Alibaba sellers profiting off shipping prices?

[kirkland]

just want to make sure I'm not going crazy. is anyone else having issues with sellers hiking shipping prices with each subsequent order? it seems with every passing order, shipping rates for the same package increase by 25-50$ or so... and Im talking about over the course of a week or two. for example, shipping price for a 300unit order increasing by $100 during the course of just a week. a planned hike of 5% every now and then I understand, but this kind of volatility would put even Crypto to shame

I know its Covid, and holiday season, and all that. But my gut tells me its all BS. "shipping prices are rising crazily recently", its like they all read from the same script

is there any legitimacy whatsoever to these kinda prices hikes? do you guys have your own DHL account? shipping agent? any tips?

(not to mention the "price of materials" going up every week in a similar fashion, but that's a topic for a diff thread)

[Xilla]

Yes. There are such problems. The price has increased a lot lately. I read the news - it seems that in the near future it should slightly decrease.

[phaz0rz]

In the last couple years my "per item" shipping cost has risen from about $.40 to about $1, but it's been holding steady recently. All UPS, no more DHL options for me. Perhaps ask if your supplier's agent can do UPS.


I haven't seen anything fishy about it. Frankly though I've always assumed the shipping quote they give me is a part of their profit margin. Not only have shipping prices been going up but things are extremely congested over there right now so it's possible agents are also raising their rates. Before their most recent holiday my supplier told me UPS is limiting the # of shipments agents can send each day. I really don't know. Here lately I've just been happy to be able to maintain some kind of inventory.

[dozen12x12]

Shipping from China is insane at the moment. We do a lot of business in Shenzhen and shipping overseas all the time.

Did you see in the news about all the container ships stuck in a queue outside Los Angeles? Right now major shippers are stocking up for holiday shopping and there is still major backlogs from the past year and a half of supply instability.

Boats are moving, but if you want your goods moving now, it's more expensive - as the market dictates. Some shippers switched to air, so DHL/Fedex/UPS and other cargo planes out of China are packed too.

Crazy times.

[Gotya108]

Shipping has been a bit of a mess for the past year based on the container and ports situations but the fluctuations you are seeing are absurd. Are you using an agent? How are they calculating your rates? Weight or volume? If they were giving you rates by weight and now are calculating by volume you´d see a big difference in price with LCL shipments.

[newstart123]

Originally Posted by kirkland

just want to make sure I'm not going crazy. is anyone else having issues with sellers hiking shipping prices with each subsequent order? it seems with every passing order, shipping rates for the same package increase by 25-50$ or so... and Im talking about over the course of a week or two. for example, shipping price for a 300unit order increasing by $100 during the course of just a week. a planned hike of 5% every now and then I understand, but this kind of volatility would put even Crypto to shame

I know its Covid, and holiday season, and all that. But my gut tells me its all BS. "shipping prices are rising crazily recently", its like they all read from the same script

is there any legitimacy whatsoever to these kinda prices hikes? do you guys have your own DHL account? shipping agent? any tips?

(not to mention the "price of materials" going up every week in a similar fashion, but that's a topic for a diff thread)

i have increased margins and solved issue like that :D

[GOODMANS]

Freight rates have risen several times this year!

[rsot]

Originally Posted by GOODMANS

Freight rates have risen several times this year!

Supply chain issues...

[matanasow25]

Gas prices increasing all over the world...
It's only logical for shipping to increase as well.
Greed is a mf.

[phaz0rz]

Originally Posted by GOODMANS

Freight rates have risen several times this year!

20% rise in shipping costs on the invoice I was sent today.

[yankee]

Logistics has been a challenge for sure. Private cargo ships have been my go to. Delivery has been about 30 days door to door. Standard sea shipping is 60-180 days and barely is cheaper than private vessel.
Airmail is completely out of the question now for me.

[phaz0rz]

It's the only thing with a fast enough turn around for me. I've considered shipping by sea but without tons of stock on hand already, it's out of the question. :(


$20,200 order, $3700 of which is shipping, 2850 items total. So about $1.30 per item whereas on my last invoice it was around $1.03. Really makes me with the powers that be didn't do everything they could do double gas prices over the last year.

[SaiJin]

Originally Posted by GOODMANS

Freight rates have risen several times this year!

Higher shipping cost but slower speed... nice trade off huh?

[kirkland]

are you guys raising prices to deal with the shipping? nice thing about holidays is I notice I can always raise prices a couple bucks compared to what I make during the regular season... there's just that much demand. def helps offset the shipping somewhat.. even though few weeks back tho my buyers weren't having it at all

[glacier922]

Gas prices have been as high as 5 dollars per gallon in 2008, not there yet, we have experienced worse

[vettefever17]

Shipping used to be the easiest and lowest cost before Covid. I just put an order in for a 16 dollar wholesale cost item @ 100 units. I paid over $2900 including the shipping and transaction fees. The shipping has either gotten to exactly the same value of the product or more. I had the option for the "discount freight" of only a whopping 500 dollars, but by the time the parcel arrives, it will be out of season for sales. Mind you, I was able to buy the same product about a month ago at 2 dollars within per unit price @40 units. Holiday pressure has caused me to have to buy double of whole to get only a 7 percent discount. Something to fathom.... and not in a good way.

Unless you are doing containers, the 500 pound or fewer air guys are getting HAMMERED. The package better be 10-15 pounds to even resemble the older days of air shipping.

[vettefever17]

Originally Posted by kirkland

are you guys raising prices to deal with the shipping? nice thing about holidays is I notice I can always raise prices a couple bucks compared to what I make during the regular season... there's just that much demand. def helps offset the shipping somewhat.. even though few weeks back tho my buyers weren't having it at all

No. I have gained a foothold in areas with other big competitors. The massive cost that I think everyone understands is the advertisement fees this season from eBay. Add onto the fact most of the categories I compete in, others are using the same shipping methods. Priority shipping has increased over 10 percent in the last year.

[vettefever17]

Another major issue with Alibaba is the amount of inventory you have to carry to profit to your desired goal level. With inflation and economic pressure, I have noticed my inventories went from full rotation of say 4-5k a month to having to hold 15k-20k a month. Margins are getting hammered to make big bucks.

[kirkland]

are you guys expecting shipping prices to go back to normal after holidays? or simply stay elevated for the foreseeable future

[phaz0rz]

In all the years I've been doing this I've never once seen couriers lower their rates. I don't have much hope of prices going back down. My supplier is blaming christmas season but I doubt fuel costs will be going back down after christmas.. so we'll see.



Prices in my niche have been steadily going up to deal with this + ever rising promoted listing costs.

[vettefever17]

Originally Posted by kirkland

are you guys expecting shipping prices to go back to normal after holidays? or simply stay elevated for the foreseeable future

Inflation will continue till The Fed starts hiking rates. Then that can even be prolonged. Inflation will be a problem for the next year at least.