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Free Shipping vs. Calculate vs. Flat Rate?


comicblast

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Just a quick question: Is it better to up the price of the item and offer Free Shipping, charge a flat rate to all buyers, or have a shipping cost depending on the buyer's area? I am leaning towards offering Free Shipping and putting the base price a little higher to compensate, but I am not 100% sure what to do. Which option(s) are more attracting to buyers? Any input would be greatly appriciated! Thanks, Ctrl+Alt+Del

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I was very against offering free shipping when Ebay tried to force it on everyone to become a "Top Rated Seller" but I kept getting bad DSR's on my shipping prices even when I was charging LESS than the actual cost of shipping. I decided to offer free shipping on every item and then just increase the price of the item to compensate. To my disbelief I actually started selling 3 to 4 times more with the free shipping. It's like a magic buzz word or something. It's even got me. I won't even order from LEGO shop at home unless they offer free shipping. Crazy but it works.

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I was very against offering free shipping when Ebay tried to force it on everyone to become a "Top Rated Seller" but I kept getting bad DSR's on my shipping prices even when I was charging LESS than the actual cost of shipping. I decided to offer free shipping on every item and then just increase the price of the item to compensate. To my disbelief I actually started selling 3 to 4 times more with the free shipping. It's like a magic buzz word or something. It's even got me. I won't even order from LEGO shop at home unless they offer free shipping. Crazy but it works.

Would you say that using free shipping is good for only Buy it Now listings or is it ok to use the for Auctions? Because using auctions does not really guarentee that you will get your money back because of shipping costs.

Also, not that I am think of this, but I was wondering about sellers whohave listings dirt cheap, but have $400 shipping. Do people actually fall for it?

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Also, not that I am think of this, but I was wondering about sellers whohave listings dirt cheap, but have $400 shipping. Do people actually fall for it?

Well, These listings don't happen that often anymore (since ebay started charging fees on shipping). It used to be a way that some sellers would try to avoid paying fees to ebay.

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I always do free economy shipping domestic (US) and add the cost of shipping into the price. Get a cheap postal scale which will allow you to very precisely estimate the weight of a package. For international I have the shipping calculated, and I only offer express mail because it can be tracked. It's amazing to me that international buyers pay for the express mail, but they do. I've witnessed my wife send a $2 cosmetic item that she sold for $15 that then cost the buyer $50-$60 to send to some out of the way country. Keep in mind that once it arrives they still have to pay customs/taxes....

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