Postage cost for each additional item

[kitschkoven]

Hello knowledgeable people

I have 11 of the same item to sell. (Slide projector cartridges) I'm planning on sending them in AP satchels. When I punch in how much one item costs to post, Ebay puts up a field asking how much for each additional item. Should I just come up with a guesstimate and leave it at that? 

[digital*ghost]

How much do they weigh?

Once you figure out how many you can fit into one satchel, you can then decide on an appropriate amount to charge for each additional item. 

For a more nuanced costing, you can also take into consideration how many of them people are likely to buy in one transaction, and what expenses you'll save if the buyer purchases multiples, and factor that into the additional cost (the most obvious one being only one 30c PayPal transaction charge for a purchase of 5, instead of $1.50 for five separate purchases of 1).

In some cases, it's better to increase the item price a little to cover extra costs on multiple purchases, than charge for extra postage on each item (eg if 5 can fit in one 500g satchel and don't require much, if any, additional packaging, some people might question why they're paying $1 for each additional item, even though it's there so that if someone buys 6, you get enough for a 3kg satchel). 

[kitschkoven]

Thanks for your tips!

One item weighs only 650g, but due to its size (almost 30cm by 6cm) I can fit only one in a 3kg satchel. If people want to buy two they're probably looking at a 5kg satchel at the very least, and more than that we're talking boxes. Maybe I should just list each individually? Seems like a lot of faffing about.

[digital*ghost · Accepted solution]

You may want to look at calculated postage in that case, as then costs will be based on total combined weight, plus whatever you enter as the handling (charged once per order, I believe). It may only calculate dead weight costs, though, whereas larger, over 500g parcels that can't fit in satchels can often be cubed instead, making them significantly more expensive, so that's something to look out for.

The alternative is to leave it blank, or just have the same cost if you can't leave it blank, but ask buyers to request an invoice if purchasing multiples, which would allow you to calculate costs on a case by case basis. (Some will ignore this and just buy / pay anyway, but you can provide refunds if the extra is excessive). 

[kitschkoven]

Thank you for your help... I'm working on doing that... it's a learning curve as I usually just sell one item and chuck it in a bag LOL.