eBay

mags_finds · ‎06-26-2014

Hi All

I don't sell too much on eBay but I had wanted to keep it growing. Well, at least I did, now I am not so sure !!

I only had total sales of 480.51 March, April and May yet my total combined fees ( ebay Paypal and something else ) were 165.01

That is 35%

I try to take advantage of every promotion, and seldom do I list anything for the .30 insertion fee.

I seldom use any of the "extras" that do not come free with catagory. I do occasionally list in 2 catagories.

Between these fees and cost of item and any returns or refunds I may give .....I ain't making much .for sure !! Not to mention my gas packing supply etc.

Any Suggestions ???

Thanks

Shirley

pjcdn2005 · ‎06-27-2014

Odd, I don't see any errors. Is the postal code at the top of the search page the same as the postal code that you see when you click on the shipping tab? That blue cup is about $10 to ship within Alberta but to Ontario it shows about $17 so she is using calculated shipping for some listings.

ricarmic · ‎06-27-2014

Hi Rose! I understand your comment regarding "stamp people" however, I build shipping costs of $20 to $50 oftentimes into my bigger lots, and whilst my stuff isn't nearly as fragile as chine, it also has to be well and securely packed (into boxes as big as bankers boxes). I have discovered that a $100 boxlot with $25 shipping sells a lot slower than a $125 boxlot with shipping built in. This is why I suggested mags try a couple to see what happens.. the astute buyers will know that the price is the same as one with shipping on top after calculating. What Mags will be shooting for are the folks that just buy the first one they see and don't bother to do the comparison etc....or so goes the theory.... I would be interested to know what happens if mags does try an experiment with the pricier stuff.....

ricarmic · ‎06-27-2014

PS Chine is also known by those who do a better spell check job as china....

rose-dee · ‎06-27-2014

@pjcdn2005 wrote:
Odd, I don't see any errors. Is the postal code at the top of the search page the same as the postal code that you see when you click on the shipping tab? That blue cup is about $10 to ship within Alberta but to Ontario it shows about $17 so she is using calculated shipping for some listings.

I don't know, 'pj', but things changed literally from one look to the next. Perhaps the OP was in the process of changing the shipping to calculated on her listings when I looked the second time.

Hi 'ricarmic' -- I shouldn't have been quite so glib about "stamp people", but there's probably a little envy involved, too. I struggle constantly with the various sizes, shapes, weights, dimensions, crushability (is that a word?) and fragility of things I sell to balance shipping costs for my buyers.

I'd love to offer free shipping liberally, as Pierre does, but it's just not practicable if I want to remain viable. I do "subsidize" my buyers' shipping costs (I'm not a believer in rolling shipping into item price), on the theory that a somewhat increased sales volume will make up for the losses. Having the $Cdn lower than the $US at the moment helps too, although I see it's creeping up again!

mr.elmwood · ‎06-27-2014

Rose, "stamp people" are, well, different. An ex GF of mine was stamp club treasurer. She would regale me with stamp club stories. They are almost as bad as car parts sellers.

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mags_finds · ‎06-27-2014

Yeah I have notifced that as well on some of my listings...for some reason unknown to me the shipping just goes to calculate.

I then hit the calculate and put a postal code or a zip in and it comes back......weird hey ???

pierrelebel · ‎06-27-2014

"I'm not a believer in rolling shipping into item price), on the theory that a somewhat increased sales volume will make up for the losses"

???

I do not believe increased sales volume are achieved by lower prices. That would be too easy.

"I'd love to offer free shipping liberally,..., but it's just not practicable if I want to remain viable."

????

Forget shipping stamps (that is way too easy!). The majority of listings on eBay.com offer free shipping domestically. In many instances, the item requires packing in a box (not an envelope) and the actual shipping cost may be relative high. Why do they do it? Do they want to go broke? Are these sellers crazy?

NO. Sellers offer "free shipping" (shipping included in the price) because many buyers prefer it.

Including the cost of shipping in the price does not necessarily mean that if an item sells for $50 and the cost of mailing is $12 (for example) that the selling price will be $62. Smart sellers look at it differently. They see the shipping cost they absorb as a percentage of their total sales and include that cost in their overall gross margin, just like all successful retailers do with their so-called "loss leaders". It is all in the price paid by the consumers.

Continuing with the same example, a Canadian seller could offer that $50 item for $54 and "free shipping" to Canada, $10 shipping to USA and $20 overseas (assuming that would cover the cost; otherwise ignore shipping overseas). By including some of the shipping cost in the price of the item and offering "free shipping" domestically, the seller will not have to pay FVF on the shipping charge for American and international buyers. That is a very substantial saving, more so if the seller is TRS.

Numbers shown above are meant to be an illustration of what can be done without sacrificing profits. Numbers would have to be adjusted based on the products, their value and shipping costs, keeping in mind that many products are not worth selling by mail.

Now, back to stamp dealers, there seems to be a misconception out there that every thing we mail goes in a small envelope with $0.85/$1.20 stamp on it. I do not know about the other sellers but I know I ship a substantial number of large packages both domestically and outside the country. Last year I had a shipment of 525 lbs in 25 boxes going to one customer in another province. UPS was the best option in that case. Prior to my retirement, when new stamp catalogues (4 lbs) are issued, I would typically ship 200 of them, individually, to buyers within Canada and to the USA. Like most stamp dealers, I fully understand the challenges involved in packing and shipping "stuff". I only wish we could get rid of that misconception.

ricarmic · ‎06-27-2014

Hi Rose! Regarding subsidizing the shipping, well from a math perspective, if you have something that you'd normally sell for $50 and shipping would be $10 a shipping added price would be $60. A subsidized price of $55 just means that you discounted the price by $5 and then added the shipping on.... either way the shipping cost is built into the final price...from a math perspective......

Pierre, my "record" is almost the same as yours, it was 27 bankers boxes that went to Manitoba - my wee post office was FULL that day!!!! (I only send via Canada post so far - that was a whole weekend packing boxes and licking a zillion or so stamps on them!)

What Pierre suggests is what I have always done - I always sell on .COM and I almost always offer free shipping domestically (ie to the US) so I pay no FVF when there is shipping. For a long time I charged Canadians and International shipping costs (the Canadians to help offset the taxes which stamp folks really really hate to pay) but this year I began offering free shipping to everyone except internationally because the nominal amount I was charging Canadians wasn't worth the boost I got by "free shipping" it.....

I still suggest that Mags et al try the experiment: same/similar item, one with free shipping, one with shipping extra (just added on) and see what happens after a couple months. I was surprised, perhaps you will be too! There is next to no cost for that experiment, aside from patience....

rose-dee · ‎06-27-2014

@pierrelebel wrote:

"Including the cost of shipping in the price does not necessarily mean that if an item sells for $50 and the cost of mailing is $12 (for example) that the selling price will be $62. Smart sellers look at it differently. They see the shipping cost they absorb as a percentage of their total sales and include that cost in their overall gross margin, just like all successful retailers do with their so-called "loss leaders". It is all in the price paid by the consumers."

Pierre, I do understand the principle of rolling shipping cost into price but not necessarily charging the total as the stated price (which, as 'ricarmic' pointed out, is basically what I do by "subsidizing" my buyers' shipping, in effect lowering the overall total cost for buyers).

However, I'm having trouble with the comments in bold above. Retail "loss leaders" to my mind aren't intended to make up the bulk of a store's offerings, but rather to draw customers in to (hopefully) purchase other items that do not carry the cost burden of slashed pricing (or in our case, slashed shipping). Is that what you're referring to? If so, I have tried out this concept, and am going to continue to experiment further, but I can't see applying this reasoning to the majority of items I offer for sale. How could one expect to maintain a reasonable profit if most products are offered on the basis of a substantial loss?

"Continuing with the same example, a Canadian seller could offer that $50 item for $54 and "free shipping" to Canada, $10 shipping to USA and $20 overseas (assuming that would cover the cost; otherwise ignore shipping overseas). By including some of the shipping cost in the price of the item and offering "free shipping" domestically, the seller will not have to pay FVF on the shipping charge for American and international buyers. That is a very substantial saving, more so if the seller is TRS."

This is exactly what I've been doing on a regular basis when I run free domestic shipping promotions every few weeks, but I'm considering applying it to all of my items that do not need to be shipped in a box with tracking. I have been benefitting from the lower FVFs this way, and of course the TRS discount (and lower $Cdn) has been a great help too. Still, international shipping continues to confound me. Many of my antique patterns for example are between that 251 and 500gm weight which has recently skyrocketed to $19.12 for Light Packet. I've left my int'l shipping (flat rate) at the 2012 level, but don't know how long I can continue to "subsidize" nearly $10 per item in the shipping on those items.

So far, I've been using the savings on the other items to offset international shipping, but if I begin offering free shipping across the board domestically (and to the U.S.??), I can't justify such continued loss. I've had to get really creative on this score, and will soon be offering my patterns on CD, which may help to salvage the situation, since they can be offered with virtually free shipping everywhere.

"Numbers shown above are meant to be an illustration of what can be done without sacrificing profits. Numbers would have to be adjusted based on the products, their value and shipping costs, keeping in mind that many products are not worth selling by mail."

I have a reality that probably few sellers on eBay have: I have very few U.S. competitors, and none at all in Canada (that I know of). This might be seen as a great advantage, but the problem is high visibility. Interested buyers probably all know who we are and what we're charging. The 3 or 4 competitors who could be considered somewhat comparable all price their items close to each other. Accordingly I have very little "wiggle room" in pricing, because my customers (mostly in the U.S.) are well aware of those prices. So it's difficult to move the pricing by very much in an attempt to try to accommodate shipping costs. Hence my strategy of offering free shipping domestically, while using the FVF savings to help "subsidize" shipping costs to the U.S.

I do disagree with you when you say that increased sales volumes are not achieved by lower prices. I've always found that markdown sales have been successful in boosting volume, but perhaps that's a category-specific phenomenon. And I've managed to keep up with my U.S. competition by holding my prices well in line with theirs, as mentioned. I would not like to see the result if I increased those prices by even 10%.

"Like most stamp dealers, I fully understand the challenges involved in packing and shipping "stuff". I only wish we could get rid of that misconception."

My apologies; obviously I hit a nerve. I was thinking you guys were lucky that you don't have to worry about breakage or crushing damage, but perhaps that's not true with very old and fragile stamps?

rose-dee · ‎06-27-2014

OK, I'm still noodling on this....maybe I can ask this a different way.

Which is better for a seller in the long run-- assume for the sake of discussion that every item is currently priced at $15 (which is about the average price of my antique patterns) -- :

a) Offer all items for $15 with free shipping to Canada, and reduced (i.e. less than actual) shipping to the US and internationally (using FVF and TRS savings to offset losses -- which is what I'm currently planning)? or

b) Offer items at, say, $18 (a rather non-competitive price in that category, but possibly doable experimentally), with free shipping to Canada and free shipping to the U.S., but reduced (less than actual) int'l shipping? or

c) Offer all items for $15 with free shipping everywhere, i.e. competitive item price and "can't beat it" shipping cost?

My issue is whether version (c) -- which would obviously result in significant reduction of profit on virtually every sale -- would really be foreseeably offset by increased volume of sales. Or, is the "safe" option (a) the wisest, which balances reasonable return and offsets from discounts, etc. against the likelihood of free shipping attracting better placement/sales? I'm a bit of a risk-taker at heart, option (c) doesn't seem smart right now, more like Russian roulette, given the unpredictability and fluctuation of traffic and buyers to eBay over the past few months.

I'm on the verge of expanding my business, and these questions have been preying on my mind lately. I'd welcome input.

P.S. It's probably important to mention that more than 90% of my customers are in the U.S.

ricarmic · ‎06-27-2014

Hi Rose! Yes stamps can sustain different damage - "folding" is a good example... collectors want pristine examples, when the posties fold the envelopes to fit/cram into the mailbox it can damage the stamps.... and it doesn't matter what you ship when there are TIRE marks on the package when it arrives! (This actually occurred on one of my bubble mailers!!!) Even heavy jostling en-route can damage the stamps if they aren't securely packed....dings, corners bent etc ruin them....

reallynicestamps · ‎06-27-2014

And then there's water. And mould.

We've had collections brought into the store, that were walked right back outside again because the stench of mildew made it obvious that the collections were a danger to our entire stock.

Also the lungs of the staff, but they love to live dangerously.

hocotatefreight · ‎07-03-2014

"Yes - stop selling low priced items with high shipping cost. That is where you get killed by fees."

I never thought of this, what a great point.

rose-dee · ‎07-04-2014

@hocotatefreight2 wrote:
"Yes - stop selling low priced items with high shipping cost. That is where you get killed by fees."
I never thought of this, what a great point.

Yes, because it's one thing to pay a commission on money you take in (from the sale of an item), but quite another to be paying out money on something you're not earning (shipping charges).

hocotatefreight · ‎07-04-2014

@rose-dee wrote:
@hocotatefreight2 wrote:
"Yes - stop selling low priced items with high shipping cost. That is where you get killed by fees."
I never thought of this, what a great point.
Yes, because it's one thing to pay a commission on money you take in (from the sale of an item), but quite another to be paying out money on something you're not earning (shipping charges).

Yeah, it makes sense I just never thought of it that way before. What I read here teaches me so much, I really think and can see this stuff from all angles. I do sell low cost items, at a time loss but I'm okay with that. I don't charge high shipping, free letter mail for those low cost items (DVDs).