is shipping really that much? or is ebay just messing with me

[pyrodarknessanny]

so theirs a few pony lots i wouldent' mind  bidding on / buying  atm.
the lots them selves aren't all that expensive  $20  or  so  for a hand full of  ponies or  a dozen  fakies etc.

trouble is   the post!
one lot  post is  $40! , another lot  they want to charge me $60 !   


what is going on with this?
i know international shipping can be expensive (im in australia)
but this is  just nuts!.


[moving to TS ~ thanks, Mirn]
 

[meskhetyw]

I'm also curious about that. I wanted to ask my cousin, who lives in us, to buy me a pony or two, but I changed my mind when I saw shipping costs. Anybody knows how much it costs to send a MOC pony to europe? Ahh, I often wish shipping was free. Life would be so much easier...

[prancingstag]

I think it's because ebay changed their policy and now pretty much all sellers are offering tracked shipping, so that they can protect themselves in case something goes wrong. I also think the crazy high shipping quotes ($50-60 for a single EQG doll in box? Really?) are coming from the "global shipping program", which takes the item off the seller, puts it in a distribution center, and then sends it on. Extra effort means extra cash needed.

[OLumeVaSti]

I'd believe it. I did a private swap with a friend here and it was $78.00 to ship to the UK.

[ponylady]

The thing is the cost of shipping has risen dramatically over the years. I'm not saying there are not cases that sellers are way over charging but in most cases they are charging exact costs and then maybe a few extra dollars for packing materials. And as prancingstag mentioned most sellers will only ship with tracking to protect themselves and with that your looking at a very high dollar amount.

I know hypothetically speaking if you were purchasing a lot of ponies and they roughly weigh around 1lbs. It is $16.75 just for First Class to Australia, now if you go Priority your looking at $41.50. Then 2lbs jumps up to $24.15 and $45.75 for Priority. Now let's go even higher, as we know pony weight can add up if your buying a job lot. So let's say 6lbs..well it's $62.95 and you only have a Priority option at that weight. It's absurd but US sellers are stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to shipping. 

Also just want to note that it costs $9.45 to ship one pony in a bubble envelope to Australia from the US.

[pyrodarknessanny]

i know pricing had gone up but i didn't think had risen that much.

not sure how i feel about the global shipping thing  with ebay either.
thanks for the  input tho guys  those explanations were  helpful. 

[silverdawn]

They're not lying   As a seller I can tell you I really do have to pay $40 to send anything insured overseas.  And if a seller uses the global shipping program, ebay will tack another $10 to $15 on at least.  The cheapest I can ship is one to two ponies uninsured for around $12.  On the other hand, when I buy overseas, I pay more or less the exact same price. Hopefully this helps!
Silverdawn

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Yes, shipping really is that much.  It's skyrocketed over the past 3 years for sure.

[LadyMoondancer]

Nobody sends by first class any more because it's not insurable and the seller has no recourse with eBay / Paypal if a package gets lost.  So everything is Priority International and, yeah, it really is that much to ship from the US to Australia.    I think prancingstag is dead on about the "global shipping program", too.

[CupidStrikes]

Not surprising. It's around £50 here to send something fully insured and tracked outside Europe. I honestly wonder how a lot of Asia can have such cheap tracked and insured shipping when ours here is so disgustingly expensive (considering how many people send things overseas these days, you'd think there would be more options, and more competitive prices...)

[SoaringSentinel]

It depends on where the items are being shipped to but packages can be that expensive. my preliminary checks for my princess luna figure showed that the average price for shipping is around 35 dollars. and even higher when shipping outside of the EU.

[ButtercreamDream]

It's gone way up in Canada and the US.  Both of our postal systems were/are in financial trouble, and prices are just going up.  I spent $80 shipping a 2kg package to the UK in the beginning of November by surface, and it finally got there TODAY!  Had I gone airmail, it would have been $130!

Canada is in so much financial trouble already that they are ending door to door delivery over the next couple of years.  You'll have to pick up everything at a central post box, and go in in person to pick up parcels =(

[meskhetyw]

Just wow.

My boyfriend sent few packages from poland to his hometown in korea, and payed around 80$ for each. But they were ca 19kg! It took from 5 to 15 days for them to arrive. Also tracking system is free. If anybody wants to get some new merch that is available in poland, I'll be more than glad to help

[Kiwi]

Yup - I sent a ~1 KG box from Canada to New Zealand, cost me ~$50.

The global shipping thing on ebay increases prices, but it also adds in the import/custom charges too, so that increases the price - having to pay when a lot of packages get through regular mail without needing it.

[bluerose9978]

Nobody sends by first class any more because it's not insurable and the seller has no recourse with eBay / Paypal if a package gets lost.  So everything is Priority International and, yeah, it really is that much to ship from the US to Australia.    I think prancingstag is dead on about the "global shipping program", too.

That's not necessarily true. I ONLY use first class international. I've never had a problem and it's trackable in certain countries. And that list keeps increasing. Also, I pass on the online shipping discount I get to my buyers. I charge less than $9 to send a pony overseas. And shipping to Canada from the US costs less than $7 for one pony. Sometimes shipping via this method has been faster than priority according to my buyers.