Ebay shipping

[tnopud42]

What do you think is a fair S/H charge on an average auction (say 1-20 cards) on ebay?

[munozqc886]

I take into account the bubble envelope, toploader,penny sleeve,stamps.

I card approximately 1.50
5-10 cards 2.00
10-20 cards 3.00

[Bondsaway]

I have to agree with munozqc

[chljoe]

I take into account the bubble envelope, toploader,penny sleeve,stamps.

I card approximately 1.50
5-10 cards 2.00
10-20 cards 3.00

You mean you don't take into account gas and the time it takes to package the cards like some sellers? Ebay needs more guys like you. Those have to be the most reasonable and cheapest rates I've seen. Most auctions I encounter charge around $3 for a single card. $1.50 for shipping....hell I would buy it even if I didn't need it.

[munozqc886]

When I was selling cards back in 2000 I always gave reasonable rates, and on top of that every repeat bidder/winner would get additional free cards from me. I had a pitney bowes scale and postage meter which allowed me to accurately provide postage and handling. One of the reasons I get upset at some of these sellers on the bay is their ridiculous fees charged, but of course we know the REAL reason they do it, is to make up some of the loss on the listing. On top of that some sellers on the bay don't even package the cards well. My time to start selling on the bay will come soon, and I'm sure most bidders looking at my items will appreciate the reasonable fees I will charge. I used to have many people come back to my auctions weekly due to the fact that they would get extra cards from me for coming back.

[Lesracing]

David's pricing is extremely fair especially now with the rising cost of postage, gas & supplies. I think that MANY sellers do not really have a clue about proper packaging and actual costs involved in shipping when they jump on eBay to sell.

I spent some time selling stuff from my father-in-law's house (I still need to do more of that, lol) and I always added a little extra to help cover my expenses (on most I added $2 to help cover all the fees). I was not selling trading cards, but all types of misc. household things.

It seems like when you list an item for a higher dollar value to start, few people want to bid on them. If you start an auction for a low amount, people tend to bid more. Of course you can always use a Reserve amount, but eBay charges a $1 to add that feature to your auction. The rising cost of eBay fees also add to what you do making the prices go even higher. A $0.99 starting bid costs $0.20 listing fee. Then there is a Final Value fee that changes based on the final sale (5.25% and higher). So, as an example... if you sell a $0.99 item and charge $1.50 to ship, it will cost you $0.20 (LF) + $0.05 (FVF) to sell it plus your actual shipping cost. Then, if you accept PayPal, that "may" cost you further fees depending on your PayPal status. Here is an example of what it would cost me to sell that same card based on my eBay & PayPal status:

Single card auction:
$0.99 card
$1.50 shipping
$2.49 total which buyer pays me via PayPal

My costs for that single card auction:
$0.20 eBay listing fee
$0.05 eBay final value fee
$0.30 PayPal Flat fee
$0.09 PayPal 2.99% of total payment

My total received: $1.85 in my PayPal account, and then I would have to mail the card which would now cost approximately $0.83. That leaves me a total of $1.02 profit from which none of my time/expense is considered in this total. My expenses would also be the bubble mailer, soft sleeve, top loader, tape, label, printer ink, gas & my time to create and list the auction as well as contacting the buyer and packing and mailing the card. So clearly, this is not a profit making situation especially when you can list 100 auctions and you're lucky if you get bids on 20-25% of them. And most people want to get the item for the lowest price possible (me too!). I'm not saying this is a bad thing, but it's something to take into consideration when buying on the auctions.

There are also different levels of sellers that take PayPal. If you are a slow seller that doesn't sell more then a specific amount per month, you can have a PayPal Personal Account. I was forced to become a Premier Account member in the past due to members wanting to pay for their boxes for the case breaks plus my selling my f-i-l's items on eBay. As a Premier member, you pay PayPal surchages such as a flat fee of $0.30 + 2.99% of the total on EVERY transaction (cash or credit). I have noticed several sellers that maintain two seperate PayPal accounts. A personal account for people paying with a cash transfer and a Premier account for people paying with a credit or debit card. This way they are not being charged the PayPal fees on every auction where a buyer would be paying with cash from their PayPal account.

It is just something to take into account the next time you get a really good buy on eBay and then get a little upset at paying $3 for shipping. Try going into your local store and paying less money and you will see that isn't possible. The auctions are good to find what you want, but imagine how much you would spend (time & gas) running around from store to store trying to find as good a deal (if you can even find just what you are looking for). I do not even have any card shops left in my area that carry racing cards. The closest one to me is now a 30 minute ride and he rarely has what I am looking for anyway and ALL of the cards he has are priced at 505 of book value except for the 'bargin bin' and they are $1.00 each!

[munozqc886]

I guess it would have to be up to the seller, the purpose of listing on ebay, to make a profit, or to sustain his hobby. For me I sold to help me get new boxes. If I bought a box that cost me 75.00, and pulled a complete set, plus various inserts, that totaled BV more than I paid for box, I look at it, as this, if I can get back what I put into the box, and keep the cards I want, I'm ahead, if I get a crap box, and can't at least break even than I lost. For me it was to sustain my addiction for collecting. On ebay, I purchased a 500 ct box of bubble envelopes for approximately .16 each, toploaders approx. .06 each,sleeves approx. .05 each, and the tape of course a good sized roll can cover at least 100 packagings,so with a cost for supplies totaling roughly .40 cents plus postage at .87 for 1 card now, thats total of 1.27 for supplies and postage. the .23 can help offset ebay fees. Back in the day I gave option of SASE for auction wins of less than 5.00, no checks, Paypal for auctions above 10.00. Not sure how I would do it today, but I'd sit down and do the math. I collect because I enjoy it, not to make money. It's easier for me to make money with my other hobby:building performance computers for gaming or video editing.

[Ripken8fan55]

I`ve been getting alot of stuff off ebay lately in WHITE envelopes, yuck!!

Tom

[skippy]

I'm like Tom, been paying 3.00-3.50 for shipping and getting them in a white envelope. Thats sucks and I'm about ready to start sending neatral or negative for them..

[gotter1312]

The key question about s&h is philosophy. The sale price or end price is what the card sells for. If you want more you start it higher. if it doesnt sell that means there was no demand or you wanted to much. Ive never lost money on an auction because ive never started an auction for lower then i was willing to except. my sell through rate is about 80-85%

Now that leaves us s&h. Generally speaking good business practices dictates that all over head for selling comes out of the sale price thats ebay and paypal fees. the s&h fee should only be the amount that it takes to get it from you to me safely. now that does include packaging and nominal handling.

ive been on ebay for just over a year and a half with a 722 score and 1200 positives im still at 100% and i have spent 10.00 s&h on a 2 card auction because i didn't look at it until after i bid. boy did i learn my lesson. now generally speaking 1 card should be between 1.50-2.50 a lot of 2 - 10 no more then 3.25 and 10-50 no more then 4.50.