Larry, the problem here is that you are looking at it from a buyer’s perspective, and I am trying to present the issue from a seller’s perspective.
Essentially, when a private seller is auctioning used MR stuff on eBay, and is not out to rip off a buyer, he has three options regarding shipping charges.
He can offer Free Shipping and try to recover his cost by building it into the starting bid.
He can offer a fixed shipping charge and pray that the law of averages will work to his benefit, depending upon the destination of the auctioned item.
He can use eBay’s automated shipping calculator and hope that potential bidders do not get put off by the stated shipping charge for that bidder’s zip code.
It is a real dilemma for the seller when using eBay.
If you have never paid more than $7.95 in shipping charges to buy used MR equipment from a private seller on eBay, then you may have passed up a lot of good deals because the average shipping cost in those instances is certainly higher than $7.95.
As a side note, sometimes it is the way they pack things! I recently got an item from ebay, Preiser figures, a whopping 1/2"x 5"x1" and it came in a 4"x6"x8" box and this is by far not the most the biggest box I have gotten for a small item.
A larger box happens for a lot of reasons, but it rarely contributes to additional postage, at least it shouldn’t.
First, Priority Mail is one price up to a pound. You don’t save anything by shorting on packing material to cut it substantially under a pound. More packing means greater likelihood that your stuff will arrive OK. A seller who errs on the side of caution here is much better than one who just plops the thing in a box to rattle around until it gets to you.
There may be discounts for those who qualify for smaller increments, but the pricing seems to be in one pound increments after the first pound for the postal calculator. As with the first pound, so long as it doesn’t push the total weight into the next pound, it costs nothing more.
Often, a seller will have a few boxes to choose from and exact fit ain’t gonna happen. Especially for small items, a somewhat bigger box that is well padded is the result.
In my experience MB Klein and others I’ve bought from are generous with the packing peanuts or other cushioning material. The item package is rarely designed for shipping strength except when boxed with multiples of the like at the factory. If there’s nothing to cushion an item and it’s closely packed, then it’s crunch time if the outer carton is dinged. Lots of packing virtually eliminates this problem and makes for satisfied customers.
Good point, Mike. At our house, we keep every box that we receive from FedEx or UPS. Then, when it comes time to sell something, we go looking for the right box, never too small, but sometimes a little too big.
Experience and observation goes a long way too. I live in the midwest and generally buy/sell midwestern/eastern/southeastern roadnames. The people who buy my roadnames generally do not live on the west coast. I rarely pay even $10 to ship one item, and usually add about $4 for each additional item packed into the same box. The buyers seem happy and that estimate pays my shipping costs.
The oddball west coast buyer usually buys the oddball western roadname I’ve picked up for some reason. That’s the time I have to spend $15 on shipping.
Rich,I have sold and shipped several models over the past 5 years…I know flat rate may not be popular with some sellers but,its a good option for anybody to use unless one is using inflated shipping in order to compensate some of their e-Bay/Paypal fees then of course its a bad choice to make.
To the point and I think you will agree…$12-15.00 to ship one engine or car is over the top since it can be shipped at a lower cost.
There’s no way anybody can justify that high shipping cost unless the item being shipped by UPS or FEDEX which I will not use…
As far as private sellers no,I only use e-Bay stores since most private sellers has a as is/no return policies and high prices with higher shipping which is a turn off.
As a example $15.00 for a BB or Roundhouse car kit with $12.00 shipping? LOL…Noooo deal! If you think I’m pulling your leg grab your favorite refreshment and look over the prices plus shipping.
I listed a “Mint In Box” MRC powerpack on eBay for $15.00. This item fit perfectly in a USPS Priority Mail, medium Flat Rate Box; shipping cost $12.65. I knew this shipping rate might scare some buyers off.
In my listing I offered alternate shipping. Because of the weight of this item the alternate shipping costs, depending on zip code, was between $25.00 to $35.00 in the exact same size box! I explained that the cheapest way to ship this item would be via Priority Mail Flat Rate Box.
There were quite a few views but in the end no one bought this item. I can’t prove it but I suspect the shipping cost versus the cost of the item differential (which has been talked about) had a lot to do with this item not selling.
If I dropped the price on this item then the cost versus shipping becomes more skewed. If I raise the price of this item, to lower the cost to shipping rate, I’m over valuing this item.
Where my other analog items sold quickly; because the shipping costs were perceived as “reasonable” versus the asking price, this item is now just gathering dust.
When I sell on Fleabay I use USPS Parcel Post based on weight which gives the buyer the best price for shipping, but alot of sellers, and I mean ALOT, prefer to use the Flat Rate boxes with prepaid labels, then its a simple drop off at the PO, no waiting in line.
But some sellers are either completely DILLUSIONAL or outright CROOKS! Charging 2 to 3 times normal shipping with “handling” fees, but every now and then comes along some joker who’s shipping fee is so outrageous that beggers the mind. Recently one jokers shipping fee was $123 for an item I knew could be shipped for $15, when I inquired whether it was a typo or if it was being mailed from Antarctica, he tartly replied “Not Nice!”
A transaction happens between a willing seller and a willing buyer. It’s your privilege to shop where you’re comfortable.
Not being a store, my stock is all pretty much one of a kind. I can’t offer a replacement, because I don’t have one. Ebay’s protection policy still means that the buyer is guarateed the item is as described and I go to great effort to exactly state what it is I offer. That’s another reason for my great care in packing things, as it must arrive unscathed.
On the other hand, as an individual seller I’m not here to serve the impulse buyer. While I know it’s not you I’m talking about here, it is the case that people often can’t decide what they want to spend their money on and this generates returns, because a return generates more money when you change your mind this week about money you already spent last week.
I say this to explain there are reasons other than a desire to cheat people for not offering returns. There’s also the feedback score. Despite my policy, people who buy stuff I have to sell seem to get along OK with it. 100% seems like a low risk endeavor to me, but YMMV.[;)]
This all leads up to what people who use only the ebay stores might miss. You can generally find current and recent production items at these well enough. But my entrance to using ebay was to find relatively rare things I was having trouble finding any other way, rather than things that were essentially commodities.
My first purchase was a Jonan GE SP #1 HOn3 diesel. I had exhausted all my resources in trying to track down one of these after several years trying. Then I decided to take a chance on this new ebay thing. Sure enough, found one, in Australia. Never would have come across it without ebay and n
I look for odd things and I have 2 stores that stock detail parts from Atlas and Athearn at reasonable prices-last month I stocked up on some Atlas detailing parts that can be used with any brand like horns,mu cables,antennas,sunshades etc.
You may recall I collect IPD short line boxcars and most e-Bay stores I visit turns up several (usually the ones I already have in my collection) but,I have found some including a Berlin Mills and a light blue Aberdeen & Rockfish 50’ boxcar.Whoever painted and decaled that A&R car did a excellent job.IMHO $12.00 with free shipping was a steal.
A real oddity I found several years on e-Bay was a Manufacturers Railway SW1500(Athearn BB).I haven’t seen one since.
I would not hesitate to buy from you,Rick and other forum members I grown trust over the years.
Even on line retailers such as Walthers , Trainworld ,Toy Train Heaven and Model Train Stuff charage shipping that does not vary that much wether you but one box car or six. Some times there is a lesser charge for small parts.They best thing to do is have a quanity of purchases to cut the per item cost of shipping.
Ebay is great to find older or rare and out of stock items that you might be willing to pay their shipping fee.But for new or commonly stocked items if you can’t buy local the best bet is some of the online retailers.
Ron,I agree…I use three different on line stores as well as e-Bay stores and have no problems filling my needs.
However…
I really miss going to the LHS every Saturday morning even if it was nothing more then looking over the new stock and shooting the breeze and having coffee with modelers I’ve met during these Saturday morning pilgrimages…
Some comments from a seller’s point of view:
Shipping and packing items for sale on Ebay is lots of work: finding boxes that are the right size for the item, packing them so items won’t be damaged, weighing them, tracking the purchases, printing labels, taking them to the PO. That doesn’t include taking pictures and posting the auctions.
Ebay does allow for very accurate postage if you prepack the item and weigh the package before posting the item. You can enter exact weights and dimensions in the auction listing menu and choose the least expensive shipping category (priority, parcel post etc). Buyers can enter their zip code and get an accurate (not inflated) estimate of the shipping. Sellers can print shipping labels with postage and apply them to the package at home. To be efficient, you do need to buy a scale, and this method can cause extra work when buyers combine items, but it is manageable.
You would be surprised how much certain items can cost to ship. This is because of the post office not the seller. Admittedly, there are a few sellers that are inflating shipping but I don’t see that as much as I used to. Ebay discounts on shipping to sellers only apply to certain shipping methods and in my experience, have never amounted to more than $1.00.
Making a living from doing this would be a very difficult way to go….I sell items to support my other hobby purchases.
As a buyer and seller on ebay of train related items. You get some folks trying to make a profit from the price to mail an item. But as others have said - it depends on the size/shape of the package. Look first at the shipping not the item price. Then make a decision.
I got stuff off Ebay you can’t find anywhere else. I think that a lot of dealers/sellers know this and so Ebay is a good place to go. If you can find a bargain or a rare item you cannot source anywhere else - then why bother about the shipping price?
OK, got an update on the largish sounding discounts that Rich noted were available. It’s been a month or so since I sold anything – you can tell how big an operator on ebay I am[(-D] – so I was surprised when the heavier of the two items I had to ship showed up with what was listed as a “48% discount.”
I entered the weight originally as 7 lbs. I tend to estimate higher these days to be sure I have packing weights covered. I do a rough weighing of the item and the most likely box it will go in to avoid any big surprises, but I don’t otherwise prepack things. IIRC, you don’t actually see a shipping cost as a seller, just the weight and dimensions.
The buyer used the calculated price to pay me for 7 lbs, but when I had it packed I was able to get it down to 5 lb, 5 oz, so I knew there was going to be a refund. I went to buy the label through ebay and paypal and was surprised to see that the shipping cost for the original 7 lb weight was listed as $22.80! But the buyer only paid $11.82, which was exactly what the calculated cost was for 7 lb. Nonetheless, the webpage bragged that this was a “48% discount.”
And maybe it is if I had to walk into the PO and buy the postage. But since the buyer never saw or paid for a number so high, there was no opportunity to profit off of the difference, presuming I could have presented him with the “list price” and he had paid it. The ebay shipping calculator sure didn’t do this.
Of course, I had no intention of doing such a thing, just wanted to note there’s no obvious way here for a seller to take advantage and rake in the difference the discount seems to promise if I was greedy. It basically makes shipping more affordable for the buyer. I’m hestitant to promote the discount in my auctions, because that would create expectations shipping should be even cheaper than the displayed cost of the calculator.
And I have no control over the discount itself, which was demonstrated when I revis
Mike, I am not sure that I completely follow your last reply, but let me point out something about the eBay shipping discount.
If the buyer pays the invoice before you create the shipping label, or if the buyer pays for the item before an invoice is issued (this happens when the winning bidder immediately pays upon completion of the auction), he will be paying the higher, undiscounted, shipping charge.
In this particular case, it was one of the rare times I sold something not related to trains on Ebay. It was a set of wheel weights for an old Troy-Bilt tiller I sold several years ago. Now, how are wheel weights so light and still do you any good? They’re plastic containers you can fill with sand or concrete, then they bolt to the wheel. Not sure if they’re even made any more like this, so a discontinued item (they were an attic find when cleaning up there a few weeks ago.) They were relatively bulky for the weight nonetheless.
Why no flat rate box? Too large and odd shaped to fit into those, so no relief there. Besides, I think $8.55 is cheaper than all but the smallest flat rate box anyway, so I think the buyer got the best deal possible here. And there are a substantial number of model RR items that face the same problem. If all you buy are cars and locos in HO scale, then flat rate can save your some money, but once it doesn’t fit into one of those, then you have to rely on the ingenuity of the seller to keep shipping low.
Certainly for a single car (maybe 2), not going flat rate can be even cheaper, because most would fall below the 1 lb threshold for the cheapest Priority Mail rate. I think the cheapest small flat rate box is 20 cents more than the 1 lb Priority Mail rate, for instance, at retail price without any discount. A loco would likely be more than a pound, so then you are money ahead with flat rate assuming it fits the small flat rate box.
