How do sellers ship for so cheap in Australia ???

[99office]

How do so many Australian sellers ship for so cheap? They sell items that will not fit in a letter (thicker than 20mm) for way cheaper than the cheapest Australia post contract parcel rates.

For example, search ebay for "USB car charger", select "Australia Only" in location, and there are heaps of people selling chargers (including shipping) between $2.50 and $4.00. HOW DO THEY DO IT?? Do they just sent it in a letter, and hope no one checks it is thicker than 20mm? All those items are way thicker than 20mm

[Anonymous]

i bought a USB car charger a few weeks back and the seller just shoved it it a normal small envelope with $1.40 in stamps on it

I have auspost letter guage and this envelope wouldnt go through the large letter slot.. not even close

but he got away with it

[transport-posters]

The seller may have been sent a notice from Australia Post to pay the amount he should have paid for it.  I understand that's how it works.

[outback_blends]

I got 4 x 10 meter rolls of vacuum sealler bag yesterday ...2.4kg ...way bigger than a 500g satchel and it had a  500g ebay label on it. High volume seller too so I doubt  its  just a 1 off.

Best I got was some rock salt in a pouch that was 280 grams .... in a DL envelope that would not go through the 20mm gauge and ...no postage stamp at all! It made it from NSW to WA ...showed the lady at the PO and she just shrugged.

[worthingtonsupplies]

1) bulk discount on shipping, the more items you send through the post the greater the discount. So the earphones I believe are a loss leader in order to get a bulk discount on shipping. Now that the seller has a bulk shipping discount he will be able to sell other products at more competitive prices or higher profit margins.

2) extremely low prices attract larger market share and push competitors out.

3) could be stolen

4) Maybe the seller is trying to maintain or attain top seller status or a higher one. This has the added benefit of cheaper PayPal and ebay fees, not to mention higher search engine results. This leads to higher exposure and sales.

4) Tax benefits selling at a loss to claim tax breaks.

5) clear stock. There can be a number of reasons for this: A new shipping container of merchandise is coming in and may not be cost effective ordering the ear phones in a separate shipment. Therefore get rid of the stock even at a loss to remain competitive.

6) Some big ebay sellers ship the products themselves believe it or not. I learnt of this at PESA internet conference. if your doing millions in shipping each year why give it to a courier.


7) The market for the item may be flooded and it's time to get out. What would you prefer loose $5000 worth of merchandise or your business and the ability to make money from ebay/internet. Talk to any fruit and veg merchant and they will tell you They would rather sell it for a loss because it still cost money in labour to throw it away or store it. It's one thing to loose it's another to be obliterated.

😎 They could be corporate ebay seller such as kogan they may even be disguised as one with a name no one recognises. For instance they may make branded products such as scull candy ear phones but they recognise people will buy no name brands. Therefore they sell both but not under the same brand name or seller account in this case. Corporate brands can have a lot of capital, power and influence in many business aspects.

9) this one is more of a conspiracy but Kogan and other corporate ebay seller get extra benefits over us humble little sellers. Such as branding next to the listing in the search results (that's actually a fact). But I believe they would also get fee discounts and search engine optimisation as we'll. the kind only you and I can only dream of.

10) They ebay seller may have the highest ebay and PayPal store and receive the better fees and chargers than a basic store seller allowing better price in shipping.

11) This one is less likely but possible. The ebay seller has teed up with another seller to ship the products through one courier as one account. The power of group buying earns larger discounts.

12) they ship the item from China. It is cheaper to send from China to Australia then it is to ship within Oz. This is because of government subsidies.

13) They know something I don't.

[lovebooksaus]

I bought use cable for my phone from aus seller for just $1. Don't know what profit he will make it from one $.
No stamp but postage paid written on the bag.
Amazing

[ourphonecase]

I'm guessing they either own a post office or they have some sort of connection to a liscenced post office (not a corp owned one).

This way when they are processed with the "Postage Paid" writing on the envelope, they can charge it at 0.70 or $1.40 or perhaps they don't charge it at all. I don't think mail sorters are able to deduce how much they paid if they know how much they actually paid so it just goes thru without trouble.

I mean how would they figure out how much you posted when the mail man picks it up and put it into the truck? They could be posting it for free for all we know.

[jessicadazzler97]

I don't know how they do it, but I've seen clothes be posted for $2 or $3

[koalabarefoods]

Did the postage paid stamp look kinda like this one by any chance?

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/POSTAGE-PAID-AUSTRALIA-Pre-Inked-Stamp-for-POST-Business-Account-/3312390...

[itgalore]

I recd a usb cable from Victoria (Au Seller) he charged for 6 Inch cable incluidng shipping just $ 1 , i am wondering how much was the cost of Posting, the envolope didnt had any stamps when received ...only seal of AU Post , whats the cost of envolope and whats the cost of product , it was USB 3.0 A- B cable