Sunday, July 28, 2013

eBay Store Update #2 and the True Meaning of Free Shipping

My eBay store is getting closer to the way I want it.  I have added subcategories to my Nancy Drew category, and they mimic the ones I have on Bonanza.

Jennifer's Series Books on eBay

The books I have for sale on eBay are not the same ones up for sale on Bonanza.  I am pretty sure that 100% of the books up for sale are different unless I failed to deactivate one that I moved from Bonanza to eBay.  I did find one on Bonanza that I missed a few days ago and got it deactivated.

The Nancy Drew picture cover books that I just listed on eBay are all different books from the ones on Bonanza, because I pulled out different books from my extras and created new listings for them.  The listings all have free shipping, and I did incorporate shipping into the cost of the books.  I need to continue to get my shipping cost DSR back up to at least 4.9.  Once I get it back up to where I want it, I will remove the free shipping and lower the prices.

My eBay listings other than Nancy Drew that have free shipping really do have shipping that is free to the buyer, because I am the one paying for shipping out of the item price.  I am working towards decreasing my overall inventory of series books and moving out books that have not sold for three or more years.  When I changed those eBay listings, such as Judy Bolton and other series, to free shipping, I left the price the same and clicked on the free shipping box.  The buyer is getting a really good deal on those books.  There are a few books where I compromised by raising the price a dollar or two and clicking on the free shipping box.  That means that I am still paying part of the shipping price.

On the eBay listings that are set as free shipping but with the price raised to include shipping, I will not send any refund if more than one item is purchased.  eBay fees are very high, and even when I have listings set with the shipping as a separate charge, I have to pay an eBay fee on the shipping.  My $3.95 shipping charge is now way too low on eBay, especially since I pay a fee on it.  My true shipping charge on eBay should be $5.95 for the first book and then a certain amount for each additional book.  $5.95 would cover all of my packaging costs, the postage cost, and the eBay fee on the postage charge.  But, I don't think a $5.95 postage charge would go over too well with buyers.

So, when a buyer purchases two or more listings where the shipping was incorporated into the price, it really means that I am not taking a loss on the shipping charge like I do on the other listings.  It would actually better for me to switch everything to free shipping with higher prices.  However, I would prefer not to have shipping incorporated into the item price because I want buyers to feel like they are getting a fair deal.  Some buyers think free shipping is always better for them, but if the free shipping is incorporated into the item price, the seller gets the better deal.

Regarding my new eBay store and monthly fee, my current thinking is that I will keep the eBay store permanently in addition to my Bonanza booth.  The store subscription is well worth the monthly fee based solely on the extra features that are now available to me.  The bulk editor makes it easy to change the books from one store category to another.  The summary page on My eBay makes it really easy to see how many items I have to get shipped.  I can now generate all of my packing slips at the same time, and they look better than the ones previously available to me on eBay.

Last, make sure you follow my Facebook page so that you are kept informed of interesting series book information.

Jennifer's Series Books on Facebook

1 comment:

Paula said...

Thanks for this post, Jennifer! I noticed the free shipping on ebay and was surprised and was wondering what your thinking was on that. It seemed to me that you would be taking a hit based on the prices and knowing the ebay fees are usually quite high. So now I know what's going on, lol! Thanks again, and good luck with your sales in both marketplaces. :)