HoNoToGroABeMo Day Thirty-One: It Is Done
6 years ago
10:13 AM
I was bidding on a SD chip on Ebay the other day and noticed a guy up in Pittsburgh charging 15 dollars to ship surface rate descried as "standard flat rate shipping service, anywhere in the United States".
Now, I realize we are dealing with economies of scale here (the guy is obviously a bulk dealer as he puts the same item, SD chips, up for bid quite a bit periodically), and he probably doesn't gain efficiency by figuring out what the postage would be shipping to Glen Allen, Alaska as well as Millersville, PA, but they are making it easy for you to do that these days-- there are ebay shipping calculators all over the place. I know. I figured out the postage between a common Pittsburgh PA zip code and my own (22015) and giving the box weight a very conservative weight of 2 pounds (ridiculous) I find that he's charging almost the amount you'd pay for overnight service, and about four times the amount of standard flat surface rate.
I wasn't going to bid that one just out of principle, but I sent him a friendly question:
"I'm curious. 15 dollars sounds horribly high for an object that weighs an ounce or so. Why the extremely high price?"
To which he responds rather promptly:
It is common. you pay total anyway, not the shipping only. It really does not matter for bidder as long as the value is higher than that. This way even an accident happens, the final price is not a wretch $0.99. right?It is common. you pay total anyway, not the shipping only. It really does not matter for bidder as long as the value is higher than that. This way even an accident happens, the final price is not a wretch $0.99. right?
Is it my own loopy interpertation that drives me to the conclusion that this guy just said "I'm adding on 15 bucks in case somehow somebody lucks out and bids 99 cents for one of these SD chips-- at least I'll realize 10 bucks on the transaction"???
That's a justification? Huh? Isn't that part of the risk of being a seller on Ebay? Seems to me that you shouldn't be in business if you're not willing to accept that risk, and you shouldn't defray that risk with exorbinant shipping. It just seems dishonest to me.
And I don't buy the argument that it's shipping and handling very easily, either. The SD chip is almost certainly in a vacumn formed plastic container, which could be slipped flat in a media envelope. Likely less than a pound and it ships for 3 bucks and change surface rate (I know, I've bought SD chips before from other vendors).
Just venting. I'm not going to be a schmuck to the guy-- if people are paying it ("it's common") than I guess he'll get away with it. His justification just struck me as being fundamentally at odds with honesty.
Or reality, even.
Now, I realize we are dealing with economies of scale here (the guy is obviously a bulk dealer as he puts the same item, SD chips, up for bid quite a bit periodically), and he probably doesn't gain efficiency by figuring out what the postage would be shipping to Glen Allen, Alaska as well as Millersville, PA, but they are making it easy for you to do that these days-- there are ebay shipping calculators all over the place. I know. I figured out the postage between a common Pittsburgh PA zip code and my own (22015) and giving the box weight a very conservative weight of 2 pounds (ridiculous) I find that he's charging almost the amount you'd pay for overnight service, and about four times the amount of standard flat surface rate.
I wasn't going to bid that one just out of principle, but I sent him a friendly question:
"I'm curious. 15 dollars sounds horribly high for an object that weighs an ounce or so. Why the extremely high price?"
To which he responds rather promptly:
It is common. you pay total anyway, not the shipping only. It really does not matter for bidder as long as the value is higher than that. This way even an accident happens, the final price is not a wretch $0.99. right?It is common. you pay total anyway, not the shipping only. It really does not matter for bidder as long as the value is higher than that. This way even an accident happens, the final price is not a wretch $0.99. right?
Is it my own loopy interpertation that drives me to the conclusion that this guy just said "I'm adding on 15 bucks in case somehow somebody lucks out and bids 99 cents for one of these SD chips-- at least I'll realize 10 bucks on the transaction"???
That's a justification? Huh? Isn't that part of the risk of being a seller on Ebay? Seems to me that you shouldn't be in business if you're not willing to accept that risk, and you shouldn't defray that risk with exorbinant shipping. It just seems dishonest to me.
And I don't buy the argument that it's shipping and handling very easily, either. The SD chip is almost certainly in a vacumn formed plastic container, which could be slipped flat in a media envelope. Likely less than a pound and it ships for 3 bucks and change surface rate (I know, I've bought SD chips before from other vendors).
Just venting. I'm not going to be a schmuck to the guy-- if people are paying it ("it's common") than I guess he'll get away with it. His justification just struck me as being fundamentally at odds with honesty.
Or reality, even.
