topic Re: Better Postage for Satchels in Selling

Better Postage for Satchels

albury_casting — Wed, 30 May 2018 08:21:14 GMT

Hi All,

I'm a fairly new seller on EBay and so far it's worked out pretty well. I do have a shipping issue I am hoping somone has a silve bullet for.

I sell a small item that people buy in a quantitiy for, but this quantitiy can vary from 8pcs up to 100pcs. At the moment I have set a listing quantity which works out to fit (max total weight) a Auspost satchel (1kg → 3kg → 5kg) but the reality is it would be much better for me to simply sell in single lots as the quantities I put down are probably not exactly what the customer wants and have the shipping calculate the best satchel size based on the weight.

I have had a look at the postage rate table but it only allows incrments of 1kg whic means the customer will loose out and pay more than they need to.

Any ideas?

Re: Better Postage for Satchels

Anonymous — Wed, 30 May 2018 08:50:29 GMT

It's a little bit more work but you could put a note in the description asking them to contact you if they'd like a different amount and you'll set up a special listing for them. You could say how many fit in each satchel size, eg. 1-75 in a 1kg satchel, 76-225 in a 3kg, etc.

Re: Better Postage for Satchels

digital*ghost — Wed, 30 May 2018 09:55:01 GMT

I detailed one approach to a similar problem here: https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Selling/postage-costs-of-bulk-buying/m-p/2159632#M171011

You can also have multiple listings for the same item if each listing meets a different customer need - various quantities (as long as there is a significant difference between them) are allowed where otherwise they would be considered duplicate listings. I do this with some of my listings, where I have one listing for 10 of something, another listing for 25, and mention in each listing that there's other quantities available in store. The only thing I don't like about that method is quite often people will find the small quantity listing and buy multiples, equal to or even greater than the higher quantity listing (which provides a small discount). I tend to add extras in those cases, but I often also have to shift quantities over.

Other items I create variations for quantity, so buyers can choose between packs of something like 10, 25 and 50. Some of my items I offer in smaller quantities in a variation listing, and I get people mixing and matching between them to get the exact quantity they need. I have a flat rate postage model, though, which I find easier to manage than working out P&H on a per-order basis and means my buyers can just purchase and pay for any number of items without waiting for an invoice etc. Often times I pay significantly more for postage than my buyer has, but pretty much because they've bought a bulk quantity so I consider it a way of providing bulk purchase discounts. (This has its own nuances, or issues, to consider - I frequently have to explain why I can't provide the same low, flat rate postage when I do a custom bulk order and apply a price discount, because my postage rates already provide it as standard; i.e. they can have one or the other, and savings above store prices don't usually kick in until they've bought a really high quantity).

Re: Better Postage for Satchels

albury_casting — Wed, 06 Jun 2018 06:46:17 GMT

Hi, thanks for the ideas.

I'm doing the variation method at the moment with my listings along with fixed. I have to have the fixed as EBay also does not allow you to reply with an offer for a variation listing.

Re: Better Postage for Satchels

k1ooo-slr-sales — Wed, 06 Jun 2018 10:58:34 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
It's a little bit more work but you could put a note in the description asking them to contact you if they'd like a different amount and you'll set up a special listing for them. You could say how many fit in each satchel size, eg. 1-75 in a 1kg satchel, 76-225 in a 3kg, etc.

any seller who follows this suggestion would need to be very careful in how they word the note in the description.

If a buyer messages the seller with something that the eBay message bots pick up as being an offer to trade off-eBay then the potential buyer just might get suspended from buying on eBay.