tmh657

I bought a frame on the bay last year and it was about $25 for fedex ground and was in the same state.

I am looking at a frame on ebay and the shipping is almost $80. That seems absurd. What do you usually pay or charge for just a frame and fork? and..

Do you just flat out refuse to bid on items with crazy shipping charges or if interested do you ask the seller if perhaps his math is a little bit off.

miamijim

$25 is high end of normal. $80 is absurd. Sellers only pay fees on the selling price so some sellers sell cheap and jack up shipping chrages to avoid ebay fees. In my eyes thats 100% fraud.

Ex Pres 

No matter what the item is I always subtract the shipping from what I'm willing to pay. Yes, $80 is too high, but just bid less. So you don't buy it - is that going to change your life?

Or you can always report the listing to ebay.

johnknappcc

+1, I believe they show up in product searches (google) without shipping added. I don't think it is fraud, but it is "technically" against ebay rules.

They base the price on how much they want to sell it for, and then they figure out how much to split between value of product and shipping.

Ebay is just plain crappy when it comes to shipping in general. If you were to buy a set of shifters, a cassette, a chain, and derailleurs from the same seller, there is a good chance they will charge shipping on each item (maybe a buck or two off), but all those items can be shipped in the same priority mail flat rate box for 10 bucks. There is one seller ABAXXO (I think) who sells the parts really cheap but has extremely expensive shipping charges.

One of the many reasons to dislike Ebay.

Very occasionally, they are charging so much for shipping, because they have no idea how much it will cost, are too lazy to research, or they are going to take it to the UPS store to have some kid charge them 20 dollars for shipping materials, and then another 10-20 to pack the thing.

KonAaron Snake 

I'm really glad that this thread started...I'm pretty new to ebay, and don't know much about shipping prices. The one time I did sell on ebay, I thought I charged enough on shipping, but was burned to the point where I lost money on the deal. I just put up a seat post andhad no clue what to charge...I went $10. How much will it really cost me to pack and ship? I'm not trying to rip anyone off, and would like to just be able to charge what I'm charged.

Maybe the answer is to advertise that I'll refund any differences? How do you know what to charge when you don't know where your buyer will even be located?

CACycling

As a seller, I try to put shipping at the high end of what I think it will cost (typically by seeing what others with similar items are charging and throwing out any crazy high amounts). I've been pretty close most of the time (have been high or low a buck or two). I know I could use the shipping calculator but it is just easier to put a fixed amount there.

On the buying end, I always look at total cost. I figure what I am willing to spend and subtract the shipping charge before bidding. If I am willing to pay $10 for a widget, I don't care if it is $9 for the item and $1 S+H or $1 for the item and $9 for S+H. Is it fraud to charge really high S+H? If it takes me 1/2 hour to pack it and run it to the post office and I feel my time is worth $30 then S+H can legitimately be $15 plus the actual shipping charges.

DiabloScott

As for shipping fees, just do your budgetting based on total price - never hurts to ask the seller about charges that seem high though.

As for shipping yourself - if it'll fit in a flat rate box from the post office, that's what I charge.

nlerner

I just sold a raft of things on eBay, and for all the small items, my charges in the CONUS were what Priority Mail flat rate boxes cost (plus delivery confirmation at 65c):

https://www.usps.com/prices/priority-mail-prices.htm

Same price no matter the zip. For larger items like wheels or framesets or whole bikes, I use the UPS Ground calculator on eBay, entering the size of the box and weight.

Int'l shipping is a bit crazier, and I refunded several overseas buyers on excess shipping costs (they paid via PayPal as soon as the auction ended, and I refunded after mailing the items off and seeing the actual shipping costs).

Neal

TheDL

Some people selling bikes/frames may be paying an LBS to box/package the bike or frame for them. So maybe that's why?

johnknappcc

You only get the shipping charges wrong once . . . you lose the money, and you learn. However, pro sellers (or anyone who sells a lot) should know an accurate shipping price. Thank goodness for flat rate boxes and the stuff that fits inside.

repechage

There can be a whole bunch of reasons especially for bikes or frames.

Poor dimensional choice of box that gets dimensional weight instead of actual.

time to source packing, then pack and ship, on small stuff it should be easy, for larger stuff, might require a trip or two to a bike shop to locate a box then look above, the dimensional problem again.

ebay tariff tactics, pretty sure shipping and handling is not subject to the same or any fee for the auction price. So shipping and handling if it yields a profit is hidden from ebay view.

Recouping of the Paypal discount fees and or additional credit card fees.

Over time it has become more expensive to list, sell and ship. Not good but how it is.

The ebay shipping calculator is often bad, and it takes time to research better, time is money.

carpediemracing 

I've bought and sold on eBay. Gave away a set of wheels due to shipping charges. It's a real pain for me to ship - either I do a UPS thing online (get charged pick up, fuel, etc), go to the post office and stand in line etc etc and never know what it'll be because the site and the reality are two different things it seems, or try to get someone else's regular pick up to pick it up (i.e. UPS guy comes to work and I give him the package).

Either way I probably spend 30-45 minutes to make sure things are properly packaged, padded, taped, etc, and that's for something like handlebars. For wheels I think I spent a couple hours trying to box them so that they're strong and still dimensionally favorable.

I charge actual shipping but it's sometimes a surprise due to my inexperience. I'll never, ever drop off a package at a UPS store again, that's for sure.

So when an amateur/non-pro lists something, I am willing to pay a much higher price on shipping. If it's a shop then I'm more familiar with how that works (free pickup for example) so I'll be more demanding on shipping.

However, I always budget the shipping into my bid. I'm bidding the whole price, not just the purchase price.

And it's not eBay that's "ripping you off", it's the seller. eBay has some standard listing fees, PayPal has standard fees, etc etc. eBay, to my experience, has never "ripped me off". Sellers, on the other hand, have not always been so predictable.

cdr

Grand Bois

Only a fool would bid without knowing the shipping charges.

Rabid Koala

Ebay needs to have a calculator for FedEx.

I always use the shipping calculator in my listings, and add a nominal $1 as a fee.

robatsu

I pretty much have stuck to selling things on ebay that fit in flat rate boxes. I add a proviso that buyers outside U.S. should contact me for before placing a bid. If it is an item that is going to go cheap an make me wait in line for customs rigamarole, I don't accept bids outside the U.S. Like a previous posters experience, I got burned a little on shipping early on and learned how to firewall against it.

Being able to efficiently pack/ship is one of the major factors in profitably using using ebay as a seller. For routine small items, I've got it down to where the packing/shipping/buying shipping labels takes about 10 minutes per item. Fortunately, I have a post office nearby that has a drop-off box for domestic priority mail boxes so I don't have to wait in line and is also convenient for other destinations that are part of my day job.

All these efficiencies add up - dimes make dollars...

sailorbenjamin

My LBS charges $35 to pack a bike. It's $50-$75 to ship it UPS. That's a whole bike, mind you.
I figured out how to pack them myself. If I were packing bikes every day I'd charge for packing because it takes a chunk out of my day. An hour or two to get the thing safely in the box, a half an hour on the various shipping calculators (UPS, USPS, FEDEX) to get the best price. and 45 min-1 hour to get the thing to the shipping place.
By the way, UPS charges a lot less for packages under 29" tall.
$80 is out of line for just a frame.

Soylent 

Shipping a frame for $25? Good luck!

Oldpeddaller

Reading these posts makes me realise how lucky we are over here in the UK. Royal Mail Parcel Force will deliver a boxed frame & forks within the UK for between £12 and £17, ($19 to $27 at today's exchange rate) so I'm happy to pay anything from £10 to £20 ($16 to $32) for postage and packing, appreciating that the seller has to provide packaging and take it to the depot. Shipping within the US always seems much more expensive but I wonder if this is because of the greater distances involved? Britain is only about 850 miles long, whereas some states in the US seem to be bigger than that.

I always include the postage price quoted within the maximum amount I am prepared to pay and try not to bid more than that total amount. I don't really care how much is the selling price and how much is for postage, my interest id purely how much will be taken from my bank account!

jan nikolajsen 

I guess for people living in the big cities it can come as a surprise that my local (and only) UPS shipping facility charges $65 for a naked bike frame to the other coast. The post office is even cheaper than that (at 50 some dollars).

So, what to do for us rural dwellers? Drive 90 minutes one way to the county seat and maybe not getting much better rates? Or eat part of the charges ourselves, and laugh at all you city folks putting up with bad air quality, crowded roads and higher living costs?

Jan

TheDL

Done it. A trick is, get yourself an Amazon Seller's account. It's free. With it you automatically get a free FedEx account that gives you a discount off their shipping services, it's like 10% or 15% off depending on the service.. I shipped a steel IRO frame across the country for under $20 FedEx Ground.

repechage

That is the post of the day.

Torchy McFlux

I was looking at some vintage cranks recently, but the sellers wanted to charge $40 for shipping. Others were asking $10. Caveat emptor.

Homebrew01

As a seller, I ship USPS all the time. I select priority mail in the listing, add $2.00 for S&H, and then the Ebay shipping calculator shows the buyer the shipping cost based on their zip code. I print the shipping label at home, so when I get to the post office I just hand it over and I'm done. I haven't had any problems. I've shipped wheels and components internationally, and in that case I ask international bidders to get a shipping price first, and then I get a quote from USPS for the bidder.

Homebrew01

Well, do as others have suggested. Bid based on the TOTAL amount.

Homebrew01

Will the mailman take it if it's packed, paid for & ready to go ?