I've been selling on eBay for quite some time now but I've always been debating the answer to these two question: 1) When selling an item on Ebay do you prefer to make shipping free and then bump up the price of the product or list the cost of shipping and keep the product price lower? Realistically, the price would be the same but it's all in how the consumer Sees it. Is there an advantage to the consumer seeing something free, shipping, and the correlation to them spending? Curious what people think. 2) Say you list shipping as being a handful of dollars. Do you ever pay more out of pocket to ship something faster purely in the hopes you'll get a feedback rating? I've caught myself spending a few bucks more to change the shipping from 6-8 days to 2-3 days in the hopes that I'll see some sort of positive feedback on my Ebay account. Any one else do this? It seems harder than ever to get people to leave a feedback rating (unless it's a negative one) so I thought this might help. Good/bad idea?
When I see something on ebay and it says free shipping, it catches my attention more than something that says that shipping costs a certain amount. The fact that it says "free" really catches a lot of people's attention. Spending a little more on the shipping to impress the customer and make them leave a good rating is a good idea, but either way I don't think that most people care about leaving ratings. It just takes time and a lot of people just don't feel like spending the time to rate someone.
I've been selling on Ebay for quite some time and I hardly ever put the maximum shipping fee on any items. The reason I don't is because people tend not to be attracted to the product when the shipping fee is too high, I get less watchers on those items too. If I set my item at the minimum with room for people to bid and the postage fee at the minimum, I get significantly more watchers and bids on my items and it sometimes works out better than it would if I'd done things the other way around. Another thing I've found when selling on Ebay is fewer people are interested in items that have a first class RECORDED delivery. What I do now is set my postage days at 3-5 days with first class standard. Many more people are interested in my items when I do this. If the person buying from me has very little feedback or new on Ebay, I sometimes send it first class recorded to be sure they don't try to claim they never received it. Anyone with good feedback is pretty much safe enough to send them the item as first class standard. To get good feedback on the Items I send, I leave them good feedback with a nice comment as soon as they send payment for the item and I email them and thank them for the quick payment. I let them know I'll be sending their item a.s.a.p. Once I know they received the item, I email them again and ask if they're happy with the item and to please(if they aren't too busy)leave me feedback. This has worked for me 99% of the time.
A few bucks? Eh, usually not. If it's just 50 cents or a dollar difference? Definitely. If I was late getting to the post office and am already delaying shipping on my end, then I'll go ahead and pay extra so it'll still show up in the same expected time frame.
I usually just put "free shipping" and bump up the price to cover shipping. Like TheMightyMathias said, things like "free shipping" and such actually do attract customers into buying the item. It actually guarantees you more buyers that way, from my experience. As for the last one, I've never actually gotten a bad review from anyone, so I've never bothered spending more for the shipping just for the feedback.
I purchase lots of stuff on ebay. Although the free shipping is an eye catcher at the end of the day I still compare it's price to others items and go with the better deal. You can sort by price-lowest-shipping to get an idea what people are charging. Sometimes you see Free Shipping items that are almost double to the price of the the same thing being sold with shipping. It's like they are trying to catch you up.
When I shop on eBay I would prefer to get free shipping. Anything free just makes me want to purchase it even more. Bumping up the price on the item isn't a big deal. Most of the sellers do this anyways, but make sure your price is competitive with everyone elses. The paying a little extra for faster shipping can also be factored into the price, so it doesn't put a dent in your pocket. You have to pay eBay their fee, so all of this should be factored into the total price. Getting positive feedback is necessary if you want people to do more business with you, so I don't see anything wrong with paying to get it shipped faster.
I have done it a few times, paid extra out of my pocket for the postage. This usually happens when I've miscalculated the postage charges before listing. As for feedback, buyers usually leave a standardized feedback that is hardly reflective of each seller. I find very few buyers actually give Detailed Seller rating
I almost always shop for items on eBay that have the free shipping tag on them. Otherwise, I'd only check the other items to compare if the values for price and shipping add up to be more worth it than the item with free shipping or not. Free shipping is definitely the biggest eye catcher for me as well as dealbreaker.
I try to offer free or reduced shipping, but it's getting harder to do that these days. If you've shipped a package of over a few pounds recently, you know what I'm talking about. As long as the item is light in weight or a high quality item I still do this. I've also been listing less often because of this, unfortunately.
As an Ebay shopper, the idea of Free Shipping appeals to me first. I sometimes sort by that feature alone. I may be paying the exact same but from a shopper standpoint, free shipping appeals to me like I'm getting a bargain and saving money.
I always use the free shipping option and it attracts more buyers. I never had too many offers when I charged shipping (even if it was under $3). I now usually sell gift cards so it doesn't hurt so much to offer free shipping when I just slap a Forever stamp on an envelope.
As a customer, I also agree that free shipping is one of the things that will instantly grab my attention whenever I'm shopping for a product, because I feel like I'm getting a great deal when I bought something and I don't have to pay for the shipping. But I do avoid shipping costs that cost quite a lot, because I'm quite patient anyway, so I don't really need expedited shipping.
I look for free shipping almost every time. I don't like the idea of paying for "shipping." It's not tangible, so I guess I'd rather pay a little more for the actual item. I find the comments interesting. I have a few things I'd like to sell online. It's given me some ideas on how I should price them.
Big shipping fees are off-putting, even when the item you are buying is relatively cheap. I think listing your item for free delivery certainly attracts buyers, they think they are getting a better deal because of the free shipping.
Adding the shipping free to the price helps bump up your listing and it attracts consumers because they see "free". Shipping fees can be high for faster shipping times, and I would rather wait a few extra days than pay more for faster shipping if I was on the consumer side of things. I don't try to bend over backwards for feedback, I just deliver on what I promise and try to communicate well with the customer if there's a problem. Most people don't leave feedback anyways, but I'll leave feedback first in order to prompt them to leave feedback.
