How does free shipping work for a buyer?

[vintagetonow2134]

Do they pay any customs or anything when the package gets to them?

Talking about international shipping

[momcqueen]

Free shipping to a buyer means shipping is paid by the seller and added to the cost of the item.

Postage and taxes on import are separate. All international buyers potentially pay import fees to their government if their de minimus is exceeded, but that’s not the eBay seller’s concern so long as a listing states that import fees are not borne by the seller. Check one of my listings for wording. It’s near the bottom.

[momcqueen]

Also,

Free international shipping is cost-prohibitive outside the USA.

And each nation’s de minimus is vastly different. Canada Post allows you to experiment with this if you want under Find a Rate.

[vintagetonow2134]

I ordered a couple of years ago 2 books from greece. I didn't have to pay anything other than what I paid the sellers. But I have heared different stories. So apparently I am the lucky one and thats not the case for everyone. Which is why I wanted to ask. Thanks I will check your listing in a bit to see.

[vintagetonow2134]

Why are stamps for within canada so expensive?

[momcqueen]

I cannot answer that. One dollar to mail an article from Newfoundland to White Horse is not my idea of expensive.

[vintagetonow2134]

I saw 85.00 maybe I looked at the wrong spot then. Otherwise even 5to10 isn't really that expensive either

[reallynicestamps]

Why are stamps for within canada so expensive?

They don't have to be.

*ahem*

Whistles a happy tune while listing.

The rate for a domestic letter is 85 cents for a single stamp at the PO counter, plus tax and service charge.

A booklet does not have the service charge.

And you can find some reallynice deals on eBay.

[bert1630]

Why do people not know postal rates. 1 hockey card in a top loader placed in white envelope is .85 cents to anywhere in Canada and $1.20 to anywhere in the USA. So when you see $24.00,$15.00,$12.00,$6.99 and other ridiculous shipping charges,you should know your being taken to the cleaners.

[momcqueen]

Taken to the cleaners, or that the seller is unversed in postal rates and pulling numbers from thin air. Or that he or she intends to ship with tracking. However, with trading cards, I’d suggest that if the card is valuable enough to warrant tracking and parcel/registered rates, the cost of postage should be added to the Asking Price where it appears to be added value instead of the shipping section where it looks like a waste of money as soon as the item is delivered.

[femmefan1946]

You may very well be right, but take a look at the cost of USPS tracked services.

https://postcalc.usps.com/?country=10440

And Canada Post tracked.

https://www.canadapost.ca/cpotools/apps/far/business/findARate?execution=e1s1

If you bought a 99 cent card and the seller insisted on tracking-- that's a good arguement for a Blocked Seller List.

But if this was a $99.00 oard, the seller is entitled to protect his business with tracking.

[momcqueen]

Precisely. As a seller, I am all about the tracking UNLESS it's something I can ship via domestic lettermail and offer it as free shipping by adding $2 to the item price that I might sell for $15 and of which I have multiples. There's a fine line between risk tolerance and cost tolerance. 

[vintagetonow2134]

doesn't everything warrant tracking? if tracking is your protection against someone claiming they never got the item even though they did. Why make it easy for them to keep their money and your item as well. At least with tracking you will know if it was lost or they are lying because they are frauds. Wouldn't you think so?

[vintagetonow2134]

ok but what if your buyer claims they never got the item and requests that money back? and now they have the money and the card. Wouldn't that give you negative feedback even though you actually sent the item? and wouldn't that negative feedback keep some new buyers from trusting you enough to purchase from you? If it wasn't about the feedback I would sure ignore it for 99 cents. But what about 5.99 or 10.99?

[vintagetonow2134]

ok yes I agree. But it's the feedback thingy. Which has an affect on whether someone would trust you to buy from you or not. If someone claims you didn't send the item and they put that on your feedback. You are doomed.

[femmefan1946]

There's a fine line between risk tolerance and cost tolerance. 

This is a valuable point.

@vintagetonow2134

doesn't everything warrant tracking? i

No.

Say you sell an item for $10USD with Free Shipping that cost you $1.00 Cdn plus free listing plus 10% FVF on selling price - another $1.00USD.

Your costs will be $0.77USD+$1=$1.77USD PLUS postage.

Now if your postage is $5.15 (LetterPost up to 200 gr) your cost in USD is $5.73

If the buyer claim non-receipt your loss is $5.73.

You can add to that cost by arguing the case-- but your time at minimum wage is about 18cents a minute. You have 20 minutes to argue, before the argument costs you more in lost time than you gained in the transaction.

If you tracked the $10 item, you have to pay $17.90Cdn for postage to the USA.

Will your customer pay $23.38 for that doohickey?

Your choices are:

• Make the sale and believe that most people are honest.
• Don't make the sale because tracked shipping turns off the customer.
• Make the sale and possibly run into the one percent of buyers who are dishonest-- and will cheat on a $10 purchase.

Now if the item cost you $100 and you were sellingit for $200-- you would probably be tracking.

Analyze your tolerances.

[afantiques]

Doesn't everything warrant tracking? If tracking is your protection against someone claiming they never got the item even though they did. Why make it easy for them to keep their money and your item as well. At least with tracking you will know if it was lost or they are lying because they are frauds. Wouldn't you think so?

People do think so but it is fuzzy thinking that costs  them money.

Risk experience may differ in different categories but I sent out at least 10,000 packages. None were ever tracked and my loss rate was about 0.5%

This was too trivial to matter. values ranged from $10 to $1000, but only one item over $100 went missing, I must have saved arounf $10,000 a year by not paying extra for tracked postage and only had to refund a few hundred a year if that.

You may say that the customer pays for the shipping. By charging onlly the actual cost of basic airmail I am sure I got more customers and more repeat and regular customers  because in comparison with other sellers my shipping cost was a good deal. More of the money a customer was willing to spend ended up in my pocket.

You can never avoid the occasional dodgy buyer. All retailers allow for 'shrinkage' one way or another, it is just an overhead cost like premises and staff. If the figure is small enough it really does not matter. It is a mistake to take it personally, it is just business. Spending more money to prevent something that the event would cost if it happened is bad business practice. It is an amateur mistake. Because so may ebay sellers are amateur businesses, many do just that. It is not a problem in the US where some form of tracking is free or a trivial cost. Sellers outside the US need to think it through a bit more.

I did take steps to make my items look as unattractive as possible to pilfering in transit, all customs descriptions amounnted to 'Boring old Junk' valued at 'Not worth stealing', in plain envelopes. Outside the US bar codes on post often mean someting valuable is inside. No tracking, no bar codes.

recped will have seen me say this many times before, I just put it out now because it still makes sense and is a refutation of the track everything idea..

[momcqueen]

It’s a good perspective to share. Not one I wholeheartedly agree with, but a valuable and valid point-of-view nonetheless.

I do take issue with the ‘eBay amateurs use tracking’ statement, however, as I use tracking because my buyers expect it from me the same as they do from all major online retailers.