Do you leave negative feedback for excessive shipping?

[Edwolf1963]

Curious if you leave neg. feedback (eBay) for high shipping charges? Do you feel it is warranted if you know the shipping charges before you bid? Should that even matter? Do you leave 1 or 2 stars then for what you may fee are high/excessive shipping charges? What do you feel is reasonable vs. excessive? Do you leave neg. for cards sent not well packed or protected - regardless if arrived damaged or not?

From my perspective, I don't leave neg. for shipping bcse I know it going in, but won't hesitate to tag 1 or 2 stars if I feel it's high/excessive. Especially if it's for a $40-$50 card, over $5 and comes in a reg. white envelope or .59 cent bubble wrap envelope.

Just interested in your take here

[vintagetoppsguy]

I agree, Ed. It's not right to leave a neg for excessive shipping if the fees are stated in the listing, but I'll definitely ding the stars.

Edited to add: I buy a lot of single cards, so "excessive" to me is anything over $6.

[TheNightmanCometh]

I'll leave neg. feedback if they send it in an envelope with little to no protection, and charge a price that warrants better care. As a buyer, if I pay $3 or more for shipping I have an expectation. I have this expectation because I sell on eBay and I know what things cost. I can ship an item in a bubble mailer, with a sleeve, and a top loader; Costs me $2.50 total for all of that combined with the cost of shipping. I understand that eBay charges 10% on shipping, which is a joke BTW, so if they charge $3, even $3.25 I won't think anything of it; as long as they ship it properly. But, to charge that much and throw it in a white envelope; to me that's gouging a customer and should be dealt with accordingly. And by accordingly I mean contacting the buyer to see if they'll make it right, if not then I leave neg. feedback. I should mention that I've only ever had one seller who took issue with that.

[egri]

I won't, since I knew the charge ahead of time, and so far I've been lucky that when the sellers I've bought from have charged high rates, it's because they're shipping it in a bombproof box.

[D.P.Johnson]

Originally Posted by TheNightmanCometh

I'll leave neg. feedback if they send it in an envelope with little to no protection, and charge a price that warrants better care. As a buyer, if I pay $3 or more for shipping I have an expectation. I have this expectation because I sell on eBay and I know what things cost. I can ship an item in a bubble mailer, with a sleeve, and a top loader; Costs me $2.50 total for all of that combined with the cost of shipping. I understand that eBay charges 10% on shipping, which is a joke BTW, so if they charge $3, even $3.25 I won't think anything of it; as long as they ship it properly. But, to charge that much and throw it in a white envelope; to me that's gouging a customer and should be dealt with accordingly. And by accordingly I mean contacting the buyer to see if they'll make it right, if not then I leave neg. feedback. I should mention that I've only ever had one seller who took issue with that.

Not sure what kind of discount shipping you get, but the cheapest I can currently ship a 3 ounce package is $2.54., and this DOESN"T include the cost of a bubble mailer, sleeve, top loader, etc...

[Sean1125]

Originally Posted by D.P.Johnson

Not sure what kind of discount shipping you get, but the cheapest I can currently ship a 3 ounce package is $2.54., and this DOESN"T include the cost of a bubble mailer, sleeve, top loader, etc...

Shipping 1 card:

Mail Cost: $2.54
Bubble Mailer $.11
Cardboard Pads $.16
Tape $.03
Biz Card and/or marketing Materials $.03-$.40
CS1 $.05
eBay charge 10% $.35

I charge $3.50 and payout $3.51~ on every shipment to get it to the door. Buyers who complain about shipping charges and how "you try to make money on them" get blocked.

[JollyElm]

Originally Posted by Sean1125

Shipping 1 card:

Mail Cost: $2.54
Bubble Mailer $.11
Cardboard Pads $.16
Tape $.03
Biz Card and/or marketing Materials $.03-$.40
CS1 $.05
eBay charge 10% $.35

I charge $3.50 and payout $3.51~ on every shipment to get it to the door. Buyers who complain about shipping charges and how "you try to make money on them" get blocked.

Is this a joke?? Why the heck does your business card and/or marketing materials get factored into the customer's cost of shipping???? That's not a buyer's responsibility to pay the costs of YOU promoting YOUR business. That's what revenue is for. Come on!!

[TheNightmanCometh]

Originally Posted by Sean1125

Shipping 1 card:

Mail Cost: $2.54
Bubble Mailer $.11
Cardboard Pads $.16
Tape $.03
Biz Card and/or marketing Materials $.03-$.40
CS1 $.05
eBay charge 10% $.35

I charge $3.50 and payout $3.51~ on every shipment to get it to the door. Buyers who complain about shipping charges and how "you try to make money on them" get blocked.

You see, that I wouldn't have a problem with. Now, if you charged that and stuck a card in an envelope, I'm going to be wondering why you charged so much for shipping.

[glchen]

Originally Posted by Sean1125

Shipping 1 card:

Mail Cost: $2.54
Bubble Mailer $.11
Cardboard Pads $.16
Tape $.03
Biz Card and/or marketing Materials $.03-$.40
CS1 $.05
eBay charge 10% $.35

I charge $3.50 and payout $3.51~ on every shipment to get it to the door. Buyers who complain about shipping charges and how "you try to make money on them" get blocked.

As others have mentioned, the cost for a 3oz package is now $2.45. For 4oz (thru 8oz), it is $2.60. You can mail a PSA graded card (or raw card) in a 3oz bubble mailer, but an SGC or Beckett will need 4oz. I think sellers can say anything they need to in order to justify the cost of shipping. I've heard sellers adding in the cost of the gas it costs them to drive to the Post Office to drop off the package and even the depreciation of their vehicle. Buyers just care about the cost of the postage, and I think they're willing to give a little leeway for the bubble mailer. This is why I always use the pre-printed ebay shipping labels, and I never show the cost of the shipping unless it is more than the buyer paid. In general, my costs for shipping a PSA card would be:

Mail Cost: $2.45
Bubble Mailer $.10
Postcard sized penny saver to protect slab: $.02
eBay charge 10% $.33

I put a thin piece of cardboard (from the free small priority mail boxes) on each side of the card. I also tape the packing slip to the cardboard with the buyer's address showing in the very unlikely event the card is separated from the package. I charge $3.25 for shipping (and it used to be $3 before the postage rates went up at the beginning of the year). Using this rate, I've never gotten a negative feedback on my sales. I've been dinged a little, but never down to 1 or 2 stars, and never anything to threaten my Top Rated Seller status. And you can say that I technically think I make a small profit on my shipping. Personally, I really think a key to getting good ebay satisfaction from buyers is if you ship the card really fast, and the buyer has it in his/her hands really quick, they will forgive a lot of things, even slightly higher shipping charges.

About marketing charges, I would never charge the buyer for that. C'mon you're charging the buyer slightly more, and you want to win more of their business by giving them a business card? If you want more of their business, I think they'd much prefer lower shipping cost. And anyway, if you file Schedule C for your business, those marketing costs (and costs of the bubble mailer, etc) are all tax deductible. And I saw that Just Collect posted to this thread also. The last time I won from them on ebay, they even sent me a free Just Collect t-shirt. (Granted my winning was over $1K.) Seriously, that is marketing that you remember. I toss business cards straight into my recycling bin without ever looking at them whenever I get them in my packages.

[irv]

I have only written a few sellers telling them their shipping fees, using Global, are outrageous.

Surprisingly, a lot of sellers are not aware it is so expensive for us CDN's.
I have also seen other outrageous fees, like $47.00 dollars charged for one card using something other than Global but I haven't bothered wasting my time telling them as I am sure they are aware of it?

Needless to say, neither seller ever receives any bids from me.

Edit: I should add, a couple sellers I have notified have now changed their shipper from Global to something way more reasonable and affordable.

[bbcard1]

I try to notice shipping charges before I buy. I think the only time I've ever left negative feedback was on an overly difficult transaction, probably only once or twice in a couple thousand transactions.

[clydepepper]

Originally Posted by vintagetoppsguy

i agree, ed. It's not right to leave a neg for excessive shipping if the fees are stated in the listing, but i'll definitely ding the stars.

Edited to add: I buy a lot of single cards, so "excessive" to me is anything over $6.

+1


.

[tonyo]

Originally Posted by Edwolf1963

Curious if you leave neg. feedback (eBay) for high shipping charges? Do you feel it is warranted if you know the shipping charges before you bid? Should that even matter? Do you leave 1 or 2 stars then for what you may fee are high/excessive shipping charges? What do you feel is reasonable vs. excessive? Do you leave neg. for cards sent not well packed or protected - regardless if arrived damaged or not?

From my perspective, I don't leave neg. for shipping bcse I know it going in, but won't hesitate to tag 1 or 2 stars if I feel it's high/excessive. Especially if it's for a $40-$50 card, over $5 and comes in a reg. white envelope or .59 cent bubble wrap envelope.

Just interested in your take here

I have gotten to the point where I will factor in the cost of shipping to what I am willing to pay prior to bidding. Then if the card arrives intact I automatically leave positive feedback and 4 stars across the board without thinking about it.

Saves a lot of drama and time.

I have very rarely had a card arrived damaged. Once a package arrived opened with no contents. That was from COMC and they refunded me with no questions asked. Recently the PWE and card in the photo arrived in a plastic bag and a note from the post office apologizing for the damage. This was from a board member so I didn't bother mentioning it.

[cammb]

The seller apologized for sending in plain white envelope, blamed it on his secretary and made a partial refund. Luckily, card wasnt damaged. Sent it to SGC and received same grade.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by cammb

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The seller apologized for sending in plain white envelope, blamed it on his secretary and made a partial refund. Luckily, card wasnt damaged. Sent it to SGC and received same grade.

Miracle that card was not damaged. And how much you wanna bet it's his writing not his secretary's?

[Brian Van Horn]

I tell the person up front that their shipping costs are too high. If the person doesn't negotiate, then I move on. One exception recently was a group of Willards Chocolates I picked up on eBay. The charge was $3.00 s/h on each lot and shipping was not reduced with multiple winning lots. The reason I didn't object to $18.00 s/h was only because the cards were coming from Canada. It was evident from the postage that the guy wasn't make money off the deal.

[Sean1125]

Originally Posted by Brian Van Horn

I tell the person up front that their shipping costs are too high. If the person doesn't negotiate, then I move on. One exception recently was a group of Willards Chocolates I picked up on eBay. The charge was $3.00 s/h on each lot and shipping was not reduced with multiple winning lots. The reason I didn't object to $18.00 s/h was only because the cards were coming from Canada. It was evident from the postage that the guy wasn't make money off the deal.

Shipping to Canada is the same deal. I charge $9+.$90 per item. Base shipping is $8.79 or so and if you go above a few hundred dollars or prirority the cost jumps to over $30

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by cammb

The seller apologized for sending in plain white envelope, blamed it on his secretary and made a partial refund. Luckily, card wasnt damaged. Sent it to SGC and received same grade.

OH MY! This is a person who needs a good punch to the face. Who mails a card like that in an envelope?? Who??