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Hey All,

Was not sure where this would ge, but dakka discussion seemed appropriate.

My question is this: For those making trades in the swap shop, do you make the buyer pay the shipping, or do you include it in the price of the item(s)?

I have made a few sales/trades now and the one thing that gets me is the cost of shipping. I just sent a dread in a bag across country for $10. That seems high to me considering it is small and weighed 0.22 pounds. And its not that I mind paying for shipping, but on sales of such small scale ($10 to $20), you are basically giving away the items you are selling. So I ask you: what is the acceptable course when it comes to shipping items, making the buyer pay, both going in for half, or including it in the price?

As a side note, the above dread would have been $5 to send via USPS, but then there would be no tracking info available for it (its extra there). As a side question, is providing tracking info now an assumed requirement or trading?

Cheers, Paul

if your selling it, I would say include the shipping. If it is a trade, then each pay for shipping of the items..

Boxes that work great for mini's are the card boxes you can buy for usually less than $1 from card shops or game stores that sell Magic or Pokemon. Shipping costs are super low on them and delivery confirmation I believe is just another 60 cents?

If you're doing sales in the swap shop, price your mini's accordingly to include shipping. Usually when I toss an offer to someone, I say "I'd like <mini> for $$$ shipped". Seems to have become the norm in my dealings.

I ask the buyer to pay the exact shipping charges (no more or less) for anything I sell through the swap shop. I generally don't ask for "handling charges", i.e. the cost of bubble wrap and labor, but do recommend that buyers pay for both delivery confirmation and insurance for the value of the item. I recycle packing materials, like bubblewrap and peanuts, or use plastic shopping bags which is why I don't charge for that stuff.

To keep costs down, look into USPS flat rate Priority boxes. They run between $5 and $15 and can hold quite a bit. Even if you're not mailing via Priority you can use them, just make sure to wrap them in brown paper first. USPS may not like it, but they are required to accept the package so long as it meets their requirements.

For trades, ruff hit the nail on the head - each participant pays the shipping costs of the items they are mailing. If there's a discrepancy in value, it should be addressed at the time of the trade. No "even-stevens" on shipping charges if I'm mailing a metal dreadnought and you're sending me a new tactical squad trimmed from the sprue in an envelope - either paypal the difference, make mine priority and yours first class, or throw in some extra models to make it worth my while.

paulguise wrote:Hey All,

Was not sure where this would ge, but dakka discussion seemed appropriate.

My question is this: For those making trades in the swap shop, do you make the buyer pay the shipping, or do you include it in the price of the item(s)?

I have made a few sales/trades now and the one thing that gets me is the cost of shipping. I just sent a dread in a bag across country for $10. That seems high to me considering it is small and weighed 0.22 pounds. And its not that I mind paying for shipping, but on sales of such small scale ($10 to $20), you are basically giving away the items you are selling. So I ask you: what is the acceptable course when it comes to shipping items, making the buyer pay, both going in for half, or including it in the price?

As a side note, the above dread would have been $5 to send via USPS, but then there would be no tracking info available for it (its extra there). As a side question, is providing tracking info now an assumed requirement or trading?

Cheers, Paul

How the hell did you ship? I send stuff across country up to one pound by priority air for less than 6 bucks. By first class mail that dread would have been about 3 bucks.

mikhaila wrote:

How the hell did you ship? I send stuff across country up to one pound by priority air for less than 6 bucks. By first class mail that dread would have been about 3 bucks.

It would have been $5 from USPS, but I added the certified so that it could be tracked. As I asked, is tracking pretty much expected nowadays or do people care? I would say for large purchases tracking is expected. For smaller packages it may not be that critical. People are different though and some want to know exactly where their stuff is.

There seems to be, like everything, a lot of different opinons about who pays for shipping.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Lormax wrote:Boxes that work great for mini's are the card boxes you can buy for usually less than $1 from card shops or game stores that sell Magic or Pokemon. Shipping costs are super low on them and delivery confirmation I believe is just another 60 cents?

That is an great idea. There are card shops aplenty around here I could get them from. Thanks.

paulguise wrote:

mikhaila wrote:

How the hell did you ship? I send stuff across country up to one pound by priority air for less than 6 bucks. By first class mail that dread would have been about 3 bucks.

It would have been $5 from USPS, but I added the certified so that it could be tracked. As I asked, is tracking pretty much expected nowadays or do people care? I would say for large purchases tracking is expected. For smaller packages it may not be that critical. People are different though and some want to know exactly where their stuff is.

There seems to be, like everything, a lot of different opinons about who pays for shipping.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Lormax wrote:Boxes that work great for mini's are the card boxes you can buy for usually less than $1 from card shops or game stores that sell Magic or Pokemon. Shipping costs are super low on them and delivery confirmation I believe is just another 60 cents?

That is an great idea. There are card shops aplenty around here I could get them from. Thanks.

USPS Priority comes with tracking and delivery confirmation. And free boxes.

I've shipped boxes way bigger by USPS for less than that-USPS hosed you. You probably picked the more expensive option which allowed it to arrive in 2 days and put on tracking. The dread should have cost 5 to ship, with tracking, tops. Regardless, on your original question it depends-if you have a REALLY expensive trade (whole army), usually the seller offers to pay shipping, or at least part of it since somebody is taking the full army off your hands in one shot-seller pays for convenience and as a thank you. Buyer usually pays shipping otherwise. I've gotten pretty good at guesstimating shipping, and if my assumption is wrong I eat the extra cost myself or send a refund to the buyer (if it's more than $0.50-packaging and all at that point). If you're selling something that's $10, make the buyer pay for it-otherwise you (the seller) is losing out. Unless it's a tiny envelope or something that will cost $1 to ship-then you can probably cover it yourself.

Perhaps I did get hosed. Well, haps I'm thinking.

Although FedEx was the same price roughtly. I think my failing was that I went to a UPS store that has USPS services available, instead of going straight to the post office.

Next time, I'll schlep the extra 10 minutes down the road if it saves me money.

And I think you are right timetowaste85. For higher price items I can cover it. But on the lower end items, they can pay for it.

Looks like I have some trade posts to edit, either way.

Whenever I sell, I either add the shipping into the advertised price of the item, or I quote the price of the items individually and set shipping prices according to bulk(so $5 for small things, 10 or 15 for boxes).

To me, if you buy ANYTHING online expect to pay shipping.

Now sometimes for large orders I'll offer free shipping, but I usually sell at too steep a discount to offer that and not lose money.

So, sellers should let you know how much to expect for shipping, and should be included in whatever invoice or finalized PM you arrange. Buyers should expect to pay $5-20 for shipping for most items in the lower 48.

For international shipping, I tell customers to wait on payment until I have the package weighed and a price given to me by the post office.

paulguise, there is a green slip at the post office called "Delivery Confirmation" that costs $0.70. This is the standard of what people use to "track" with USPS, although it's not true tracking. Certified mail justs costs way too much, to use on anything other than a Really high value.

As mikhaila points out, Priority Mail flat rate boxes I believe already come with delivery confirmation... although for some reason I always get the slip and pay an extra $0.70. I guess I'm a creature of habit!

I kind of assumed shipping was being paid by the buyer, but that's just me. I mean, the seller obviously pays for it at the post office, but I assume the price of shipping gets tacked on to the price of the mini.

RiTides wrote:paulguise, there is a green slip at the post office called "Delivery Confirmation" that costs $0.70. This is the standard of what people use to "track" with USPS, although it's not true tracking. Certified mail justs costs way too much, to use on anything other than a Really high value.

As mikhaila points out, Priority Mail flat rate boxes I believe already come with delivery confirmation... although for some reason I always get the slip and pay an extra $0.70. I guess I'm a creature of habit!

I believe they get either free or substantially discounted delivery confirmation only if you use their automated online system from home/work. If you go to the post office, they charge extra for the delivery confirmation. On a quirky side note, I've noticed that if you use the yellow slip that the box is generally tracked at every step in its travel. The few times I've used (or when I've recieved) items with auto-delivery confirmation that is included in the print out address label, it generally gets scanned only upon purchase and delivery. Paypal also accepts delivery confirmation as tracking proof for IIRC items of $200 value or less. There is no need for certified mail unless you go over that amount.

Thank you all for the comments, suggestions, and the exclamations of "you paid how much!?!".

I think I just went to wrong place (the UPS store with PO services) instead of the post office proper and did not put it together what services do what. If, for some reason, they request it be shipped FedEx, then the buyer can pay for it. Otherwise, it gets put into a card box with cast offs of army carrier pluck foam and taped shut for the regular post office.

Again, thanks for the replies all.

Cheers

Usually, if trading each person covers shipping on their end regardless of what is being traded. Generally in a sale shipping is usually covered by the buyer. Though putting "shipping included" might attract more sales, just make sure you've priced the item high enough that you don't get hosed.

However...
Lastly, and most importantly. EVERYTHING is negotiable. I routinely make offers for items where I ask the seller to cover shipping, Generally it's me saying "will you accept $x.xx shipped for this item?" and quite often they do. I have every right to ask them to cover shipping and they have every right to accept, reject, or counter offer (split shipping, etc).

I'm pretty firm on not covering shipping for trades, but I wouldn't make any solid rules about the rest. Just be cool headed enough to evaluate the offer and don't be afraid to say "No thanks." or "How about this instead..."

For me, it really depends. Typically, what I'll do is estimate shipping and include that into the price of the item and sell it for $XXX shipped in the US with a DC#.

As for your expensive shipping; you tried to send it "CERTIFIED," instead of using a Delivery Confirmation. DC#'s cost less than a buck.

paulguise wrote:I think my failing was that I went to a UPS store that has USPS services available, instead of going straight to the post office.

Hmm... Or, maybe, the UPS guys sent it via UPS for you. It would explain why is cost as much as FedEx.
That should've been tracked, though.

Gavin Thorne wrote:To keep costs down, look into USPS flat rate Priority boxes. They run between $5 and $15 and can hold quite a bit. Even if you're not mailing via Priority you can use them, just make sure to wrap them in brown paper first. USPS may not like it, but they are required to accept the package so long as it meets their requirements.

Not only does USPS not like it, it's illegal. Those boxes are free for priority mail use ONLY. That's why they're provided free of charge. If you use them for something other than what they're intended, you're costing the USPS the cost of that box.
Believe me, if they catch you doing it, they WILL do something about it.

mikhaila wrote:USPS Priority comes with tracking and delivery confirmation. And free boxes.

The DC#'s only free if you're using an online account. If you're heading to the USPS in person to pay for it there, they charge you for it - even on priority mail.

RiTides wrote:paulguise, there is a green slip at the post office called "Delivery Confirmation" that costs $0.70. This is the standard of what people use to "track" with USPS, although it's not true tracking. Certified mail justs costs way too much, to use on anything other than a Really high value.

As mikhaila points out, Priority Mail flat rate boxes I believe already come with delivery confirmation... although for some reason I always get the slip and pay an extra $0.70. I guess I'm a creature of habit!

DC#'s cost $.80 Sending via Priority, though, will get you a $.10 discount. ALWAYS watch the shipping costs. Sometimes, the difference between "parcel post" or "First Class" and "Priorty" can be only a nickel or dime. If you're getting a DC# anyway, you can get Priority mail for the same price or, possibly, even cheaper.
The flat rate boxes don't get DC for free. As I said above, it's because he's using an online account to pay for it. ALL packages have to pay for the DC# is you're going to the USPS to pay for and ship your items.


Eric

MM is definitely the guy to advise you on trading/buying/shipping. He's a bartertown Admin and definitely someone with a ton of online wargaming trading experience.

I cannot recommend highly enough USPS.com. Free delivery conf, free boxes shipped to your door, free pickup from your house and a 5% discount on all shipping prices. I basically only use priority flat rate through their site now.

paulguise wrote:Hey All,

Was not sure where this would ge, but dakka discussion seemed appropriate.

My question is this: For those making trades in the swap shop, do you make the buyer pay the shipping, or do you include it in the price of the item(s)?

I have made a few sales/trades now and the one thing that gets me is the cost of shipping. I just sent a dread in a bag across country for $10. That seems high to me considering it is small and weighed 0.22 pounds. And its not that I mind paying for shipping, but on sales of such small scale ($10 to $20), you are basically giving away the items you are selling. So I ask you: what is the acceptable course when it comes to shipping items, making the buyer pay, both going in for half, or including it in the price?

As a side note, the above dread would have been $5 to send via USPS, but then there would be no tracking info available for it (its extra there). As a side question, is providing tracking info now an assumed requirement or trading?

Cheers, Paul

Tracking through the USPS is somewhere around .75 cents. You need to look into shipping costs as $10 for a dreadnought is really high.

Even now, the regular PO charges $5-7 for boxes depending on services you wish to utilize. I usually do my selling on feeBay and the seller is always expected to pay shipping unless I specifically make it free as an incentive.

I include the shipping in the price of the item when I sell things on ebay, generally local post office of a UPS store about 20 minutes away.

Breotan wrote:Even now, the regular PO charges $5-7 for boxes depending on services you wish to utilize. I usually do my selling on feeBay and the seller is always expected to pay shipping unless I specifically make it free as an incentive.

Priority mail boxes are free. You can walk into a post office and grab a stack and walk out. I do it all the time.

Smaller items in bitz form you should also be able to send in bubble mailers - I like the ones that are the manila paper with bubble wrap on the inside more than the plastic envelopes with bubble wrap.
With delivery confirmation, it should you around $4-5 total to mail stuff, depending on weight.

paulguise wrote:

My question is this: For those making trades in the swap shop, do you make the buyer pay the shipping, or do you include it in the price of the item(s)?

Yes. Depends on what the model is, the price I'm selling and how much I want to get rid of the model or if it will close the deal- AND how much it costs to ship- A ton of models that take $20+ dollars to ship, probably not. A flat rate small box, sure.

I've done both- included shipping sometimes and others make the buyer pay.

its not unreasonable to make the other person pay for shipping. that's why online stores can make it so much cheaper - because they don't have to pay for transit of goods.

pretre wrote:

Breotan wrote:Even now, the regular PO charges $5-7 for boxes depending on services you wish to utilize. I usually do my selling on feeBay and the seller is always expected to pay shipping unless I specifically make it free as an incentive.

Priority mail boxes are free. You can walk into a post office and grab a stack and walk out. I do it all the time.

Wow. I guess I really overestimated people's ability to comprehend. My use of "charges $5-7 for boxes" meant postage costs for mailing out the package, not the cost of the box itself.

Hiyas!

Selling and trading can be a game in itself, I sometimes think I might like it better than the games themselves! I've shipped lots of stuff, and the price you quoted is pretty darn high especially considering it was within the US.

If you are the seller, charge for shipping. When you get interest, ask for the buyers zip code so you can get them a quote. Most times, you will find your package to be under 13 ounces which qualifies for First Class. First Class is much cheaper than Priority, and is just as fast.

If you are accepting payment through Paypal, there is built in shipping options via USPS. Use it, as it gives a discount and tracking is practically free!

The one thing you will need is a shipping scale and boxes/packages to send stuff in. I bought a HUGE box of padded envelopes for shipping really cheap on eBay (ironically the shipping of the box cost more than the box of shipment materials...)

If you have questions, please let me know I'm happy to help.

When I sell or trade, I pay for the postage.

Mainly for Dakka trades, because I feel its "Keeping it in the family" so to speak.

I add it into the price, or if it is a little too steep, try to just suck some of it up. I'm concerned that I get what I traded sold to the buyer more then how much it costs to ship. My feeling is that if I was to buy something, I'd want it ASAP with no BS involved along the way, so why not do it for the other guy. ( Thats just me, by the way.)

You, though?

Yeah, You got hosed. Next time, preprice it, before you jump in. go to the Post, and use thier Zip before commiting a party foul and just up and throwing good money after bad.

Sometimes, you can ask for a hand in paying shipping, sometimes not. justr depends on who you are dealing with and what your shipping.

The tracking is one of those extras. Your getting someones cash for it, you'd better be on the ball with something other then vaporware when they are asking, "Hey, its been six weeks, wheres my stuff at?"

To me, its a personal thing to have the tracking, especially if your getting the money first.