Shipping Charges-Why Another Markup?

[deenurse]

I understand the markup in shipping charges and I'll continue to buy quantities to avoid them like Jet, Amazon, Pen Boutique, etc., and will pay shipping when I can't get the item elsewhere. How's that for editing? Thanks for all of the responses.

Edited April 13, 2014 by deenurse

[MisterBoll]

The box is not going to pack itself.

 

SOLUTION - Quit ordering online and shop at your local store.

[Doug1426]

+1

[deenurse]

-2. Excellent responses. I understand it now, I'll stop buying online, thanks.

[Faisel]

Most online vendors from whom I've purchase have no or a limited B&M presence. Accordingly, they will have to ship my purchase to me. The packing and shipping of my purchase is a necessary cost of their business model.

 

In many cases the difference between the true shipping cost to the vendor and the publishing shipping cost is a result of the vendor being unable to accurately estimate the shipping costs of all of the goods they sell. As a result, they will guess (perhaps an educated guess) the likely cost of shipping and add a small amount as a buffer to ensure that they are able to recover all of the costs of shipping from the purchaser.

 

I have encountered some vendors whose charges for shipping are significantly higher than the true shipping cost; e.g. shipping charges of £15 when the item is placed in a padded envelope and sent by first class post - total cost £5. These vendors treat shipping as an additional profit centre.

 

This model of retailing (the "add on pricing" model) results in market distortion. The free market model relies on purchasers being able to determine the true price of identical / similar goods and (factoring in customer service, warranties, etc) to then engage in price discrimination - buying from the cheapest vendor. The vendor practising "add on price" is seeking (consciously or unconsciously) to mislead the buyer by presenting a lower unit cost whilst concealing the true cost of the product until the purchaser comes to the "checkout" stage of the transaction in the cynical hope that having got that far with the transaction the purchaser will continue rather than abort the transaction and waste the time thus far invested.

 

I do not believe in rewarding such market distorting behaviour and will not deal with vendors who treat shipping as a profit centre in this way. I prefer to reward honest business practices. You may want to do the same.

[Sasha Royale]

As I see it, "Shipping" means materials postage, and "Handling" is the effort and time to accomplish. I believe that a seller

should charge for the work or acquiring materials, packing, and delivering the package to the collection point. In the urban

USA , Postal Service comes to the door. In other places, the journey to ship items may be long and far.

 

If I believe the shipping charges to be excessive, I inquire. If I don't like the answer, the seller loses a customer. One seller

devotes an entire day, each week to packaging, delivery to the Post Office, and picking up shipping materials. What's a day's

work worth ? As a hobbyist, I sometimes forget that others are not. They are businesses.

[Jeje3325]

Sasha I lke your answer, yes sometimes the shipping charges are a bit too much but like you said, there is a big difference between a hobby and a business.

We always have the choice of not purchasing the item. Being in Canada I have to pay extra for the US based seller to be willing to ship across border.

Its my decision to do so, or not....

[Faisel]

As I see it, "Shipping" means materials postage, and "Handling" is the effort and time to accomplish. I believe that a seller

should charge for the work or acquiring materials, packing, and delivering the package to the collection point. In the urban

USA , Postal Service comes to the door. In other places, the journey to ship items may be long and far.

 

If I believe the shipping charges to be excessive, I inquire. If I don't like the answer, the seller loses a customer. One seller

devotes an entire day, each week to packaging, delivery to the Post Office, and picking up shipping materials. What's a day's

work worth ? As a hobbyist, I sometimes forget that others are not. They are businesses.

If the vendor must "handle" the product because they are selling over the internet then I do not understand why they don't build the "handling" charge into their pricing by reflecting this in the price of the pen. The effect of not doing so is simply to give a lower headline price for pen which doesn't reflect the true cost of the pen to the buyer. Surely this is misleading?

 

I agree that the solution is to simply not buy from vendors who price products in this way.

[MrChar]

If the vendor must "handle" the product because they are selling over the internet then I do not understand why they don't build the "handling" charge into their pricing by reflecting this in the price of the pen. The effect of not doing so is simply to give a lower headline price for pen which doesn't reflect the true cost of the pen to the buyer. Surely this is misleading?

 

I agree that the solution is to simply not buy from vendors who price products in this way.

 

"Handling" makes far more sense as part of shipping than as part of the price of the pen (as we've said, after all, it's "Shipping and Handling" pretty much everywhere). I don't see how it is dishonest to most accurately categorize the costs in question.

 

A practical concern is that, if a retailer puts it into the price of the pen, that's the price someone shopping around sees. Other stores won't do it and, therefore, the "honest" retailer that adds handling to the pen price looks far less attractive to the vast majority of consumers who will assume that their prices are too high. Sure, some of us may know why and what was done, but will the average shopper? No way! Especially if they're quickly paging through Google results and such. It's a move that would cause some of our favorite retailers to lose business for no reason, which would rather defeat the purpose of advocating for such an initiative.

 

Another hidden shipping charge is simple: additional packaging. Outlets like Goulet Pens, as a service to us, use additional packaging materials when they ship to ensure that our products arrive in the best possible condition. Does it make shipping costs higher? Yes. Does it give people more piece of mind and add to the personal touch that these retailers provide? Of course! If you don't like these charges, feel free to not buy from these retailers, but at least realize that, at least for some of them (there will always be scummy operations out there), it is purely to provide more service to you.

[Chrissy]

Over on this side of the pond we tend to use the phrase postage and packaging which should be exactly what it says.

 

In fact on ebay UK it should be exactly that, as in the rules everything else should be included in the start price of the item.

 

As far as I have seen there are so many more postage gougers on ebay UK than there are anywhere else in the world. It's easy enough to just press the back button

[Aysedasi]

Having said that, postage is becoming very expensive in the UK......... I say that having underestimated the cost many times - to my cost......

[aardvarkbark]

I understand the markup in shipping charges and I'll continue to buy quantities to avoid them like Jet, Amazon, Pen Boutique, etc., and will pay shipping when I can't get the item elsewhere. How's that for editing? Thanks for all of the responses.

 

Wow, you're a really unhappy unpleasant person, aren't you?

[Gloucesterman]

One additional thing to keep in mind is that all package handling concerns - UPS, USPS, FEDEX, etc. offer discounts to shippers based on quantity of packages shipped and method of processing. By that I mean, if you use the USPS and print up your labels electronically, rather than costing you $5.95 (?) for postage, the actual cost to the shipper might be $5.15(?). Also, services such as FEDEX and UPS might offer a 20/30/40% discount on regular shipping charges if you ship more than 10/20 or 100 packages at a time. This means that a seller, who would ordinarily pay $10.00 for shipping (one or two day) for a single package, might pay $7.00 if they ship 10 pieces at one time or even $5.00 if they ship 100 pieces.

 

BTW, these figures are all guessimates as I have no specific knowledge of current shipping costs, discounts or rate.

 

About 10 years ago I worked for a software company who sold over the Internet. We charged a reasonable rate for regular, let's say $6.00 - (FEDEX?) 3 day shipping. Because we might ship 100-500 packages per day, we were charged $2.00 per package. Of course, please keep in mind that the "extra" $3.00 was applied to the cost of packaging (picking, the cardboard box, printing and pasting labels, etc.) the regular retail package for shipping.

 

I'm always fascinated when I see some item with a high (especially when it seems excessive to me) shipping cost. If I see an item here on FPN or eBay/etsy, any interest or activity is always tempered by the total cost including shipping. A $2.00 item with a $10.00 shipping charge costs me $12.00 not $2.00!

 

That's one of the reasons I like/prefer items with free shipping - no additional costs to figure out. What I offer is what I pay.

[Gloucesterman]

 

"Handling" makes far more sense as part of shipping than as part of the price of the pen (as we've said, after all, it's "Shipping and Handling" pretty much everywhere). I don't see how it is dishonest to most accurately categorize the costs in question.

 

A practical concern is that, if a retailer puts it into the price of the pen, that's the price someone shopping around sees. Other stores won't do it and, therefore, the "honest" retailer that adds handling to the pen price looks far less attractive to the vast majority of consumers who will assume that their prices are too high. Sure, some of us may know why and what was done, but will the average shopper? No way! Especially if they're quickly paging through Google results and such. It's a move that would cause some of our favorite retailers to lose business for no reason, which would rather defeat the purpose of advocating for such an initiative.

 

Another hidden shipping charge is simple: additional packaging. Outlets like Goulet Pens, as a service to us, use additional packaging materials when they ship to ensure that our products arrive in the best possible condition. Does it make shipping costs higher? Yes. Does it give people more piece of mind and add to the personal touch that these retailers provide? Of course! If you don't like these charges, feel free to not buy from these retailers, but at least realize that, at least for some of them (there will always be scummy operations out there), it is purely to provide more service to you.

 

Recently I have been shopping a specific new (modern) pen. One place has it for $43.00. Several places offer the same for $40.00 and one place offers it for $36.00 with $3.00 shipping - non with any sales taxes (6.25% here in Massachusetts). Yesterday I was close to a B&M store that is about 45 miles away. I stopped in and looked at the pen I was interested in. The usually charge full price which is $50.00 for this particular pen. When I asked for a discount the B&M offered $45.00 (plus $2.82 tax - they have no choice). I offered $40.00 plus the tax and they said no. I hated to do it but I walked out. For me, the $9.00 difference is enough to make me go online to buy.

 

Sometimes I really wonder why, knowing they are competing with online sales, B&M dealers are not a little bit more innovative and flexible. In some cases, offering more services, (such as a sample bottle - 2-3 ml of a favorite or new ink) would make the difference to a buyer. The cost to the store might be $1-2.00 and could end up with a sale of an additional bottle of ink.

[mab52]

Having been on both sides of the seller/buyer position along with years in retail, there's quite a few things most people disregard. Packing boxes and envelopes, tape, time locating each item, seller's original payment of getting the item shipped to them, money tied up in inventory and storage and so on. Careful packing and shipping of an order takes an average of 15 minutes. Internet listing is not free.

 

My preference is much like the OP to buy in quantity or price that reduces shipping cost. Some sellers don't but offer enough value that I still come out ahead.

 

I love local shopping, but very few nearby places cater to my needs.

[finansista]

While the existence of 'Shipping' charge is obvious and understandable for me, the 'Handling' is not. This should be already reflected in item's price.

 

We are discussing the online business, but why is their 'Handling' worth adding as an extra cost and the B&M store 'Handling' is not? The items in B&M store also need to be 'handled' - someone has to put them on shelves and then sell them face-to-face to the customer.

 

How would you react if you found those costs as a separate line on your B&M store receipt?

[MisterBoll]

I've ordered pens from Europe with shipping to the U.S. being about fifty dollars. With the way postage rates are and the infinite cloudiness of the USPS I just pay the price and then sit back and I'm pleasantly surprised once it shows up. Of course, when teleportation works its way to the public arena things will be much different (and possibly even more expensive).

[Gloucesterman]

Yeah, tele-portation may be more expensive to start with.

 

BUT, then you will be paying a premium for "Next Minute Delivery"!!!

 

P.S. better hope there is no fly in the shipping chamber? :yikes:

Edited April 14, 2014 by brgmarketing

[KBeezie]

Shipping and Handling. (though seems some merchants are generous and only charge the postage itself, and absorb the cost of the packaging materials in the item's profits).

Edited April 14, 2014 by KBeezie

[RMN]

 

Recently I have been shopping a specific new (modern) pen. One place has it for $43.00. Several places offer the same for $40.00 and one place offers it for $36.00 with $3.00 shipping - non with any sales taxes (6.25% here in Massachusetts). Yesterday I was close to a B&M store that is about 45 miles away. I stopped in and looked at the pen I was interested in. The usually charge full price which is $50.00 for this particular pen. When I asked for a discount the B&M offered $45.00 (plus $2.82 tax - they have no choice). I offered $40.00 plus the tax and they said no. I hated to do it but I walked out. For me, the $9.00 difference is enough to make me go online to buy.

 

Sometimes I really wonder why, knowing they are competing with online sales, B&M dealers are not a little bit more innovative and flexible. In some cases, offering more services, (such as a sample bottle - 2-3 ml of a favorite or new ink) would make the difference to a buyer. The cost to the store might be $1-2.00 and could end up with a sale of an additional bottle of ink.

You are comparing apples with pears here.

 

 

The B&M shop has a lot of additional costs (rent etc) and offers some service the webshop does not (like you being able to handle and even testdrive the pen.)

 

 

Furthermore I believe that Ebay has some new rules about shipping, making things more expensive.

 

And yes, having to pay $10 S&H for a $2 item is steep, but then again: The person doing the sending has the same cost, he has to drive to the postoffice, buy package material etc, which is the same for a $2 item as for a $200 item of the same weight and size.

 

It becomes nasty if you order two items, with each steep S&H, only to discover one of the items (two foamrubber pads) were dropped loose in the envelope containing the other item (pair of headphones, in my case)

 

 

D.ick