I sold a bag on Ebay to an ebayer who happens to be the only bidder. The ebayer asked if she can get a copy of the receipt if she wins, and of course I said sure, no problem. The shipping cost was very clear on the auction, but after bidding last minute and winning the auction, I sent her a Paypal invoice, she then asks if I can fix the shipping cost from $18 to $8. Should I? I mean I'm not trying to cheat anyone from the shipping cost. It was clearly stated on my auction. This bag is pretty large, so I think it's reasonable. The last bag I sold, I actually paid more for shipping ($6 more) than I had charged for (b/c of the weight). Still I always keep it under $20. What do you guys think?
Buyer wins auction, then requests lower shipping cost
- Thread starter BabyK
- Start date
If i were you i would make her pay the $18 or go online and see the exact cost. she should have asked you before the auction ended about the shipping price not after.
It will take longer to arrive... is the seller aware of that? Are you selling insured? if so you could do it safely I think. On the other hand you stated clearly your shipping requirements... so she knew that before she bid. So I think it is up to you.
I don't ask the buyer to pay for insurance. I actually just cover it myself. I don't really know how much to charge for shipping honestly. If it goes over, I'll just pay for the few dollars. I'm fairly new to selling. I'm still learning. Sometimes I get it right almost, but sometimes I'm way off so I would have to pay extra. I don't make anything off my bags. I'm trying to clean out my closet basically. I pretty much decide the cost base on the size (and now weight after learning my lesson w/ the last bag), and this bag is pretty big. She said $8 and I don't know. How do you guys calculate shipping?
Use this link and then send it to her when you tell her that you are not lowering the shipping cost. You might also point out to her that it also costs you money for the shipping materials used to ship her item, as well as other costs(gas to go to USPS). I can't believe the nerve of some of these people lately!
http://postcalc.usps.gov
I'm not making a profit either, just cleaning and getting rid of things I haven't used for a while. I sold a bag last night on ebay. I boxed it up myself and after getting it ready and taking it to UPS, it was $18.41. I charged $18.00. I was charging $15.00 but kept going over a few dollars so I raised the shipping. I send the bags insured with sig confirmation. And I will ship it whatever way I can with the $18.00 they paid for. Lately, it has only been ground. Shipping is expensive!
It really is! I never really knew till the last bag I sold cost me about $23. I was like whoa, what happened here? It was one of my heavier bags. And this one is pretty big. I would have to put it in one of my own boxes so I'm thinking it would cost a lot as well. I just hope she pays me. She was pretty good w/ communication till I told her I can't lower the shipping cost.
You're welcome! Do you know what state she lives in? If you do, you can go on whitepages.com to find a zip code in her state to get an idea of how much it will cost you.
Same here! I used to undercalculate the shipping costs and it ended up eating at my "profits" (there's only so much you can make on back issues of magazines and old books lol). I raised the shipping costs recently as well. It's weird though, I've had a lot of potential bidders from Canada ask me how much the shipping is and even when I quote them a very reasonable price (tonight it was only $6 for a dvd set which is only $2 higher than my US shipping rate), they still don't bid.
So to the OP, don't charge any less, your amount was clearly stated.
The email you get from ebay when an auction ends should have the buyers name and address there.
She saw shipping before auction. I always include shipping with bidding price and I'm always fully aware of FULL costs before shipping whenever I bid on items. I would NOT lower it for her. I've underestimated shipping before and learned my lesson and it adds up including insurance, dc, etc. which I try to do with all higher end items as well as packaging it so it doesn't get crushed unless she wants u to cram it in a small little box lol and pay 8 bucks for it without confirmation and tell her it's your loss if it's damaged.
I would tell her that she needs to pay $18 now, and if shipping is less than that you will refund her the difference after you ship. I've done that before and it's worked out fine.