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Question: What are the pros and cons of offering the seller’s discounted ebay/ups/usps shipping rate to the customer? (Looks like you can set it up in Shipping Preferences, though it only applies to “new or revised” listings.) Seems to me it would be a no-brainer: less sticker shock for buyers, right? Am I missing something?
Sub-question: how would I bulk edit all my listings at once so they are “revised” and trigger the carrier discounts? I tried changing item location, then changing it back, but it didn’t take.
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You can set up your account to offer the discounted rates by going to Account Settings, Manage shipping settings, and then edit Offer carrier-specific discounts for buyers.
I also extend the shipping discounts for the same reason. A buyer might not question the price of the item (or you can price it higher and then offer a discount), but some get sticker shock over the shipping costs. Large retailers can offer free shipping due to volume and better discounts, or, like Amazon, have their own delivery service. Buyers don’t understand the cost to us smaller sellers.
While you are at it, take a look at business policies. If you have those set up, it is easier to make changes such as item location. In fact, if you do have business policies and try to make a change to something like item location, it might not let you.
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@sharyn yep, I can turn on the discounts easily, though it only applies to “new or revised listings,” so I’m looking for an inconsequential “revision” that will allow me to bulk edit my existing listings in one fell swoop and trigger ebay to apply the discounts. I am working my way towards understanding business policies, in baby steps!
I’m on the coast, so I definitely get lots of sticker shock messages from the rest of the world.
@retro-treasures-wv you make a good point: I ship 80+ percent USPS Priority so I’ll have to choose to either; 1. build the ebay shipping fees into the price of the item or 2. turn off USPS discounts and get better at puzzling out regional and flat rate shipping for long distances. For oversize packages, UPS discounts are so significant, I reckon the extra sales territory potential would be worthwhile. Being on the coast definitely necessitates some strategery!-
Ah I forgot the other part of my strategy that may help you.
On anything that is over 3lb or is big enough to go into dimensional shipping, I only put Fed ex as the shipping option. That way everyone gets the best price regardless of location. 4lbs and up, USPS, Fed Ex, and UPS are pretty much the same price locally, but Fed Ex and UPS beat the pants off of USPS cross country.
Everything 3lbs and under gets USPS priority.
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I pass on the shipper discount on my fed ex labels. So that bigger items and/or cross country buyers get a reasonable rate. When I actually ship, I may use Usps priority or ups to get the best rate.
ups usually beats FedEx on rates now.
If you just straight up pass all the savings on every service, the big con is that you will lose money on shipping after eBay fees. I prefer to offset my eBay fees on shipping with the discount cost savings with Usps discounts and by using ups when it is cheaper than FedEx. $1-3 in savings on shipping per item adds up to quite a bit.
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ups usually beats FedEx on rates now
I am definitely finding that to be true, sometimes significantly. It used to be just the reverse. I’ve been trying to go back in on larger items and switch them to UPS.
If you just straight up pass all the savings on every service, the big con is that you will lose money on shipping after eBay fees.
Also true. So I like to pass on the savings on every service to get that competitive advantage shipping from Florida but then add on a handling fee. A minimum of .50 on domestic and $1 on foreign; adding more for larger items that will cost more to ship. The discounts are so hefty with most services that the buyer still sees it as less than retail.
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@Temudgin I hear ya on the competitive advantage issue. That’s my main motivator. I’m using up a lot of storage space on oversize items (vintage lamps/shades, suitcases,) and local pickup isn’t happening for me. I think “shipping shock” is hurting my sales on the big stuff.
My package sizes/weights are all over the place, so handing fees (or adding to the item price) may be the way to go. I’m always hesitant to add more steps to the process, but it might be worth it.
In a perfect world, sellers could offer the carrier discounts, and Calculated Shipping would automatically add a percentage to cover ebay fees.
I’d love to hear how other sellers “ballpark” to cover ebay shipping fees.
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You’d think that eBay would waive the fee when people choose to pass on the discount. My understanding is that the fee is there because people were jacking up shipping prices to game the final value fee. If you’re not taking profit on shipping should there be a few. I guess there would still be those who would try to manipulate it though: Just increase weight or package size.
I pass the discount along. I figure I come out cheaper on shipping than my competition and get more sales that way. I feel like adding on a handling fee would discourage some buyers. No reason to give them pause to look elsewhere. I think the discount matters most on more plentiful items that the buyer can compare price on and in those cases lowest overall price wins.
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WORKAROUND: How to apply carrier discounts to existing listings (without revising one-by-one.)
Since carrier discount shipping preferences only apply to “new or revised listings” I called ebay and found a workaround. Simply bulk-edit your prices up a penny, then down a penny, and it looks like that’ll trigger your preferences on all your previous listings. Whew!
(I tried this by bulk editing my item location, but that didn’t work. Second time’s a charm!)
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