Definitive Answer Please -- ebay Feedback How many stars.

Okay.

1. I've seen FREE ADDITIONAL CARDS UP TO 40 CARDS
2. I've seen 0.25 cents for a card
3. I've seen .50 cents per card
4. I've seen 1.00 per card, never pay more than 10 bucks
5. and I've seen 1.00 per card -- No limit.

No one's ever really sprung a magical price on me and I've known the prices beforehand, other than a few isolated instances, but it's clear that these aren't all created equal. Hopefully we can agree that the first option is at a loss, the second option is probably break even.

How many stars do the next 3 receive from you, considering that you just bought 10 cards (and the starting fee was 5.00 to Canada) or three to the USA. For reference, 10 cards shipped to Canada costs 2.27.

ebays TOS says these are allowed:

Actual shipping cost: This is the actual cost (i.e. postage) for shipping the item.

Handling fee: Actual packaging materials costs may be charged. A handling fee in addition to actual shipping cost may be charged if it is not excessive.

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and these are not allowed

Fees related to shipping & handling: Gasoline, mileage, time spent at a carrier, time spent packaging the item, eBay and PayPal fees may not be added.

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So as far as I understand, you can only charge for the extra toploader and increase in shipping (from 1.90 to 2.27) -- Do I have this correct?

I've been leaving five stars because the additional card prices have been advertised, but if it's against eBays TOS and grossly over what the first two charge at a loss or break-even, should they really get five stars..

So what do you leave *star-wise* for each of the five? Quote the following, if you care to answer:

1. FREE ADDITIONAL CARDS UP TO 40 CARDS
2. 0.25 cents for a card
3. .50 cents per card
4. 1.00 per card, never pay more than 10 bucks
5. 1.00 per card -- No limit.

I leave 5 stars for all cases because it is what I agreed to pay.

Charge whatever you want for shipping, I will decide what I want to pay including shipping.

tonsofcommons said:

I leave 5 stars for all cases because it is what I agreed to pay.

Charge whatever you want for shipping, I will decide what I want to pay including shipping.

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So someone that charges you 4 dollars for shipping is charged the same as someone that charged you 15?

I've been doing it thus far, but with the realization that they're not supposed to do that, and getting 15 cards stuffed between two broken/taped up toploaders makes me question my methods.

I factor in the shipping charge to the bid/purchase price. If I feel it's crazy, then I just don't buy it, so I am never faced with paying high shipping fees that are going into the sellers pocket.

As far as when I do buy something, to be honest, by the time it arrives, I rarely remember what I paid for shipping. The only thing I care about is if it got to me in the condition I'm expecting it to be in. If it did, I leave 5 stars down the list. I don't even care if it takes 2-3 weeks as long as it gets here safely.

If the seller packed it poorly(PWE or no packing material for non-cards) I'll knock him down one or two somewhere in a heartbeat though, because that's the freshest impression he/she made.

Insured shipping to Canada is $12+. Many sellers do not want to risk paypal reversal when buyer claims not to get and they sent $3 uninsured.
Paypal bad policies and a rash of out of country buyers claiming not to receive spoil the bunch.

Here is what I generally go with for single non graded items:

Anything under $3.00 = 5 *
Anything under $4.00 = 4 *
Anything under $5.00 = 3 *
5 and above = 1 *

Graded cards I add an extra buck to the above. For multiple single cards, I'll figure an extra $.50 per card is acceptable upt to a certain point (If I buy 25 cards, and pay more than $7.00 for shipping, I'm not going to be happy).

All of those would be 5 stars for me as well. I only take off stars if the starting shipping is way high. Even at $1 for each extra card that still is not much for a card.

THECARDFATHER said:

Insured shipping to Canada is $12+. Many sellers do not want to risk paypal reversal when buyer claims not to get and they sent $3 uninsured.
Paypal bad policies and a rash of out of country buyers claiming not to receive spoil the bunch.

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That's hardly the point. I'm talking 5 dollars for First Class International plus 9 more cards at a dollar a piece.

I'd actually prefer if they sent it in a 12 dollar flat rate box with tracking over sending it in a 2 dollar bubble mailer.

jarcar said:

All of those would be 5 stars for me as well. I only take off stars if the starting shipping is way high. Even at $1 for each extra card that still is not much for a card.

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My question is what is that extra dollar going to? It's not going to toploaders, or postage. With your original 5 dollar fee, you've already paid the extra for them to mail it...

It's basically the seller saying "I'm going to make money on shipping, no matter what. If you take away the posibility that I could make a dollar off someone else, you must pay that dollar"

Generally everything gets a 5* for me unless it's shipped in a PWE and I paid more than $3...if it's in a bubble mailer, I don't care what I pay for shipping, because that's what I agreed to, and as others have said, I factor it into my bidding.

So while people can say they are "making money" off shipping, if you factor it into the bid price, it doesn't really matter...

Let me throw an example here...

Say you're looking at buying a card on ebay and the same card is available from a member here on the boards. In your mind, you're willing to pay $40 for the card...so what's the difference here:

Pay a member of the boards $35 shipped for the card

or

Possibly get the card cheaper on ebay for $30 + $5 shipping.

At the end of the day, you just paid $35 shipped for the card (same as above).

Of course because it's ebay, you'd be mad that you paid $5 for shipping...but it's okay on the boards that you just paid the SAME AMOUNT TOTAL for the card?? That is arguably one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard...and which is why you should factor shipping into your bidding...

pigskincardboard said:

jarcar said:

All of those would be 5 stars for me as well. I only take off stars if the starting shipping is way high. Even at $1 for each extra card that still is not much for a card.

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My question is what is that extra dollar going to? It's not going to toploaders, or postage. With your original 5 dollar fee, you've already paid the extra for them to mail it...

It's basically the seller saying "I'm going to make money on shipping, no matter what. If you take away the posibility that I could make a dollar off someone else, you must pay that dollar"

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I have no problem if it is to cover his fees, time, etc., even if it is againts ebays tos, I'm fine with the cost, I think it is reasonable for a seller or any business to do this. I just factor it into my bid and move on.

I always add the shipping into the max cost that I am willing to pay for the card(s). If I feel that the cost is too high then I email the seller asking what services that cost entitles me to, from there I will decide if it is worth paying. As for combined shipping I dont care if its $0.25 per card or $1 per card, it beats paying an additional full postage. Basically if I am uncomfortable with the price I dont bid. If its a rare card that doesnt surface often, then i bite the bullet and accept the cost (within reason, bu there are some people that are ridiculous). If shipping cost are flat out stupid high, then I will contact Ebay about it, afterall it is their problems and there policies.

I had someone ding all my stars yesterday for this:

Card paid for on Monday - he had it in hand on Wednesday
Sent thank you for payment on Monday and left immediate feedback for fast payment.
charged $3.00 for card in sleeve, toploader, teambag and bubble mailer with some commons on each side to protect inner card.

card was $4.99

some people are just D-bags no matter what you do.

the guy has 1500+ feebacks all as a buyer so obviously has no clue what sellers have to go through to please nowadays

I generally just give 5's. Maybe a 3-4 if it was $4 or above and they don't even bother to use DC or a correct toploader or something like that. Anything above that I'll usually just move on to another auction. I think all of you're examples would get a 5 for me, because they at least are offering shipping discounts. The only one I'd maybe have a problem with is the $1 per card - and that'd be if I had like over 3 cards, then I'd probably contact the seller and see if we could work out some sort of "max shipping cost" beforehand.

I give some leeway with the shipping, because you can't assume just because it costs you 2.25 or whatever that that is the case for everyone. Quick example - when I first started selling I would maybe sell 2 things a month, so it didn't make sense to buy bubble mailers cheap in bulk. I also don't live near a wal-mart/target/etc. so it doesn't make sense to pay $4 to get on a bus to buy a cheaper bubble mailer......that meant I got them at CVS where they're like $1.29, because that was what was convenient I also didn't really know about the paypal shipping (cheaper DC) so that was also extra cost. I still charged $3.00 and usually lost money on shipping.....I could have gone $4.00 and that honestly would have been what I paid, but to many that would seem too high. Sorry if that is a a bit OT, but I always keep that in mind when I see that people try to put a definitive price on what shipping should cost.

The whole star system is also a joke - how can you create a system where the "norm" you want sellers to maintain is Exceptional. I know as a buyer I just put 5's if everything is okay because it is what is expected and needed.....but if where being honest, rarely is anything "exceptional"......and I'm sure noone is even going to bother to read all this, so I'll shut up now and save that rant for another time. :lol:

pigskincardboard said:

It's basically the seller saying "I'm going to make money on shipping, no matter what. If you take away the posibility that I could make a dollar off someone else, you must pay that dollar"

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These comments are not directed at you....but everyone that debates this topic.

Here are some very simple and common sense things to consider:

1. Factor shipping costs into your bid.
2. Don't like the shipping costs, don't bid....you have a choice.
3. Every company in the world makes a profit on shipping and bakes the cost into the price of their product.

End of story....there is nothing left to debate when you take these factors into consideration.

muchuckwagon said:

pigskincardboard said:

It's basically the seller saying "I'm going to make money on shipping, no matter what. If you take away the posibility that I could make a dollar off someone else, you must pay that dollar"

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These comments are not directed at you....but everyone that debates this topic.

Here are some very simple and common sense things to consider:

1. Factor shipping costs into your bid.
2. Don't like the shipping costs, don't bid....you have a choice.
3. Every company in the world makes a profit on shipping and bakes the cost into the price of their product.

End of story....there is nothing left to debate when you take these factors into consideration.

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Yeah, what he said.

muchuckwagon said:

pigskincardboard said:

It's basically the seller saying "I'm going to make money on shipping, no matter what. If you take away the posibility that I could make a dollar off someone else, you must pay that dollar"

Click to expand...

These comments are not directed at you....but everyone that debates this topic.

Here are some very simple and common sense things to consider:

1. Factor shipping costs into your bid.
2. Don't like the shipping costs, don't bid....you have a choice.
3. Every company in the world makes a profit on shipping and bakes the cost into the price of their product.

End of story....there is nothing left to debate when you take these factors into consideration.

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I agree with muchuckwagon, but I understand what you're trying to say, pigskin. And technically, you have a point. On any given item, seller may be in violation of eBay rules by charging too much for shipping or for building impermissible costs into his shipping fee.

However, part of that may be the variability of shipping costs. I charge a flat fee, which sometimes is more than my out-of-pocket costs (shipping + materials) and is sometimes less, but it would be impractical for me to calculate an exact cost for each individual item I sell. On the whole, I think that I'm within the spirit of eBay's rule because it balances out, but TECHNICALLY I may be 'profiting' from shipping on some items.

Moreover, I don't think most eBayers come into a transaction with clean enough hands to be quite so nitpicky about the 'rules'. For example, most domestic buyers don't pay the state use taxes that they're legally obligated to pay and many international buyers don't pay the appropriate customs duties. Such conduct doesn't change the fact that there's an eBay rule about shipping costs, but from a moral/philosophical standpoint, I'd have a much harder time taking a buyer's objections seriously if he himself wasn't following the letter of the law.

To answer your original question, I give 5s on my purchases as long as the card gets to me safely and quickly. If I'm not happy with the shipping cost quoted, I simply don't buy from that seller. To me, it seems best to let the marketplace settle the issue.

muchuckwagon said:

pigskincardboard said:

It's basically the seller saying "I'm going to make money on shipping, no matter what. If you take away the posibility that I could make a dollar off someone else, you must pay that dollar"

Click to expand...

These comments are not directed at you....but everyone that debates this topic.

Here are some very simple and common sense things to consider:

1. Factor shipping costs into your bid.
2. Don't like the shipping costs, don't bid....you have a choice.
3. Every company in the world makes a profit on shipping and bakes the cost into the price of their product.

End of story....there is nothing left to debate when you take these factors into consideration.

Click to expand...

This is why I love you. You complete me.

muchuckwagon said:

pigskincardboard said:

It's basically the seller saying "I'm going to make money on shipping, no matter what. If you take away the posibility that I could make a dollar off someone else, you must pay that dollar"

Click to expand...

These comments are not directed at you....but everyone that debates this topic.

Here are some very simple and common sense things to consider:

1. Factor shipping costs into your bid.
2. Don't like the shipping costs, don't bid....you have a choice.
3. Every company in the world makes a profit on shipping and bakes the cost into the price of their product.

End of story....there is nothing left to debate when you take these factors into consideration.

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Thanked for truth. Like you stated, DO NOT BID IF YOU ARE NOT SATISFIED WITH THE SHIPPING CHARGES. I don't see how that is hard to contemplate.

muchuckwagon said:

pigskincardboard said:

It's basically the seller saying "I'm going to make money on shipping, no matter what. If you take away the posibility that I could make a dollar off someone else, you must pay that dollar"

Click to expand...

These comments are not directed at you....but everyone that debates this topic.

Here are some very simple and common sense things to consider:

1. Factor shipping costs into your bid.
2. Don't like the shipping costs, don't bid....you have a choice.
3. Every company in the world makes a profit on shipping and bakes the cost into the price of their product.

End of story....there is nothing left to debate when you take these factors into consideration.

Click to expand...

Regardless of whether you have the choice to bid or not bid, you also have the right to the opinion
that it is ******** for sellers to charge exhorbitant fees for something that costs just about everyone in the
US less than $2.