Has anyone else noticed the high shipping charges people are charging on model railroad items.
It used to be 3.85 was the going rate, now all I see is 7 to 9.95.
Whats the deal?
Mark
Have you shipped anything by UPS lately? Their rates are getting so high that many companies are switching to Priority Mail.
I’ve noticed that some dealers on e-Bay want excessive handing and shipping charges to make up for what appears to be low bids. Before I bid on anything, I check the shipping and handing charges, and if they are equal to the highest bid amount, I just pass on to something else.
I don’t do ebay, but just a wild guess would be an increase of postal charges and insurance.
I am a lot more careful on e-bay these days. A couple of golden rules. Make sure you know what the shipping charge is going to be before you bid. You have to take this into account to decide what you are willing to bid. Simply put, if an item has high shipping, I will not bid as high. The bottom line total determines if it is a good deal or not. Second, I tend to avoid, “Buy it Now” listings. Most of these are stores, and to be honest, the prices that they want plus shipping, are no better than I can get at my local hobby shop. I would rather put the money in Ken’s pocket than some faceless hobby store. 3rd, I usually avoid any auction that will not let me buy via PayPal or with a personal check. It just is not generally worth my time, or the cost of having to go to the post office for a money order. The bottom line with e-bay is know your price, and be patient. Unless something is really rare, if you wait, a better deal will come along.
I feel simon is very correct in what he is saying. Speaking as an ebay seller I use priority mail (cheapest with insurance) fedEx and UPS are waaaay to expensive.
But the real reason for higher shipping as of late, my guess is this: ebay just upped their charges to ebay stores so it doesn’t really effect me cuz I sell stuff once in a blue moon. However, if your entire business relies on ebay then your taking quite a punch from ebay when it comes to listing fees based off of sale amount.
SO, some sellers/ebay store owners take it out on the buyer (big mistake there!!). This has been a widely discussed topic as the owner/CEO/president (whatever he is) of ebay has emailed and posted letters to store owners basically saying “sorry but we must do this”.
Bottom line is this: Look at what you are buying. Be darn sure that:
A - your not paying more than from your LHS with shipping
B - If the shipping seems high, ask what the weight is and go to www.usps.com and get a shipping rate. if it’s cheaper than what the sellers is saying ask him/her if they will ship it your way.
C - check the sellers numbers if they say it’s 10.00 shipping to anywhere with insurance ask what the weight is and compare it to usps.com. Be sure to add what you hope/think you’ll end up paying for it so you can give usps.com a value for insurance. Sellers can’t calculate insurance into something unless they slap a LARGE amount onto it or put something really low on it. Most likely will be the larger number.
Above all, be sure to add insurance, if you paid 100.00 for something and it gets lost in transit make the US Postal service pay you for it.
And that my friends is my 2 cents, hope it helps you out.
I have sold items on Ebay. I ship via the Local Post Office because the staff is friendly. They give me 4 different kinds of Prioity Mail Boxs (Small to big) The have what is known as a “Flat Rate” for the two biggest boxes. usually 7.70 anywhere in the usa as long as the item can FIT inside the box.
I had one sale where a customer won several items (Bravo!) and I combined them into a single 6.00 shipping charge. At the post office I ended up using two boxes for a total of near 17.00 to get all the items to his house. I did not say anything because I made a profit versus MSRP on these items and was happy to eat the difference. He probably will be willing to shop my auctions again because he knows that I shared the shipping charges with him.
Next month I will be asking 7.50 for shipping anywhere in the USA. I may pay anywhere from .20-1.50 but the customer wont have to foot the whole shipping bill.
I refuse to buy auctions with “Buy it now” at prices same as my local hobby store (Hey, he can get it and I dont have to pay shipping)
I use ebay for Out of production items and am willing to go up to a maximum of 10.00 for shipping. I am a sucker for “free shipping” or Flat rates of anywhere from 4,5,67 or 9 dollars. And combining auctions. Sometimes the sellor would experience a loss in shipping as I did and raise prices also.
What I will not do is participate in auctions that have messages designed to poke at Ebay, USPS or any other entity with bad ill feelings regarding shipping.
Eventually there will be a shake out in ebay because 1- shipping is too high, 2- hobby shops have or can order the same item for you, 3- bad feelings among some sellers who write messages on auctions blasting about the shipping fees (I dont want to hear it)
Last summer I built my computer from nothing. I had no problems fex-exing by air parts such as a 80 dollar hard drive with a 25 dollar fee to get it to my house in 2 days. Shipping really added
I’ve bought lots of Model RR stuff on Ebay, especially locomotives. Numerous times the postage on the package I received cost more than I was charged for shipping. One of my engines came Priority Mail at 10.75 and the sellers fixed shipping to U.S. was 9.00. Extra 1.75 in my pocket. I have had this happen numerous times.
But I still only bid where I get a firm amount on shipping, even if I have to email the seller if it isn’t listed. If no response to my question, no bid, period.
I sell a few items here and there, mostly clothes and some dental items. I have been charging $5.50-6.50 for clothing items. Packaging material, tape labels, time and gas are the things that I must factor into the shipping price. It is the same thing that I do when setting prices for my company (real day job). I was recently harrassed by a buyer after the close of the auction about the shipping price. The price was clearly stated in the auction. He told me it should only cost $4.00 to ship a pair of jeans. It cost me $5.75 for the shipping, not icluding the box, tape , label etc.
When you sell clothes for $2.99 and factor in Ebay fees and paypal fees, its just not worth selling them anymore. So that was my last sale of clothes. I took all of my kids Abercrombie and Fitch clothes to the Salvation Army…I’ll get a better tax deduction.
Just my thoughts…
Bob
We’re not charged duty on hobby items coming into Canada, just the 15% tax, based upon the declared value. Our Post Office charges $5.00 to collect this tax. Anyone in Canada ordering items should know this.
And the only real thing that a shipper has to do is stick on one of those little green stickers with the description and value. I’ve asked shippers in the past not to include the cost of shipping in the value on the sticker, because we’ll be charged on it too.
Bob Boudreau
Thanks Mr. Bob Boudreau, that clears it up for me. I dont think I include the cost of shipping on the value of that item customs declaration. I would have heard about it by now =)
As long as the shipping charge is clearly indicated in the listing (or has one of those calculator things on it) I don’t care what the amount is. I just add it to the bid and figure that is the bottom line. If the bottom line is good I’ll buy it. To me it’s the same price whether the bid is $100 and the shipping is $1.00 or the bid is $1.00 and the shipping is $99.00.
In the era of Star Trek we may just have to hand Scotty the Transporter man that kind of money to beam our items to and from the seller. Assuming the rates continue to grow over the years into the future.
Highiron,
Man that would be fast shipping!! Of course remember the first Star Trek movie where the transporter failed. The result kinda looked like some of my kitbashes!
I’ve bought a fair number of items on E-Bay over the past five years and really haven’t seen any big escalation in S&H. It’s simple:
(1) I WON’T bid on any item without a CLEAR S&H charge - and there have been times where the seller refused to calculate S&H prior to bidding, well I just DIDN’T bid.
(2) People who are buyers only,may not realize that shipping costs (forget “handling”) for small packages actually are quite high. In my experience its rare for E-Bay sellers to charge unrealistic shippingcosts, and as others have said, I have not infrequently received packages showing pure shipping charge higher than I paid.
(3) Above all - as long as the shipping is clearly stated - just factor it into your bid.
The (admittedly limited) times I’ve sold, I’ve always weighed the items, and put the shipping calculator on my auction page (USPS Priority) - then added a small ‘Shipping and Handling’ charge which is the cost of the box (unless I can reuse one), tape, and also the ‘tracking charge’ (.45 with priority mail) - all this is on the auction, and I keep nothing hidden (so far I usually break even, but once I absorbed a .50 hit - oh well).
I don’t see why other sellers can’t do the same, unless they are trying to pull something…
Shipping to Canada: There is no duty on Hobby or Toy items, there is no duty, GST or customs tax on items under $20.00 (CDN), there can be GST tax on items over $20.00 and Canada Post collects a fee of $5.00 for collecting this tax and/or customs tax, regardless of the price. Private carriers -UPS-Purolator etc, can charge @$35.00 for this duty. Always stipulate items sent to Canada come by UPS, much cheaper and great service. I’ve had parcels sent from Calif, to Alberta( no sales tax) for $2.95.
I’m with you, rails5. If the shipping is not disclosed up front, I will NOT bid. There is no excuse for it, unless the seller is trying to use inflated shipping prices to get back his eBay fees, which technically is a violation of eBay’s rules. Witht he shipping calculators now provided, you can easily provide up front the ACTUAL shipping costs no matter where the buyer is located - no more flat rate except on lightweight paper because everything at the post office is zoned now. Of course, don’t just ASSUME because the shipping calculator is there that you know the rates - a seller can make the shipping calculator display anything they want.
ALWAYS add the bid amount and shipping costs. And if that comes out more than I can get the item for elsewhere, I simply pass. I will bid on a $1 item with $10 shipping IF the item is worth $11 to me. But when someone puts up a $30 item that I know darn well weighs less than 1 pound and they list shipping charges of $10 by USPS Parcel Post - you can forget it!
–Randy
Wasn’t the last US Postal Rate increase almost three years ago? I think other culprets are at play.
I still can ship my laser kits by First Class Mail for less than the price of $3.85 Priority Mail which also covers all my packaging costs and leaves a few cents change. Anything more is just jacking up the bid price unreasonably.
Buyer beware. Especially when the auctions says your shipping costs will be only be determined after the auction ends.
Wayne
What gets me is when they want to charge $12-15 to ship 1 engine. USPS has flat rate boxes (2 sizes) that will allow shipping anything no matter what the weight is, to anywhere in the U.S. for a flat $7.70. I point this out to some sellers, and if they choose not to use it, I look elsewhere. I don’t mind chipping in an extra buck for the tape and bubble wrap, but boxes are free at the post office. They will even deliver them to your house for free.
I’ve noticed that too and I don’t like it at all.
One guy charged me over 10 dollars and this was the first eBay item I ever purchased. He hit me with the shipping charges after the auction was over.
As I’ve gained more experience I always check the shipping charges first and compare it with the type of item. I generally have other similar items to compare them too that had a reasonable shipping rate.
One guy tried to ship an unassembled Amfleet I kit for 8 dollars and change. I emailed him and explained that I’ve had other items shipped to me nowhere near that expensive. He quickly wrote back with a more “believable shipping rate”.
My point here is somehow you should inquire about the shipping rate and see why something costs what it does to ship. Go online to the different carriers and do your own cost estimate on the sites. You may be in for a big surprise. I also did that in the above example as well.