I Have Been Losing Sales On eBay Because Of This One Thing

There is always a reason for slow sales, sometimes the answer is out of our control and in my case, for some of the items listed in my store, this one is certainly within my control, I just did not know this was happening. There are many sellers out there like myself who use calculated shipping rates and just may not know this is happening and it is preventing you from getting sales or at least preventing you from making more sales. Check out the video and comment down below....
As always, be sure to comment down below and hit that like button. Why not subscribe if you haven't done so already. See you on the next one!
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[@AK36677]

I don't know about you but I'm sick and tired of having to figure out eBay's algorithm every day. For the amount of fees they collect this should not be an issue. 🙄

[@hustle-n-grow]

Amen!

[@Quill_For_Bacchus]

RIGHT

[@danllesage3900]

Exactly what I've been thinking - This selling is difficult enough without eBay doing their part .

[@dupagepicker]

Happiness is… those new Etsy TV commercials. More happiness would be eBay commercials - and not for eBay Motors!

[@dupagepicker]

First mistake is trusting eBay to quote a competitive shipping fee. Free shipping keeps that ball in your court. Also, is your calculated shipping listing even seen if a buyer filters by free shipping??

[@bluroks1]

Having a terrible week. Few minor sales on Friday, 1 Saturday, 1 Sunday which I made someone a offer, zero Monday and zero Tuesday. Full time seller since 1997. Did everything sell similar, coupons, sales it does not even matter. Worst ever on ebay.

[@nancytait3075]

Thank you for all your hard work and helpful videos. Hope you and Jenna both feel much better soon! ❤

[@mikemetco1966]

I use Ground Advantage pretty much exclusively (except sometimes when its a close destination Priority Mail will be cheaper) And with the 30-45% discount we get from eBay it will cost us less than what the buyer ultimately pays. What I do is to undercut the weight of the item by 1-2 pounds in my listing, so the buyer is charged less proportionately, and it doesn't cost me anything ( I just don't make a profit on the shipping, but I would rather make the sale, as you pointed out). By doing this, the calculated rate still adjusts for the distance, I give my buyers a shipping discount, and it does it automatically. Whenever I go back to freshen up my listings, or do an end-sell similar, I drop the weight a pound, as well as check the other details, such as keywords, titles, current market price of the item, etc. to make for a better listing. Mike from NY

[@FlippinAintEasy]

Thanks Mike! I am finding that I’m using Ground Advantage more than ever.

[@reginalaplante1001]

That's what I do as well!

[@sdillon4605]

What you're saying makes sense on large and heavy items, most of my items weigh under 2 lbs, and a lot under a pound. I charge calculated retail shipping and I don't pad the weight, but I keep the discount so that I can pay ebay for the fees and ad rate they charge on the shipping amount, and maybe be able to pay for my shipping supplies. I already play the race to the bottom game on my prices while promoting in the double digits. I'm not going to give away my discount on shipping too. We're located in Des Moines Iowa it doesn't get more midwest than that, so I think I'm good. Feel better Jon and Jenna! Hoping for a great Q4 for you guys, with no glitches and ebay running smoothly. I think that if ebay would just get out of its own way making changes, we would see great sales.

[@DotNetDemon83]

Same, fam, same

[@victorfrankenstein50202]

As a buyer, there has been many times in the past that I have been interested in an item, and the buyer has it listed with “calculated shipping”, meaning you have punch in your information to determine shipping costs. I don’t ever remember going all the way thru the process, because it seemed a bit intimidating to offer up my personal info, without knowing if I would actually buy the item (after determining total cost), and being fearful that I would be stuck buying the product. Fast forward, and now as a multiple years seller, I always give a guesstimated shipping cost, based on item size & weight, allowing the buyer to get a reasonable cost, and knowledge of exactly what they would be paying, before clicking on a final purchase. Sometimes it may be a $2 over, but other times it’s definitely a $2 or more under. In the long run, it all averages out.

[@silverhairstacker8664]

I do not have this problem. I have 1450 listings. Exactly zero have calculated shipping applied. When I list an item I estimate the amount an item will cost to ship. Then that is what I charge for fixed rate shipping. I live in TEXAS. So let's say my item costs $10 to ship to Seattle and it costs $6 to ship to Oklahoma City. So I place the shipping cost at $8 splitting the difference. That way on close shipping I make $2 extra and on long shipping I lose $2 and on medium distances it's exactly correct. Using this method I have had zero messages from customers asking why my shipping is too high and I ship about 2000 items each year.

[@VictorVonDoom909]

💯 Same here

[@BarbaraStevenVids]

Thank you for pointing that out! Yes, fed ex is often the most expensive option lately. We gotta stay on our toes!

[@belindaschlak4465]

Hi John! I hope you and Jenna feel better soon. I did what you said about turning off the international shipping. I noticed it raised my sales percentage by just doing that. Thank you.

[@stephaniemitchell5372]

Wow! That's a huge difference. I didn't know about the little rate box at the bottom of the shipping. I'm going to try this. Thank you for sharing. Hope Jenna and you get better soon 🙏 I'm going to make sure that all my shipping has ground advantage, I thought I did, but I'll be checking.

[@sharonduran1619]

Thank you for your examples. It help me understand how the shipping difference works.

[@FlippinAintEasy]

Glad it was helpful!

[@victorwawiorkajr.5501]

More importantly , have the cheapest rate as your 1st shipping option. Most people only use the 1st option. Ebay does a miserable job actually showing buyers all the options in a manner that makes sense.

[@picklikeapro6952]

I hate the why is your shipping so high questions. I ship 8 Oz at a 4 Oz rate. 12oz at an 8 Oz rate. 3 pound items at 2 pound rates etc. If that’s not low enough buy from someone closer to you. 🤷‍♂️

[@junebrezgis1652]

I had that flu bed rest is essential to have it go away quick! Hope you feel better soon. Great video

[@FlippinAintEasy]

Yes! Thank you!

[@Vnessa_funkytownTXpicker]

Omg this is so true I changed my shipping and I started getting sales I'm from Texas so I do flat rate

[@silverfoxfinance]

I have avoided ups and fed ex due to fuel surcharges even if they are cheaper to start because the charge comes after it gets delivered. I will only use ground advantage unless its $75 or more cheaper elsewhere. Also, have seen calc shipping cheaper on larger items when increasing box sizes with same weight. Doubled checked work with a second input of dimensions/weight and it still was still cheaper with my larger dimension item i put in by $10. I charge flat only now and avoid free due to returns. Good luck yall!

[@michelleleehuntemann4706]

The problem with giving the customer the discount on shipping is eBay charges me a percent of the shipping. Plus I need to pay for boxes, tape, paper, and ink. Then my time to take it to the post office. (I can't count on pickup) .

[@FlippinAintEasy]

Which is why it might be better to offer this discount to your buyers (to not scare away potential buyers) and then add a dollar or two handling into this business policy. I also get better deals on my shipping directly through FedEx so this helps too.

[@SavagePickers]

Thanks Jon

[@UncommonEyes]

USPS flat rate boxes are a good choice in some cases. USPS-I have to go there anyway because I have a P.o. box, used to live rural and people could steal mail from roadside mail box. ButI’m not a big time seller. Was seller years ago, so many changes, feel ebay treats me like I’m stupid with all the fields to fill out, AI, shipping etc. Am about to ship something 15+a little bit in medium flat rate box for $17 when bidding ends.

[@alzibiades]

I see this a lot as a men's clothing reseller primarily jeans. I see sellers complaining about not getting sales or eBay is screwing them; but when you go in and look at their listings, I see them charging $10-18 for shipping on jeans or they are using GA and it takes 5 days to go across the country. Most buyers are OK spending say $50 on an item but for some reason if they see shipping 50% or more of the sale price they mentally say nope in most cases. Buyers look at the total price while most resellers look at sale price because that is what they care about. I know in clothes most times if the item is over 1# calculated shipping is going to charge a premium to the buyer because sellers don't look at it from the buyer's perspective as you have shown in your video. I compete on shipping as a flat-rate shipper and I live all the way on the east coast. I have figured out how to ship all of my clothing items using priority mail and I undercut the average shipping in most categories because I am not looking to make a profit off of shipping but I am looking at breaking even or even a slight loss. The average shipping cost for jeans the past year is $10.09 and I charge $8.99 and ship priority. My main competitor isn't other eBay sellers but it is the Amazon effect.

[@yemoochy9553]

Cut sugar and Carbs, take more yeast vitamin b1 allithiamine, Vitamin D3 and and Nutritional Yeast

[@johndough23]

Sounds like a case of RSV. Dizzy number one symptom. Sleep it off folks.

[@Lifeisshort5]

Nice find!

[@gabrielyeamans7289]

Great info

[@DotNetDemon83]

I default to ground advantage and use the discount from pirate ship to give the customer a better option such as priority mail or UPS

[@garyK.45ACP]

I use flat rate shipping. I include eBay's final value fee in the calculation for my flat rate. I have very rarely had a question about my shipping rates.

[@squirls1025]

I do have the slight advantage living in Arkansas but even here I get complaints about shipping on small items even though I use calculated and pass the discount to the customer. I have noticed fed ex and ups have increased their rates again on bigger items making the post office the better option at times.

[@relaxresell3121]

Are you recouping your packaging costs, and the fees on shipping in your sales price?

[@Ohio-Ken]

On my large calculated items I have all carriers for shipping options. I find that one will be lower depending on distance. I have the buyer choose the shipping option they want. The only thing I wish eBay would do is automatically show the lowest shipping cost for that buyer. eBay defaults to the the first option that you choose when creating your shipping policy which may not be the lowest. I probably will need to mention in my item description that they have different shipping options that might be more cost efficient for them. I don't pass along the shipping discount I use it to cover any additional S/H cost that I may occur.

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[@Martin229]

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[@ljwhitmire200]

I create shipping policies with multiple shipping methods and let the buyer choose. For heavy items usually UPS or FedEx are much cheaper, but buyers always choose the more expensive USPS price! :P

[@wiggiq995]

If I give all of my shipping discount to my buyer, I lose more money from shipping materials. What are your thoughts on giving 1/2 of my discount?

[@hungryman3107]

promoting rate at 12.4% is very high, i maybe wrong, but i think you said 10% is your max

[@biffboffo]

The only line you can really draw is at 0% -- once you play the game, you're on a slippery slope.

[@lsgsrob2102]

Charging the exact amount it costs you to ship the item, you effectively lose money every transaction. This year so far I have a large difference from what I paid to what I charged the buyer and after factoring ebay fees and all the other stuff that is needed that cost money to ship, Im maybe seeing 5%, 10% im really really lucky. Had I would’ve just charged the exact amount, I would be out several 1000 dollars

[@victorfrankenstein50202]

Another tip, you said that you’re using FedEx for your shipping. FedEx, and UPS are much better for larger, heavier packages, whereas the USPS offers better rates for smaller, and lighter packages. Seems like you did point that out towards the end of the video. Don’t get stuck shipping thru ONE shipper only.

[@jovialjuggler1645]

Does USPS Still Add An Additional $4 - $15 Surcharge For Items Longer Than 22 Inches Or Is That Included In The Price Shown? Love Your Videos Jon.

[@seaturtledog]

It should be in the price shown. You can enter the measurements and watch it go up.

[@FlippinAintEasy]

Yes since it is calculated it is built into the price shown.

[@lisafornal7009]

How do you get your shipping cost to be the buyers shipping cost? I just weight and measure, then enter it in the listing. If it is between 1 and 2 pounds, I enter 2 pounds, etc.

[@FlippinAintEasy]

You’re doing the weighing part right. You can do into your business policies and select the option to give your shipping discount to your buyers. This is what we do.

[@veronicanystrom]

I also charge my buyers eBay's discount shipping rates with USPS. Thank you, Jon, for the reminder! Also, I've noticed sometimes when I list from someone else's sold item as Sell Similar, the package dimensions that come from that sold listing are way off: 25x14x8 used for an item that's 9×5×2. I update my dimensions. I sure hope that seller did too. I'm in the business of selling my items. I'm not in business to overcharge my buyers on shipping costs and keep the difference. That's just me.

[@WeeSecure-uk]

Having had a 30 year career in computing and doing a PhD in AI, I would suggest that ebay's AI implementation was poorly executed and [critically] poorly change managed. AI is not a panacea, unlike direct code, it will take general direction on objectives, but can lead to undesired consequences in its operation and delivery. For this reason, it needs much more change management than code changes. You can't just implement and expect it to learn on the job without a significant amount of supervision. From a heavy buyer's perspective (3.5k fb) there were numerous bugs and search loops when implemented that made it hard to find items you were looking for (these can be overridden using exact search terms ("") . Months later ebay appeared to increase the AI search weighting and results were even more random. It seems to have settled a bit now, but then again I have changed my search syntax.

[@toyhunt6268]

That's my problem but I thought you can't use ground advantage for items over 36 calculated so your saying we can?

[@5797029]

I charge flat shipping. I usually make a few dollars extra ($2-$10 is common) without scaring off the potential buyers. Today, I had my biggest loss yet, shipping a very large item. Perfect storm scenario. The box needed to be 2 inches longer than I thought and the shipping address was out in the middle of nowhere in Utah. I am in Florida. The comps on this item were pretty good so I figured other sellers were adding extra shipping into the item price. I added to the sale price and charged $30 for shipping expecting actual shipping cost to be around $45. The item sold immediately for $177+ $30=$207. The item cost me $12 so a nice profit looked promising. Due to the buyers address and that 2 extra inches, it cost $76 by UPS. FedEx was $84 and Ground Advantage was over $100. (2 inches less would have been $45 FedEx). I am still way ahead in this game, but it hurts to look at this one.😢

[@FlippinAintEasy]

Ouch. It happens but good thing you sourced well on this one.

[@back2the80s]

Then do free shipping and absorb into price of item

[@maddhattersboutique]

I had a guy ask for fedex 2 day shipping. Ebay was charging him calculated $43 for shipping but only charges me $15.70 to actually ship it when I go to make a label. Ebay charges buyer more to buyer and charges the seller more in ebay fees as the total cost of sale is higher due to the shipping. I wish ebay would just charge buyers the cost it actually costs to ship as this can lead to not getting the sale for high priced calculated shipping.

[@lsgsrob2102]

You effectively lose money on every transaction if your charging the exact amount. You shouldn’t be, most businesses don’t. Not to mention the actual cost of shipping. Time, labour, shipping supplies, fuel, storage, printer, ink(unless thermal), labels etc… I would be down several thousand dollars this year if I didn’t charge more than it costs to ship and even doing that Im just barely over breaking even.

[@FlippinAintEasy]

This is why I have negotiated rates through FedEx for most items. This allows me to offer eBay’s discounted FedEx rate however I am receiving an even lower rate which basically covers my supplies and in many cases eBay fees on the sale.

[@pnw-coast]

Your wish can be granted if you change your settings: Account Settings -> Shipping Preferences -> Shipping discount settings (edit) -> eBay discounted rates

[@maddhattersboutique]

@@pnw-coast thanks for this info. I will check it out.

[@willingdealer]

how do you have these fedex discounts?

[@hustle-n-grow]

He made a video any it a while ago. He connected with a FedEx rep who got him discounts for using their service. Probably volume based I think

[@Learned333]

@@hustle-n-grow Yeah, but as it turns out: What discounts?

[@hustle-n-grow]

@@Learned333 do you mean because he passes his ebay discount to the customer? If so, I think he said in a different video he still saves sometimes because his fedex discount is cheaper, which I can believe because ebay discount rates aren't even cheaper than pirate ship rates

[@doloresmiller6956]

❤❤❤

[@AK36677]

Why would you give your shipping discount to the buyer? That makes no logical sense....

[@veronicanystrom]

Maybe because he's not in the shipping cost business?!? I know why you're asking though...

[@angelaotasua2341]

I don’t intend to make money on shipping, but I also don’t want to lose money. I tried passing the discount on to buyers, and I lost money on the shipping for 3/5 items. I have started doing more flat rate shipping and free shipping to see the impact. However, I think passing the discount on to buyers will work as long as I have the dimensions and weight correctly entered into the listing. That just takes more time and I am evaluating the business advantage. In another video you mentioned using data and analytics to evaluate effectiveness rather than theory. I appreciate that advice and am putting data together for shipping to identify the best approach for myself and my customers. Side note. If a customer pays more than $7 over my actual shipping costs, I issue a refund for the overage. But it has only happened 3 times. I think calculated shipping is generally accurate when entering good package information.

[@biffboffo]

GA is a nice windfall to sellers who offer large items, especially with selling fees coming out of shipping costs. For me, I almost never ship an item that is over 1lb (over 4oz is rare), and when it is that rare case, it is media mail. I just have a couple flat-rate options in my business policies.

[@gregkareem9824]

Still didn't answer the question