eBay

rocketscollectibles · ‎07-17-2021

Hi there. I'm trying to figuring out best shippings method i'm selling collectible trading cards. It seems like in this 10-40$ range of price things seems really a mess

What i mean is that under 10$ i think that lettermail using bubble mailer is the best risk/reward to get sales, the problem is that over that i feel like the risk of lost for non delivery getting too high in $. At the same time i don't see how it would be possible to do any sale using tracking regular parel 12$-20$ making the shipping 20%+ the price of the items. Even registered mail is like 10$.

Over a certain price i think it's possible to use tracking the ratio item price / shipping price can be acceptable 50$+ item / 15$ shipping ( even this ratio seems terrible it's acceptable for 100$+ items to me ). But what is the options for 10-40$ items!? I can't figuring out. I added combined shipping lettermail + 0.50$ / item on my under 10$ listings, and i started to think about if someone buy 20$+ and it's not tracked, the risk/reward getting really bad...

Any suggestion cause i'm actually really lost on how to set up my shipping and the option of combined shipping depending of different price ranges. It's a puzzle that seems to have no solutions cause of terrible canada shipping prices. At his point i'm wondering if it's even viable to sell cards on ebay being non-business seller

mmmcross · ‎07-17-2021

My advice would be to just offer regular lettermail as your standard/default shipping, and if a buyer really wants to pay for tracking for the added security they'll let you know. I have had very few problems with items not received and very few requests for tracked shipping. Buyers do the risk/reward math too, even for purchases that are special.

recped · ‎07-17-2021

Under $10 or over $10 but less than $40.

Personally I would ship them all the same way (the cheapest possible). Perhaps for a $400 sale I would add tracking.

"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915
- answering Trolls is voluntary, my policy is not to participate.

pjcdn2005 · ‎07-17-2021

I know that recped has mentioned that he has very few inr claims over the years so he is a bit more laid back about it than others. You have to decide your own limit based on your own experiences and your risk level.

For myself...I might make $40 or $50 my limit for sending items without tracking but I would also build in a little 'cookie jar insurance' in each sale in case I do have a loss. That just means that when I'm pricing an item I might add a small amount to the item or to shipping that I consider as a self insurance policy in case there is a problem later down the road.

The category that you sell in might carry more risk for claims than other categories so your risk tolerance might be less than mine. When I first start selling I did tend to get more inr's. But now after I've mailed an item, I send a message to the buyer thanking them for the purchase and giving them a realistic arrival time and also aski them to contact me if they have questions or problems. I've found that seems to reassure people that even though there is no tracking, the item is on the way.

rcrawford34 · ‎07-17-2021

I have sold Old Postcards online for over 20 years. I personally use size 0 Bubble Envelopes with card board backings on each side. I use oversized mailing and it costs $2.20 or so within Canada and $3.20 to the U.S. I can put up to 10 to 12 cards in the mailing depending on the thickness of the postcards

I rarely use tracking and in over 20,000 plus mailings have only had a handful of no shows and about the same for damaged items. Don't think I have used Tracking/Insurance more than a few times

If needed I use Cookie Jar insurance I have a certain percentage of money put away and use that if something happens

Only have had one mailing that stung. Sent 3 Cards totaling about $350.00 and they arrived damaged. It was the fault of the Letter Carrier. He/She folded the envelope in half to put in the box and creased the 3 cards. My customer returned them and I refunded him incluing all his costs. While damaged I was able to sell the cards at a reduced price. Made a bit of a profit but was able to recoup my full investment

weavers

reallynicestamps · ‎07-17-2021

under 10$ i think that lettermail using bubble mailer is the best risk/reward to get sales,

Why? A bubble mailer can be folded. This does not feel like a good plan.

Could I suggest switching to card mailers like these?

https://www.uline.ca/BL_1656/Kraft-Self-Seal-Stayflats-Mailers?keywords=rigid+mailers

But I agree at that pricepoint the best service is LetterMail.

Even registered mail is like 10$.

In addition, Registered Mail is only tracked within Canada. Once across the border, tracking ceases, unlike say Tracked Parcel USA for about the same price. Or even the untracked Small Packet which sometimes appears to be tracked.

no solutions cause of terrible canada shipping prices.

Are you aware of forwarders like chitchat express or Stallion? They will carry your shipments to the USA and drop them with the much cheapeer USPS.

I can't use them (they have an office but it is nearly an hour away) but there seems to be great satisfaction with the service.

Even with their service charge their prices are lower than Canada Post or any other courier.

i'm wondering if it's even viable to sell cards on ebay being non-business seller

If this is a hobby, you don't have to make money. You can even, if the moon is in the right phase and you hold your mouth just so, lose money without a qualm, because it's fun and because you are turning stuff which you don't want into money/other stuff which you do want.

Otherwise it is a business, and you do need to work out how to optimize your shipping costs.

reallynicestamps · ‎07-17-2021

I suspect that sportscards* are a bit more volatile than stamps or postcards.

The category (and the buyer demographic) can make a big difference even when the price point is the same.

And gamers gonna game.

@rocketscollectibles

Do you have a buying account with higher FB? High FB even if it was all buying FB, is a strong protection against scammers.

You are right to bundle your lower value cards. Do you also have Combined Shipping built in and do you have it prominently in your Descriptions?

*Pokemon is a sport, right?

intimewithmusic · ‎07-18-2021

Initially you said you weren't interested in selling more that a few cards you had kicking around. If nothing has changed send them out by horse and buggy. There is tracking via what the horse happened to eat that day.

If you want to compete internationally and your items are sought after then ship them out via International Tracked Packet. Insure anything over the threshhold of a $100 value. Your item will always fall below 250 grams properly packed. I

f you register with Canada Post your cost will be less than $14 to ship it anywhere within Canada and the continental USA. That is approx $11.50 USD.

You're in a collectors market , not a commodities market. Focus on what you're selling. Stop focusing on how much shipping costs. Ship with extreme care and only with secure services. When it comes ot collectors, if they see your deliveries are vouched for via feedback and the cost is not inflated it's the item you have and the photos you have that are what they want.

IT

intimewithmusic · ‎07-18-2021

That's great. I respect your experience. I know how old I am and how much experience I have but this isn't blacksmithing. You have no listings today. This is online 2021 and the landscape changes by the hour.

intimewithmusic · ‎07-18-2021

Lick a disacounted stamp you bought on Ebay to service an informed collector? I don't think so.

People are getting used to online purchasing but it doesn't mean they condone a cheasy delivery.

reallynicestamps · ‎07-18-2021

To be clear.

The stamps I sell are mint never hinged and sold at a 80% of face value.

Many of my buyers on this ID are collectors, of course, and enjoy getting these older stamps. On other IDs some have mentioned passing them on to youngsters who are collecting.

It is illegal to re-use stamps. Those are sometimes sold as "No Gum" because the gum is washed off when they are removed from the envelopes they paid to deliver. These must not be used as postage.

But mint stamps have never been used.

The Dominion of Canada has never demonetized any stamps. It is even legal to use Newfoundland stamps, as part of the Confederation agreement of 1949 that Joey Smallwood negotiated.

You might also look into 'posting IDs' which are used by some active sellers to anonymize and protect their primary IDs.
A zero FB poster may have decades of experience and thousands of FB along with a strong streak of caution.

t_bjarnason · ‎07-18-2021

I can exactly relate to the dilemma you are facing with lettermail as I recently faced the same one as I move to sell more of my cheaper cards. As @pjcdn2005 mentioned, a good place to start is to determine a limit that works for you (your max limit that you would be ok losing). For me, I decided on $25.00

I usually keep my auction listings with tracked shipping in the event that they go over $25 but offer lettermail for almost all of my "buy now" items under $25.00. I do still offer combined shipping, but only up to a max of $25/per package, which I have explained in full detail on all of my listings. As soon as the combined value goes over $25, then it's another separate package (which the customer pays for). I charge $3.50 for lettermail shipping ($1.94 postage + fees + supplies + a little for the "cookie jar insurance fund"). So some examples of how this work are:

1) customer buys several cards with a total value of $25 - 1 lettermail package ($3.50)

2) customer buys several cards with a total value of $35 - 2 lettermail packages ($7.00)

3) customer buys several cards with a total value of $60 - 3 lettermail packages ($10.50)

I do this for a few reasons - if a package is lost or filed as INR, I'm only ever out max $25.00. It also looks awefully suspicious on the buyer if they all of a sudden they start claiming INR's on multiple packages (though this will most likely do nothing in your favour as far as eBay is concerned as tracked shipping wasn't used, it still may deter dishonest buyers).

Now, I am flexible on this policy and use my own judgement. I will upgrade a more expensive combined shipping package to have tracking (as long as it's the same price or cheaper) for the buyer.

I am also more inclined to bend the rules slightly for buyers with more experience, repeat buyers or ones I have built some rapport with.

Just remember, you can never charge a customer more than what you advertise for shipping, so make sure you only advertise the most you are willing to loose.

rocketscollectibles · ‎07-18-2021

Nice to see someone selling cards in here @t_bjarnason i guess we're facing the same dilemmas overall. Thanks for sharing your method, this is something i thought about it too, shipping in multiple packages depending on combined cards price. Do you use immediate payment for that shipping model? I'm using it and this is another headashe in the formula. Cause for exemple now, i charge 2.95$ shipping + 0.50$ per additional item, but if the buyer buy 3x 10$ cards, i only have 4.45$ charged it doesnt cover a 2nd package. And if i raise my shipping, i'll have cards with higher shipping than their price ( another idea i'm thinking about is using standard enveloppe for 1 card orders under like 5$, cause it's like 1.50$ less shipping, ratio shipping/card value would be better ). Tho i'm really wondering if i should remove immediate payment, to be able to do personalised combined shipping depending on cards number and value, i dont know how it works really

Something i thought about is a model that would offering free shipping ( i guess it attract buyers and you're in the filter free shipping too so more views ) and creating a price range chart adding an amount to card price depending where the card is in this chart, an amount that would cover the shipping method i wanna use for this value. Like adding 2$ on 5$ and less cards, 3$ on 5-10$ cards, 5$ on 10-20$, etc with free shipping. It's just random numbers for the exemple but you see the idea, free shipping with a % of card value added to cover the shipping method you use for that value. Finding the good numbers to have the 15$ you need for tracking when cards hit the price you want to start tracking. Not sure i'm clear lmao... You get more profit at the end cause no discount on combined shipping ( i guess thats how top sellers can offer things like 15% discount on 100$+ orders, stuff like that ) and at the same time attract more buyers cause of free shipping. It would be a puzzle but could be possible i think

Did you tried registered mail too? I wonder if it could be the best option for cards since it's flat price 10$ and tracked, QC to BC cheapest parcel shipping is 20$

t_bjarnason · ‎07-18-2021

@rocketscollectibles I initially started with immediate payments but removed it as it only made things more complicated for multiple items. I also originally had a model where the buyer would pay $3.50 for their first item and $0.50 for each additional item, but to your point, it wasn't enough shipping if I had to ship multiple packages for only 3-4 cards. I just keep it simple now - $3.50 per item, free combined shipping up to $25/package.

Not requiring immediate payment allows your customers to request a total/invoice after purchasing your cards, so you can more easily adjust shipping costs. Now, I find the majority of buyers will still buy and pay for the cards immediately anyways and in that case, I simply issue a shipping refund.

A NOTE ABOUT SHIPPING REFUNDS: Keep in mind that eBay charges you 12.35% on both the item AND shipping, so if you are refunding a customer 100% of the shipping cost for additional items, you are also out the %12.35 fee that eBay takes, which eBay doesn't return to you. For example - if I refund $3.50, eBay has already taken $.43 in fees so that refund has actually cost me $3.93. Furthermore, if a customer doesn't buy all of the items in the same transaction and you combine them, eBay also charges $0.30 fixed fee per item (non-refundable) so the cost of the $3.50 refund to the customer now costs me $4.23!

Because of this, I have a note in my listings that if a customer pays for a combined order prior to asking for combined shipping, they will only receive a 85% refund on shipping costs. This ensures that the fees that eBay charged me are covered and not a loss to me. Of course, use your judgement here. If it's a small refund on a higher-value item, I will most times just eat the cost. However if it's a larger refund on small items, the fees can easily eat up any profits. This really isn't any different then the whole "$.50" for each additional item" setup. This also illustrates the importance of building a little exta money into your shipping charge (cookie-jar insurance) to cover things like this).

The reality is, casual sellers like you and myself can more easiliy manage our orders manually as we do not have a high amount of transactions. Because of this, we don't really need to worry about automation processes or auto-discounts on combined shipping and I find buyers don't expect this from us small guys. They expect good, personalized customer service which is where we usually have the edge over mass-transaction sellers. Most buyers are understanding.

Just keep things as simple as possible for you and your buyers and outline a combined shipping policy to set your customer's expectations. Your customers will either A) read the policy and know what to expect to pay, B) not read the policy and message you asking for combined shipping or C) not read the policy, pay shipping on each item and not ask you for anything. In either of these cases, the cutomer is always happy to receive money back or a discount, especially the ones that fall into scenario C and were not expecting it!

As far as registered mail, I have considered it but haven't tried it, mainly because I have to go to a post office to buy it.

rocketscollectibles · ‎07-18-2021

I see what you mean for refund fees, it's kinda annoying. It's like what i did read on free shipping models, if a buyer ask for a return and you refund, you actually refund the shipping cost cause it's in the item price. You sell a 40$ item with 12$ shipping, so 52$ item free shipping, if you refund after shipping you gotta pay from your pocket that 12$ cause the item is 52$ not 40$

I'll need to figuring out what i wanna do. Actually my model is acceptable cause i don't sell much so i should not meet too many problems. But i think shipping model is one of the most important thing so i want one that fits, and i i'm getting more items listed and i starts selling things so i gotta work on that before meeting any problem

reallynicestamps · ‎07-18-2021

eBay charges you 12.35% on both the item AND shipping, so if you are refunding a customer 100% of the shipping cost for additional items, you are also out the %12.35 fee that eBay takes, which eBay doesn't return to you.

One advantage of Free Shipping

DON'T PANIC!
Free shipping means that you build your cost of shipping (postage and packaging) into the selling price.

is that when you refund a shipping overcharge, you can adjust the refund to your costs, including non-refundable eBay fees, and the buyer is none the wiser and very pleased to get any refund at all.

There is no perfect answer on the usefulness of Free Shipping.

Some buyers love to get anything 'free' even though they know down deep that they are paying it somewhere.

Some buyers love to get a low price on the purchase, even when they know they will pay shipping as well.

rocketscollectibles · ‎07-18-2021

I decided actually to update all my low price pokemon cards listings to experiment a free shipping model. I raised all my under 5$ cards by 1.50$ and all my over 5$ cards by 30%. And offer free shipping. Every orders of 10$ and less having 1 to 2 cards will be ship in a standard envelop costing around 1.50$ ( not sure how much people can dislike standard envelop for cards ). Over 10$ orders ship into bubble mailers costing around 3.00$. For 25-50$ orders i'll ship into 2 packages bubble mailers so 3.00$ x 2. And around 50.00$+ i'll start shipping with tracking. This 30% added actually seems to cover most everything. There's some price ranges that it does not cover totally the shipping and handling cost by like 0.30$ ( 7-9$ cards ) but most of the time it overcharge a bit ( 20$ cards cost 3$ but charge 6$ ). At the end things balance, and more to my side. I feel like cards looks overpriced tho, but i'll see if free shipping attract buyers and visibility. That's an experimentation. Anyway it's good to mess around now that i have only 30 listings, it's gonna be more problemetic when i'll have like 100+ ( if ever i list that much )

t_bjarnason · ‎07-19-2021

I honestly considered free shipping for the exact reasons you outlined, but at the last minute decided against it because I felt it made my items look too expensive, especially the cheaper ones. It certainly makes sense though from refund standpoint! Ugh... always on the fence on this one lol

t_bjarnason · ‎07-19-2021

As long as you are covering your shipping costs, then you are on the right track.

There's a lot of debate on plain envelopes vs. bubble mailers so I won't get into that one, all I'll say is whatever you ship your cards in, you need something to make them more rigid. A top loader, hard piece of cardboard - really anything to prevent it from bending or getting creased as it passes through the sorting machines. One thing I would not do is drop a card by itself in a plain envelope, even if it's only a $2 card. Your buyer will most likely not be happy with this and the negative feedback for a $2 card will sting just as bad as negative feedback for a poorly shipped $50 card! I pack my cheap cards with the same level of care as my expensive ones and charge accordingly.

Side-note: if you want to lower your cost on bubble mailers, order them online in bulk from Amazon. They are usually on sale with free shipping and you can get them for about $0.25-$0.50/piece.