I am Starting ti Really Annoyed

[richd4549]

I am beginning to see a lot of 1 cent NR auctions out there for common items. Is that a bad thing ...NO!!!! But here is what is really bothering me. There are several sellers out there charging exorbitant shipping fees. Two examples that come to mind : seller # 1 charges a $1.50 first item with a ridiculous 75 cent per additional item and seller # 2 is $1.49 or $1.99 with no combined shipping. I do not believe this should be allowed because there is no way the seller can justify charging these shipping fees. Just imagine buying 10 items for a penny each and wind up paying $10.00 to $15.00 dollars in shipping fees. Yes I know one should being looking at shipping fees before bidding. There are still novices out there that see a penny auction...what a bargain...and zap they are stuck paying way over catalog because of shipping fees...and it does happen on occasion to us experienced buyers in a hurry or tired and not paying attention. Again my opinion is that these types of sellers should not be allowed to sell here unless they can change to more reasonable shipping fees.
Rich

[khj]

As many already know, I like penny auctions!

I basically agree with Rich. There is something wrong when the shipping costs for additional items exceeds the catalog value of the stamp. It would appear that the seller is doing nothing more than trying to make money off the shipping (does SW charge a fee on the shipping portion?).

[albionstamps]

I really wish I was back in the USA!

Shipping fee's here in the UK has just gone up about a month ago. Shipping to the USA from here is calculated by 10 grams, 15 grams, 20 grams, etc. Each just is quite steep!

When I have penny auctions, I try to keep it at a flat $1.25 for no matter how many auctions are won. Put it like this, at $1.25 I barely make it by! I really wish other's would do the same. It's discouraging for me because I'll see a couple of stamps I really want and realize that shipping would be about 400x the price of the auction!

There should be a rule about this on SW...

Andrew

[richd4549]

Andrew, You are across the pond and I expect to pay more for shipping from International shippers. I charge the same $1.25 flat rate for US and 2.25 International. You could purchase up to 999 penny auction..if I had that many listed ...for $1.25. shipping. If you were to purchase 1 more shipping would be free. You are correct SW should do something to encourage reasonable shipping rates When I managed a shipping warehouse, I was told flat out that you can not incur profits from shipping/handling fees and that it was unethical to do so. It is just too bad people try to fool others with CHEAP pricing of the item and then hammer them with unreasonable shipping fees.
Rich

[albionstamps]

The only problem I have and where I get messed up is the PayPal fees!

Let's say an auction doesn't get very many bids and ends at $0.01. StampWants fee's are $0.01, plus PayPal fee's are $0.34, plus shipping fee's. I end up actually paying more for the item in the end!

$1.26 by PayPal is my worst nightmare!

Andrew

[richd4549]

Unless you are selling high end items in Penny auctions and expecting reasonable bidding, it is what I call and acceptable loss to create a buyer base. To me Paypal fees are a cost of doing business and here in the US most of the time it covered with a flat rate of $1.25. There are times I will incur a loss but overall it is pretty much break even to cover all the fees. No longer will I list Penny Auctions but I will start at a nickle or dime since many times the penny auction will be realized at that cost. In my opinion there too many buyers who are looking just to bid a penny in hopes of getting a steal. As a buyer, I can see the logic in that but as a seller you will not be able to survive for very long.
Rich

[albionstamps]

I totally agree with you!

I know there are quite a few buyers here who only place a bid at $0.01. If it even goes up to $0.02 they won't take it! Essentially they buy just for the sake of the Penny rather than actually needing it for their collection.

Well, once I head back to the USA in around a year I won't have the PayPal problem anymore!

I also take a look at the items specifically. I remember selling a Barbuda set (1-4 I think, mint). I had it in my store for about $1.50ish and went to auction and from $0.01 it soared to $4.25 if I remember correctly. So, in conclusion, I guess you win some and lose some but it's worth the gamble in many cases! Like I said in another forum post - I had a few Penny Red's up for sale at auction. Yesterday they ended - now I have had these in my store for sale at 85% off CV for the last 4 months or so. Went to auction and some of them went to 50% of CV!

Go figure right!
Andrew

[cocollectibles]

Long post; my apologies, but how shipping is calculated here hits a nerve for me (thanks Rich, Andrew, and Kim; I totally agree with your points!).

The generic shipping discount is major part of the problem, since you can't adjust what it costs to ship an individual item with other items, but have to use the single combined shipping discount rate. You end up charging too much for lightweight items and too little (or you'll overprice yourself) for heavier items. If you have zero additional postage, you end up losing money on heavier items, or do what Rich and others do, offer free shipping if you buy over a certain amount and "swallow" the shipping cost in there. The table thing doesn't help as it is based on final cost not final weight. So maybe what we need is the ability to customize individual item shipping to adjust for such surcharges. Then sellers could do the following, using whatever values they want (these are illustrative examples only):

For a single stamp listing, set shipping at $1 with zero additional postage if added to another order
For a set of 10 album pages, set shipping at $1.25 with 10c additional postage if added to another order
For a stock book, set shipping at $3 with a 50c additional postage if added to another order

Now consider these purchases calculated this way, vs. the same initial rate plus 10c per item:

-- 20 single stamps: Shipping $1 vs. $2.90 (10c each for the other 19 stamps)

-- 20 single stamps plus one set of 10 album pages: Shipping $1.25 (each single stamp has zero surcharge) vs. 3.25 (highest shipping cost plue 10c surcharge for each of the 20 additional items)

-- 5 stock books: $3 + $2 surcharge for other four, $5 total vs. 3.40, which may not be enough for this weight

These are just examples, and no system is perfect, but maybe it can help. Sellers now have to specify their shipping costs when they list so adding another box to fill in isn't a major burden. You could also offer the generic combined item discount rate as an option if someone prefers that method.

[keesindy]

I do not believe this should be allowed.... Rich[/size]

Rich, I agree that the fees you identified are ridiculous and I wouldn't buy from those sellers because of the fees. However, I disagree when you say such fees shouldn't be allowed. If sellers want to restrict their sales by charging exorbitant fees, why should that not be allowed? Why shouldn't they have a right to shoot themselves in the foot so to speak? Buying from them is voluntary is it not?

One of the problems with setting rules and restrictions for fees is deciding what's suitable and what's not. Who gets to decide? Then, if it's OK to set limits on fees, why not set rules and restrictions on feedback and ridiculous sale prices for stamps and other aspects of SW? Where does it stop? When do we begin to look more like that other auction place and less like the SW we've come to enjoy and appreciate?

I just think we should be careful when it comes to thinking about what's to be allowed or not. It's a very slippery slope.......

[olderthandirt]

This topic has been visited before.

Personally, I charge $1.00 to the USA for any number of lots, except if the item is large and bulky and then I charge a cost basis (I don't have many of those). I charge $1.50 anywhere else. If someone wants insurance or certified or registered, I charge cost. Frankly I don't see why I should try to make money off shipping.

But, for lower priced items what is a seller to do? I don't sell things for less than $1 as a normal rule. But if you are selling individual items of minimum catalog value, how are you going to make it? If you sell 5 lots at $.10, charge $1 to ship and between SW and PayPal you lose money. These low priced lots are important to many collectors. The only possibility is to calculate PayPal costs per item and actual mailing costs and use a per item charge. But the first item in that case will be quite expensive because you have to recoup PayPal fees and SW fees. The second will be much less, the third even less, but there's no way of doing that with the current choices.

I personally don't like a per item charge, but I can see how that may be the only way of solving the problem (I've solved it by not offering low value items) and I can't really denigrate a business model that essentially gives away stamps and makes money on S/H.

Dirt

[deadmanstamps]

I totally agree. I am getting tired of the people who try to make a living by shipping. I have been ripped off several time by sellers who don't deliver or rob you on shipping charges.I recently bought 10 or 12 penny auctions that i needed for my collection . The seller stated that shipping was $1.49 which sounded reasonable . didn't state anything yea or no about combined shipping. Well when I got the invoice it was for $25.00 with an $8.00 discount for a total of $17.00. When the stamps arrived they were in a regular envelope with a .42 stamp so the rip off artist walked off with over $16.00 profit. Even if I would have paid 100% of catalog value for the stamps I could have bought them for a couple of bucks. That dealer will never see another penny of my money but that is not the point. STAMPWANTS MUST SET RULES OR LIMITS! At the minimum each seller should have to CLEARLY state their combined shipping policy. Sometime seller gives 2 or 3 shipping prices. they state one price and you read the fine print and it states another price. Stampwants should have a rule that all shipping prices should match. Thirdly Stampwants should set limits on shipping fees that can be charged. While I believe a little profit on shipping is ok robbery is not. I totally quit e-bay because of shipping rapists and paypal policy and I sure don"t want stampwants to follow in its footsteps. I love stampwants. Most of the sellers are good decent people but there is just enough scuzzers that you have to be exceptionaly wary and even expereinced buyers have trouble catching all their tricks. When this happens at least to me it makes me retreat to 3 or 4 trusted sellers and hesitant to try new sellers. That is not good for stampwants or the other sellers.Well enough venting for now but something has to be done . deadmanstamps

[tooler101]

I have posted on this subject before, guess no one read it. In short, the very first thing I do when I see an item I may want, is scroll to the bottom of the page and look for S/H charges. I have passed on many items, and will pass on many more.

[cocollectibles]

No, I remember you were one of the folks that does what I do; I do exactly that. I look at the additional charge, THEN decide if this is something I really want at that price. I have found sellers with two or three items that would be great for one of my collections, but the extra item cost turned me off. An additional stamp should not add ANYTHING to the cost of shipping, period.

Of course another practice might be for the seller to offer free additional shipping up to 100 stamps, for example. Yeah, right, that's going to work; the buyer will have to wait for an invoice for the adjustment, or you'll have to refund the difference. Too much of a pain. Dirt, why don't you like having the additional shipping charge on individual items? I'd really like to know because I can't think of a downside to it, other than a bit more work on the seller's part.

[gsdstamps]

Peter:

Awhile back there was discussion on extra charges. There were a good amount of buyers that were turned off by this. I keep all of our stuff in individual sales cards and ship the stamps in the cards. It costs about three cents per stamp this way, but its easier for me to store them and the buyer gets an extra bonus of having the items already identified when they receive them. I figure the cost into individual stamp price.

And it still amazes me when someone buys an 10 cent stamps and pays the buck and change shipping. But there are buyers that prefer to do it that way - every week.

Steve

[olderthandirt]

No, I remember you were one of the folks that does what I do; I do exactly that. I look at the additional charge, THEN decide if this is something I really want at that price. I have found sellers with two or three items that would be great for one of my collections, but the extra item cost turned me off. An additional stamp should not add ANYTHING to the cost of shipping, period.

Of course another practice might be for the seller to offer free additional shipping up to 100 stamps, for example. Yeah, right, that's going to work; the buyer will have to wait for an invoice for the adjustment, or you'll have to refund the difference. Too much of a pain. Dirt, why don't you like having the additional shipping charge on individual items? I'd really like to know because I can't think of a downside to it, other than a bit more work on the seller's part.

Because it's impossible to make it fair and reasonable under all circumstances. For instance if I have a $.25/item additional charge and you buy 5 items, it probably isn't too bad. But if you buy 100 items then it's $25 and that's ridiculous. Plus larger items require higher postage. More valuable items may require insurance. Items to certain countries should be registered. I have calculated, as best I can, that over many transactions, $1 will cover my costs. If you buy 1 stamp, I'll make a little on the transaction. If you buy enough that it pushes the weight over 1 oz., then I lose some. If you are in Canada, I make a little off the $1.50. If you are in the UK, I may lose a little. Unless one wants to calculate costs on every sale separately, there's no other way to make it work. Plus that leads to a bunch of people paying before the "correct" invoice arrives and then you have to straighten out PayPal and the whole thing takes a lot longer.

It's the KISS rule (Keep It Simple, Stupid).

Dirt