AuctionCut

Hi, I am a ebay power selling and offten ebay will give discounts on final value fees if you offer free shipping in your auction. Dont do it. I will tell you why. I read an artical last month where a university did a study, I forget the web link, but I found this to be very true. This is an example. If you are a ebay seller and list an item lets say for 100.00 for example, and free shipping. And then list the same item for 80.00 and 20.00 shipping. What you will find is that 80% of people will bid on the 80.00 dollar item with 20.00 shipping verses, the 100.00 item with free shipping. Why you make ask? Most people see the 80.00 and also see the 20.00 shipping(but some people dont see or care much about the shipping cost) But seeing the number 80.00 verses 100.00 for the same item sticks in their head. They have a sence that they are getting a better deal for some reason. Also some people are very lasy and dont care to do basic math. May sound dumb but it is very very true.
Now the ebay fee discounts will not be enough to out weight the more views wihich equals higher bids on your item you are selling. Truse me a ebay powerseller that you will get higher bids if you do this.
I have lots more tips coming soon. or just email me. thanks

This has been my experience as well. But with so many sellers offering free shipping these days, you sometimes feel like you have to in order to compete for buyers' attention.

This is an interesting topic and I'd love to hear what other people think about it.

I would imagine it really all depends on how hot an item is. For example, I purchased multiple "Wii Fits" today to get ready for the Christmas rush. I noticed there are a ton of people selling Wii Fits and EVERY ONE OF THEM is offering free shipping. In a situation like this it would be foolish to not offer free shipping.

I will try this out with my next wii fit though and let you guys know the result. Even though one item doesn't mean much.

The Drop Ship Products offers the no risk supply of the product directly to the customer. It is something like you don't buy the product until after you've sold it!

I have always been a fan of free shipping, but its always at a higher price

You're right. I've seen this in my own experience. People ignore the shipping and are motivated by the selling price. We look for bargains and when comparing the same products we will look at the cost of the product. Only later once we've made our decision to buy will we consider the shipping, by this time however we've alread made our decision and will probably buy it any way. Unfortunately eBay is forcing us to offer free shipping on some items. Personally I don't see why you should offer free shipping. Postage is a cost. Why should the seller pay for it. I always ensure the postage cost is met by the buyer.

I only offer free shipping if its under $5 anyway and I am certain of the cost

http://ebaysellerreview.blogspot.com/

I agree... free shipping works best for me because most of the stuff i sell i under £5 and can be shipped for 0.47p. But yes... for higher priced items i wouldnt offer free shipping.

I think most customers still get VERY attracted to the FREE shipping promos offered by sellers. The word FREE alone does the trick may it be for shipping or for another product.

Some sellers actually incorporate shipping costs to their products and then claim free shipping but its not actually free. If as a customer you don't bother doing the math then you'd think you landed a great deal. I think it's human instinct to go where there is a freebie offered. I mean I would too!

"In a recent comScore study, 72% of consumers said that if an e-commerce site eliminated free shipping, they would use another e-commerce site that did offer free shipping. Last week the LA Times reported that this year, nearly 80% of consumers said they were more likely to shop online with a retailer that offers free shipping, compared with 60% who said that last year." - an excerpt from an article called - Is free shipping a must in this economy? Some of the comments posted by readers are quite interesting and a few have really tips as well. To read more please visit this link:

http://www.grokdotcom.com/2008/11/12/is ... s-economy/

Cheers!

You are 100% right my friend, cos free shipping only comes with higher price fee.

How will you even offer free shipping without adding the shipping fee to the real product price?

You just have to leverage i think...which is bad for your auction.
Good post man.

Thanks paulino007!

I agree, free shipping on eBay will only lead to higher fees. You may find one of our blogs interesting,

http://www.salehoo.com/blog/free-shippi ... ur-profits

But as an off eBay seller I think you can still offer FREE shipping to buyers who reach a certain amount when purchasing, like 'free shipping for orders $150 and up' you know that sort of thing can still work quite well with your profit margin and may actually help bring in customers as well.

All the best! :D

Hey Guys,

This is a fantastic thread, i too think free shipping is an absolute profit phantom, and even if people did still buy because of it I find it works out too expensive in the long, as you say by being drowned out in the eBay fees!

I recently submited a post on my blog disscussing ebays new postage hubpage, check it out here, it offers all kinds of great postal services....

==>http://john-edwards-blog.com/selling-on-ebay-using-new-delivery-service-hub-for-your-products/

I think most of you might know about it, but for those that don`t you may just find it useful?

Cheers....John.

this is true, and it was happen with my listing :D

Hi rossdale,

What exactly happened to your listing? I hope you don't mind my asking

So do you still offer free shipping for your products?