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I have a few questions that I’d love some opinions on…
I’ve recently shipped some items that were breakable and heavy. I always weigh my items in advance and then add a little weight on for packaging. Sometimes I am over on the weight, but I’d rather be over than under.
1. Do you always refund any overage on shipping whether a little over or a lot over?
2. If a buyer calls you out on the overage, how do you respond?
3. I sometimes under estimate an item’s fully packaged weight when shipping First Class. So I end up having to ship Parcel Select, which is a longer shipping time. Do you know of another option that’s as fast as First Class (so the buyer gets the package in the same amount of time), but don’t cost as much as Priority Mail? I only use First Class, Parcel, and Priority….I’m wondering if I’m missing out on other great shipping options.
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1. Not unless it’s more than $10. I try to be very accurate with my weights, so I’m usually less than $1 over. eBay charges us for shipping, so if I score a dollar or two, I count it towards fees.
2. The buyer has a tacit agreement to buy the item for the stated price plus postage, or in other words, they agreed to that postage. The postage is shown up front BEFORE the buyer pays for the item. If the buyer is going to call you out on postag, they’ll do it before they pay. I usually respond that I charge calculated shipping based on the dimensions (length, width, height, weight) and the distance traveled. Then eBay charges me that amount and deducts it from my account, along with a fee for using their service that is about 14%. As I use calculated shipping, that fee is not built in. Most of my buyers are satisfied with that information.
3. On the forum we were advised of a small box that fits into the Padded Flat Rate envelope. For smalls, this has been brilliant! By careful packaging, even fragile items can be packed into that box and then the whole boxed slipped into a PFR. For items that are too big, but still under 2Lbs, the shipping cost for FC is only $2-3 more expensive. If an item weighs 9oz or more, I always upgrade to Priority in my listing if the item is fragile and too big to go in a PFR. I usually wrap my items in bubble wrap and a few other protective layers. Sometimes I’ll put the item into the box I plan to use for shipping and weigh it, just to see how close I get to the 1Lb limit. If it’s too close, upgrade. It’s just a learning curve. Every now and then I miscalculate and end up taking a knock. I call it “experience.” 😉
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I’ve tried CUBIT rates via https://www.pirateship.com
Sometimes it’s cheaper for items under 20 pounds
https://support.pirateship.com/getting-started
Nice user interface too
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Lately when I get offers from out of the country people, I get nervous because it says ship to the other country. I usually counter offer and put in the note “ship using ebay’s global shipping program.”
I guess I’m confused about whether the ship to another country means that the buyer is asking me to ship directly or does the make an offer thing just auto fill the ship to place.
Any ideas / clarifications? Thanks!
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I recently accepted an offer from someone in the UK. I did notice that his country was listed, which might have not been there before, but the item shipped through GSP. If the buyer wanted to buy it outside of the GSP and you didn’t offer other options, then he/she would have to write that in the buyer’s message section.
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