Am I being unfair on shipping charges?

[Kitsune Sniper]

Hello.

I was wondering if perhaps I'm being unfair on the amount I charge for shipping items. If you look at my auctions (look for the post elsewhere in this forum, I won't bump it or promote it. ;) ), you'll see that I -normally- charge $8.

Am I being unfair?

I decided to charge that much because of the following things:

1) I have to take four buses to ship the items (two to get to the post office, and two to get back home). That's $3.50 right there.

2) I don't like to send items via media mail. I normally send them via priority mail.

3) I think it's disrespectful for someone to buy something from me and send it in a cheap bubble envelope (stuff gets crushed). So I buy a box and use paper to pad the inside of the box. Even if it's just a single CD, I'd send it that way (unless it's the CD that's important and not the case, in which case I'd buy a bubble envelope, get a generic case, and send the item via priority mail anyway).

Even though I have to do all that, a friend of mine said that I charge too much. So, do I charge too much? And do you think that I should mention -why- I charge that much?

Thanks.

[lurpak]

I dont think your busfare should be a contigent, everybody has to take a trip to the postal office...not just you.

I use my car, I have to pay road tax, insurance, monthly payments, servicing....you see what I'm getting at !

you could take more than one item at a time..
you could mail the item when your next going past the office.

you could give your buyers the choice of a jiffy bag or box for an extra $ or 2

dont know about US, but in UK if your item gets damaged during delivery you claim off the postal service for damages.

cost also depends on what your posting

$8 for a cd... your having a laugh unless its particularly rare and valuable and insured.

posting a CD in UK cost about $1.20 internaly and $1 for bag or box.

[VACRMH]

Do you take Paypal and have a printer?

I like to use the shipping calculator and then print a shipping label with paypal.

It works out really well :) It costs about 70 cents for delivery conformation at the post office, but on paypal delivery conformation and a printing fee is only about 30 cents.

That may not be a big difference, but once the label is printed and slapped on the box, you can leave it for the mailman to pick up.

[Kitsune Sniper]

I pay 2 cab fares, .75 US cents each, and 2 bus fares, $1 USD each. I would take more items, but the US Border Patrol starts asking questions and stops me when I cross over (I live in Mexico but ship my items from the US of A).

Also, my items always include insurance.

And if the item is just a CD, I don't charge the $8. :P I'm not that low. I bump it down to $5 (and if the charges turned out to be really low, I try to include the money that was left of the shipping charges in the package.)

[suppafly]

I pay 2 cab fares, .75 US cents each, and 2 bus fares, $1 USD each. I would take more items, but the US Border Patrol starts asking questions and stops me when I cross over (I live in Mexico but ship my items from the US of A).

Also, my items always include insurance.

And if the item is just a CD, I don't charge the $8. :P I'm not that low. I bump it down to $5 (and if the charges turned out to be really low, I try to include the money that was left of the shipping charges in the package.)

Hey! I live in mexico and im a collector too. Maybe we could work out some shipping deal? I could send you my stuff and then you resend it from the USA? :D

My msn: suppafly@deletethis.hotmail.com

thanks!

[tylerwillis]

You charge what you charge. If people think it's unfair, then they won't pay. Personally, I think $8 is high... but then again, I don't have to pay $3.50 in fees.
You might look into online shipping - you don't have to do paypal, you can do it at usps.com. Then you can stick it in any blue mail box.

[Kitsune Sniper]

Hey! I live in mexico and im a collector too. Maybe we could work out some shipping deal? I could send you my stuff and then you resend it from the USA? :D

No creo que te saldria mas barato que mandar las cosas desde donde vivas. Aparte, ya sabes que tan chafa es Sepomex, tal vez se tomen dos o tres meses en llegar tus cosas. :P

Ademas, me voy a ir de Mexico en unos meses... pero a ver que pasa. Mi MSN es kitsune_sniper, me contactas cuando puedas. :)

[Griking]

2) I don't like to send items via media mail. I normally send them via priority mail.

3) I think it's disrespectful for someone to buy something from me and send it in a cheap bubble envelope (stuff gets crushed). So I buy a box and use paper to pad the inside of the box.

Just an FYI, you can get free boxes from the bost office as long as you use them to ship via Priority Mail. In fact, you can order a case of them from their website (http://shop.usps.com/cgi-bin/vsbv/postal_store_non_ssl/display_products/productCategory.jsp?prodCat=/Shipping+Supplies/Priority+Mail) and they'll deliver them to your home for free. That should cut the expenses for you a little.

As for charging for your bus trip to the post office, do you make a separate trip for each package you ship or do you ship a bunch at a time. I don't thin you should be charging each buyer the full price of a bus ticket but I don't see a problem if you add a small amount like $.50 per person to cover your expense.

[Kitsune Sniper]

Just an FYI, you can get free boxes from the bost office as long as you use them to ship via Priority Mail. In fact, you can order a case of them from their website (http://shop.usps.com/cgi-bin/vsbv/postal_store_non_ssl/display_products/productCategory.jsp?prodCat=/Shipping+Supplies/Priority+Mail) and they'll deliver them to your home for free. That should cut the expenses for you a little.

As for charging for your bus trip to the post office, do you make a separate trip for each package you ship or do you ship a bunch at a time. I don't thin you should be charging each buyer the full price of a bus ticket but I don't see a problem if you add a small amount like $.50 per person to cover your expense.

#2: Really? WOW! I didn't know that! Thanks for telling me, this'll help me reduce my shipping costs. :D

#3: I see. I can't go there very often, and the problem is that people don't pay me right away. They usually take two or three days - or worse, they pay with a Paypal e-check. One guy that I sold stuff to paid for an item with that last week, it barely cleared this afternoon...

Edit:
I've started revising the shipping costs. I got a weight scale now so I can calculate the approximate shipping costs. I can just add a buck to the final price, and that will be fine by me.

Thanks for the advice, everyone.

[suppafly]

Hey! I live in mexico and im a collector too. Maybe we could work out some shipping deal? I could send you my stuff and then you resend it from the USA? :D

No creo que te saldria mas barato que mandar las cosas desde donde vivas. Aparte, ya sabes que tan chafa es Sepomex, tal vez se tomen dos o tres meses en llegar tus cosas. :P

Ademas, me voy a ir de Mexico en unos meses... pero a ver que pasa. Mi MSN es kitsune_sniper, me contactas cuando puedas. :)

Ya te añadi, muchas gracias!