What is going on here?

[Pierlala]

Hello,

I won some very cheap auctions on Ebay today. I was actualy not in the position to buy Ponies but they were so cheap I coulnd't leave it.

I won 6 Ponies for 1 English Pound each. So, I wanted to pay and I was shocked by the invoice. Each Pony (2 Babies and 3 adults) were 4+ and 5+ Pound shipping each!!!

I contacted the seller and ask if this was a mistake. Because I once had the same issue before. Where I won Ponies cheap but the shipping (also from England) had the same high prices 5+ pound each. The seller back then told me it was wrong and that it should be around 2 Pound each and he solved it for me.

After I contacted this seller to ask about the shipping cost being that high told me that she put up the Ponies at a low starting price because the Shipping is that high. She then told me because I won 6 Ponies. That she could do something with the price for me and then told me she can ship all 6 Ponies for 15 Pounds. I don't understand how this works.

Not trying to bad mouth or blame/judge the seller. I just wonder how this Ebay shipping price works. I live in the Netherlands and have bought plenty of Ponies from thr UK. So I kinda know what the shipping prices are. But can a seller just "make up" a price. I mean how can it be that she can just take a huge chunk from the shipping price and be ok with it? I know Ebay is confusing. But I hate to think that people deliberately put up a high shipping price to be able to make some profit on it. Not saying she did. But it just feels like it.

The total amount officialy is: GBP 36,40.

But since she said she can send them down for 15 GBP it would be 7,20 + 15 GBP = GBP 22,20.

Should I be ok with this? I don't know what to think. She would send me an invoice later as she's not home right now.

It's just...if I put something on Ebay I put it up on a fair price. The actual price it costs to ship an item to whatever country it goes to. Because I can easily look it up on the website from my mail service. But how come some peopel can just give a certain price (estimate?) and then just change it whenever it's askedfor by a buyer. I mean, if I wouldn't have said anything about it and just paid...then what?

Maybe I'm a bit paranoid.

Is this person just being nice and possibly making loss on sending it for that much less? Or did she put up high shipping prices to make profit?

I don't want this to turn into some kind of hate/flame thread. It's just a question I have and ask for other people's experience on this. I don't blame/jugde the seller. I just want to know what to think.

[Epona]

Maybe its cheaper because she will be shipping them in a single package instead of 6 separate packages?
As for the difference between shipping prices from different sellers, could it be the difference between sending with or without tracking and the type of insurance? If I ship overseas with tracking it costs more than double than to ship without tracking.

I have no idea what shipping is like over there but here shipping prices are ridiculous.
It cost ~ $12CAD to send one G4 pony. But if I ship 2 G4 together its ~$13CAD

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Ebay's shipping calculator is notoriously wrong most of the time.    For both sellers and buyers.  Until the seller actually weighs the parcel and types in your address specifically (outside of the Ebay environment) , they won't know how much it will ACTUALLY cost.  That's why you see listings that say, "Please contact for shipping quote."

Also... international mail is crazy expensive and with tracking/signature/insurance/etc, that just increases the costs dramatically.  But it's the only way to protect yourself and the items.

[Pierlala]

Maybe its cheaper because she will be shipping them in a single package instead of 6 separate packages?
As for the difference between shipping prices from different sellers, could it be the difference between sending with or without tracking and the type of insurance? If I ship overseas with tracking it costs more than double than to ship without tracking.

I have no idea what shipping is like over there but here shipping prices are ridiculous.
It cost ~ $12CAD to send one G4 pony. But if I ship 2 G4 together its ~$13CAD

I have never heard of anyone making 6 different packages for 6 Ponies from the same seller. No one does that.

I just never experienced shipping from the UK to be that high.

[northstar3184]

What is the cost of shipping according to the Ebay item listings?

Sometimes sellers will set low item prices to attract buyers but then if you look at the shipping price it'll be higher than average to cover some of the difference between the item's value and its listed price/starting bid.

[Ringlets]

I am in the Uk  . People do sometimes list items on ebay with high shipping prices and low item start prices but to be honest it is less common now than it used to be. International mail is expensive from here and a lot of sellers (including myself) will only send with tracking /delivery confirmation which pushes the price higher. I do this to protect myself from scammers claiming that they never got their item.  I do charge the exact shipping price though I do not add to it.   The shipping price from the Uk is not just affected by the way the item is shipped but also on weight and package size.  The ponies you won were all listed separately so that different buyers could have bought them, and they would have to have had their own shipping costs listed on there in case that happened. Because you bought them all, the seller can ship in one parcel instead so that is why she can lower the shipping cost 
I haven't shipped so many ponies together myself for a while so I don't know how accurate your seller's price was , although it does sound about right...because I can tell you that I have shipped single ponie to various international buyers over the last few months. One G4 on its own - it was MOC so I sent it in a box- cost me around £10 to ship (it was to the US)  because I always use tracked and delivery confirmation.
Does that makes sense? I'm a bit fuzzy today

[LadyMoondancer]

eBay used to crack down on people with high shipping rates (like, unreasonably high) because at the time eBay did not charge sellers fees on shipping.

Then eBay started charging sellers fees on shipping.

As a result, eBay no longer cares about high shipping prices.  They get their cut, so they are content.

There is no standardization across eBay when it comes to combined shipping.  Not only that, but there's no requirement that sellers combine shipping on multiple wins. So it always behooves the buyer to ask ahead of time for an estimate.

But I hate to think that people deliberately put up a high shipping price to be able to make some profit on it. Not saying she did. But it just feels like it.

Whether someone pays $10 + $2 shipping, $12 + free shipping, or $2 + $10 shipping, it all amounts to the same thing.  Make sure you are okay with the TOTAL price, including shipping, before buying.

[Taffeta]

First thing, I suggest going and weighing six ponies to find out how much that collectively is.

Then go visit
http://www.royalmail.com/price-finder
and see what the site says six ponies costs to ship to you.
I would check both WITH tracking and without. I suspect that the option she is giving you is tracked, and that is not included but is extra.

UK shipping can be expensive. Within the UK to send a single pony with signed for delivery it costs £4.45 first class and £3.95 second class. That's in the UK. International is more.

I don't think that the price of £15 as a combined cost sounds that unreasonable if it is tracked, and I also don't think she was wrong about shipping the individual ponies for the price quoted on Ebay given that European postage with tracking is more expensive.

Unless the ponies happen to be huge, you won't need to worry about volumetric weight and parcelforce so Royal Mail should do.

I would check out prices before you assume the seller is wrong. I agree with Ringlets that it doesn't sound too outlandish (and at least they are combining packages, which some sellers flat refuse to do on the invoice but then send them combined to reap on shipping money).

I did a test pricing on the RM site for a 200g package to the Netherlands via small parcel rate, with and without tracking options and value of £20 or less. I would estimate that that would cover one pony. So it sounds to me like the seller is probably more or less right.

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[LadyMoondancer]

Good points, Taffeta.   

I just thought of another aspect, which is that combined shipping may depend on what size of box the seller happens to have lying around.  There have been times when the only box I had available to ship ponies in was "too big"--lots of empty space around the ponies, which had to be filled with padding.  This brought the price up compared to what it would have cost if I had had the "perfect" size available.  Sometimes I get items where the padding is crumpled brown paper--it adds to the weight more than you might think.

Basically, though, eBay is not going to do anything even if you feel you have been charged too much for shipping.  The more you pay in shipping, the more eBay makes in fees.  So it's kind of a moot point.  My advice is to shrug off your concerns and, in the future, ask for shipping quotes before bidding, especially on multiple items.

[Epona]

Maybe its cheaper because she will be shipping them in a single package instead of 6 separate packages?
As for the difference between shipping prices from different sellers, could it be the difference between sending with or without tracking and the type of insurance? If I ship overseas with tracking it costs more than double than to ship without tracking.

I have no idea what shipping is like over there but here shipping prices are ridiculous.
It cost ~ $12CAD to send one G4 pony. But if I ship 2 G4 together its ~$13CAD

I have never heard of anyone making 6 different packages for 6 Ponies from the same seller. No one does that.

I just never experienced shipping from the UK to be that high.

Actually there are people who refuse to combine shipping on multiple items. But what I meant is explained better by Ringlets.

  The ponies you won were all listed separately so that different buyers could have bought them, and they would have to have had their own shipping costs listed on there in case that happened. Because you bought them all, the seller can ship in one parcel instead so that is why she can lower the shipping cost 

[Taffeta]

Good points, Taffeta.   

I just thought of another aspect, which is that combined shipping may depend on what size of box the seller happens to have lying around.  There have been times when the only box I had available to ship ponies in was "too big"--lots of empty space around the ponies, which had to be filled with padding.  This brought the price up compared to what it would have cost if I had had the "perfect" size available.

Royal Mail doesn't work like that. Basically the options are small parcel (Royal Mail) and then into parcelforce territory. What it means is that so long as the box's 3 sides remain under 90cm when added together it goes via small parcel rate and that is Royal Mail. The size at that point doesn't matter, it's all on the weight.

If it goes over that size, then it's Parcelforce, and size becomes more important than weight (volumetric). That's why in the image you see above there's such a huge price rise between Royal Mail and Parcelforce. Parcelforce estimates a weight based on the box size. Royal Mail gives a price based on the weight, but as far as I know, so long as it's smaller than the dimensions above, and weighs less than 2kg (which 6 ponies should) it will be the same price irrespective of size.

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So it has nothing to do with the size of the box, because if the box was oversized, the quote would be much, much higher.

The seller may be estimating a price, but I genuinely don't think they are trying to make money on postage. On the contrary, I think they're trying to be a good seller by offering combined shipping (which they are not obliged to do, although it is good business to do it and actually makes posting items easier!)

One of the reasons I stopped selling on ebay was because in order to be protected as a seller I have to send items tracked. And buyers assume that when a postage cost looks high it's a scam, or they are put off by it. I use the RM site so I send exact postage figures and make a loss on packaging materials and then ebay fees as well. Your seller may be estimating packaging into the shipping fee or she may not, I don't know.

Some sellers have their accounts set up to block combined shipping requests because all their items are prepackaged before they're listed. You also can't get combined shipping with GPS. Really it's the best sellers who are willing to do the combined thing and to figure out all this stuff for their buyer, so I think you can rest assured she's trying to do you a favour and help you out.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Yeah  I forgot to mention that Ebay does not encourage combined shipping at all.  Ebay takes a substantial profit out of the shipping because they charge a fee based on the shipping price as well as the Paypal transfee fees AND the actual auction cost!  It's very costly out of pocket to be a seller on Ebay.

They really do want your seller to send out six different parcels, and for you to pay shipping costs six times. 

There is no way you can force the seller or obligate them to combine your items into one package if they don't want to. 

It's not so much that the seller is "mean" or "greedy" by having higher prices - it simply is the cost of using a global marketplace like Ebay.  You pay more as a seller to be able to sell your products to the world, you pay more as a buyer to be able to access markets that you wouldn't normally be able to.

[Khayman81]

What I don't understand in all of this is how come some shipping costs are around 2 or 3 times higher than others, from the same country. I have seen prices from France to France going up to 40€... which would be just hilarious.
And sometimes prices from Canada or Australia are just lower...

[Taffeta]

My favourite is the mail order pamphlet I saw once being sold from the US - a folded piece of paper with a shipping cost of $50.

I think that could be considered skimming profits on shipping...

[LadyMoondancer]

Doesn't Royal Mail take weight into account, though?  I can see how my post might have been confusing, but what I meant was that the price increases because additional padding is necessary, increasing the weight (depending what the seller uses for padding.) 

Some sellers have their accounts set up to block combined shipping requests because all their items are prepackaged before they're listed.

Good point!  I've done this before, mostly when selling playsets.