Free postage best option?

[connydeylen]

Is free postage really the way to go?

[lizzy6107]

I often wonder that myself.. sometimes when I go to buy something from a seller and see that  I am paying for a satchel, I am tempted, and mostly give in, to buying more items to add to the satchel, or make the most of combined postage offers.. Maybe that's just me? And of course, when a buyer changes mind and returns item for refund, one is out of pocket postage which is refunded too.

[cq_tech]

Certain items can't be sent by prepaid satchels and have to be sent by calculated post, depending upon the buyer's location so there's no "one size fits all" solution. For example, for no real reason some of my items are listed with free postage while others are plus postage and I've noticed no real or obvious buyer preference for one over the other.

Clearly eBay would prefer us to use free postage so for that reason alone I think I'd rather use item price plus postage instead. It makes my paperwork a lot easier, too. Final comment, I don't like the term free postage when it's not free at all, but included in the price, and I personally feel it's misleading, if not downright dishonest.

[van_werkhoven]

Depends, do you sell products which are good candidates for combined postage (clothes, media) or items most people only want one of?

For me it makes no difference on my fees, but I do tend to get combined post orders I may not have gotten with free post.

I have tried a little bit of listing both and not had much difference, but in some catagories it does seem to make a difference

[3415len]

free postage is totally dishonest , as it is not for free , it is just another ebay fees grab, which suits there bottom line , not the buyer or the seller

if a buyer buys 2 or more items from the one seller the seller will always send all items in one package

if for example there all under 500grams  and the buyer buys 6 post free items , I will send the 6 items in a 3kg bag if they all fit in

but I have increased prices on all six items to cover the postage on each item  $7.20 I allow $8.00 per item to also cover the extra ebay fee they change , so 6 x $8.00 is $48.00  as postage is free I am not obligated to refund our customers by cost is then about $15.00 

a $30 extra charge to the customer for the postage fee, ebay wins I win seller buyer the loser.

this does not happen often as most buyers only buy one item at a time., if we do get multiple sales that can be sent together , I normally send a free give to the value of the extra freight charged.

as we now have over 1/2 our listed items post free , after 3 months these listing have not increased our sales one bit in fact overall are down over 25% I suspect the increase in prices has made ebay less attractive to discerning buyers.

one good thing that has come out of it is our business web sites have increased in traffic and sales.

I know they do not give a continental l , but maybe they have  out smarted themselves.

[i-love-my-sheep]

My items that can be sent as large letter (padded bag under 20mm), I advertise 'free' postage. Items that need to go at parcel rate ($7.20 for under 500g), I charge postage. People still buy both.

[dazzledayz]

I use price + post for everything, even the letter style items.

But I do encourage combined post and have a few regulars who keep on coming back.

They will often buy up on items that would normally go singly as letters.

For me it makes absolutely no sense to offer "free" post and it doesn't seem have impact on sales volume

[clarry100]

Hi Len,

We do what you do. We include "freebie" items when a buyer buys multiple items together.

We had one just today that bought multiple foot flowers from us.

We sent her a message and offered to include matching headbands at no extra cost.

She wrote back straight away ecstatically happy about that and thanked us profusely.

She had done the right thing and paid for all items in a single transaction.

We find that the vast majority of buyers of multiple items have no idea how to use the shopping cart and just pay for each item in individual transactions. A bit annoying but we have learned to live with it.

Of course this costs us an extra 30-cents transaction fee each time with PayPal, so it offsets the fact, to some extent anyway, that there is an additional postage fee of $2.00, in our case, built into the base item price.

Notwithstanding that we still include or offer extra items on multiple orders.

Most buyers never even bother to write back a thank you note. Occasionally we will get a very pleasant thank you message back tho.

[lane-ends]

I dont include a postage element in my items as I have no idea what the value of a particular item is, nor do I know for sure what size of satchel it will go in as most are borderline weight. I list everything same price then reduce until sold. Buyers determine what that total price is and cost of postage will be whatever it is and wont affect price paid, whether it goes as a large letter of 3kg satchel. 

If a buyer enquires about multiple purchase i include a best offer allowance into one item to give a discount.

If they pay seperate invoices they get seperate parcels.

Buyers of large multiples get an offer of a substantial discount (upto 50%) of any further item purchased within say 2 months of transaction date.

Having freepost (dont like the term but we are stuck with it) means less admin, as there is no need to estimate it at listing time, work out combining, arguing about it, nor risk of getting it wrong. It just is like anyother overhead of an online business.

It would be easier if ebay could offer an easy to apply discounting for combined checkout purchases, as that is the biggest drawback, even if most of it is perception.

[digital*ghost]

Because eBay now charge FVF on postage, or in real terms, FVF on the total a buyer pays, anything that can reduce the amount a buyer pays, reduces FVF.

I've tried the free-post thing a few times, and it actually really hurt my sales rather than improved them, and I suspect it would hurt them even more now I've really geared my products etc towards being able to offer a very low flat rate postage cost.