eBay

firesnake13 · ‎10-26-2016

Looking for advice on what would be a reasonable shipping discount if a buyer was successful on 9 different items. They are all magazines.

My shipping rate is reasonable because I don't ship letter mail typically, I just use tracked small packet instead. The shipping is within Canada. The buyer is getting a pretty good price on the magazines which is why I suspect he purchased 9.

Raw shipping price is $116.91USD minus fees. Actual cost to ship the magazines would be around $20 CAD. At what point should we meet? Discount from raw shipping by 80%? 60%? Is there sort of a standard rule to go by?

ypdc_dennis · ‎10-26-2016

@firesnake13 wrote:
Looking for advice on what would be a reasonable shipping discount if a buyer was successful on 9 different items. They are all magazines.

My shipping rate is reasonable because I don't ship letter mail typically, I just use tracked small packet instead. The shipping is within Canada. The buyer is getting a pretty good price on the magazines which is why I suspect he purchased 9.

Raw shipping price is $116.91USD minus fees. Actual cost to ship the magazines would be around $20 CAD. At what point should we meet? Discount from raw shipping by 80%? 60%? Is there sort of a standard rule to go by?

Whatever you're comfortable with.

Me, I'd probably drop it to actual shipping cost in CA$ expressed in US$.

So if the cost was 21CA$ for Expedited parcel, then I would charge $21US$.

-..-

thestuffofchris · ‎10-26-2016

There is no standard rule, at least not that I'm aware of.

From what I'm understanding, the "raw" shipping cost is the combined shipping costs of the individual listings the buyer purchased, which is about $156 CAD ($117 USD). The actual shipping cost is $20 CAD, a $136 CAD difference.

I personally see no reason to charge more than the actual cost. You state in your listings that you offer combined shipping, so the buyer is probably already expecting to only be charged the actual cost.

mcrlmn · ‎10-26-2016

You should charge what it costs to pack and ship.

musicyouneed · ‎10-26-2016

I myself have had a few buyers purchase multiple items from me. I charge almost exact postage cost plus a little extra for the packaging material. So if the actual postage cost is only $20, I would charge them $24 or $25. Since that has happened to me, those few buyers have been back a few times and one of them, since he buys 15 at a time, I give him free shipping. So I lose a few dollars on shipping but I have more than made up for it in sales.

rose-dee · ‎10-26-2016

@firesnake13 wrote:
Looking for advice on what would be a reasonable shipping discount if a buyer was successful on 9 different items. They are all magazines.

For 9 items, personally I'd give free shipping. Your buyer will remember you, and may come back for another lot.

I always provide free shipping for 4 or more items purchased together, based on the same belief, and on the principle that one of those items essentially pays for the shipping. Would the buyer have purchased 4 or more if there hadn't been free shipping? Very likely not. They go away happy, I go away happy. And there's a better chance that buyer will return. All good!

tobyshitzu · ‎10-26-2016

There would be nothing left if op gave free shipping on these. Buyer is going to end up with a huge discount from the idividual S&H so no need for that. OP figure out what you will save by shipping them together as a startign point and you could discount by that or less if you wish.

rose-dee · ‎10-26-2016

@toby**bleep**zu wrote:
There would be nothing left if op gave free shipping on these. Buyer is going to end up with a huge discount from the idividual S&H so no need for that. OP figure out what you will save by shipping them together as a startign point and you could discount by that or less if you wish.

Oh, I see that the OP is selling items at $3.99 etc., no wonder. You're right, free shipping for a group of items of that price makes no sense.

However, the OP said his actual shipping would be around $20, so I don't see how discounting the totalled shipping of $116.91 US by only $20 or so is at all fair to the customer. If actual shipping is only costing the OP $20, why would he want to charge the buyer more (except maybe a couple of extra dollars for handling)?

I don't believe in using shipping to make profit off buyers. Besides, the buyer may know enough to look up the cost of shipping on the Canada Post website for a group of magazines of the same weight, and be appalled at what he ended up paying in shipping.

As a buyer, I would not be impressed at being charged more than something close to the actual shipping after purchasing 9 items from the seller. In fact, the OP might risk a complaint by the buyer to eBay for excessive shipping costs. No, I'd stick to actual shipping.

ypdc_dennis · ‎10-26-2016

@rose-dee wrote:
... the OP said his actual shipping would be around $20, so I don't see how discounting the totalled shipping of $116.91 US by only $20 or so is at all fair to the customer. If actual shipping is only costing the OP $20, why would he want to charge the buyer more (except maybe a couple of extra dollars for handling)?

I don't disagree with your conclusion, but the OP didn't say anything about a discount of only $20, OP said Discount from raw shipping by 80%? 60%? -- That's a $70 to $94 discount.

firesnake13 · ‎10-26-2016

Thanks for all the input. I ended up doing $20USD (that someone suggested) which just covers the shipping (with tracking) plus packaging costs. The buyer has now paid. I've made sure to do a top notch packaging job so they should be impressed there. Free shipping or even just one shipping fee of $12.99 would have had me at a loss and I don't have so much product right now that would have them returning for more anytime soon.

amandabalmain · ‎10-27-2016

One of the things that I will do is upgrade the buyers shipping (so they receive their package sooner + add options like insurance &/or signature)... once the upgrades have been applied I will look at the what is left of the 'shipping' fees and taking into account packaging supplies & labor to package I will find a nice medium for a shipping discount....

Words to remember: Bigger discounts for your buyer on shipping fees can often = a repeat buyer 🙂

rose-dee · ‎10-27-2016

@ypdc_dennis wrote:
I don't disagree with your conclusion, but the OP didn't say anything about a discount of only $20, OP said Discount from raw shipping by 80%? 60%? -- That's a $70 to $94 discount.

Oh yes, I did understand that, I was actually replying to 'toby', who, despite the rather truncated comment which I may have misunderstood for lack of precision, I now think in retrospect was saying more or less the same thing as the OP. Or maybe not...

In any case, it looks as if the OP has charged only what shipping actually cost. He'll have a happy customer, which is the main thing.