Mail sent first class (with a request of nothing rigid), goes through a 90 degree turn in the sorting process.
I ahve sent out promos and not had anyone say..hey...the card is damaged, but the chance IS there and if you get a PO that has to muck around the equipment often enough getting out things that shouldnt have been in the sorting machine, they may start being tougher then a place that hasn't experienced it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bB7dhE_TW9g

wow didn't know that about the 90 degree turn. I guess i have been lucky, i have been sent a few packages of 3-6 cards for the minimum rate of $1.92 to Australia, and luckily everything has arrived undamaged.

Actually the Domestic Mail Manual (DMM) defines a rigid object as being unable to make a 180 degree turn against a roller with a 4 inch radius.

Not to mention the card is flying though the machine when it hits the roller.

It's amazing every time an unprotected card show up in a plain white envelope.

Ed

When I sell on Ebay I send everything Recorded to avoid disputes about sending/arrival of items.

I only charge the buyer what I pay to sent it.
So if 2nd Class Recorded is £2.35 that's what they pay.

Though I usually end up out of pocket, than over charge my customers.

As a buyer I've bought stuff from the states with $70 mailing bill attatched - nothing to do with the cost of the item - the recieve another bill of $40 when it item arrives at my door.

End up paying $110 for a $90 item :/ Sadly won't be purchasing from across the big pond again any time soon

Shame you guys have some great card deals!!

Blame national mail services for putting their prices up for a (somewhat) poor/dubious delivery service so some sellers resort to over priced private courier services which profit no one but the courier company

I'd rather have something that took a few months to arrive at a reasonable price than have it on my door in 48 hours at a stupid cost

quote:

Originally posted by TC00:
When I sell on Ebay I send everything Recorded to avoid disputes about sending/arrival of items.

I only charge the buyer what I pay to sent it.
So if 2nd Class Recorded is £2.35 that's what they pay.

Though I usually end up out of pocket, than over charge my customers.

I don't think it is fair to say that you are being overcharged if the customer was charged a little more than what the post office charges you to ship it. It all depends on the amount obviously. Some sellers do gouge but half-decent packaging costs money, and I really don't see why the seller should absorb this additional cost. If £2.35 is what recorded delivery costs, I'll freely admit if I sold something on eBay I'd charge more for the necessary plastic/bubblewrap/sturdy boxes to make sure the item arrives in the condition I would wish to receive it. This isn't charity and this stuff doesn't grow on trees.

Don't get me started on PayPal taking a slice of the shipping fees now as well, its not like you are paying £2.35 to send it but rather £2.59. That extra 10% slice quickly adds up on multiple sales or higher cost shipping.

quote:

Originally posted by TC00:
As a buyer I've bought stuff from the states with $70 mailing bill attatched - nothing to do with the cost of the item - the recieve another bill of $40 when it item arrives at my door.

End up paying $110 for a $90 item :/ Sadly won't be purchasing from across the big pond again any time soon

Shame you guys have some great card deals!!

Blame national mail services for putting their prices up for a (somewhat) poor/dubious delivery service so some sellers resort to over priced private courier services which profit no one but the courier company

I'd rather have something that took a few months to arrive at a reasonable price than have it on my door in 48 hours at a stupid cost

I do think some sellers are rip off merchants with their shipping fees, but there is usually a happy medium with the honest sellers out there. However I think waiting a "a few months" is a bit much!

quote:

Originally posted by X:
Don't get me started on PayPal taking a slice of the shipping fees now as well, its not like you are paying £2.35 to send it but rather £2.59. That extra 10% slice quickly adds up on multiple sales or higher cost shipping.

I agree with pretty much everything you say about costs but you may be getting things a bit mixed up here. Paypal only take 3.8% of the postage and packing fee here in the UK (plus their 20p per transaction fiddle). It's only sellers in the States who are being hit by eBay who now calculates Final Value Fees on the sum of the final selling price plus the shipping costs...then Paypal takes its 3.8% on top of that I'm 99.99999% certain it will arrive here in the UK too in due course but for now we 'only' have to hand over 3.8%.

TC00's post can remind the "lucky" folks in the States that our overseas friends can be hit by the Value Added Tax before stuff is delivered.

Of course, there are fixed-price sellers in Europe who build VAT into their asking prices and still charge full shipping, and others who ship free because they didn't have to deduct 17+% from their receipts and send it to the government.

I applauded one of the bigger card sellers from the UK, who would package up all shipments to the U.S. in one big package, then had their contacts in the States split it up into individual packages. It saved a bit but the logistics must have been difficult. I wondered if this would be a business opportunity.
.

That's an interesting way to do it. But, if the package was lost or damaged, that would be a huge hit for the seller both financially and with multiple negative feedback comments on eBay.

We always ship in a bubble mailer with the card in a toploader and with a decoy (thick cardboard card) taped to that. Our charges for the first card are:

Canada -- 2.50
US -- $3.50
Overseas -- $6

Each additional card is $.50 each until a value of $75 total, at which point insurance must be taken.
We have VERY few complaints about our shipping, but occasionally we'll still get someone who swears we are ripping them off. I happily cancel the transaction and then block them.

I'm a part time seller. I live in an US Territory and I use USPS. I'm always fair about my S&H cost. Long time I don't ship cards as letters in white envelopes.

quote:

Now sellers are allowed to charge handling charges. Shipping overseas is not cheap and is very time consuming for the average person or even small business who isn't set up to handle it. Also shipping overseas can add up to 20 to 1 hour or more to the normal shipping time. For example. I have to take the item to the post office and wait in a long line. Now I am 8 blocks from the post office and this has taken me up to 2 hours before when there is a really long line. If a seller wants to take that time and put it in their handling costs, they should be able to with out the buyer freaking out.

No offense to International buyers, but it is true. It takes more time and work dealing with International sales. The first thing is that the USPS isn't very friendly for the price scales. For Domestic mail the 1rst Class is limited to 13 ounces contrary to International 1rst class that goes up to 64 ounces. In other words for Domestic after 13 ounces everything goes Priority or Parcel in a lb (pound) scale. So if you are between pounds like 1.5 lb, you paid as 2 lb. So for Domestic you have a big range to estimate S&H cost without getting an error. Obviously you will need to have an estimate for the weights of your items. But for International you will need your personal scale.

The 2nd thing if you don't have Endicia, Stamps or whatever subscription service for postages. You will need to pay the package in the Post Office. In other words. You travel to the place, you are ready to pay and go. The teller will spend less than 3 minutes with you, but if you have people in front of you. They aren't ready and the teller will spend more than 5 minutes up to 20 minutes for some of them.

The 3rd thing is that anything pay by PayPal, Google or Credit Cards requires a tracking method as "warranty" of no charge backs to sellers. Some sellers have bad experiences. I will prefer make you paid the higher shipping method that makes them feel "secure".

quote:

Point is simple. If you agree to buy something you are agreeing to the stated shipping costs as well as the price. You should keep that in mind when buying something, I always do. You should also not dock the sell rating points if they stated their shipping prices ahead of time before you agreed to buy the item. If you don't want to pay for the stated shipping costs, try and work something out with the seller BEFORE you agree to buy the item.

Lets be fair. You are right. If we agree with a S&H cost, we most accept it. But when you as a buyer know how much cost to ship. You can have an estimate, but when it is shipped can be different. For example if you paid more than $30, but you receive the items in Medium Flat Rate box without any protecting packing material. Or you pay extra for Delivery Confirmation or Insurance and you never get them. It is wrong and the seller must face the consequences.