Shipping is there a difference in listing

[bwalton]

Please bide with me although I have sold on ebay before its been awhile and  I am finding I have to sort of relearn everything so if these posers seem really dumb please excuse me.

I am wondering if there is any real difference to me as a seller to combining price + shipping and offering free shipping ? I understand it can make a difference as far as buyer perspective goes but does it make a difference to me as a seller as far as fee's go.

As I see it, simple example:

 I sell an item for $10. and there is a $10 shipping fee now ebay will get their FV fee on the S10 sale price and their fee on the $10 shipping fee.

Or I combine and sell the item for $20 and free shipping ebay is still going to get their fee but on $20

I doesn't seem to make any difference  ebay is going to get their due either way.........

Am I missing something here ?

Thanks

Bill

[pocomocomputing · Accepted solution]

Yes, the total eBay Final Value Fee will be the same if the price is $10 +$10 shipping or the price $20 + $0 free shipping. However, if you as a seller have TRS (Top Rated Seller) status, the monthly billing will show a 20% fee discount on the price amount excluding shipping cost. The $20 + $0 free shipping saves a little bit more FVF. 

So Free Shipping model saves a little more on FVF if you reach TRS status.

[block36]

And if you offer FREE SHIPPING for domestic delivery ONLY, you will not be charged the FVF on shipping if the buyer from other country buys your item.

[ypdc_dennis]

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@bwalton wrote:

Please bide with me although I have sold on ebay before its been awhile and  I am finding I have to sort of relearn everything so if these posers seem really dumb please excuse me.

I am wondering if there is any real difference to me as a seller to combining price + shipping and offering free shipping ? I understand it can make a difference as far as buyer perspective goes but does it make a difference to me as a seller as far as fee's go.

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As pocomocomputing says a slight advantage to TRS sellers.

Also if you sell outside the country, ebay will base the FVF on the international rate or the domestic rate (whichever is cheaper). So if you had free shipping for Canada and $15 for international the FVF on shipping would be zero if sold outside Canada.

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[bwalton]

Thank you that answers my question, so for me it likely won't make any difference for the most part, I think it unlikely I will ever reach TRS level, I can meet most of the qualifiers but I have no interest in being a "Global Seller" so that leaves me out. I am not even sure if I want to bother selling to the US this time around, although that high value US dollar and much larger market (by 10 times) is enticing if I remember correctly trying to be competitive with the US shipping was a pain......

Thanks

Bill

[pjcdn2005]

I think that it is important to look at what your competitors are doing as it does make more sense to have free shipping on some items and not on others.  It' can be difficult to include the shipping cost in a heavy item, plus the cost of sending that item is going to vary depending n the buyers location.

For lighter items I will sometimes include the cost of shipping within Canada in the item price and then discount the US shipping cost by that anount so that it looks more competitive,