Seller should have sent it sig required, but I assumed that, on an item with that value. I almost had a heart attack. It was just sitting there anyone could have just walked away with it.
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Did you request a signature ? If not, and it was sent UPS GROUND, a signature is not required.
Profit margins, baby and the suits want their bonuses. 
"It's supply and demand in an ever changing global economy".
And whether it's paying folks $15.00 an hour to flip burgers, or some awesome new Carbon tax, the consumer will ultimately be the one who pays the increases in "Operating Costs".
"It's supply and demand in an ever changing global economy". And whether it's paying folks $15.00 an hour to flip burgers, or some awesome new Carbon tax, the consumer will ultimately be the one who pays the increases in "Operating Costs".
Agreed.
It really is changing the face of retail and I worry that we are putting the brick and mortar stores down for good.
The low price and convenience are in greater demand than a sense of community and good personal service.
Interesting that both companies do it at virtually at the same time. I smell possible collusion between the companies; a cartel of sorts. I wonder wot DHL and the other package companies are doing?
There really isn't a huge conspiracy here. Shipments over 50 lbs is probably less than 2% of their volume of shipments. I doubt it's that high. They simply don't want to ship heavier packages.
That does seem to be true, where not offering free shipping seems to slightly-to-somewhat reduce buyer interest in ads on eBay, even when the total price is the best deal.
Plus, when you figure shipping costs into a "free shipping included" total price, the shipping therefore counts against you for the sale price and the associated eBay and PayPal fees. To me, this is part of a significant shift in perspective in selling used items in recent years, especially when the shipping cost is a significant portion of the item price. I.e. sell an $18 item, ship it for $8, let the fees catch up and voila... you the seller can net less $ than "everyone else".
Plus, when you figure shipping costs into a "free shipping included" total price, the shipping therefore counts against you for the sale price and the associated eBay and PayPal fees. To me, this is part of a significant shift in perspective in selling used items in recent years, especially when the shipping cost is a significant portion of the item price. I.e. sell an $18 item, ship it for $8, let the fees catch up and voila... you the seller can net less $ than "everyone else".
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We didn't discuss it. I just assumed that he would send it that way because of the value. I'll make I request it in the future.
Correct, I thought it was.
As far as FREE SHIPPING is concerned from an ecological perspective, it penalizes buyers closer to the seller. In order for the seller, especially a small one such as myself (just under 2000 shipments a year) to attract sales you base the price, plus shipping on a cost factor close to what it where it would be most expensive to ship the package. Say you're like me, based on the east coast, selling a $50 item weighing 12 pounds. You base the cost of your FREE SHIPPING on what it would cost to ship to a major metropolitan area on the west coast, like Los Angeles. That cost, plus the $50 for the item, becomes your selling price, let's say $75.00.
so you list your item for $75.00 and wait for a sale. People on the east coast are penalized because the shipping cost factored in is higher that what it would actually cost for them to buy your product. You likely lose them as a customer. However, that rural customer in a remote area of Washington state or Texas, suddenly sees greater value in your product, shipped from the east coast, 2000 to 3000 miles away because they know it typically costs a ton of money to get things delivered to them. What with gas surcharges and rural delivery fees, that $25 shipping cost gets bumped to $35. With the click of a finger, that buyer has quite literally reduced the gross on that item you're selling by as much as 20%.
I'm typing this very early in the morning and will revisit this post later today but I hope I've made my point.
More and more I feel betweens fees and shipping expenses, that I work for eBay and FedEx, not myself.
so you list your item for $75.00 and wait for a sale. People on the east coast are penalized because the shipping cost factored in is higher that what it would actually cost for them to buy your product. You likely lose them as a customer. However, that rural customer in a remote area of Washington state or Texas, suddenly sees greater value in your product, shipped from the east coast, 2000 to 3000 miles away because they know it typically costs a ton of money to get things delivered to them. What with gas surcharges and rural delivery fees, that $25 shipping cost gets bumped to $35. With the click of a finger, that buyer has quite literally reduced the gross on that item you're selling by as much as 20%.
I'm typing this very early in the morning and will revisit this post later today but I hope I've made my point.
More and more I feel betweens fees and shipping expenses, that I work for eBay and FedEx, not myself.
Yup, I've always have shipped USPS, both send and receive. Altho sometimes they can be rough with the packages, BUT there's ways of getting compensation for that IF you're willing to put in the time/effort to make the claims (I am, as it often means a refund of fees and/or damage compensation) AND ship certain ways (higher levels than just basic bulk ship) and with tracking/+insurance/sigs.
I've always added tracking, ins and sig when I send via Priority Mail Express or Retail Ground. More often than not, I have gotten refunds or compensation for late or damaged shipments, just takes time/effort on my part to put in the paperworks and await the reviews (and rereviews if needed). I also am transparent about the added fees upfront with the buyers, if they don't wanna pay they can buy elsewhere as i refuse to send or receive without those protections.
To continue on to my larger point.
What I have seen over the years since FREE SHIPPING became a requirement for visibility on eBay is that a preponderance of my sales are now west of the Rocky Mountains. This isn't because most of the enthusiasts for old British car parts are located in that part of the country. Rather, it is because pricing on items with FREE SHIPPING has made it more expensive to buy from someone closer to you. Before the advent of FREE SHIPPING, the buyer would use a shipping calculator provided in the item's listing to calculate the actual cost of shipping the item. So, getting back to that $50 item weighing 12 pounds, if someone in NJ wanted to buy that item they would learn through using the shipping calculator, that the cost of shipping would be $14. So, the total cost of the item, delivered to them would be $64. But, with FREE SHIPPING, it's now $75! Conversely, the person 80 miles from the closest FedEx distribution center, let's say in western TX would have seen that the cost for shipping that very same item would be $33. So for them, the actual cost of the item using the shipping calculator would have revealed a total cost of $83. However, with FREE SHIPPING they jump on the opportunity to buy the item for just $75.
My main point is that at a time when we are consciously trying to reduce our carbon output, FREE SHIPPING is working diametrically against this idea. It encourages long distance purchases and separates the buyer from any notion of economy. This is an element of FREE SHIPPING that is seldom discussed but could, potentially have the greatest impact.
Again, this is all being written at 4am so I hope my point is reasonably clear.
I remember hearing a story on NPR about 10 years ago. It was about a person who did the buying for a school district somewhere in Alaska. The woman was thrilled she was able to buy most of her school districts office supplies on Amazon and with FREE SHIPPING was able to save a considerable amount of money. When I heard that story, all I could think of was the seller who was probably loosing their shirt on the transaction that's to the real cost of FREE SHIPPING. In my opinion, FREE SHIPPING has done far more harm than good to this economy. I can't for the life of me understand why it was too hard for the buyer to make a couple of more clicks and enter their zip code where they might actually find out they could have that item for less, as opposed to blithely clicking on the Buy It Now button with FREE SHIPPING.
Thanks for the heads up. Looks like I'll be doing only local sales in my heavy stuff starting now.
I drive for a living , as an owner operator I pay for fuel , my truck can legally haul 46,000 lb of frieght .
I can get close to 9mpg on say a 10,000 pound load or close to 5mpg for a 46,000 lb. Load.
I can get close to 9mpg on say a 10,000 pound load or close to 5mpg for a 46,000 lb. Load.
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Well, that kind of applies to everything. If people would only "make a couple more clicks", or take a couple more steps in reading contracts, take a couple more steps to figure out what they're REALLY paying for a car when they finance it for 72 months, etc., etc., etc..... the vast majority of personal finance and even national economic issues could be avoided.
Simplicity sells.
I buy quite a bit on Amazon and I like their services. You can give specific delivery instructions which is great. UPS has left several packages in my car port where I cannot see them when I get home. Already drove over two packages. With Amazon, I can tell them where to leave the package and they follow those instructions. I also like USPS but that is very dependent on your delivery person. Some are great and some are not so great.
At work we ship mostly UPS. We get huge discounts on express shipping like overnight and 2nd day. Up to 70% and we don't ship that much.
Amazon will ultimately be split up just like other big companies before. Their is no way around that. I'm sure Jeff Bezo knows that. But then he has created a viable competitor to UPS and Fedex which others have tried but failed (DHL tried a few years back, didn't they?).
At work we ship mostly UPS. We get huge discounts on express shipping like overnight and 2nd day. Up to 70% and we don't ship that much.
Amazon will ultimately be split up just like other big companies before. Their is no way around that. I'm sure Jeff Bezo knows that. But then he has created a viable competitor to UPS and Fedex which others have tried but failed (DHL tried a few years back, didn't they?).
Simplicity saves money. Companies have always tried to source from fewer vendors. That is nothing knew. It's the business model of Grainger etc. If you have the choice getting all your supplies from one store or 5 stores, where are you going to drive to on the weekend?
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