Shipping rates on online retailers

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Shipping rates on online retailers

Post by cjd »

I’ve noticed lately that online retailers such as Shop Goodwill, Etsy and Mercari have much lower shipping prices than eBay.

I recently bought an item via Shop Goodwill where the price to ship given was so low that I thought it must be a mistake, yet the item came anyway without any problems. On eBay it would’ve probably cost $50-60 to ship but Goodwill it cost $15.

Some other merchants seem to offer deals that aren’t necessarily advertised. I bought something online recently from Best Buy and when I went to check out the shipping was free which was a surprise. I did sign up for an account since I did not have one, so maybe that was what caused it.

I am guessing somehow these retailers do enough orders that they get special rates from the shippers. eBay just doesn’t seem to do this somehow, many items the shipping is more than the item itself, sometimes even $50-100 goes toward shipping, but I’m uncertain of that because some sellers will do buy it now listings where the item’s price is lower, but shipping is higher, then another listing for same item is vice versatile, but the total cost in each is the same.
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Re: Shipping rates on online retailers

Post by BillyGr »

cjd wrote: February 11th, 2023, 4:38 am I’ve noticed lately that online retailers such as Shop Goodwill, Etsy and Mercari have much lower shipping prices than eBay.

I recently bought an item via Shop Goodwill where the price to ship given was so low that I thought it must be a mistake, yet the item came anyway without any problems. On eBay it would’ve probably cost $50-60 to ship but Goodwill it cost $15.

Some other merchants seem to offer deals that aren’t necessarily advertised. I bought something online recently from Best Buy and when I went to check out the shipping was free which was a surprise. I did sign up for an account since I did not have one, so maybe that was what caused it.

I am guessing somehow these retailers do enough orders that they get special rates from the shippers. eBay just doesn’t seem to do this somehow, many items the shipping is more than the item itself, sometimes even $50-100 goes toward shipping, but I’m uncertain of that because some sellers will do buy it now listings where the item’s price is lower, but shipping is higher, then another listing for same item is vice versatile, but the total cost in each is the same.
May also depend who is selling the items on eBay - there are still likely some "regular" people who use it to sell items, and they would not have access to the same deals for shipping as a company could get, so theirs would have to be higher to cover the actual costs they pay the post office, FedEx, UPS or whatever to get it to the customer.
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Re: Shipping rates on online retailers

Post by veteran+ »

E-Bay has always been a nightmare for me, in all ways!
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Re: Shipping rates on online retailers

Post by cjd »

BillyGr wrote: February 11th, 2023, 11:17 am
May also depend who is selling the items on eBay - there are still likely some "regular" people who use it to sell items, and they would not have access to the same deals for shipping as a company could get, so theirs would have to be higher to cover the actual costs they pay the post office, FedEx, UPS or whatever to get it to the customer.
I do think “volume shippers” can get better shipping rates, yes.
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Re: Shipping rates on online retailers

Post by storewanderer »

veteran+ wrote: February 11th, 2023, 11:40 am E-Bay has always been a nightmare for me, in all ways!
I sometimes find E-Bay useful for small purchases where the item is of low value. I purchased something there recently that was in the $12 range including shipping. At Amazon the item was priced around $10 however it would have been subject to shipping unless I could find $25 total of items and I just wanted to order the item...

Weird thing is that E-Bay item I bought was delivered by Amazon in a package that made no references to Amazon.

A long time ago E-Bay operated a site called half.com for used books. That was really helpful during college. Also to resell books, it was pretty good, you could ship them at "media mail" rate so they shipped really cheaply. Not sure if that is still a thing.
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Re: Shipping rates on online retailers

Post by HCal »

Most likely it was shipped through a service called Multi-Channel Fulfillment, which is where Amazon will store a seller's product in their warehouse and ship it out to customers who buy it on other sites. If the seller sells on both Amazon and eBay, this can be efficient.

I too miss half.com. I now buy and sell books on eBay, and while media mail is still available, the interface is not as smooth as half.com used to be, and I feel like the fees are also higher but I'm not positive on that.
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Re: Shipping rates on online retailers

Post by storewanderer »

HCal wrote: February 14th, 2023, 2:36 am Most likely it was shipped through a service called Multi-Channel Fulfillment, which is where Amazon will store a seller's product in their warehouse and ship it out to customers who buy it on other sites. If the seller sells on both Amazon and eBay, this can be efficient.

I too miss half.com. I now buy and sell books on eBay, and while media mail is still available, the interface is not as smooth as half.com used to be, and I feel like the fees are also higher but I'm not positive on that.
It is odd they did not keep the Half.com interface but I guess with many college textbooks going digital (for prices higher than the paper books used to be) the site probably didn't generate the fees it once did.

Half.com was also a great place to find difficult to locate/out of print books. I do not have ease finding those on eBay, even with ISBN, it seems to be hit and miss what kind of results come up.
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Re: Shipping rates on online retailers

Post by Alpha8472 »

Online shipping varies greatly on ebay. Some companies sell on Ebay and offer free shipping. Best Buy was selling returned items on eBay years ago.

I recently bought some Wyze Cam V3 security cameras on Amazon just for free shipping only to realize that the Wyze company sells refurbished cameras on ebay for steep discounts and free shipping. I had a bad case of buyer's remorse. I could unhook all of my recently set up security cameras and return them just to buy them again on ebay. However, I like my new do it yourself security system.

The Wyze company also sells new items via the Wyze app at discounted prices with flat shipping for $5.99 no matter how much you buy. If you go to www.wyze.com they charge you higher prices.

It is best to shop around and compare.
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Re: Shipping rates on online retailers

Post by cjd »

I once bought an item on eBay and it arrived in packaging from Bed Bath and Beyond and even had coupons from them and their associated stores in the box.
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Re: Shipping rates on online retailers

Post by storewanderer »

cjd wrote: July 2nd, 2023, 9:54 am I once bought an item on eBay and it arrived in packaging from Bed Bath and Beyond and even had coupons from them and their associated stores in the box.
Who was the seller? I've seen some reputable brands selling on eBay, Dyson in particular used to sell directly there.

There are some scams on some online marketplaces where people would list an item then order it from a reputable retailer on your behalf and put in your shipping address, etc. Somehow they had a way to make money doing this. I have my theories as to what they were doing (stolen credit card use, gift card use, using coupon codes creatively, volume buys, etc.) but have still never figured out how it makes sense. Obviously that is against the terms of service of the various online marketplaces and if a seller who does that gets reported they get disabled.
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