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$20 for shipping!!!
leeblackman
Member Posts: 5,303 ✭✭
I scan the auctions for deals every once in a while, I find them sometimes and win them sometimes. But more than once have I passed on an item, or had to pay shipping on an item for $20...
And when I recieve the item, it will have the sticker with the price of shipping on it, it will be like $6.50 or less usually.
I've emailed a few people for reasoning or to ask if they can have it shipped cheaper, usually with bad responses. A common answer is that its to pay for not just the shipping but also the handling, gas for transport, the cardboard box, ect. But $20....No, i don't think so. Sometimes people just plain say, if you don't want to pay the shipping, don't bid on it, and I say ok, but you wonder why no one has bid on it yet.
Right now I'm looking at an auction for one of those cheap turkish mausers, the ones you get out of shotgun news for $40 a pop, and they ship for about $10. We'll theres a guy who has one no reserve for $35, but he took out the bayonet and other accessories to sell them seperate. I figure ok, I don't want all that stuff anyway, and I'd get it $5 cheaper, right. Wrong, then I see the fixed shipping for $15.50.... Theres his real profit, thought it was from selling everything seperate, but nope, he wants to make some on the shipping to. I know it won't cost that much to ship it.
So on my perspectice, I can spend about $46.50 and get one with all the trimmings or I can spend $50 and get one without anything. I just emailed the saler, asking for cheaper shipping, hopefully he will hook me up, if not, its another good deal I'll have to pass on.
Visit me http://www.geocities.com/gunsmithlee
And when I recieve the item, it will have the sticker with the price of shipping on it, it will be like $6.50 or less usually.
I've emailed a few people for reasoning or to ask if they can have it shipped cheaper, usually with bad responses. A common answer is that its to pay for not just the shipping but also the handling, gas for transport, the cardboard box, ect. But $20....No, i don't think so. Sometimes people just plain say, if you don't want to pay the shipping, don't bid on it, and I say ok, but you wonder why no one has bid on it yet.
Right now I'm looking at an auction for one of those cheap turkish mausers, the ones you get out of shotgun news for $40 a pop, and they ship for about $10. We'll theres a guy who has one no reserve for $35, but he took out the bayonet and other accessories to sell them seperate. I figure ok, I don't want all that stuff anyway, and I'd get it $5 cheaper, right. Wrong, then I see the fixed shipping for $15.50.... Theres his real profit, thought it was from selling everything seperate, but nope, he wants to make some on the shipping to. I know it won't cost that much to ship it.
So on my perspectice, I can spend about $46.50 and get one with all the trimmings or I can spend $50 and get one without anything. I just emailed the saler, asking for cheaper shipping, hopefully he will hook me up, if not, its another good deal I'll have to pass on.
Visit me http://www.geocities.com/gunsmithlee
Comments
Why would any smart seller select a low price to start to auction an item and then fumble the ball on a fat shipping price? If it's supposed to be a profit-juggling game, nobody's fooled. The lower you can ship, the better the customers will like you, as long as it's safe and reliable.
The 2nd Amendment is about security, not hunting. Long live the gun shows, and reasonable access to FFLs. Join the NRA -- I'm a Life Member.
Thats how things are being done now......I used to NOT make any profit on my shipping, but I'm forced to do it now.
The idiots on Ebay want to set the price very low, then make $3-5 on the shipping.
If I don't do close to the same, I don't sell stuff. People are TOO STUPID too look at the final price.
It sucks.....I make $1-3 at the most on my shipping.......I try not to gouge too badly, but thats the way the sellers are doing it now.
Merc-Caught between the rock and the hard place.
(I ship 500-2,000 items a week, usually......not much lately....taking time off)
NO! You may not have my guns! Now go crawl back into your hole!
Your words are logical, but in reality, thats not how it works. Go look on Ebay......guys selling stuff for $2, plus $6 shipping are making huge bux......guys selling the same thing for $6, plus $2 shipping aren't making JACK.
It sucks.
Merc
People are just plain stupid.....sigh......
NO! You may not have my guns! Now go crawl back into your hole!
S&H is a cost of doing business. It has gone proportionally out of sight when you figure this simple everyday example:
1. Labor costs; average partime employee at $9/hr. Takes 15 minutes to process paperwork, pack, ship, and handle parcel of an average sale.
$2.25 labor cost.
2. Costs of material, boxes, labels, tapes (tapes like security tape is expensive), pens, markers, packing doesn't come free. Not every box if you are "spinthrifty", and bold enough to raid your local post office will work.
3. Time to handle, whether OOPS(UPS), Fed X picks up, or it's run to the USPS, it all takes time. Whether you pay an employee, or do it yourself,...someone spends time. Time is money.
4.Actual shipping costs, insurance, etc.
So, add the four(4) basic costs, and if you were really "in the business", you know it will have to be factored in somewhere.
If I order in, say a simple light part, or a set of rings, my Inbound S&H will be a minimun of $4.00 UPS. Now if that ring set costs me for example,...$20, and I make $4 an average mark up, I sold them for Zero (0) profit,...if I don't cover the S&H. How long will I be in business to serve you, my good customers?
In NO way,...does this excuse those who deliberately overcharge, or sneak in S&H charges, but it is a cost of business. Now with USPS increasing rates,...it will only get more expensive to do business.
Happy Bullet Holes!
Edited by - Guns & Glass on 04/15/2002 15:44:23
Have guns,will travel
I have sometimes found I can buy a book or other item more cheaply from Amazon or other internet source INCLUDING SHIPPIMG, than I can get it driving across town and buying it locally. Go figger...
"We become what we habitually do. If we act rightly, we become upright men. If we habitually act wrongly, or weakly, we become weak and corrupt" - *ARISTOTLE*
**Like Grandad used to say--"It'll feel better when it quits hurtin"
Priority Mail= $10.40
Parcel post to the west coast= $8.84
UPS to the west coast= $6.08 (that's using my employers shipping acct for a lower rate)
The brass went to the scrap metal dealer!
If you don't ship every day UPS charges for pick up. specialized boxes for shipping long arms go for $5.00+ ea. Firearms shipped UPS have to be taken to UPS they won't let you take them to Mail Boxes Etc or similar places. For me that's a trip 35 miles each way.It all adds up, I really doubt many people here would go to that much effort for the $10.00 or $15.00 these guys are making on the gun. On a big$ item I'm not going to begrudge the guy $20.00 shipping and handling. Now there is a guy out there charging $50.00 shipping on handguns that I'll agree with you on.
Woods
How big a boy are ya?
Still good deals do exist, but you really have to look for them.
Boomer
Protect our Constitutional Rights.
It has become my purpose in life to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable. will270win@aol.com ~Secret Select Society Of Suave Stylish Smoking Jackets~
Visit me http://www.geocities.com/gunsmithlee
B - BreatheR - RelaxA - AimS - SightS - Squeeze
The Almighty Himself Entrusted the Future of All Living Creatures to a Wooden Boat.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -"Audemus jura nostra defendere"
PS: don't tell anyone.
Happy Bullet Holes!
Guns! Guns! Guns!
Lord Lowrider the LoquaciousMember:Secret Select Society of Suave Stylish Smoking Jackets She was only a fisherman's daughter,But when she saw my rod she reeled.
they will put it in an 8x12 envelope & then stuff it with enough advertising to bring the shipping charges up to $6.50.
sorta chicken s#$%.
barto
the hard stuff we do right away - the impossible takes a little longer
Thunderbolt.... Ouch, that hurt.. touche'
"In God We Trust........All Others Go Thru NCIC"
That`s pretty damn suave.
.218
Did sombody say somethin` about bees?
I'm not BUYING on those auctions. I'm not saying it's not being done, I'm saying I'm not paying a business to run a shipping/receiving department. I'm paying another individual for a gun at a fair price, and postage to get it here, and an irritating but necessary transfer fee.
I don't feel sorry for the businesses who are attracted to the auction sites because auctions are always going to be a buyers' market for individual items, and primarily for collectors' individual transactions -- not direct marketeers with inventory to unload. This is one case where the kitchen table wins, because overhead and collector auctions don't have much to do with each other. Fire your shipping department and pick up some Priority boxes down at the P.O. for free. You'll be better off.
My guess is there are 3 kinds of people on auction sites. Individual collectors making good deals among themselves with tremendous care and sensitivity for the other collector, guys trying to act like big businesses when all they have is a PO box and a warped self image, and retailers trying to figure out how to make auction sites fit their business model. It's not a very good fit. The fact is, unless you're a doctor or lawyer, charging for your time is a dog that won't hunt.
The 2nd Amendment is about security, not hunting. Long live the gun shows, and reasonable access to FFLs. Join the NRA -- I'm a Life Member.
USPS regs do require that they be shipped as Registered which is not the actual shipping charge but an additional service.
Ie; Priority & Registered, Next Day & Registered, First Class & Registered. "Class" just depends on how fast, and how much you need to spend.
PS. USPS Next Day service was sold months ago to Fed X. Many P.O.'s won't guarantee delivery due to their location or size.
Plus it's more expensive than Fed X. What a racket.
Happy Bullet Holes!
YIKES! That didn't sound gay did it?
Lord Lowrider the LoquaciousMember:Secret Select Society of Suave Stylish Smoking Jackets She was only a fisherman's daughter,But when she saw my rod she reeled.
I have shipped 3 handguns I sold here in the last 5 weeks.
The most for shipping was $8.25 and that included ins.
This was via USPS Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation.
cpermd
Remember our P.O.W's and M.I.A's
Again, I'm not buying unless the total price is acceptable. I don't care what a seller charges, because if shipping is too fat, somebody else will have to pay it. But I do think he's shooting himself in the foot to charge a penny more than he has to, because, being a seller myself with 180 FB slowly and carefully accumulated on eBay since 1999, I know that practice only inflates the price of the item he hopes to sell. I hardly ever have an auction close empty. I figure bidders are NOT stupid, and they CAN add. If you've ever sold stuff locally, and then started selling by internet, you've got to see that shipping becomes a necessary evil. Clear?
As an exercise, try doing a search for the same item you're about to list. Add up the fees for that item for the other dealers. See if you're lowest on total price. If your answer is, "I don't care what they sell for, I know what I need," I rest my case. Again, don't ask why your auctions close empty. At the risk of wearing out my two by four, shipping is a necessary evil and the less you can charge, the better for you as a seller. Trust another seller on that. It's not a criticism, it's my experience.
The 2nd Amendment is about security, not hunting. Long live the gun shows, and reasonable access to FFLs. Join the NRA -- I'm a Life Member.
Edited by - offeror on 04/16/2002 15:42:14
When another dealer starts listing these Carbines for less, he will probably still only get 1 bid per gun, because the top price to pay is probably $589 retail. That's not an auction, that's a mail order sale. I'm not criticizing, just reporting. Now, an AUCTION would open at a few bucks over wholesale and let the bids run the price up. Now, that's fun. You can't open an auction at the price where it should close -- well, of course you CAN, but I wouldn't expect much of a feeding frenzy.
The 2nd Amendment is about security, not hunting. Long live the gun shows, and reasonable access to FFLs. Join the NRA -- I'm a Life Member.
Edited by - offeror on 04/16/2002 15:40:08
I agree with most of your posts, but you are waaaaaaay off base on this. I have over 16k feedbacks on ebay......I ship 200-300 items on a SLOW week.
Again, people don't CARE what the total is.....they just go by what the bid price is.
Like I've said before, Joe Public is not too bright, from my experience.
I've been selling on Ebay since 1995, and most people ignore the shipping, and bid on the item with the lowest price. I've had over 40,000 transactions, and it is MORE true now than ever before. And yes, some people won't bid with bidders with high shipping. There are some people (my competition) who charge $5.90 for shipping for an item that I would charge $2.51 for.
I totally understand your point. If shipping is way too high, I don't bid. BUT WE ARE THE EXCEPTION!
Merc (who is packing about 150 items today)
NO! You may not have my guns! Now go crawl back into your hole!
****************************************
"Tolerating things you may not necessarily like is part of being free" - Larry Flynt
Dang, what about that $200.00 Remington 597 ***Used and scratched***
leeblackman, your bitchin bout shipping. CRIPES!! What a DEAL!!!! LTS
Twenty point quiz question: Who made the below statement?
Posted - 04/14/2002 : 05:08:07
"I learned a good lesson today, never walk into a gunshop with a shotgun news magazine and ask the guy behind the counter to match the price.... hehehe
I went clowning around town today, hit some pawn shops, and some of the gunshops I don't like."
Visit me http://www.geocities.com/gunsmithlee
Edited by - LIKTOSHOOT on 04/15/2002 20:45:00
That price wasn't fixed, its a trade price. I trade for something of that value, and I always negotiate. For cash prices are alot lower, and I didn't really want to sell the rifle, just se'en if anyone wanted it that bad, and guess what. Its gone, I need to get on there and update my site, I sold that a few weeks back. But guess what I PAID FOR THE SHIPPING....
Visit me http://www.geocities.com/gunsmithlee
Visit me http://www.geocities.com/gunsmithlee
I'm not sure which part we're not seeing eye to eye on but --
For collectors, number of feedbacks are not the primary thing. True collectors, looking for the rarer values, have the mindset of what I might best describe as an antique appraiser. We want complete accurate description, accurate grading if applicable, photos of the actual item for sale, questions fully answered, personally written e-mail, knowledgable (perhaps expert) sellers, pristine shipping, and individual care taken from start to finish. We like zero negative feedback and we try to maintain that ourselves. I've got 188 positives, and no negatives over on eBay since 1999. I'm not a business. I sell or purchase very specific items occasionally with like-minded folk. Sellers sometimes become a bit grandiose with "policy statements." I have a buyer's policy as well as a seller's policy printed on my Me page. One is as binding as the other.
I'm not fond of e-bot mail, Hong Kong distributors, or anyone who has the notion that "seller" means more than "buyer," which of course it doesn't. We're all just members with passwords. In fact, I'm liable to worry if I see several thousand feedbacks whether I'm going to be able to communicate effectively and get efficient, personal service, the same grade of service the seller always seems to expect me to provide him. Certainly, one member should never require more from another than he is willing to give himself, right? Want fast accurate e-mail? Give fast accurate e-mail. Want money fast? Send item fast. Want to set deadlines? Then be willing to perform in similar time restraints. This to me is common sense -- it takes two equals to conclude a transaction on an auction site.
Nobody really wants to be treated like Joe Public, particularly not a seller. I notice many sellers are also buyers. Sellers should expect the same treatment as their buyers. What goes around comes around. Besides, Joe Public gradually passes the word around and smartens up. I've been on the chat boards over on eBay when all they did was say "check out the shipping on this" or "the price on that." They were particularly irritated when seller declared they needed more shipping for Priority class and their item was sent snail rate with a dollar's worth of stamps on it in a re-used box.
I have to laugh when I try to buy an item over there and the same title in one auction is $14 and $2 shipping and another is $10 and $6 shipping, and another is $8, but with a Reserve Not Met symbol. And I'm buying none of the above, because I know I want a genuine value and they're playing the numbers game.
I think our problem with gun auctions is bigger because there are more costs involved than simple mailing. It's a lot tougher to get a great price by mail order via auction. We've got transfer fees plus the fact that some shippers insist we use their expensive overnight service for some guns, which really increases the sale price of a gun. It's one thing if you're selling hard to find or vintage stuff, but if you're selling what's in the shops you can easily be higher when all is said and done.
If anybody really is dumb enough to look only at the bid price, I'd say they get what they earn. If they get sticker shock when they finally get around to reading the fine print, so be it -- although a good seller wouldn't use fine print that way, right?
It still doesn't change the fact that an auction is designed to open a fully disclosed item at an interesting low bid and hopefully attract bidding interest. I'm just not excited about one-bid retail sales thinly disguised as auctions.
LIKTOSHOOT --
I tried your ID on eBay and got "no member", I did a search here and couldn't get a screen to come up for anywhere from 90 days to 48 hours. Sorry.
Anyway, I'm not accusing anyone here of anything. I'm just talking. If somebody gets excited, maybe I've hit a little too close to home someplace, but I'm just a collector looking for true values and sellers who handle my purchases with kid gloves and the same degree of respect they expect from me in return. Frankly, no matter the type of merchandise, I'm not as likely to find my values from a dealer. I'm likely to find most of my values from an individual collector with a reasonable price in mind. I seldom do business with anyone who has some kind of blue book or price reference in one hand, and certainly not with a retailer. Maybe I should have pointed that out earlier.
The 2nd Amendment is about security, not hunting. Long live the gun shows, and reasonable access to FFLs. Join the NRA -- I'm a Life Member.
Oh.....I was just trying to make the point (which I see that you see ) that people don't read the fine print/shipping......they just bid on the lowest-priced thing.
I buy a LOT of stuff on Ebay.....usually have a good transaction. Most people are decent and honest.
As a seller, the problem that I have is that people DO NOT READ!
99.999% (I'm not exaggerating, I've been doing this a long time.....have it down to a science!) of the email I get can be answered by people simply reading my email, or my auctions.
Makes me crazy sometimes.
Merc
NO! You may not have my guns! Now go crawl back into your hole!
****************************************
"Tolerating things you may not necessarily like is part of being free" - Larry Flynt
Am looking for the Regs that listed that, I had copied all the Regs that pertain to shipping firearms...somewhere in my files.
??? Does the friendly PO you use require any special forms, or affidaviats when you ship?
Happy Bullet Holes!
Registered mail is NOT required. USPS will recommend it because it is the best controlled and tracked method. I personally use Priority and always insure. That way the buyer will have to sign for the package. USPS regs allow FFL holders to ship to any other FFL holder. You must fill out a USPS form 1508 stating the receiver of the firearm is a manufacturer or FFL holder to the best of your knowledge. This is kept by the Post Office where you ship. Before I ever mailed my first weapon I researched the regs at the USPS web site,talked to several local FFL holders and made a trip to the Post Office. I discussed what I wanted to do with the Post Master. He was not completely familiar with the regs but we went over them together and determined how I could legally mail the weapons. The Registered Mail requirement was brought up and I showed them the regs. We ended up setting up a file under my business name and everything has been smooth as glass since.