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A lesson in combating high prices


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We frequently gripe and moan here about the outrageous prices we see on eBay, particularly the shipping fees some sellers are charging. Well, I recently came across a listing for a set of small decals (I know they measure not more than 3x5) with shipping listed at...you might want to sit down for this...$8! It's not uncommon to see decals and canopy masks listed with shipping close to $5, but $8 seemed downright outrageous.

I took a chance and sent a message to the seller to ask, politely mind you, if that was a typo. Turns out it was. He responded to tell me that it was auto-generated by eBay and that the actual shipping would be much lower.

The lesson: Don't hesitate to reach out to vendors, whether on eBay or otherwise, to ask if they can accommodate your needs. The worse they can do is say no (which by the way, happened to me when I contacted a prominent vendor who regularly sells on eBay). You may come out a winner!

Oh, and another vendor is going to give me a deal if I buy three items from him!

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

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We frequently gripe and moan here about the outrageous prices we see on eBay, particularly the shipping fees some sellers are charging. Well, I recently came across a listing for a set of small decals (I know they measure not more than 3x5) with shipping listed at...you might want to sit down for this...$8! It's not uncommon to see decals and canopy masks listed with shipping close to $5, but $8 seemed downright outrageous.

I took a chance and sent a message to the seller to ask, politely mind you, if that was a typo. Turns out it was. He responded to tell me that it was auto-generated by eBay and that the actual shipping would be much lower.

The lesson: Don't hesitate to reach out to vendors, whether on eBay or otherwise, to ask if they can accommodate your needs. The worse they can do is say no (which by the way, happened to me when I contacted a prominent vendor who regularly sells on eBay). You may come out a winner!

Good idea. I frequently pass on items where the shipping is too high. I wonder why though, if it's the case that eBay is assigning a high shipping price, that these sellers don't put some very visible wording somewhere stating that the shipping price shown is incorrect and will be adjusted?

Seems simple, but I see so many faults (from a marketing standpoint) with item listings I wonder how many sellers even have a clue about what they are doing; incorrect item information, lack of easily obtainable item information, fuzzy photo with text that states "study photo closely before buying", no thought of placing a ruler in photos to show scale of item(s), the "Box-O-Parts" sales with pic of a box of parts, which are like buying a grab bag of unknown plastic, (too much effort to dump out the box and then take photo)? I know - preaching to the choir here... :cheers:

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I ran into the same problem when I first started selling on ebay. What I did was just figure out what a 3.1 oz envelope cost to several zip codes and figured out the average costs for shipping. In the end I ended up shipping decals in the U.S. for free as it was just easier and the customer appreciated it.

But your right, asking helps in two ways; 1) it brings attention to the seller about a possible mistake that could of been made on his/her part. 2) it doesn't hurt to ask as the worst that can happen is that the seller says no.

Robert

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you might want to sit down for this...$8! It's not uncommon to see decals and canopy masks listed with shipping close to $5, but $8 seemed downright outrageous.

It's not only on ebay you see crazy shipping charges. Spru Brothers charge $28.75 to ship 1 (one) decal sheet to Thailand. :cheers:

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It's not only on ebay you see crazy shipping charges. Spru Brothers charge $28.75 to ship 1 (one) decal sheet to Thailand. :cheers:

That might be more of a limitation with his site, I am sure if you emailed Gordon he would provide a more realistic shipping price. He doesn't seem the type to rip off customers on shipping.

Robert

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That might be more of a limitation with his site, I am sure if you emailed Gordon he would provide a more realistic shipping price. He doesn't seem the type to rip off customers on shipping.

Robert

Yes I know he come highly recomended here but the automated shipping prices kept me from ordering from him. Same for Squadron.

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Yes I know he come highly recomended here but the automated shipping prices kept me from ordering from him. Same for Squadron.

Did you email him to see if the price was correct or a typo? I think this issue has came up before with Sprue Brothers, et al that use the automatic USPS shipping calculator, I think it defaults to Priority Mail International as the 'cheapest' option.

Checking on the USPS website it shows an envelope weighing a couple of ounces should cost $2-3 USD to go to Thailand via 1st Class mail.

Ken

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Did you email him to see if the price was correct or a typo? I think this issue has came up before with Sprue Brothers, et al that use the automatic USPS shipping calculator, I think it defaults to Priority Mail International as the 'cheapest' option.

Checking on the USPS website it shows an envelope weighing a couple of ounces should cost $2-3 USD to go to Thailand via 1st Class mail.

Ken

No I didn't e-mail him, as i said the automated system scared me away and I found what I was looking for elsewere. That's how it works on internet isn't it. If your site don't work properly the theres usualy other places to get what you are looking for.

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You're missing out on a very good thing! Did you know that you can choose which shipping method you want? You may have accidentally chosen a higher shipping rate. Also, when an order goes through, Sprue Brothers will look for the cheapest shipping method unless a customer has specifically asked to have it shipped a certain way. I would highly recommend that you give SB a try. You'll be a very happy customer.

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Swede, definitely email Gordon offline to see if there's an alternative available. That's the whole point of my initiating this discussion. The most you'll lose is three minutes of your time to compose the email and read his response.

BTW, I just paid about $25 in postage for a $35 order from a shop in Italy. Maybe these cross-ocean orders are inherently expensive.

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Swede, definitely email Gordon offline to see if there's an alternative available. That's the whole point of my initiating this discussion. The most you'll lose is three minutes of your time to compose the email and read his response.

BTW, I just paid about $25 in postage for a $35 order from a shop in Italy. Maybe these cross-ocean orders are inherently expensive.

I will definitely send an e-mail if I like to order from them in the future. What I'm talking about above was about a year back and I didn't know anything about them back then, at that time I was also a bit tired of all net merchants after been told by one UK dealer (pretty big one) in a bad tone that they didn't send to Thailand (but they would send to our “good†neighbors Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos?????) and I had another UK dealer who won't answer my e-mails on outstanding items I paid for (still outstanding).

No it's not that expensive to send over the ocean if it's not too big (at least not from US, UK or Asia), an envelope with some decals or even a padded envelope with some small light resin only cost a few dollars to send worldwide.

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I found a micro mesh set on Amazon. Cost was $18 which was pretty reasonable, when I went to place the order, found out shipping was $29!!! Order canceled. Despite what some folks say, I firmly believe that this is a scam. They offer cheap pricing on the item but make up the margin on inflated shipping costs.

On a general note, I find that you can get some very good discounts by simply asking. My last vacation, I told the travel agent she needed to take 20% off and I would sign on the spot. She compromised with an offer of 10% which is 10% better than what I would have paid had I not asked. Saved me $200 by simply asking them to do better.

As another example, I'm sick of paying what I feel are obscene charges for my cable service. I called Comcast and told them that a competitor had made me an offer I can't refuse (not the case at all). The lady said she couldn't help. I asked to speak with her manager. After a quick converstation, she found a "special offer" plan and dropped my bill by $35/month for the next 9 months. Said that when that expires, to call back and they could probably find another offer with similar savings.

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Sweedinsiam;

My shipping policy is similar to the other shop in question and here's why I do it. Tracking. Fraud is rampant in the area of the world you live in. After the 3rd claim that $100+ of products were never recieved and facing Paypal claim, I had the choice of either no longer selling to Thailand, or requiring a tracking number. Thus the $25+ shipping charge. I flat out refuse to ship to certain countries due to similar problems. Yes, it a sore point with customers in those countries, but I'm not here to loose money or give my stuff away. Personally I rather not sell outside of the USA to individuals as the problems it has created far outweighs the benefits. But in today world of the Worldwide Web and Internet Marketplaces, it's foolish not to. So this is the compromise I have come up with. Those who complain I send to other vendors or to Hannants Ltd in the UK as I it's not worth the argument.

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Gents:

Thailand is a problem for me at Wolfpak Decals. Just about 3 out of 4 orders get lost and are never received by the buyer. I have been replacing them free of charge but may stop doing business in the usual way. The shipping costs quoted from Sprue Brothers are the fees associated with international guaranteed shipping. It gives the seller the documentation that the parcel has been shipped eliminating chargebacks from Paypal if the buyer doesn't get it. It's a situation beyond all of our control. The only alternative is to not process any order from Thailand and to refund the buyer's money.

Mark

Wolfpak Decals

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Fraud, corruption? :cheers: Can’t believe that’s existing in this part of the world :cheers:

Yes I know it is a problem with mail loss here that’s why I use (pay) tracking for anything valuable, not for a sheet of decals though (if I lost that I wouldn’t even complain because I took the risk myself asking for it to be sent by the cheapest option).

Mark:

If you lost 3 out of 4 shipments then I would say that you been very unlucky. I been living here for 9 years and had a lot of things sent from all over the world and have only lost a few magazines.

What ticked me off on the UK vendor who wouldn’t send to Thailand was that they stated on their site that they were sending everywhere and when I made my order they just said that they don’t send to Thailand. If they politely explained why in a few words or wrote on the site that they don’t send to Thailand or other countries then no problem.

Sorry for hijacking the thread. Let’s go back to topic.

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