How do people send small eBay satchels at less than $10? My calculations are tcorrect

[okboomer]

If I charge $11 for postage the total cost works out at 23% above the $8.95 eBay charge. Ebay charges me $8.95 (Their 10.9% charge on that is $1.20) (Pay Pal charge 2.6% which is .23c forgetting the 30C per transaction as you are paying that for the item charged anyway) (Cost of Satchel $15c) = Total actual costs $10.53 leaving me say .47C to pack the item and drive to Post Office. so How can you post for under $10? Plaese correct if I am doing something wrong

[padi*0409]

Build the extra charges into your BIN price for the items, that's what other sellers do.

[tazzieterror · Accepted solution]

For the $8.95 small satchel, your real cost should be $10.16 (inc eBay & PP combined 13.5% fees) + the 15c for the satchel, so $10.31 if you ignore PP's 30c transaction flag fall.

Keep in mind if you use eBay generated labels there are three price levels depending on the destination, so a small satchel's nominal charge is either $8.21, $8.65, or $8.95 for local, metro, and regional destinations respectively. So the lower two tiers will indeed come to less than $10 using the workings above.

But as Padi said, build the extra charges into your item price.

[tazzieterror]

One other point, you're not gaining anything by setting your items to 'private listings' and some (many?) potential buyers often view it suspiciously, particularly on auctions.

Unless you have a specific reason for doing so, it's better to leave private listing turned off.

[digital*ghost · Accepted solution]

Don't forget printing and any packaging (eg bubble wrap) costs, which will add to the total of actual cost per shipment. 

There are other ways to reduce the actual postage cost, which is one of the ways you might see some sellers with cheaper postage charges listed, but it generally involves volume unfortunately (sending enough to get good discounts through My Post or eParcel, or via a courier and so on). Last I checked, the Sendle label option on eBay was $7-something, though I'm not sure if their rates change based on location, what their delivery range is, and reviews on their overall service are mixed. 

Back when you could get up to 10% discount on buying pre-paid satchels in bulk, it was worth it if you knew enough people who used them regularly, to all chip in for enough pre-paid satchels, without anyone needing to mortgage anything to do so.  But the discount is now 5% from memory, with the cheapest option still $8.74 after buying at least 100 (which you could say is technically $8.59 +15c satchel cost, and no printing costs, except for the ink in a pen, but still on the high side). 

[eol-products]

I have noticed sendle exclude rural areas making it hard to factor in the savings. 

[tazzieterror]

Sendle's eBay prices are here for anyone interested in comparing.

I personally would never use them - the savings are very modest (unless you're shipping something quite heavy), and there's very little in the way of customer support when something goes wrong.  I've read a lot of complaints across several forums so for anyone considering giving them a go, please do your research first so you know what to expect.

[digital*ghost]

If using them, you'd probably have to have an average shipping charge that was a little win some, lose some to hopefully work out even in the end - I kinda do this just with using My Post, since their charges to rural areas are only discounted by a maximum of 5%, but at the same discount tier it's 19% for metro and 35% for same (major) city. (That in itself ticks me off sometimes. I often have to pay more to another close location in SA that Aus Post consider rural, than I do to a metro Perth area - I know it's a logistics thing but it still grates a little, since I get a high rate of rural (or what Aus Post considers as such) area orders that require upgrades to parcels, it's salved a little when I only have to pay $6 or so for a local order, at least, since I tend to waver between band 3 and 4 as most stuff goes by letter). 

[davewil1964]

I charge $8.95 for small parcels. If I choose to use eBay or AP labels, that costs me money. If I use prepaid satchels that I buy in bulk for significantly less than $8.95, that makes up for it.

I sell in an area where I don't really get to set my prices. If I up my BIN price, that means reducing postage, and vice versa.

[eol-products]

When I looked at E-parcel the rural rates where higher than MyPost yet the local rates where below MyPost. It may have been a $5 difference between the 2 which is ok if buyers are making a multiple purchase of items but not workable on a $5 item when buyers pay $8.95 postage.