reasonable shipping charge?

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snowman

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I'm considering bidding on a pair of grips currently residing in Arizona, and the seller is requiring $15 for shipping on top of the winning bid. I've bought and sold grips on several occasions and don't recall the shipping charge ever exceeding a few dollars, even on long distance transactions. Maybe my memory is failing me. What do you folks think? The seller has near-perfect feedback on a couple thousand transactions.

This isn't a complaint; if the charge is close to what it costs him to get the package ready and send them, I'm more than willing to pay it. Just gave me pause in light of my experience(at least my recollection of it), and thought I'd bounce it off you folks.

Thanks for your input, friends.
Andy
 
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For small stuff, send it first class. You now get tracking and pretty good delivery times..except now. You don't have to ship everything priority mail. 15 bucks is pretty stiff.
 
I usually ship grips in a padded envelope USPS First Class mail and the cost is $3.50 to $5.50 which I include in the price of the grips or other item under 1lb. $15 seems high unless it's UPS or FedEx 2 day shipping.

My FFL ships handguns for me. Cost to him for a $599 gun is $28 to $30 in a Priority Box. I do add that to the sale price.
 
$3 to $5 First Class (under 13oz) in a padded env should get it most anywhere. That includes trax# and I think $50 ins now.

Even if sent in a small flat rate Priority box,,I think those are still under $7 and the box is free at the PO.

IMO, it takes a lot of special 'handling' to get the fee up to $15 but perhaps the local PO is a days ride over the mountain on mule back for the seller.
 
I guess I'm odd man out here when it comes to a $15 shipping and handling charge. As the saying goes, "time is money". There are cost beyond just the postage and maybe insurance when it comes to shipping. You have to get in the car and drive to the post office, stand in line and drive home. You have to cover the milage and wear on the vehicle and your time. If the post office is 20 minutes away total you could easily have an hour in time involved. Who here would be happy getting paid less than $10 per hour.

On some level $15 for shipping and handling really might be good deal for the buyer if the seller really looked at what it cost to make that shipment.

Of course that is just me, of course others opinion will be much different.
 
I've been dealing on FleaBay and other sites for about 15 years, bought and sold thousands of items. Also ran the holster business for over 40 years, shipped out thousands and thousands of packages.

Best advice I can offer is to always check on seller's shipping costs prior to bidding and factor that into the total amount you will be paying. If that total is not reasonable then it is time to shop elsewhere.

$15 is quite steep for just about any set of pistol grips, assuming US locations for mailing and delivery. But if you are getting a $100 set of grips for $50, then the total of $65 could still be a bargain.

There are many, many on-line sellers offering cheap prices while making their profits from overpriced delivery charges. Caveat emptor.
 
Just consider the shipping cost when you make your bid.
Example, if shipping is free(included) bid $50
Shipping is $15.00 bid $35.00. Same ending cost to you.

If this is on eBay, years ago eBay didn't charge their final value fee on shipping charge, many sellers then quoted very high shipping charges.
Now the selling fee % is charged on the total, bid+shipping
 
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Well, at least he gives the potential bidder the shipping information up front. So either factor it into your bid or don't bid if you don't like it. I don't see the problem.


If he waits till after you win the auction and then springs an exorbitant s&h charge on you, I can see where the consternation is justified.
 
A padded envelope is pretty cheap but i will tell you i have had two pair of grips sent to me in an envelope that arrived broken.

The post office can be pretty rough at times and wood grips can be delicate if not packed just right. I insist on a box and insurance now if spending over 100.00 bucks.

15.00 is high unless your buying cokes or something pricey.
 
Yes, you have to factor these costs into your bid. When I look at something I'd like to bid on, if shipping charges are on the high side, I don't bid.
As far as paying for the sellers gas and time, etc., etc...No. These things are not my expenses, they are the sellers. If they add up to more than it's worth, then the seller probably will not sell. You can't expect the buyer to pay for extraneous expenses that the seller has, such as distance to the post office, etc.
 
I sold a pair recently and shipped priority mail in the box for $6.85. box was free. Paid and printed label on computer. Pretty easy. I guess if he is in the business he wants paid for his time then you get the business.
 
Actually, with usps, you don't have to go over the mountain and through the woods. I imagine he has boxes on hand, they are free and can be ordered through the website, go online to print the label and postage and schedule a free pick up. A seller with this many transactions should be aware of this.
 
The small priority mail flat rate boxes are under $7, and the mail carrier will deliver the box to him with his mail one day and pick it up with his mail the next day - anywhere in the country.

So is he charging you double for all the work he has to do to put it into the box and put a label on it - or what?
 
Bill Bates said:
I guess I'm odd man out here when it comes to a $15 shipping and handling charge. As the saying goes, "time is money". There are cost beyond just the postage and maybe insurance when it comes to shipping. You have to get in the car and drive to the post office, stand in line and drive home. You have to cover the milage and wear on the vehicle and your time. If the post office is 20 minutes away total you could easily have an hour in time involved. Who here would be happy getting paid less than $10 per hour.

On some level $15 for shipping and handling really might be good deal for the buyer if the seller really looked at what it cost to make that shipment.

Of course that is just me, of course others opinion will be much different.
Click to expand...

Sorry, but $15 is the sellers way of making some extra money. USPS will send a box to your door free of charge, you can pay for and print out the label online and then just pop it into the mailbox.
Over the last year I liquidated my large collection of unbuilt plastic model kits. For the most part I could use boxes supplied by USPS, but quite often, I cut down boxes to get the best fit and keep the cost down. I refunded what eBay calculated if my cost was less. The seller in this case is going for a quick extra buck. I would pass unless it was something I really had to have.
 
You guys that are griping crack me up. USPS priority for anything up to a pound is around $7 or more and you can't trust the postman to pick it up. Also you can't just leave it out with the way people are stealing packages nowadays.
Sooo, $15 is more than reasonable. Don't know about you but my car doesn't run for free. :)

DW
 
I don't like to leave prepaid shipping boxes for the post man to pick up. I had a problem where the box was picked up by the postman but the tracking number never got scanned until the box arrive in CA! I assumed the package had been stolen. So now I take every USPS package to the Post Office and have the pre-printed BAR Code scanned when I turn to box over to the PO for shipping. I then have a record indicating the package was entered into the postal system. Being rural, it costs me a gallon of fuel in each direction to the PO and fuel in not free. There are other costs involved above and beyond the actual postage on the package. Making sure the package is safe and will get there is worth the extra few bucks.
 
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Yep, $15 seems a little high for shipping. That's about what 4 boxes of 45 ACP ammo costs shipped UPS. Those flat rate priority mail cartons are $6.10. If it fits, it ships.

On the other hand, you want those grips. A year from now, it won't matter what the shipping cost you.
 
All that matters to the buyer is the total money sent to seller versus what the seller gets in return

Beware sellers who say "actual shipping cost" unless you get a maximum up front
 
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