Question about Free Shipping

[cc_stamps]

For those sellers who provide Free Shipping, you probably increase your item cost a bit.

Did you have any buyers ask if they buy several items, can they have discount ? What the discount % you give ? Or Never discount ?

[brandeentertainment]

You questions is very broad ...

I can tell you it is all on how people look at it .. I offer Free shipping and I set my price so that after it sells I pay shipping and fees and still make a profit .... Is the shipping is the price you can say yes it is or you can say no it is not my price is just set so I make a profit it when it sells ...

As for discount on free shipping can't happen will I give a discount though yes pending profit margin not on amount .. If a buyer buys 10 movies that I only make 50 cents a piece off of then no I will not give a discount een if they buy 20 of them ..

If the buyer buy 10 movies that I make $5 a piece off of then yes if they ask  Iwill give them a discount ...

Everyone looks at it in which ever way they feel justified in looking at it ..

I never discount shipping on Auctions because the profits are very little or I actually lose money ...

What I wish buyers realized is buying 5 movies is nothing not even a drop in the bucket .. I got a discount from my supplier last week but had to purchase 3000 copies of one title to get the discount and some customer will find it rude if I do not give them a discount for buying 2 or 3 movies but that is because they don't know the other side of the story and most don't care to know either...

[pierrelebel]

"For those sellers who provide Free Shipping, you probably increase your item cost a bit."

I am one of these sellers.  Have been for years.  Why?  Because many competitors do it and it made sense to do the same.  If you take a quick look at the Canadian Stamp News, it will not take you very long to notice most dealers absorb shipping costs and taxes.

Back in the days when I was active (I am now semi-retired and disposing of my excess inventory) selling on eBay, other venues and my own website, I did not "increase the cost a little bit".  I simply look at postage cost as an expense, a "cost of doing business" like so many other costs.

Stamp dealers generally work of substantial margins (50%-90%) and there is a lot of room to cover expenses.  Keep in mind that most dealers also purchase their postage stamps at auction in lots well below face value, so a $0.63 stamp only cost $0.40 or so.

In general terms, my shipping and handling costs (envelopes, packaging materials and postage) were about 7% of sales, less than the eBay/PayPal fees which averaged about 10% in those days (lower today with a store).

When a stamp or stamp set sells for $10 and your cost is $3, you should not have to worry about spending $1 or $2 to package and mail your sale.

On the other hand, I have seen sellers selling stamps on eBay for $1 or $2.  That is a hobby, a fun thing to do, not a business and most likely will not be profitable on the long run once a seller factors his time.

[rose-dee]

I take a different approach.  I offer free shipping on promotions, often along with a store sale (say, 10% off, plus free shipping) for limited periods, usually about a month.  I do it this way because, to be honest, I'm not quite ready to jump into offering free shipping on most items all of the time. 

I don't add anything to my prices when I do offer free shipping because I feel it only takes a couple of extra sales to defray extra shipping expenses on just about every item during the promotion month.  And usually the store discount + free shipping do produce more sales.

On a permanent basis I offer free shipping on any 5 items purchased.  Again, my philosophy is that the extra sales will more than cover the cost, and the free shipping might also help to create return customers (which it in fact has done).  There is a bit of a risk involved, in that a buyer could choose 5 relatively heavy or large items which would greatly increase the shipping cost, but as Pierre says, you have to learn to think of shipping costs as a business expense, and not something you always have to recoup somehow.    

[rose-dee]

Incidentally, I should add that I often "subsidize" my buyers' shipping, usually by paying for a higher level of service than what they have paid for.  This is usually in cases where there is a fairly expensive item involved, so the improved shipping protects me as well as makes a very happy customer (faster delivery). 

I keep track of each "subsidy", tally those amounts up at the end of each year and claim them as business expenses on my income tax return.  This is probably the same sort of idea as Pierre mentioned, in claiming as business expenses the charges he pays out of pocket to provide free shipping to his buyers.  It's just a different approach to the same problem.  Since I rarely use lettermail for my items (they aren't suitable) and can't really justify sending larger or heavier items for free, I instead chose to offer upgrades to my buyers on mid-range parcel services (Light Packet, Expedited), which I can usually afford to do.

[ricarmic]

Generally what I sell is "free shipping".

The shipping cost for postage, envelopes, cookie jar insurance etc is all included in the price.

However my free shipping is only to USA addresses. International addresses pay additional shipping, and Canadians pay additional shipping (unless they let me send an invoice with the relevant taxes which only happens about 5% of the time).

If someone in the USA buys multiple lots, I do not refund anything for two reasons, it is "free" so they aren't expecting anything anyway, and it would also identify what my shipping allotment is, which can complicate future transactions (different lots have different shipping costs and it confuses folks if they become repeat buyers as to why the refund amount is different every time).

If someone internationally buys multiple items, I reduce the shipping for the combined shipment if they ask or let me send an invoice. If they just pay, and there is a "overpaid shipping" situation, I include extra stamps labelled "overpaid shipping".

Repeat long term customers are sometimes handled differently, I'll include "bonuses" which reflects a combined shipping amount and of course my appreciation for their being a repeat customer.

Some of my large/heavy lots are not free shipping, generally I do this when it is most likely to go to a Canadian buyer and burying the shipping in the item price (ie $50 to the USA vs $20 if it goes to Canada) makes the price prohibitive.

Seeing what you are selling and given shipping is $2.51, I'm surprised you don't have more problems with Canadian buyers giving you a hard time about the shipping cost being too high. Adding that amount to the individual stamp(s) price to make it free shipping also makes them prohibitively expensive. You might want to consider "grouping" your items - 4 or 5 or more of your lots would easily still ship for the $2.51 shipping cost. I believe I mentioned this in an earlier thread of yours, but go to my eBay store and search on "china" and you will see how I handle individual vs group lots....

[rosscd57]

I take a very simple approach.

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS FREE SHIPPING.

[cc_stamps]

Hi Ricarmic, if a buyer buys 10 China items from you, all of them have shipping fee $0.5 or $1, do you only charge $1 for 10 items ? Or $1 plus 9 more additional item cost (could be $0.1 each) ?

[pierrelebel]

"THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS FREE SHIPPING."

Of course there is.

You can drive to Future Shop (and many other retailers) and purchase a TV

or, from the comfort of your home, you can go to their website, buy the same TV at the same price and get "free delivery"

That is really "free shipping", is it not?

The same applies to many sellers on eBay!

[ricarmic]

Hi CC!

I'm not sure if you are asking how multiple purchases work from me or how I charge shipping when I combine lots....

If we use the China section as an example:

If you are asking about situations where the buyer buys multiple lots:

USA buyer pays:

     0$ shipping for 1 or 5 or 10 items

Canadian buyer pays

     0$ shipping if I send an invoice where they pay the provincial portion of the HST(I always cover the GST stamp folks expect it)

     The sum of the shippings if they don't - if it adds up to a lot, I'll include a bonus

International buyer pays

     Usually something like the largest shipping amount, so if they bought 3 things with one having $2 shipping and one with $3 shipping and one with $5.50 shipping, they'd probably pay combined shipping of $5.50. It all depends on what stuff they bought but they do pay a reduced combined shipping amount.

(note that the shipping that the Canadian and International buyers pay is on top of the built in "free" shipping already in the price for the Americans - this is how I cover the additional risk/time cost for international shipments)

If you are asking what I do if I combine multiple lots into one lot (like the sales cards examples in my store):

The shipping is the shipping cost of the combined group. I combine them because it is not cost effective for me to list and sell individual items that are worth less than $10 (see my other thread where I explain that my processes cost me half an hour's work to sell a given ebay item). As an example, if I list and sell an item for $1.50, given it takes me half an hour's work to sell it, I would be making an hourly wage of something like 45c which is a long ways below minimum wage!

If I still am missing what you are asking, please just clarify and I'll do my best to answer....

[cumos55]

When a seller on eBay  says free shipping for every single listing... and he sells nothing anywhere else.... 

Seller calls it free shipping  , but more specifically it is shipping included in the price.

Future Shop sells mainly out of a retail store, and sometimes  they have "free delivery"

The cost of this delivery is carried by the sale of everything out of their store.

In addition that TV comes out of a warehouse, where  the cost of selling, based on storage is lower  than in their retail outlet.

The price in the store and the price with free shipping is the same....

No shipping included in the price ..

If I used free shipping  it would be on one maybe two items.....

The cost of shipping of that one item with free shipping is carried by the sale of all other items  that do not have free shipping.

$14.00 shipping for one items spread across 700 sales where shipping is charged  is two cents per sale for all sales

"True" free shipping means just that ... FREE....  and not shipping included as stated by many sellers on eBay.

Search through eBay  for a definition of free shipping....  eBay has never defined free shipping