20.00 handling charge is okay be my guest.

Also if you post something to US over $5.00 there is no tax. Any postage under $5.00 to US there is tax to pay. Across Canada yes we all pay the 13% tax.

I am not talking about free shipping here but handling charges. I realize that if its free shipping how the seller breaks it down is his business. I am talking about actual shipping charges.

I have shortchanged myself quite a few times. And if I see that a seller has shortchanged themselves I usually pay the difference. Unfortunately we are not all like that. A lot of times its an estimated guess and once somebody does buy something that estimate can be off by $5.00 like I did last week. Do you think buyer came forward and offered to pay the difference. Some do but they are very far and few in between. Actually it wasan error in paypal. Gave me a shipping costs in the morning and I sent invoice and once buyer paid, I never did get that quote back. So I had to ship at the next quote. I  was off by $5.00.

Thank you very much for your help sir.

[luv4orphans]

Thank you. This is what I wanted to know.

[rothesayartist]

The seller states the shipping fees he charges up front What is the problem If he charges a little extra otn shipping and starts the auction at a lower cost there should be no issue. Ebay now charges a rate on the cost of the item and shipping so the seller has to pay more than they did in the past The rate now is on shipping and piurchase value while a ways back they charged only on the auction price The seller has to regain these extra costs somewhere.If they state the shipping fees up front there should be no issue with the amount as long as you are aware of it

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@luv4orphans wrote:

How can I find out what actual shipping costs are as opposed to what seller actually charged me. When printing labels through paypal postage amount does not show up. So is there somewhere in paypal or ebay where I know I paid way too much for this item. Can somebody let me know how we find this out.

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[rothesayartist]

Well said ebay now is getting paypal to withhold payments for up to 21 days if the seller has gotten a bad response for his shipping charges. Not fair at all Can someone suggest another good auction site I am getting fed up with ebay

[luv4orphans]

Thanks for your help. I know I got royally ripped off on this one. That's why I am trying to find out what actual shipping costs was and I can then figure out handling charges.

I inquired a few times regarding shipping costs and no response whatsoever from seller. Their shipping prices are all over the place on same type of items. No handling charges were not up front. I have now received the item and ran it by the seller again and so far zero response.

There is still a lot of sellers getting away with crazy handling charges. That's why this system came into place. And yes if you are getting away with charging $10.00 handling charges on every item you sell, what do you care if ebay charges you an extra dollar or two. So they certainly haven't resolved this problem.  Its only hurting the little guy trying to make a few extra bucks. Not the big time sellers that are ripping everybody off.

And no I don't think there is no other site quite like ebay to sell stuff.

[bb_cool_stuff]

All due respect, but why are you fretting over this ?

You agreed to the Total Price & seemed happy with your purchase.

You will find sellers usually add a few bucks to the item price to cover handling charges.

Trying to figure out shipping & handling charges are not worth your time my friend.

Your time, as Femme has pointed out many times, is worth .17 a minute. You have already used that time on the boards to offset any small handling charge.

Look at the big picture & don't & I'll say that again, don't ding their DSRs.

[femmefan1946]

Well said ebay now is getting paypal to withhold payments for up to 21 days if the seller has gotten a bad response for his shipping charges. Not fair at all Can someone suggest another good auction site I am getting fed up with ebay

This has been the case for over a year now. And the reason is exactly what you stated : to control sellers whose shipping practices are not what a sensible and intelligent buyer would expect.

Sellers who are new, sellers who are in high fraud and high value categories and above all sellers whose customers have been unsatisfied with their performance have payments held against their performance. Continued poor performance will lead to restrictions on listing by number of listings and by value. Egregious poor performance and the seller is Not A Registered Seller.

[femmefan1946]

It would be helpful if eBay changed the term "shipping and handling" which customers obviously do not understand, to what it uses in Britain "postage and packaging". which is clearer about what goes into the fee.

[lady.stark]

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@bb_cool_stuff wrote:

You agreed to the Total Price & seemed happy with your purchase.

You will find sellers usually add a few bucks to the item price to cover handling charges.

Trying to figure out shipping & handling charges are not worth your time my friend.

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I have to disagree on this... if the seller charged $40 to ship by Express Mail and used First Class Mail instead (let's say at $10 cost), then the seller is clearly overcharging, and it should reflect on his DSR. But the OP didn't say what was price charged and actual price paid, so we can't really say if it was a reasonable handling charge or not...

[pierrelebel]

"if the seller charged $40 to ship by Express Mail and used First Class Mail instead (let's say at $10 cost)"

There is no indication that this is the situation here.  If it were, the original poster would have indicated it.

In general terms, once a buyer agrees to purchase an item and the shipping information is clearly disclosed in the listing, there is no valid reason for a buyer to question the actual out-of-pocket cost to the seller, unless of course payment was made for a specific more expensive shipping method not used by the seller. But that is a different story.

[femmefan1946]

 inquired a few times regarding shipping costs and no response whatsoever from seller.

This is usually a good reason to move on to a different seller. Ignoring a potential customer shows a poor grasp of how retail (or mail order) works.

[pierrelebel]

"I know I got royally ripped off on this one."

It is impossible to comment without more information such as the listing number and the method of shipping actually used by the seller.  I see you purchased a pair of sandals a few weeks ago where the seller gave buyers the option of two shipping methods  USPS Priority (expensive) and USPS First Class (much cheaper).

In such instance, which did you select?  what did you pay? what did the seller use?

[luv4orphans]

I paid $21.00 to get an envelope that weighed 0.23 grams shipped to Canada from the US. I know very well that that envelope shipped for under $10.00 or close to it. I don't feel $10.00 to $11.00 handling charge is okay. Sorry. If that's not gauging on shipping I don't know what is.

That's why I was trying to find out what actual shipping charges were. And the USPS website didn't help at all. Its too complicated from this end. Plus seller's return address is not on label.

And yes ebay could probably fix this one if they wanted to with us printing our labels through paypal. Anything over so much that seller charges as opposed to what was actually paid for shipping this item should be remitted to the buyer.  Don't tell me they can't come up with a program that would do this.

As for Express shipping its a real ripoff. That one done from the postal system. Maybe when mailed within your own country it works. When shipping going to another country items still get held up at the border if pricey enough. No matter what you paid for shipping.  They want a signature, we don't need to resort to Express for that. Well at least in Canada. But I am getting way off the subject here.

[lady.stark]

"There is no indication that this is the situation here.  If it were, the original poster would have indicated it."

That is exactly what I said in my previous post Pierre. Please read the last sentence of post #13 😉

"In general terms, once a buyer agrees to purchase an item and the shipping information is clearly disclosed in the listing, there is no valid reason for a buyer to question the actual out-of-pocket cost to the seller"

Are you sure that is what you really think? Because you said the exact opposite to "007Steveb16" not long ago... see this post: http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/Potential-Nightmare-Situation/m-p/64446#U64446

[lady.stark]

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@luv4orphans wrote:

I paid $21.00 to get an envelope that weighed 0.23 grams shipped to Canada from the US. I know very well that that envelope shipped for under $10.00 or close to it. I don't feel $10.00 to $11.00 handling charge is okay.

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Did the seller used a prepaid Priority envelope or a regular envelope without markings? Because the prepaid envelopes from USA to Canada begin at around $20 if I remember correctly.... Do you have a shipping price printed on the envelope?

[luv4orphans]

Yes this is pretty well what I am questioning here. Ridiculous handling charges and mostly done by a few big time sellers. And blame it on the postal hikes. Why can somebody ship a doll head Priority mail from the US for $18.00 and the next seller actually charges $35.00 - $40.00? Pretty well the same size. And I understand that prices can vary some by location of the item. But by $20.00?  

The rest of us are trying to follow  the rules that ebay has set for a better and fairer market place. But some are not and back to my question. How do I actually find out what I paid for shipping and how much handling was charged?