Shipping card(s) methods on 10-40$ items!?

[rocketscollectibles]

Hi there. I'm trying to figuring out best shippings method i'm selling collectible trading cards. It seems like in this 10-40$ range of price things seems really a mess

What i mean is that under 10$ i think that lettermail using bubble mailer is the best risk/reward to get sales, the problem is that over that i feel like the risk of lost for non delivery getting too high in $. At the same time i don't see how it would be possible to do any sale using tracking regular parel 12$-20$ making the shipping 20%+ the price of the items. Even registered mail is like 10$.

Over a certain price i think it's possible to use tracking the ratio item price / shipping price can be acceptable 50$+ item / 15$ shipping ( even this ratio seems terrible it's acceptable for 100$+ items to me ). But what is the options for 10-40$ items!? I can't figuring out. I added combined shipping lettermail + 0.50$ / item on my under 10$ listings, and i started to think about if someone buy 20$+ and it's not tracked, the risk/reward getting really bad...

Any suggestion cause i'm actually really lost on how to set up my shipping and the option of combined shipping depending of different price ranges. It's a puzzle that seems to have no solutions cause of terrible canada shipping prices. At his point i'm wondering if it's even viable to sell cards on ebay being non-business seller

[femmefan1946]

I feel like as small sellers we must underprice to sell, or offer something others don't have. Overpricing i won't sell anything i think

Aspirational pricing.

There is a subset of consumers who feel that if two items have the same price, the higher priced one will be better.
The verb is "feel" because there is more emotion than thought in this.

This also applies to those experienced sellers. Their cards are fairly priced in part because they are selling their reputation as well as the card.

Another example is Dr. Dre Beats headphones which are notoriously poorer than cheaper ones with lesser known brands, but consistently sell for more. Or anything Gwenyth Paltrow sells.

You said " or offer something others don't have. " and there is your niche.

Maybe that's selling a bundle of similar cards or watching for cards that are not often offered or hmmm... is there a market for distressed cards? I mean, they would play just as well as the *happy*shiny*MVFNH* fun* cards that most collectors are looking for.  And all the FB looks the same. Or do your collectors just collect and never play?

[femmefan1946]

I'm not sure I'd go through the trouble of re-taking 70 photos,

That picture is .... not very good.

They are flat?

Scan them.

You will have to take them out of the plastic holder though.

But with scanning you can sharpen (I use 600 dpi as standard, but often do cropped details at 1200 dpi), square off rectangles, choose details to highlight, etc.

Most printers are also scanners so you probably have the equipment.

[femmefan1946]

92c to 30gr.

$1.30 to 50 gr.

$1.94 to 100 gr.

To the USA LetterMail

$1.30 to 30gr

$1.94 to 50 gr

$3.19 to 100gr.

I trust you have a scale. I got a StarFrit digital  kitchen scale for under $20 at Canadian Tire several years ago and except for replacing the battery once, it's been in daily use.

You have this bookmarked of course.

https://www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/information/app/far/business/findARate?execution=e1s1

And this for Letter rates

https://www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/cpc/en/personal/sending/letters-mail/postage-rates.page

[t_bjarnason]

That is correct - when you refund a customer for an INR eBay requires you to issue a 100% refund which includes both the item and what they paid for shipping. So for our example, it would be $15 ($10 for the item and $5 for the shipping). Plus, you still paid for the postage/envelopes etc. so you would be out that cost as well on top of the $15.00.

But as @ilikehockeyjerseys mentioned, these are rare and once you break down the loss over a longer period of time and over several transactions, you are only loosing pennies per transaction. This again supports the idea of "cookie jar insurance," built into either the cost of your item and/or shipping. 

[rocketscollectibles]

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You will have to take them out of the plastic holder though

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Can't do that with expensive cards, that one is a 100$+ card. I did it for its other pics and i still think it's a mistake. It shows to buyers that i manipulated the card raw with my hands. No one with minimal care about cards condition will apreciate and it clearly can chase buyers. Especially on expensive cards

Anyway from what i see on ebay, i start thinking that having perfect photos and descriptions seems really overrated. Like a lot of top sellers just use generic photos, they don't even show the card they ship, and still sells a ton, just by trust. Even descriptions, i see so many sellers with 1000+ scores having absolutly nothing written, just the name of the card. I feel at the end that price and reputation , that's the only thing attracting buyers. If you have good price and reputation, people will pay and trust what you send

[cardconnoisseurs]

The point is that you *don't* discount the item price, you sell it for full market value, and add the full cost of shipping and handling, *including* supplies, and taking into account fees. So for example, if you ship a trading card using oversized mail, you will incur the following costs (estimated):

Postage: $1.94
Bubble Mailer: $0.25
Mailing Label: $0.03
Toploader and sleeve: $0.30

Total expenses $2.52. With an approximate 15% sellers fee, you would need to set shipping at $2.96 to get that $2.52 after fees. (Divide desired proceeds by percentage of gross you get to keep, in this case 0.85)

It's smart to add in a 5% "cookie jar" insurance to your postage as well, to account for the criminals, and the tiny minority of cases where an INR is actually due to lost/returned mail (which represents approximately 1% of claims in my experience). So that brings you up to $3.11. The alternative is to build this cost into your listings, and charge "free" shipping. 

Offering free shipping on auctions is not advisable, as the buyer is not seeing the comparative value. By building the cost in on BIN listings, you still display in the same position in search results (or better!), but that magical word "free" is there adding to their enticement!

This method also benefits you, as you get extra shipping credit on multi-item buys, and can offer "discounts" accordingly.

[cardconnoisseurs]

Buyers almost *never* read the description. We use the same stock description for 95% of our items, which is basically an FAQ/Policies document, and has nothing to do with the individual item being listed. That's what the title is for. And we are a full time business, running on multiple ecommerce platforms.

[teenytrinkets]

I agree... buyers never read the description. 90% of the time I use the same description as the title. Why bother? It won't change a thing for a SNAD or INR. As long as your item description is accurate, no need to list a bunch of terms and details about how you operate. No one cares, lol...

If they want more- they ask me a question, I'm really quick to answer. Everyone's happy.

[reallynicestamps]

sellers just use generic photos, they don't even show the card they ship,

That can work.

Personally, when I see a listing that just uses the stock photo from the eBay catalog or the suppliers I am unhappy. Ihave no reason to believe the seller actually has the item and is not just dropshipping from Guongdam.

While it can be useful, I would prefer that the stock photo be included with pictures that the seller has taken.

Whether  the stock photo is the first one or just in the mix, is up to the seller.

Silly question.

Does anybody actually play with these cards or are they just for collecting? Do card collectors have exhibitions like stamp collectors? DH won an International Silver in Switzerland for his collection of British Solomon Islands. I'm scared to ask how much he has spent on it.

[rocketscollectibles]

I know that there is official pokemon tournaments so i guess there is still enough playing it. I personally think that collecting the cards is more a thing. I used to play when i was a kid early 2000 and it was like 10% playing 90% collecting. With the actual internet generation i think i could take a safe guess saying it's around that frequencie, 10% or less plays and 90% collects. 2020 because of covid have been a boom for pokemon cards tho, like a lot of games stuff

[t_bjarnason]

I agree, most just collect. There's such a huge market and so much value that playing the actual cards almost doesn't make sense. Those that do play are usually serious collectors anyways and play with proxy cards. Even when I was a kid and started collecting the original base sets around 1999, the game was rarely played. Trading was a big thing back then with your friends, not so much playing. With Pokémon go and other past video games, there were and are several platforms that are much more fun and less costly to play compared to cards. 

[mckicalgry]

Please note that we have been selling on Ebay (Canada now) for over 20 years and with a Store for 2.5 years.  We use bubble mailers for sports cards (average range $.50 to $20 each) & watch crystal (averaging $10/each).  Our shipping charge is for regular mail with additional $.50 for Sports cards (because of additional top loader & sleeve) & $.25 for watch crystals.  We also add in our description that upon Buyer's requested we can send with tracking.  If total order is $100 or over then order must be sent with tracking.  In the many years of selling we have had a handful of lost mailings in North America, but have had many in other countries like Mexico & Phillipines (therefore have stopped shipping to those countries).  We hope this helps with your selling.

mckicalgry

[rocketscollectibles]

I would personally be way too nervous shipping a 90$ order without tracking. Maybe cause i don't have my own experience yet i'm on a mindset that 100% sales are potential scams i'm nervous shipping a 10$ card for now lmao. I'm on a different mindset too i think cause it's my personal stuff so i'm more attached to the stuff i'm selling that if it was buy/resell items. If you buy a 5$ item and resell 10$, you losing it it's a tiny business loss you don't care, but if you sell a 10$ card worth 10$ from your chilhood and lose it for nothing, it's very salty. Anyway i received my first seller feedback yesterday, everything went well and easy for my first sale, i'll learn from my own experience and build around my own road from my understanding i think that's the way to go on ebay

Btw, i removed immediate payment of my listings that i offer combined shipping, do you guys think it's a bad thing? Did it to avoid useless fees on combined shipping refunds and because custom rules doesnt works for me since there's no $ limit on orders. I got my first sale today without it and already my first buyer leaving an item awaiting payment, i'm not sure to like that

[t_bjarnason]

Congrats on your first successful transaction and positive feedback as a seller! Feels good, doesn't it?

I removed immediate payments a long time ago and I find it just makes everything more flexible for both you and your buyers. Most buyers know they have 4 days to pay and might be contemplating buying other items that you have listed and would prefer to pay for everything together. Maybe they didn't want someone else to snatch your item up first so they bought it today but their paycheque doesn't come in for a couple days. Who knows! Some people just take time to pay for whatever reason. It's certainly not something to stress about. Worst case scenario is you cancel the order after 5 days and it automatically gets relisted as if nothing ever happened. 

On a side note, you can set up rules that block users from viewing/buying your listings if they have 2 or more unpaid item claims against them.  To set this up, go to Seller Hub > Block Buyers > Buyer Requirements and check the first option.

[cardconnoisseurs]

Don't worry about not being paid right away. Generally, we will check in after 24 hours, and just ask the buyer to let us know when we can expect payment, but that there is no rush. Obviously, for you to take that approach, there has to not be one! 

[femmefan1946]

We also add in our description that upon Buyer's requested we can send with tracking. If total order is $100 or over then order must be sent with tracking.

That would make me feel nervous as a seller. Giving people ideas.

To me, and YMMV, shipping choices are an important Seller Protection.

I would not flat out state that tracking is optional.

I would probably disguise the tracking option as a speed option. So "Economy Shipping -10 -15 days" price $1.00 but "Express Shipping 3-8 days" Price $12.00

(Not actual costs, obviously).

Or call tracking "insurance" which is not incorrect because it insures the seller (if not the buyer) and most tracked services do include insurance.

Words are fun!

[rocketscollectibles]

I'm checking for kraft envelopes actually, i'm thinking about it could be a good idea to use those for single cards under 10$. You put the card in a standard sleeve, wrap it with a sheet or maybe even a cardboard sheet if it respect thickness. That package cost 0.07$ per envelope, with 0.92$ stamps i could get maybe a 1.25$ cost shipping. Very easy to include free shipping and with good prices. I see a lot of cards sellers with 100% positive feedbacks offering free shipping on 2$ cards, there's no way they all using bubble mailers 1.94+tx stamps

https://www.amazon.ca/-/fr/dp/B000LGLBMO/?coliid=IJE3QU549KD2M&colid=6K7PKOMPRA9D&th=1

My prob actually is that i'm not sure if it respect canada post size requierement. Envelopes are 8.9 x 14 cm while post canada requierement is 9 x 14 cm lmao. And if i check in inchs, no numbers fits that's a bit weird. Envelopes says it's 3.25 x 5.5 inch, which is 7.62 x 12.7 cm, pretty confusing. It looks like hard cardboard too i'm not sure it would respect the 0.18 thickness. If i'm buying those and it's undersized or oversized thickness i'm fked with 500 useless envelopes