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Shipping Fees = Prohibitive

Have shipping fees impacted your ability to buy/sell?

  • Yes . But I deal with it

    Votes: 77 50.0%

  • Yes. So much so, now I'm just a window shopper

    Votes: 31 20.1%

  • No. I found a trick to ship without losing my backside

    Votes: 32 20.8%

  • No. I'm screwed by the inflated shipping fees, but don't care

    Votes: 14 9.1%
  • Total voters
    154
#81
I’ve sold a few things on Reverb lately. The shipping was reasonable, it’s the selling fee, processing fee, tax, bump fee that are ridiculous. And what is a processing fee about anyway? The website does all the work

Here’s an example:

Total Sales: $621.00
Total Processing Fees: -$20.30
Total Selling Fees: -$28.75
Total Tax Remitted: -$46.00
Total Bump Fees: -$8.63
Total Shipping Label Fees: -$27.71

it ended up costing me over $130 to sell a $575 item. I sold bass a couple months ago and that cost over $450.
 
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#82
covermego said:
Also, the carriers utilize their "dimensional weight" calculations. I always pack a bass in the smallest-possible box. Once you go over the magical 48" length, things get pricey. I also usually double box my shipments and make durned sure the bass is 100% solid/stable, with zero chance of it moving around whatsoever. A lot of times, I will remove the lower strap button so when the carrier drops it, it doesn't get shoved up into the body (btdt with a ton of incoming basses).
If I don't have a box that suits my needs, dimension-wise, I fabricate one. Hot glue is my friend, but a few buyers have cursed me for how difficult it is to "free the bass". Waaaaaahhhhhhh.
Click to expand...
I am grateful for when they are packed that well and it’s hard to get out . I know it’s packed solid
 
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#83
nozkcb said:
For goodness sake how much of a screen capture do you need? I showed you the high price and I told you the low price $200+, do you really need to see that too? feel free to run the numbers yourself if you don't believe me. Why on earth would I come here posting fake numbers just to have people argue with me?

I'm genuinely trying to get some information, if I wanted an argument I would go to Twitter.

Geeze...:banghead:
Click to expand...
Well, er…
nozkcb said:
…prices by FedEX and UPS ranging from $932 - $234.

This is for Ground Shipping! Not overnight…
Click to expand...
 
#84
CoughSyrup said:
UPS also managed to make a net operating profit of more than $6 billion last year.
Click to expand...

On assets of about 70 billion that's an 8.5 % return. If you bought a $30K car, and made $2500 off it in a year driving Uber, nobody would think you're scalping anyone.

UPS is a public company, and in the S&P 500. Who are the people making 8.5% off your shipping? The guy next door with a 401K is the one getting "rich" off your shipping fees.
 
Last edited:
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#85
nozkcb said:
I know the cost of everything is up, but I just (almost) sold a bass on Reverb and after entering the box info was given prices by FedEX and UPS ranging from $932 - $234.

This is for Ground Shipping! Not overnight, not priority, not pick up, just the same type of shipping I've used 100+ times in the past, where it used to range between $40 - $100 (on the high end with insurance on an expensive bass).

How do people sell stuff now and eat the shipping without going deep underwater on the sale?

Interested in some input
Click to expand...
They don’t. Unless they have a special volume rate. Shipping in a case in the US is $200 plus. For awhile, sellers on here had no clue prices had jumped to that and they got burned. That is why there are so many offered now for local pickup only. If the neck is removed, and not packed in a case, a bass can be shipped for less, but it takes more care and packing. In most instances, it doesn’t make sense to sell and ship a bass in a case that isn’t worth at least 1k.
 
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#87
nozkcb said:
For goodness sake how much of a screen capture do you need? I showed you the high price and I told you the low price $200+, do you really need to see that too? feel free to run the numbers yourself if you don't believe me. Why on earth would I come here posting fake numbers just to have people argue with me?

I'm genuinely trying to get some information, if I wanted an argument I would go to Twitter.

Geeze...:banghead:
Click to expand...

My guy, you specifically said in the OP you got a quote of $932 for ground shipping: “not overnight, not priority”.

Now you’re trying to argue with people who are correctly pointing out no one is charging that rate.

Shipping has indeed gotten more expensive in the last few years: roughly 50% more than it was pre-2020 in my experience, along with pretty much everything else unfortunately.
 
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Reactions: yodedude2 and FRoss6788
#89
I’m driving 8 hours (round trip) next week to deliver a bass. With lunch and a venti Starbucks, it still only costs me half what it would take to ship. Yes, prices are high.

Of course, my time is valuable, but I’m off work and looking forward to the travel hours and catching up on some podcasts. Counting my luck; I know this option isn’t open to everyone.
 
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Reactions: Jeremy Allen
#91
micguy said:
On assets of about 70 billion that's an 8.5 % return. If you bought a $30K car, and made $2500 off it in a year driving Uber, nobody would think you're scalping anyone.

UPS is a public company, and in the S&P 500. Who are the people making 8.5% off your shipping? The guy next door with a 401K is the one getting "rich" off your shipping fees.
Click to expand...

If I bought a $30k car, wrote off the depreciation over five years, paid someone else to drive it, paid someone else a lot more to tell them how to drive it, and still made $2,500 a year every year while not doing any of the work, that would be a pretty sweet gig.
 
#93
CoughSyrup said:
If I bought a $30k car, wrote off the depreciation over five years, paid someone else to drive it, paid someone else a lot more to tell them how to drive it, and still made $2,500 a year every year while not doing any of the work, that would be a pretty sweet gig.
Click to expand...

At that rate, if you wanted to make $50K/year (a modest salary), you'd need a fleet of 20 cars, with an initial investment of $600K. You got that much cash to spare?
 
#94
micguy said:
At that rate, if you wanted to make $50K/year (a modest salary), you'd need a fleet of 20 cars, with an initial investment of $600K. You got that much cash to spare?
Click to expand...

Your analogy implies that UPS acquired its $70 billion in assets simultaneously as an upfront cost instead of over several decades and they paid cash.
 
#95
FRoss6788 said:
If you get it when you expected it, why would that bother you?
Click to expand...

Where did I say it bothers me?

What bothers me is the drivers that can't be bothered to deliver to my house. They'll leave the package somewhat nearby, or send it back to the distribution center marked "address invalid". They'll leave it on a neighbor's road, under an oak stand. A while back they left a package on top of a neighbor's trash can when my neighbor told the driver "you have the wrong house - it's that one over there" and pointed it out. I recently had to go onto USP.com and "correct" my address, which they had 100% correct to begin with, but said didn't exist. Etc.

For what they pay the drivers, you'd think they could be bothered to look at a map.
 

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