Text 5725, 72 rader
Skriven 2006-09-21 21:39:42 av Barbara McNay (1:382/48)
   Kommentar till text 5689 av DAVE SACERDOTE (1:123/140)
Ärende: eBay Sellers
====================
 > BMc> How do you determine what the proper S&H charges should be?
 > BMc> Do you get the weight and location of the item from the
 > BMc> seller and then go to the carrier for their charges, or what?

 > If you go to www.usps.com, the Post Office's website,
 > you can look
 > up (and print out, if you like) a postal rate chart.
 > That way you
 > can tell right away if you are being cheated on postal
 > charges.

OK, thanks.

 > Some sellers (like me, for example) tell you what the
 > shipping weight
 > of the item is. That's the weight of the item, the box
 > it's in, and
 > the packaging material.  Then the seller puts in a
 > link to eBay's
 > shipping calculator, which gives you the actual cost
 > for shipping.
 > When I put up an auction and the shipping weight is,
 > say, 3 1/2
 > pounds, that is what the shipping calculator bases the
 > shipping charge
 > on.

 > Once you are familiar with the postal rates, you'll
 > know right away when
 > someone is cheating you or when the seller is not
 > using proper shipping.
 > For example, let's say I had a 1950's cookbook (one of
 > those small
 > paperbacks that the shortening companies used to give
 > away.)  It weighs
 > half a pound, and you bought it from me.  I could send
 > it to you via
 > Priority Mail for $4.20.  But it's less than 13
 > ounces, so I could
 > also send it First Class - just as fast as Priority,
 > but cheaper.  It
 > would only cost you about $2.10 or so.  Or I could
 > send it via Media
 > Mail (because it's a book) and that would only cost
 > $1.59.  It would
 > be unneccesarily costly for me to send it to you via
 > Priority Mail,
 > but you might actually want me to send it First Class
 > because it might
 > trim a few days off the delivery time.  But you would
 > have a right
 > to be angry if I charged you the $4.20 and then sent
 > it Media Mail
 > anyway, wouldn't you?  Yet a lot of sellers do that.

I did a LOT of bulk mailings, and packaging, weighing, and shipping via USPS on
the job.  I had to maintain a handbook for domestic postal regulations, and
another for foreign mail ... 40 years ago. Things have changed a lot since
then, and now I mail only the occasional check for expenses.  It's all new to
me, now.

 > The moral of the story is "Only buy from me."  [g]
 > Just kidding,
 > the real moral is "Read the whole auction description"
 > so you won't
 > get fleeced.

Read the whole description, learn what's important to know, and learn what
hogwash looks like.

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 * Origin: T E X A S ! (1:382/48)