Are sales any better if you offer free shipping? Any bad experiences?

[julieo459]

I have never offered Free Shipping, But am now looking for a way to work around the increased shipping costs. (higher cost on the listing might scare buyers away) Most of my buyers are are in the USA.

How is everyone dealing with all their current listings at the old shipping rates? Is there a way to make bulk changes? (probably a dumb question), Agh 

[bb_cool_stuff]

Yes that is a pain in the butt.

The majority return messages with a reasonable shipping price in my experiences.

If they don't i just move on. Another one with a reasonable price does have a way of being listed eventually.

[dipmicro]

Usually item that is priced above market average with free shipping does better than market average priced item with stated shipping that comes to same price as first item...

Does this work for you dipmicro ?

With the majority of my items i would consider it a hit & miss. Probably my category.

I use combo between included and stated shipping - adding portion of shipping into item price and remaining portion is discounted based on markup so many items actually do get free shipping.

I cannot say it works better or not. If it works its not major increase. Sometimes people expect free shipping, had couple sales cancelled because buyers were surprised there was actual shipping cost involved. The e-commerce industry seems to be moving this way, I was resisting couple years, even had few unsuccessful trials until I found a working model.  Its easy to implement on top of ChinaPost or even USPS but challenging to implement on top of CanadaPost. ChitChat's Express makes it easier.

[pjcdn2005]

I could see ebay requiring included-free shipping for domestic sales but I doubt they will ever do it for international sales. The difference in cost between domestic and international shipping would make it difficult if not impossible for a seller to include shipping within their price. I am referring more to the U.S. sellers. If they had to have free shipping to all locations, I can see even more of them refusing to ship domestically.

[tobyshitzu]

They'll never require free shipping here, of if they did they'd have to stop promoting it as "free".  The big sellers with b&M stores could not promote "free" unless it was truly free.  If people could compare the price in store and see "free'  meant hiding extra for shipping in the price that would cause them substantial problem

[bb_cool_stuff]

Its working for me right now, but i am a lightweight part time seller.

Not sure how the full time sellers are doing.

I guess we can all play the hit & miss game right now, like we do with our stock, until we can figure out what works best in our categories.

[i*m-still-here]

When I first tried to picture mandatory free shipping on ebay I couldn't see how it would work for international sales either.

But the more I consider it, the more I can see where it could work out.

International sales which have an added flat rate amount added o the final price.

Sellers who really wanted to cash in on International sales could offer discounts if they chose to.

All of the details would require working through but IMO it would make ebay a much nicer place to shop and I"m pretty sure that a lot of sellers would be very pleasantly surprised.

From what I've seen I don't think that sellers have much insight into how their actions turn buyers off and away from ebay for good.

[bb_cool_stuff]

International sales which have an added flat rate amount added to the final price.

???

Do you mean an amount added on top of the shipping costs already included in the item price ?

[pocomocomputing]

When I first tried to picture mandatory free shipping on ebay I couldn't see how it would work for international sales either.

But the more I consider it, the more I can see where it could work out.

International sales which have an added flat rate amount added o the final price.

Sellers who really wanted to cash in on International sales could offer discounts if they chose to.

All of the details would require working through but IMO it would make eBay a much nicer place to shop and I"m pretty sure that a lot of sellers would be very pleasantly surprised.

From what I've seen I don't think that sellers have much insight into how their actions turn buyers off and away from ebay for good.

I am lost at what you are trying to say here.

Adding an amount for International sales would no longer make it Free shipping.

Most sellers sell to the USA which is International.

Offering discounts on shipping is just a different way to have variable shipping costs and it makes Free Shipping in name only. It becomes an even more convoluted marketing tactic than would give buyers more distrust of sellers. It makes Free Shipping even more bogus than it already is.

Whatever you are thinking, it does not sound feasible to me.

Please explain.

[i*m-still-here]

I don't know how one would organize mandatory Free Shipping internationally, but a starting point would be to envision an added fee.

Of course it's not Free.  That's understood but it's easier to type that Shipping Included.

The bottom line is that any change could not possibly complicate things more than they are right now.Ebay is fine for Americans buying within the States but for everyone else………. Not So Much.

IMO ebay is currently bending over backwards to cater to US sellers and it's become increasingly difficult here for everyone else. Shipping issues are more difficult than ever as a result.

The Ebay Buying Experiecne:: The way it is now for a Canadian buying from the US.

Let's say a buyer finds 20 items from 20 sellers and wants to choose one to buy.  They are priced between $50 and $100.  

All are the same weight, but a shopper will see shipping ranging from $5 to $35 for about 5 of the items..  For a buyer paying for the service the $5 does the job as well and often better than the $35 service does.  

To complicate things some sellers use a relay service (P-B) and that could' t be more bizarre and a few use UPS.  The difference between UPS and USPS isn't clear to a new buyer and many fall into hole.

In any event, out of those 20 items 15 don't even quote a shipping cost and the buyer has to contact the seller.  That requires a whole series of clicks and it's very tedious.  

Occasionally a buyer misses the routine by accident and when that happens the charge will be at the far upper need of the range………… $20-$35.  If the buyer objects everyone LOUDLY blames the buyer because he or she didn't ask before buying.  

Anyway, when the buyer does complete the tedious question asking process a few sellers never respond but about 12 do send emails with a shipping amounts between $5-$30.  

The buyer then has to make a choice which item to purchase.  The buyer goes for the one with $5 shipping but when ti comes time to pay the bill the buyer can't pay it because the seller hasn't plugged in the cost of shipping.  Then, the buyer starts emailing the seller again and eventually gets a bill with shipping set at $14.  

If the buyer doesn't pay it there is the threat of strikes.  If the buyer gives the seller a hard time then the seller reports the buyer as a difficult.

That is the reality of ebay. Could it possibly be any more complicated?

Free shipping or shipping or shipping included, IF done well, could really ease things up.......... but there is a big IF in there.

[pierrelebel]

We do have freedom of expression on eBay.

Anyone can write just about anything (within the limits of the policies) whether it makes any sense or not.

Sometime I wonder.... is freedom of expression such a great thing?

[i*m-still-here]

Well, I have to say that it took me a little time to see that you are referring to me.  

Most people reserve talk about Freedom of Speech and related sentiments when important situations involving bigotry, prejudiced, and other forms of hatred against various groups are involved.

P****** : Binging up Freedom of Speech and suggesting that those expressing ideas and thoughts which contradict your own should be gagged is odd and inappropriate.

For Goodness Sakes.  It's a comment regarding ebay shipping.

Put it into perspective already.

[pjcdn2005]

Of course it's not Free.  That's understood but it's easier to type that Shipping Included.

It isn't price included either if you have one price for buyers within a certain country and another price for buyers outside of that country.

Perhaps you are suggesting that ebay set a specific shipping price to buyers outside of that site's country..which in the case of ebay.com would mean any buyer outside of the U.S. Personally, I think that also would limit the sellers that would ship out of the U.S. because it's impossible for ebay to set a price that every seller would be comfortable with. Perhaps instead ebay will make the global shipping program mandatory in which case anytime you buy from the U.S. you will be prepaying duty/taxes/brokerage.

Personally, I don't like either solution.

[pjcdn2005]

oops..the first line of my post is a quote from i'm still here

[i*m-still-here]

Personally, I don't like either solution.

I didn't actually offer a solution, and personally, I agree.

I don't like yours either.

You may be satisfied with the way things are now, but I find it a PITA and judging from the posts here others do as well.

The example I descried above is not an exaggeration.

The current way of doing things could clearly be improved upon.  It puts a stink on a lot of ebay transactions.  It's cumbersome and inconvenient.

It hurts everyone's sales directly and indirectly probably much more than they are aware of.

The way things are now buyers just give up and don't buy anything at all.  I have done just that countless times and gone to the store instead............ and I am someone who knows ebay well,

I've come back.

Most never return.

I've often wondered about shipping included and/or free shipping and perhaps there is a way to tweak those concepts so they could work well for international sales too.

I'm just sayin': I don't know how, but I don't think it should be dismissed as impossible either.