Quote:
Originally Posted by francotirador
They also make a good buck on shipping, so they list the item with what is perceived to be a lower cost. However, you wind up paying more than you would if you just bought the item locally. You just have to take your business elsewhere.
|
As an eBay seller with a 1400 rating in one account and a 200 rating in another, I don't ever think I made a good buck on shipping. On the rare occasions when I over estimated shipping costs, I still have to take time to address, package, stand in line at the post office and answer e-mail asking why the tracking number doesn't work 24 to 36 hours after the item was mailed. The simple answer is that you can't buy or sell cheap items efficiently on line.
TheDon has the best solution: order enough to justify the shipping. A while back, I needed a something from Fastlane that was about $10. I spent a few minutes thinking about every part I would be replacing in the next six months, including the possibility of losing a gas cap and ordered about $75.00 worth of stuff. The $7 or $8 of shipping didn't even matter then.
If I had just ordered the one part, I would have been unhappy with the total price and I'm sure that $7 or $8 would have barely covered their expenses in pulling the part from inventory, entering the purchase into their computer, entering my shipping data, finding an appropriate box which they would have purchased, padding the item with peanuts or bubblewrap, and paying for a method of shipping that provides speed and delivery confirmation.