Thread: What's up with shipping these days?

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The internet is an important method, especially for rural haunters, to obtain supplies or whole props for Halloween. The price of shipping is currently approaching the purchase price of the item. I also went to the Surplus store to get some 12V motors for the mini FCG's and it was 11.96 for four motors and 10.77 for shipping. Huh?

This is a perfect example of someone that is selling at a great price and then makes up the difference in the shipping costs.

You could contact the seller and ask if you can handle the shipping yourself and then schedule UPS to go and pick it up.

I doubt that the seller will go for it but it's worth a try.

Exactly! My wife shops EbaY for me often getting me computer components and Halloween props/supplies and we constantly run into this sort of thing. As my758Duc stated, a perfect example of "scamming" making up for lowering prices by upping the shipping costs. Many times i pass on a "Deal" because of this to my detriment and theirs as more and more EbaY shoppers are doing the same. Better deals can be had elsewhere if you look around the 'net'. I am really surprised that EbaY management have not stepped in and put a stop to this act......really.

Part of the reason is because these sellers do not want ebay to take as large of a cut in their profit so by selling lower and raising shipping ebay only takes a percentage from the sale price. Its a scam that annoys me as a buyer and seller on ebay. Shipping is also rising at USPS and UPS so add the real price increase to their greed and you get huge shipping costs.

If shipping goes up anymore, you could just about drive to go get it.

As someone who buys on ebay, but also sells on occassion, I've got to put my two cents in on this. In this particular instance, the Seller may not be making a profit. When the gas prices started going up, many of the carriers starting charging based not only on distance that a package travels, but also it's "dimensional" weight. That means that a package that is large or bulky (even if it doesn't weight that much), may be charged as though it's much heavier than it actually is. I ran into this while selling some extra Halloween props last year. I have a Spirit Head Ripping Zombie. He's a little big, but weighs only 15lbs boxed. Imagine my surprise when I put the box weight and dimensions in the ebay "Calculated Postage" widget, and it told me that to ship that box one city over would cost me $68! And to ship it from SC to CA would be over $120! I had another prop, a Telco Animated Witch. When I first weighed her, I'd calculated her postage using a box that was 24" long. When the time came to ship her, I'd already used that box. I had another box that was the exact same height and width, but 25" long. Although the box didn't weigh any more, that extra one inch of length caused the shipping by USPS to be $10 more than the 24" box.

Through time and trial, I've found that FedEx Ground can be much cheaper on larger packages, however, ebay doesn't have a widget to automatically calculate FedEx prices, and you have to establish a FedEx account to get the better rates. So most Sellers are just using what's available to them. And although FedEx is cheaper, it's iffy for the Seller sometimes because the estimate, and what you're actually charged can differ if FedEx determines that a package that was shipped Ground should gone by FedEx Home Delivery, or the receiver is in a rural area, etc. I just got charged over $3 more than anticipated to mail a package. Since I was charging the Buyer based on the quote, I had to eat the $3. And since I'm mostly just selling things at break-even, a few surprise extra charges like that can add up.

The whole thing is particularly distressing to me since, last Halloween, I received two "two Star" ratings from Buyers who thought my shipping was too high. The items were basically $10 to sell and about $9 to ship. I charged the Buyer exactly what the Postal Service charged me, and even insured the package out of my own pocket. And those "Two Stars" are still haunting me. Because I had only a 4.23 rating on my shipping prices, I was locked out of this past months free auction listing special. Actually, my feedback just got bumped up last night, so I get the special now, but missed out on 27 days I could have used to list up to 100 items for free.

So before you go getting upset with the Seller, please take into account the SIZE of a package. Not what the item Sells for. Sure, some sellers do gouge on shipping, but not all. The best way to check is to find out a package's length, width and height, and it's weight. And then find out the Seller's zip code. Then go to the UPS or USPS or FedEx sites, put in the info, and see what you get. It can be a real eye opener.

Also, although Wal-Mart and other large retailers can ship you a box the size of a refrigerator for .97 cents, keep in mind that they are a HUGE outfit who ship thousands (or more) packages every week. They get a whole lot sweeter rate from the Carriers than us little guys on ebay who ship a few packages a week.

I don't like the high shipping either, and it's changed what and how I buy and sell. Best I can tell you is that if you don't like an item's total price with shipping, wait and watch. You may get a better deal. If you're in GA and find a Bucky Torso for sale in CA, know that your shipping will be cheaper if you wait and find one from someone in, say NC. Size and distance traveled make a huge difference in shipping charges.

I'm off my soap box now. Thanks for listening. :-)

CHA CHING!! lol!

Velvet Vampire,

Thanks for the other side of the story. I wasn't really pointing out this seller in particular (note that the seller's name is gone). I'm just saying that all over shipping has made my dollar shrink. That's also why I mentioned the surplus dealers as well. The LED lights that everyones been buying is the same story. The lights are $0.99, but the shipping doubles the amount.

Just lamenting our overall economy...

I use to buy on eBay alot but that was about a decade ago. I kept noticing that shipping charges were going up and up each year and just decided that even buying a book or magazine sometimes doesn't make sense anymore. Some of the large chain/franchise stores are still able to negotiate a good shipping price with carriers because of the volume they do, but small stores and individuals don't get a break. Heck even the post office prices have gone up dramatically. I rarely send a gift to relatives any more. The shipping makes it too costly.

All those volcanos the planes have to fly around or over! Takes more fuel to fly higher!
(But will they be flying higher than the company's executives?)
"Two more Mercedes stretch limos, please!"