I almost always lose on the shipping charges. if its too much at usps for priotity I just hand it off to my dad who works for UPS and let him get it there the cheapest way possible.

Ive paid around 20 bucks for shipping while only listing 11-12 dollars as the shipping charge. Frankly people dont realize that with zone to zone charging, price can vary greatly. I once paid almost 9 dollars to ship something to CA that would have only cost 4 to ship to the next nearby state. In general, real shipping costs are expensive.

AMEN! I have irate buyers on half.com emailing me all the time "my class started today, i NEEEEED my book" when they just ordered two or three days before and chose to go media mail. It says right on the site that it can take up to three weeks.

"Poor planning your part does NOT constitute an emergency on my part"

I just don't bid on anything that's listed to ship parcel post. One box took 3.5 weeks to arrive from midwest to CA, but its the not-knowing that is nerve-wracking. I much prefer usps priority (even though their tracking isn't updated often enough, at least you know sort of when it's near your town!) I've had several lost packages with ups, so personally don't like using their services.

On the other topic, as a seller, I've *always* lost $ with shipping, because I'll always insure and add delivery conf., but I'd rather suck up a few bucks than turn off buyers with high shipping costs. I once sold some heavy Prada shoes that sadly sold for my starting price of $30, and the shipping total was $17! After my ebay fees, I pretty much paid the buyer to take my shoes!

Normally the seller can select what options to use for shipping. If I have parcel post listed, then Priority Mail is also listed. Ebay's shipping calculator is very confusing to newbies and the check out process is even worse.

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I just don't bid on anything that's listed to ship parcel post.

neither do i! for the same reason you said - "but its the not-knowing that is nerve-wracking." i am afraid of turning into one of those buyers that email every other day wanting to know "where is the package" and i really don't need that type of stress!!