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Re: Free shipping or charge
 

Here's a thought (only if Ebay allowed it)..

You'd stand to gain listing same item twice BIN, one with free, one without, to appeal to free shipping oriented buyers.

In less mainstream obscure niches it can be pulled off with listing title keyword trickery and no product identifiers. Worse comes to worse they slap ya on the wrist and say "bad!".

Re: Free shipping or charge
 

You may not have read my post, but that's exactly what I do.

It's how I know free shipping rule the high-competition categories.

Re: Free shipping or charge
 

Ah, way ahead of me then! :laugh:

Re: Free shipping or charge
 

pros and cons of free shipping-
top rated seller gets 10% discount on FVF of item,not FVF of shipping,so what some do is roll shipping into item price and offer free shipping to avoid paying FVF on shipping and get a bigger 10% discount on the item price.
but if the buyer wants to return the item ,and pays for the return shipping,seller will have to refund in full,which means he lost money on shipping the item to the buyer.
of course if the buyer files item not as described,then seller will have to pick up return shipping,plus refund original payment in full.

Re: Free shipping or charge
 

not anymore on Ebay and Etsy.
On ETSY,you can even charge a restocking fee as long as it is stated in your return policy

Re: Free shipping or charge
 

Where - in the UK? Not North Am

Re: Free shipping or charge
 

not so,when you view the listing on ebay,you see the shipping fee .

Re: Free shipping or charge
 

i HAVE never offered free shipping and I have been selling for many years on various venues.
But I notice lately many sellers are charging USPS priority mail plus a few dollars morel,like 12 dollars for a small item and ship USPS FIRST CLASS in a padded envelope,buyers resent that,the least they can do is to use a box.

Re: Free shipping or charge
 

Previously people would separate shipping charges to save on fees, as sellers wouldn't get charged fees on shipping.

That changed in the last few years when eBay clamped down on sellers charges excessive shipping prices and lowering the item price to save on fees.

Some even went to extremes of listing an item for £0.99 and putting shipping prices at £50+ , so they just get charged listing fees + FVF on the 99p.

Now things have changed though, you can't do that anymore.

Re: Free shipping or charge
 

Ebay charging FVF on shipping has been around for more than 10 years,likely 15 plus years.
but the end result is the same,it just split the FVF to item and shipping.
You pay FVF on total payment(item and shipping,but intl shipping,you pay the domestic shipping FVF)

Re: Free shipping or charge
 

It's harder to see in addition to 'cheaper' asking price, and results in listings ranking higher without free shipping in medium competition niches.

Re: Free shipping or charge
 

Eh?! It hasnt been 10 years that they started charging on shipping cost FVF.
A few years maybe, but anyways, I still think using free shipping to bump up the exposure is best.

Re: Free shipping or charge
 

Which is totes unethical. Shipping and handling is a business expense, not a gross profit of the sold item.

People abused it though. Ebay encouraged free shipping to get FVF on shipping costs. Even tho sales velocity outweighs it in their search algo, slightly contradicting.

Re: Free shipping or charge
 

A lot closer to 10 years than just a few...