How to save yourself Grief on Shipping : eBay Guides

As a seller I decided that what was most important for the customer was to know the upfront Value of an item. Value consisting of the Price, the shipping, and the support for the purchase. When they clicked to bid or on the BIN they needed to know what that Value was. There are several ways sellers have chosen to handle this. Inserting shipping calculators is great for the larger items but my stuff all fits into an 8x12 envelope. Some would have you contact them during an auction but if you the seller misses the email, or the buyer comes across the item in the last few minutes of the sale then you may have lost the sale. For us and other small venders we do suggest the flat rate shipping. For us that is an average of the shipping to a given area or in this case an average of the Canadian shipping for domestic and an average of the international for others. You see for us someone buying a small shirt is almost half the shipping cost of someone buying an XXl shirt in Canada. While using small package international it is about the same regardless. I can send two shirts to Montreal one small and one XXl and the shipping can be as little as $4.50 and as much as $11.00. So we average. As a result the buyer knows. If when we reach the post office we find that Air is a faster option we always opt for it even if it means we loose a little more on the sale. A happy customer product in hand will come back to see you again. If you hope to hide profit in the Shipping and Handling DON'T because buyers will look at how much you paid for postage and the last thing you need is a falling DSR due to shipping costs. To improve value we often run a Free shipping auction and find that that option is chosen roughly 80% more then the other. Even though they pay a slight premium on the item. The perceived Value of an item with the shipping included there in the price without having to do any addition means that they can compare directly with prices they have seen in retail markets and make a better evaluation of the VALUE of the item. The idea of Value is one you need to keep in your fore brain at all times. Even with shipping and handling. What the customer sees is the impression he or she gets. It doesn't really matter what you are selling. Since we make all our own products comparisons are difficult however I can give you one off the cuff. The American pride T shirt that we sell with free shipping is roughly 50% less then its closest rivals at little sisters book store. And that one is one mass produced somewhere overseas on a vynal transfer while ours is a silk cellulose matrix using dyes not paints. We by far have the better Value unless the customer needs it fast. although we encourage customers who need an item express to contact us they often don't and pass us by. However when they do we go toot sweet to offer express post at the same price as the regular service. It is often only a dollar or two difference and once again the PERCEIVED VALUE of an interaction with someone willing to make the transaction more pleasant means we have won a new customer. As I have said before and you may hear again THE RETURN CUSTOMER IS THE GOAL. Happy Selling and remember Value = Price + Shipping + Service. Always give good Value.