USPS prices increased today so I thought it may be useful for members to share how they are handling it with regard to selling on ebay.  The biggest one for those parting out sets or selling from bulk lots will be first class package increasing from $1.69 to $1.93.  I offered free shipping until I got my feedback to a respectable level, then moved to charging for shipping.  Will you continue to offer free shipping?  Or will you move to charging buyers for shipping charges? 

Please don't turn this thread into another USPS bashfest, it's not very useful and I think we have enough of them.

Either way the customer should always end up paying shipping charges, even if they think it really is "free". I will continue to offer free shipping while adjusting the total price by whatever the fee increase on a particular service.

I use a combo of free and added shipping, some listing just work better with free shipping, mini figs come to mind. A decent BIN with free shipping just seems to work better. When selling using an auction I almost never offer free shipping. As far as the USPS goes I've never had any problems with them, I guess I've just been lucky.

So small padded envelopes went up 30 cents? That sucks for trading minifigs.

USPS prices increased today so I thought it may be useful for members to share how they are handling it with regard to selling on ebay.  The biggest one for those parting out sets or selling from bulk lots will be first class package increasing from $1.69 to $1.93.  I offered free shipping until I got my feedback to a respectable level, then moved to charging for shipping.  Will you continue to offer free shipping?  Or will you move to charging buyers for shipping charges? 

Please don't turn this thread into another USPS bashfest, it's not very useful and I think we have enough of them.

Well this pretty much sucks.  Makes it a bit tougher to offer free shipping.

 

Instead of bashing USPS, can I simply bash our government?

So, how does anyone get decent shipping prices through UPS (yes, brown truck) if you don't have a corporate account. I've priced shipments through them several times and it's ridiculous.

So, how does anyone get decent shipping prices through UPS (yes, brown truck) if you don't have a corporate account. I've priced shipments through them several times and it's ridiculous.

Another member was able to use Fedex to ship 2 Simpsons sets for like $15.  Maybe fedex is the way to go. Still have trouble swallowing 25 cent increase for small packages. That is a huge hike.  Total BS!

These are the guys that according to Congress are not suppose to make a profit. So why through good money after bad?

Will have to adjust prices on e-bay, customer pays for shipping.

Mini-figures will suffer the most,1st China, now this. We knew it was coming.

I find it best to just have a nominal shipping fee and NEVER worry about DSR's or feedback. If you ship promptly, professionally and your items are as described, you will be fine. Of course, this is if you're selling primarily small items. And your DSR's might get a hit or two, but honestly, the DSR hit or a neutral feedback is just as likely to happen if you charged $1.00 for shipping. Some people are just stupid.

 

If you're selling a lot of larger items, sure, there's a difference and incentive for the Ebay statuses.

 

Charge $2.50 - $3.00 for your shipping and go. Why not make a few extra coins to cover expenses? For larger items, either raise the price to reflect the difference(as well as Ebay fees from shipping increase) or if you're making enough already, just eat it.

 

If you're selling for profit, them maximize it. If you worry about DSR's and feedback and a million what its, that's a "cost" of a different kind that I personally would prefer to not have to deal with.

 

If you still want to offer free shipping for small items, then bundle them for bigger dollar amounts that can appear a better deal to the buyer. The cost to ship one minifig is the same as shipping five. Sell parts? Again, it's usually the same shipping cost to ship say, 30 pieces as it is for 5.

 

Don't get me started on Ebay's push to offer free shipping. For selling $1 items/orders via Ebay, it's borderline ludicrous. Selling each lot of 1-5 pieces on Ebay for $4 with free shipping is wonderful for sellers but rediculous for buyers. It's wonderful when buyers buy multiple lots--very profitable for sellers, but crazy expensive for buyers. So you cannot offer it on $1 lots. Therefore, you must charge for shipping. So make it worth it, since you will NEVER have perfect DSR's across the board. So just don't worry about it for selling small things.

I don't know if anyone has looked in to it or seen the USPS commercials, but they are in a sore spot. They receive no funding from the government. All of their money comes from postage. However, they are forced to pay in to the government for long term things. My understanding is that they overpaid by many millions, but the government won't reimburse them. We sell some books on Amazon and while the USPS has increased their rates many times over the last 5 years, Amazon has NEVER increased the $3.99 shipping charge.

 

FedEx has always been better for me on anything that won't fit in a Flat Rate box. Five day home delivery is always cheaper and quicker than Parcel Post. You can get a business account that saves even more and they supply me with those nice clear envelopes which saves time (and money) having to not tape down a shipping label.

What ?? Price increase? NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Insert Darth Vader clip from the blue ray version of ROTJ here...

Seriously, we knew this was coming since November. (we even had a thread for it). It looks like USPS price increase is an annual event now. Better be ready for 2015 as well

Either way the customer should always end up paying shipping charges, even if they think it really is "free". I will continue to offer free shipping while adjusting the total price by whatever the fee increase on a particular service.

You remind me of me

Sent from an iPhone using the Brickpicker app

if prices keep going up parting out will go by the wayside. Just no way to cover costs. Already basically close to impossible to make money parting out a $20 set. $30 sets now in jeopardy.

if prices keep going up parting out will go by the wayside. Just no way to cover costs. Already basically close to impossible to make money parting out a $20 set. $30 sets now in jeopardy.

Definitely see minifigs taking a hit.  I thought I read that these increases were temporary though.  Anybody know if that is true?

if prices keep going up parting out will go by the wayside. Just no way to cover costs. Already basically close to impossible to make money parting out a $20 set. $30 sets now in jeopardy.

I don't see it that way though. The buyer pays the shipping, so how is it any different for the seller? If the price per piece goes up, that makes a huge difference.

 

Case in point: On Bricklink, a buyer who bought a tiny order paid $1.69 for shipping up to 3 ounces. Today, it's $1.93 for the same order. As a seller, I'm unaffected. For Ebay, raise your shipping rates according to the new chart and you're fine.

 

It will always come down to the set you're breaking. Some $20 sets won't ever be worth it to part out. Then again, the same is true for some $50 and $100 sets too. But a blanket statement that they're all in jeopardy? I don't think so at all.

I don't ever recall a postal price drop. I think the new prices are here to stay, at least until they go up again.

I don't see it that way though. The buyer pays the shipping, so how is it any different for the seller? If the price per piece goes up, that makes a huge difference.

 

Case in point: On Bricklink, a buyer who bought a tiny order paid $1.69 for shipping up to 3 ounces. Today, it's $1.93 for the same order. As a seller, I'm unaffected. For Ebay, raise your shipping rates according to the new chart and you're fine.

 

It will always come down to the set you're breaking. Some $20 sets won't ever be worth it to part out. Then again, the same is true for some $50 and $100 sets too. But a blanket statement that they're all in jeopardy? I don't think so at all.

 

It absolutely affects the seller still in the long run. Lets say you buy a 20$ set with 3 minifigures and a vehicle and you part all of those out. The more expensive the minifigures are inidividually, the more people will say - Hell Ill just buy the whole set. There is a reason minifigures in 20$ sets don't sell for 15$ each.

 

So lets say you do make the buyer pay shipping - now its close to adding 2$ to their cost. In the end, there will be less people buying at increased prices and you will have to lower yours to compensate. Sellers will take the brunt of this, not buyers.

 

There definitely are 20$ sets that are better for parting out - but as someone who parts out about every set on the market, its pretty close to not worth it to part out those sets now. I use Free shipping on everything (and average cost in) because it obviously sells better. I will be eating the 24 cents because I can't start charging $8.24 for minifigures. 

 

Just how it works. It wont affect higher priced items quite as much - but retailers who sell stuff with free shipping mean that buyers will incur no extra cost with them. If we add on the cost to the buyers, there will be less incentive to spend half the price of the set when you can buy the full one for 10$ more.

It absolutely affects the seller still in the long run. Lets say you buy a 20$ set with 3 minifigures and a vehicle and you part all of those out. The more expensive the minifigures are inidividually, the more people will say - Hell Ill just buy the whole set. There is a reason minifigures in 20$ sets don't sell for 15$ each.

 

So lets say you do make the buyer pay shipping - now its close to adding 2$ to their cost. In the end, there will be less people buying at increased prices and you will have to lower yours to compensate. Sellers will take the brunt of this, not buyers.

 

There definitely are 20$ sets that are better for parting out - but as someone who parts out about every set on the market, its pretty close to not worth it to part out those sets now. I use Free shipping on everything (and average cost in) because it obviously sells better. I will be eating the 24 cents because I can't start charging $8.24 for minifigures. 

 

Just how it works. It wont affect higher priced items quite as much - but retailers who sell stuff with free shipping mean that buyers will incur no extra cost with them. If we add on the cost to the buyers, there will be less incentive to spend half the price of the set when you can buy the full one for 10$ more.

I'm guessing you tend to track and worry about your DSRs. If you charge $2 for shipping, in the long run I think you would sell more figures without including free shipping. The average buyer sees a figure for $5 and might think what else do you have, especially if you combine shipping which is probably still going to be $2, so 3 figures would cost them $17 roughly. They also see those 3 figures you're selling with free shipping, but at $7 each, they save $4 by buying them from someone else. 

 

I'm also guessing that parting out sets to you means break it down between minifigures and large portions of the set? When I wrote about parting out sets, I meant it completely, even down to breaking the figures themselves into hat/headgear, head, torso, legs, etc. Then people are more likely to buy the parts and not look at a vehicle from a set that is pretty much 60% of the set and just reason to buy the complete set instead. I might have interpreted that one differently.

 

For parting sets out completely, adding .24 to shipping hardly affect buyers at all. They will still buy as they did previous to the rate increase. I say that because it's what happened the last time, and the time before that.

For those of us who mainly use BrickLink to part out, this is not a problem. I'll be interested to see how it affects minifig prices on eBay.

 

Have the international prices gone up as well? Or just domestic? I stuck in a couple of common weights and it doesn't look like international has gone up this year, but I haven't done a rigorous analysis.

I'm guessing you tend to track and worry about your DSRs. If you charge $2 for shipping, in the long run I think you would sell more figures without including free shipping. The average buyer sees a figure for $5 and might think what else do you have, especially if you combine shipping which is probably still going to be $2, so 3 figures would cost them $17 roughly. They also see those 3 figures you're selling with free shipping, but at $7 each, they save $4 by buying them from someone else. 

 

I'm also guessing that parting out sets to you means break it down between minifigures and large portions of the set? When I wrote about parting out sets, I meant it completely, even down to breaking the figures themselves into hat/headgear, head, torso, legs, etc. Then people are more likely to buy the parts and not look at a vehicle from a set that is pretty much 60% of the set and just reason to buy the complete set instead. I might have interpreted that one differently.

 

For parting sets out completely, adding .24 to shipping hardly affect buyers at all. They will still buy as they did previous to the rate increase. I say that because it's what happened the last time, and the time before that.

 

Oh well I agree parting out on Bricklink will be largely unaffected - thats different.

 

I don't worry about my ratings - more I just know Free Shipping stands out better. Its better in searches and its easier on the seller. If I switched over there would be a hit in sales. Not a huge amount, but some. Plus the time to change my business method.

All prices to end consumer will increase. Anyone that does not increase costs to end consumer will find themselves out of business sooner than later. Its just the circle of life. Adapt or close your virtual doors.

An Ebayer who sent me a best offer the other day which I countered just sent me this message.

"you send me a counter offer then raised the shipping. shipping was at 10.59 and that's why I offered 19.41 to make it a even 30.00. Thanks though".

My response.

"I'm not sure of what you are talking about. As you can see I have no revisions on my listing. It may have to do with USPS changing their prices today. Thanks though.

Anybody else get something similar yet?

For those of us who mainly use BrickLink to part out, this is not a problem. I'll be interested to see how it affects minifig prices on eBay.

 

Have the international prices gone up as well? Or just domestic? I stuck in a couple of common weights and it doesn't look like international has gone up this year, but I haven't done a rigorous analysis.

I'm not sure how much International has risen as I use calculated shipping for any non minifig orders.  Here is the USPS pricing notice on their website.

 

http://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/Notice123.htm#1118064