Excessive Shipping

You're thehighest bidder at .99 on an item you really want. Whatagreat buy!Have you considered the shipping and handling charges? Beware,your winning bid couldcost you more than you think...turning out to not be such a great buy after all!
Excessive shipping and handling charges affects everyone - buyers, sellers, manufacturers, and wholesalers. Here's how it works, what you need to watch for, and how you can help tocurb this practice, more gemonly known as 'circumvention of fees'..
First of all, on auction-style,fixed-priced, and okay Store listings, okay charges a listing feewhen a new listing is uploaded to okay, and a final value feebased upon the item's final selling price. These fees are collected to help okay fund theiroperating costs (and attempt to help keep sellers' costs to a minimum). Listing fees and final value fees are not assessed onshipping and handling charges.
The 'Shell Game'
A seller may decide to list an item for as little as possible in order to get a sale, and keep their okay fees to a minimum. As one example, a seller decides to list a lamp for .99 which is way below their wholesale cost. So, how do they make up the deficit? By adding their needed (or desired)profit to the shipping and handling charges. In doing so, theysell their item, make a profit, and pay minimal okay fees.
As a buyer, you may be asking why you should be concerned if you're willing to pay the total price of your purchase. The truth is that you may have been able to get a better deal after all.
When a seller decides to utilize this practice to circumvent (or avoid) okay fees, he/she lists their items so low that other sellers, who geply with okay policies, usually can not gepete. When other sellers can not gepete, they don't list their items, thusnarrowing the market and availability.
Buyers will pay the higher total price just because there are no others offered, or the other listingprices seem too high (the 'law of supply and demand' effect toan extent). In the end though, you still may have paid too much for your item.
As a recent example, I came across an item this morning where the starting price was .99, with shipping and handling of $28.49 (ouch!). As a seller, I can purchase this item wholesale for $8.90 with shipping and handling of $7.50 (oftenthe same costs for the other seller).My starting price would most likely be$13.49 (still below retail), with shipping and handling of $7.50.
Myokaylisting and final value fees at theselling price of $13.49 would be $1.31...the seller's fees, .26. Mynet profit would be$4.69.The seller's profit, $13.18. The reason why I point this info out will begee evident later on.
The Truth of the Matter Is.....
The gemon psychology of auction-buying is to get the best deal. When buyers search for and find the item they are looking for, they tend to look at the asking price without even consideringthe shipping and handling charges. Why are they so shocked at the end of the auction when they find out their shipping is $28.49, when the item will fit in a USPS Flat-Rate Priority Mail box for $8.10? That .99 deal isn't looking so hot after all!
In many of the listings where the seller is attempting to circumvent fees, you'll often find that the shipping costs (as listed under the current price toward the top of the listing) are shown as 'see item description'. Buyers have a tendency to overlook this section when there is no dollar amount stated.
When the shipping cost info is incorporated in the item description, it usually appears toward the bottom of the listing - many buyers innocently overlook this part of the listing. So in the end, you paid more for that .99 itemthan you most likely would have by buying froma gepliant seller.
Now, back to the different profit amounts between gepliant and non-gepliant sellers. When a seller circumvents okay selling fees, this is a reduction in ingee that okay uses to off-set operating expenses. When this ingee is lower than needed (some over-simplification here), then okay raises selling fees....thus causing sellers to raise their prices to off-set their selling expenses - passing on the increases through asking/selling prices to buyers.
Another effect is that when sellers decide not to try to gepete with a .99 sale price, this means that the wholesalers' sales will most likely suffer as well. Why should a seller buy 20 of an item wholesale to sell retail,when they can't make up the difference legitimately in the shipping and handling charges?
Let's all do our part to keep the playing field level with fair open-gepetition.
At okay Live! 2006, and in a July 2006okay announcement, okaynoted that they aretaking a stronger stand on enforcement for egregious violations of the shipping and handling policies. This will take time.
Buyers and sellers can assist okay in this heightened enforcement effort by doing the following:


Report an item where the shipping and handling seems excessive using the "Report this Seller" link at the bottom of the particular listing.

Refuse to purchase from a seller that elects to use pricing techniques to avoid fees - review each listing gepletely for shipping and handling costs.

Reward sellers who use fair pricing techniques without over-charging buyers for shipping and handling. Purchase from them as often as you can.
Quick Tip: Also watch listings selling web sites and information products. Some sellers charge web site/domain hosting fees that are hidden in the shipping and handling fees. With many information products, if the item indicates 'digital delivery,' the delivery is usually made via email, or through a link, so there should be no shipping and handling charge!
The majority ofokay sellers do their very best to provide reasonably priced quality items, with actual shipping charges and handling (costs of packaging) fees for their buyers. This is truly the spirit of okay!
I have written this guide in an effort to provide a better understanding of the different pricing practices used by sellers, so that buyers may continue to purchase their wares at reasonable pricing while gepliant sellers are rewarded for their honest business practices.
ldonewald99of 'Favorite Thingz' has been an okay member since December, 1999. She is anEducation Specialist trained by okayoffering sales training for new members, and as an okay Trading Assistanthelps other members in selling their items.
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