Free shipping or not?

[verovintagetreasures]

Hello Canadian sellers! I need advice!

My sales are slow so I am reviewing my store. Also, I had more complaints recently about my shipping fees, which are always exactly the amount that I have to pay to ship the item with Canada Post, so no profits there. Those complaints are mostly from US clients. They don't undertsand why it's so expensive, USPS it's so cheap if we compare. Since the pandemic I only ship with tracked service, so it's a little more expensive too...

Anyway, here are my thoughts:

-Should I put everything "free shipping" and adapt my items' cost in consequence?

-Should I stop offering "best offer" option  if I offer free shipping? 

-Should I Use a flat rate shipping cost for everything, let's say 8$, then keep "best offer", and level up my items price a bit?

What are you guys doing? I sell a large variety of items, from paper ephemera to dinerware. So enveloppes to large heavy boxes. 

Thanks for your help!

Véro

[mrdutch1001]

ZOMBIE THREAD FROM 2021!

[38e_avenue]

Thread - maybe, but not the issue, which is (always) current.  I suppose, many sellers still cannot decide they offer free shipping, or not. 

[38e_avenue]

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@pjcdn2005 wrote:

Unfortunately, this is not true what was said about the PL fee calculation. It definitely INCLUDES the shipping fee. 

Promoted Listings did not calculate shipping when that information was posted in 2021.

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It might be - I did not verify. 

[mrdutch1001]

the "free shipping" gimmick has run its course, not only here on eBay, but on other selling sites too....

and savy buyers are not stupid...they know, just as sellers know> shipping is NOT FREE!...and most savy buyers take into consideration the TOTAL price when making their buying decisions..

sure sellers still use it, but "free shipping" is a gimmick and a gimmick is still a gimmick and gimmicks grow old & tiresome and useless...

[ricarmic]

I certainly believe that a good(?) portion of buyers do consider the total price.

Whether or not it is gimmicky, it is also important to understand the things necessary to be noticed on a site.

Here's my experience...

Virtually everything I have on sale here on eBay is "free shipping". Why? I am 100% sure the "algorithm" here is still built to favour items that have free shipping. As long as that is the case, I'm going to continue to do what it takes like this (and the other things in my bag of tricks) to maximize my visibility.

One of the other sites I list on my stuff there is also "free shipping" with built in price. That site does NOT favour free shipping items visibility wise, or as far as I know. It also has a "block sellers" option that allows buyers to block sellers they don't want to see. They allow the sellers to see the reason list with % as to why they got blocked. I happened across this list for me, and "price is too high" was one of the reasons I was blocked. So it is likely that the free shipping there is not helping me. I do get a lot of questions asking me what the shipping is despite the listing saying shipping is free (we all know how few people read descriptions no matter what site they are on). If and when I ever have time I'll have to fix that there.

My main point is it doesn't matter how much we think it does/n't make sense, it matters how much that particular platform thinks it does/n't make sense that matters, irregardless of whether the platform is right or wrong....

[38e_avenue]

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@ricarmic wrote:

Virtually everything I have on sale here on eBay is "free shipping". Why? I am 100% sure the "algorithm" here is still built to favour items that have free shipping. As long as that is the case, I'm going to continue to do what it takes like this (and the other things in my bag of tricks) to maximize my visibility.

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Ebay promotes free shipping - it's widely known.

I buy often on the "other" site, too. Even if I know the "free shipping" is a gimmick, for some reason I feel better buying something with no shipping charge (weird, but true) ... 🤔

[reallynicestamps]

[kh-leslie]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.