Andrew, you state the case quite eloquently.
I agree that any business needs to cover the costs it incurs and is
certainly entitled to make a profit. In fact, those that do a lot of
shipping will find UPS, FedEx, etc. very anxious to set up discount programs
to reduce shipping cost based on volume. IOW, they pay a price lower than
the rest of us, significantly so as volume increases.
My gripe is with what I see as a trend to turn shipping into a profit
center. High volume merchants certainly have overhead to factor into their
cost, but a lot of ebay sellers work out of the basement of their homes.
There's another reason I don't do business with such sellers and it's based
on personal experience. This technique has been used for years by
unscrupulous merchants. Simply put, they advertise low prices to attract
calls/interest. Potential buyer responds, often encountering bait and switch
tactics. If that works and the respondent buys, high shipping costs are
charged. The, "Oh well, total cost is about the same" logic kicks in.
Incidentally, shipping costs are NOT refundable. Order is shipped and may
contain restocked or defective merchandise. When buyer attempts to make a
return, the merchant can agree and is liable for only the artificially
reduced cost of the product, but not for the inflated cost of shipping.
Bingo! Instant profit for the seller even when the sale goes bad. Buyer
gives up and returns product and is annoyed to discover that return shipping
costs a lot less than they were charged by the not so friendly seller.
As I mentioned earlier, my personal response to this practice is to boycott
the practice and let 'em know I'm doing it.
FWIW/ScottGee1
On 6/16/05, Andrew Fildes <afildes@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>
> This one surfaces from time to time. Usually people equate 'fair
> shipping cost' to the cost of the stamp on the package. That's fine
> for me but when B&H sends me a parcel, I expect it to cost a lot
> more. If someone is in business, everything has to be factored into
> the shipping cost, including the rental on the storage facility and
> the wages and benefits of the dimbot wielding the stickytape. (No
> specific insult there. just an general observation on ex-students who
> have chosen 'storeman and packer' as a career path).
> As a private seller I can afford to be more generous because when I
> go to the post office in a spare moment, buy my lunch, have a coffee
> and pick up some groceries as well, secure in the knowledge that the
> Department of Education is paying my salary as I do it. I can even
> have a pile of recycled packaging, scavenged and squirreled boxes and
> other handy bits and forget the time and inconvenience. Professional
> sellers do not have that luxury. Also, while I certainly combine
> items for shipping and just have done so, some mass sellers of small
> items have them already packed for, storage speed and convenience and
> so can't do that easily.
> There are some clever weasels out there such as the guys who are
> offering Leica R - EOS adaptors on oBoy at present very cheaply and
> making up the difference with highly inflated postage but many
> professional sellers are simply trying to avoid going slowly broke
> due to the inevitable leakage caused by unrecovered invisible expenses.
> AndrewF
>
>
> On 16/06/2005, at 4:20 AM, ScottGee1 wrote:
>
> > I let ebay sellers know when I find their shipping costs out of
> > line. I
> > tell them that I'm interested in what they are offering, but will
> > not bid
> > because of the shipping cost. Of those that respond some offer
> > lectures
> > similar to those of the FM group and some offer a more reasonable
> > rate. In
> > fact, that just happened. We won two items from the same seller and
> > she
> > kindly charged shipping only once. It's certainly worth asking for
> > a lower
> > rate.
>
>
>
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