Losing Sales By Overcharging For Shipping And Handling

As a serious seller on eBay you're familiar with their fee circumventing rules. If not, visit: http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-circumventing.html.

In a nutshell their rule is that you are not allowed to put an item up for bid for a penny and charge $100 for shipping and handling (S&H) in an attempt to avoid the transaction fee. Since we are not trying to avoid fees we all follow the rules ? right? To a certain extent yes, but many sellers are still stretching the bubble by over charging for S&H in an attempt to maximize their profits and losing bidders in the process - the end result is the opposite of what they hoped for. Ultimately they reduce their sales and although these efforts fit within eBay's policies, when extreme, they are considered an unfair practice by many buyers.

I'll give you an example. I play in a Texas-No-Hold-Em poker game once a month - just a bunch of friends who get together, play a little poker, talk about their lives and have some fun. I thought it would be nice if we had some 'professional-style' poker chips so went to eBay to buy some. I like to think of myself as an intelligent eBay shopper so I watched the auctions for a few days and noticed that the final price averaged $60 for the chips I wanted (retail is about twice that at a local store). The market was determining the price, or was it?

As I watched these auctions I noticed an interesting problem, the shipping charges varied greatly. For the sake of this example let's say one seller was offering S&H at $20, another at $30 and one $50. We'll call them Seller A, Seller B and Seller C. As a buyer, if I was willing to accept the price determined by the market ? in this case $60, then the final cost of the item from each of these sellers would be:

Seller A: $60 + $20 = $80
Seller B: $60 + $30 = $90
Seller C: $60 + $50 = $110

I did some additional homework and discovered the package would weigh 17 pounds, the size would not increase shipping costs and the sellers were all in my state. I went to the UPS and Fed-X web sites and plugged in the needed information for shipping cost estimates. The results were $11 and $17. All things being equal the total cost of the chips should be around $71-$78. So which seller's auction did I bid on? Only one ? Seller A ? and I got the chips for $52, plus S&H ($72). If I hadn't won that auction I may have bid on Seller B's but probably would have lowered my total bid amount by $10. Seller C's auction closed without a singe bid.

Seller A got my business, Seller B may have, and as far as I was concerned, and apparently other bidders, Seller C can go pound sand. The outcome of this example should be pretty clear and it should be obvious by now that you don't want to be Seller C. Although you may get an occasional windfall with less savvy bidders, in the long term your sales will be much less than that of other sellers of similar items.

That's not to say you shouldn't recoup your shipping and handling costs in the process. We're not in business to lose money, but make sure you are not trying to pad your 'profit' at the expense of loosing bidders and ultimately sales. Take the time to do similar research on your own items and market niche and find out where you stand with your shipping and handling charges. If you're fair to your customers they will think better of you for it and in the long run your sales will be better.

© Copyright 2005 Steven Woodward - All Rights Reserved

About the Author:
Steven Woodward is the owner, editor and publisher of the Auction Sellers Network (ASN); a web site for individuals and companies who are serious about utilizing the online auction marketplace for their business. In addition to topical articles, ASN provides an extensive resource center, news feeds, member forums and classified ads. For more information or to become a member please visit http://www.AuctionSellersNetwork.com.

No permission is needed to reproduce an unedited copy of this article as long the About the Author tag is left intact and included. We do request that we be informed where it is posted and reciprocal links will be considered.

---

Ebooks, Scripts, Websites, and more...

Adsense websites

An eBay Computer Purchase

An eBay purchase that turned sour.A story of fraud, deceit,... Read More

City Police Auctions of Personal Property and Autos

About City Police Departments AuctionsThe City Police Departments handle and... Read More

So What Are YOU Going To Do About eBays Fee Increases?

Unless you have been hiding under a rock, I am... Read More

Be Realistic When Selling on eBay

As some of you know, I spent many years buying... Read More

Top Internet Businesses

The internet is packed with web businesses jockeying for the... Read More

How To Use A WYSIWYG HTML Editor To Make Stunning Ebay Auction Listings

What kind of browser are you using for online surfing?... Read More

How to Market with Niche Auction Sites

Online auctions are big business. But they can be big... Read More

5 Secrets To Make A Killing on EBay

Secret #1: Find a 'real' wholesale and drop ship companyDo... Read More

How To Sell Santa?s Slip-Ups

Shoppers spent more than $15.5 billion this Christmas on gifts... Read More

How To Stop Ebay Buyers From Sniping Your Auction For Less Than Its True Value

There are many savvy eBay buyers who use automated bidding... Read More

Ten Sure Fire Ways To Lose Bidders

The way some auction sellers approach their auctions, it's clear... Read More

The Quickest Way To Have A Product To Sell On The Internet

Creating a product from scratch that you can sell on... Read More

eBay Consignments: The Giant Opportunity Hiding on eBay (Part I)

More and more, people are becoming aware that they have... Read More

eBay Gold

Internet auctions are relatively new having been around since the... Read More

The Ins and Outs of Dropshipping on eBay

Dropshipping is an attractive marketing technique, but when you take... Read More

Louis Vuitton -- Avoiding the Ebay Nightmare Fakes

Without a doubt, eBay was one of the cleverest on-line... Read More

Rent A Coder & Other Service Auctions

You may be in the market for a new website.... Read More

Selling on eBay - Have You Found the Magic Formula Yet?

Selling on eBay can be very profitable and a great... Read More

Use Auction Templates For eBay Success!

Auction templates are simply a must for successful online auction... Read More

Fundraising Ideas Using eBay

Have you thought of using the online auction site eBay... Read More

The Powerful eBay Bidding Strategy That Claims A 99% Success Rate

Don't you just love it?You've found that special item on... Read More

eBay The Mega Marketplace For Everyone

eBay is one of the world's largest market places with... Read More

eBay - Getting More Bids Using An Auction Preview

If you sell in small niches as I recommend and... Read More

How To Find Tons of Hot Items Selling On EBay ...In Less Than 10 Minutes

There are many ways to start a home business online,... Read More

Can You Really Make Money Selling New Release CDs & DVDs On eBay?

Being an active eBayer, I am often being asked about... Read More