Settling the eBay free shipping debate once and for all

Free shipping on eBay... is it worth it? Does it boost sales? Do you lose money from it? This is one of the most hotly debated topics in the eBay universe. In this video, I break down the pros and cons of offering free shipping on eBay, and lay out my strategy. Thanks for watching!
My favorite reselling tools that I use:
- Label printer: tinyurl.com/28hdx8y8
- My favorite packing tape brand: tinyurl.com/29k792e6
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- The best tape gun: tinyurl.com/55pmcbr9
- Photography lights: amzn.to/4bRgVOj
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Related video: When should you use an Auction vs. Buy it Now on eBay? • When to Use Buy it Now...
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[@alainterieur794]

I've followed your advice in other videos you made, and I now have 5 times more sales! So I subscribed, your channel is a great source of information and I like your no-b*llsh*t approach. It's very down to earth. Keep up the good work!

[@BlissfulDee]

I generally only offer free shipping on items that are very lightweight and/or cheap to ship. Everything else, I charge separately.

[@bennystratton7734]

Amen if buyers want your item they will buy it no matter if your shipping is added into your shipping or add after the item price. I do free shipping on high value light weight items I do fixed price $7 shipping on items under 1lbs and that

[@krsncrs821]

My personal experience… I didn’t do it for two years when I started. Then I heard people say it definitely increased sales. I spent days changing all my listings to free shipping. No increase in sales at all. Not for me anyway. So I’ve changed back. I hate doing free shipping. But that’s just me. 😊

[@howgroovyisthis]

My problem with free shipping is if you run promotions or coupons. The coupon/sale disounts the item that includes your shipping. By separating the two you have a better handle of what that discount is costing you. In addition living more centralized gives you an advatage. With all that said you did a great job on the video showing both sides of the debate.

[@ryanspear261]

It actually calulates shipping into the fee, I just checked the other day.

[@robsomething4435]

I've been selling roughly 3k items annually for the last 4 years. Mostly a mix of everything (my everything needs to have a 60% str or better at time of listing). I've run experiments with free shipping, flat rate and calculated and have not seen any difference at all in sales, impressions or page views between the different methods. I generally let the changes soak for 3-6 months at a time. The results have been consistent every time leading me to believe its a moot point for what i sell. Your mileage may vary, of course. I currenrly have 90% of my listed items w/ calculated and sales have been as consistent as always. I'm married with kids, pets and a career. My hair disappeared well before ebay came into play.

[@johndough23]

That mirrors the findings from using the sold comp tools. FS is a total nothing burger on ebay.

[@recordsgeek]

Same results for me. I currently have those 3 in use now and see no difference.

[@vintageJustine]

I blame Amazon for the pressure put on us to offer free shipping.

[@johndough23]

Walmart's another one...WE are not them...they can afford thru scale to eat costs. Most of our sales are ONE and DONE. We are not developing lt customers...

[@JeffC-fq1be]

It's not free.

[@Nataliya0907]

​@@johndough23that's the point - it's never free!

[@johndough23]

@@Nataliya0907 Point is the FREE SHIPPING the Monopolies offer is simply a tax loophole forcing other taxpayers into paying for your shipping thru deductions. Most eBay sellers do NOT have that ability due to a lack of size. Remember that the next time you hear Joe Biden rave about being friendly to Mom and Pop. Doing so while taking in millions from mega Corps and doing a fat zero for small business.

[@woody-_-1193]

Agree 100%. I answer this question from my own perspective as a buyer. I’m a very active online buyer and I’m spoiled by Amazon, no matter what I’m buying, the moment I see a shipping fee I move on from any listing immediately. Even if the shipping cost is included in the item price, it just feels better to see one price and one price only when I click check out vs being turned off when seeing a higher final price.

[@Jaxxonian123]

You're sensible.

[@FourDollaRacing]

@@Jaxxonian123 Either that, or complusive.... 🙄

[@mzzzol]

To me free shipping is bad thing I don't buy things with free shipping in my mind free shipping is going to take forever to get the item and poor protection.

[@madmax8620]

And most people that shop online are impulsive undereducated ADHD maniacs, that are incapable of factoring in or even noticing a shipping fee... they just look at first lowest number and go with that. They can't even do basic addition.... so free doesn't mean anything, just a lower base price does. In fact, the term "Free" scares off most people growing up in the modern internet age, because often if you click on anything online that says "free", its a trap and it means you're going to download something hidden and nasty and dangerous instead... is how most people under 40 think.

[@happylibra]

I live in Alaska and I charge shipping fee for almost all of our listings. I need a strong heart like you, I’m not dealing with negative nonsense feedback on eBay well even it’s only one or two in years. I remembered you said just move on from bad customers in your older video so I opened KZbin and saw you had a new video. I needed to see this today. Thank you!

[@redlinelude7]

I've been selling for a few decades and this is all spot on! Love your videos and the way the info is laid out, very professional. Nicely done!👍

[@LSUmom]

I recently found your channel and subscribed. Your videos are SO good! You explain things very thoroughly and in an easy-to-understand way. I've learned several things already from watching them and look forward to viewing more. Thanks for the great info!

[@goforbroke2]

I ship larger items in general vacuum cleaners, speakers, big subwoofers, receivers, commercial heavy duty tools. I ALWAYS charge shipping separate. People aren’t stupid they know when shipping is added/not added.

[@valeriesantos8178]

Ty for ur advice. As a ‘new again’ reseller from ab 10 yrs ago, I also wasn’t aware that we can exclude certain states, etc. Learning a lot from u!

[@pickandaprayer]

Thank you so much for your valuable information. Looking forward to your next video! Have a blessed day!😊

[@TimBrice7]

Great video, I've definitely noticed that it depends on what you're selling. I've done both models and due to the limited amount of time I generally stick with calculated shipping on many items especially bulkier items. I haven't really noticed much of a difference in sales over the years between one or the other except in the case of lower dollar items. I feel like those buyers expect it more. Also, I've sold large items where the calculated shipping ends up costing me significantly less than what the buyer was charged. I can then pocket that money or send a shipping refund to the buyer which can help satisfaction.

[@pauldyck4596]

I recently made a $30 profit selling a $15 woven bamboo coolie hat because I don't offer free shipping. Ebay charged the buyer over $50 to ship this hat 3000 miles to California and then charged me $26 to actually ship it. The other reason I don't offer free shipping is that I include in each listing an offer of discounted shipping if the buyer buys multiple items from me at the same time. To get the discount, the buyer puts the items he is buying from me in his cart, then instead of paying right away checks the box for "request total from seller." I've had a couple of buyers take me up on this; I think it increases sales not by a huge amount, but some. I really enjoy your videos; thanks for putting them out there.

[@user-lj4pc9tf3b]

Just want to add that I run a lot of sales if I add shipping into the price than the sale price affects the shipping price too. That can be a lot if I run a 15-25% off sale.

[@bizzNES17]

This is definitely the best explanation I’ve heard about this debate…free shipping doesn’t really exist. As sellers, I’m sure we’ve all had interactions with buyers that make us question how they even had the intelligence to create an account and purchase our items, but 99% of buyers are at least smart enough to recognize that $15 plus $5 shipping is the same as $20 free shipping.

[@bklynpa]

I just wanted to say that you have the best advice of any eBayer on KZbin. Thanks so much, and please keep posting vids.

[@justinresells]

thank you!

[@gggeeek]

Exactly the insight I was on the hunt for. Thanks.

[@donnae2445]

I like your all business, well edited fast paced style. Very informative without fluff. I highly recommend you.

[@justinresells]

Thank you for watching!

[@WilliamBryanTucker]

Amazing to see your view/subscriber count skyrocket! You deserve it, man - great, helpful content. Thanks for addressing this head-on. It was good to see your system/theories on my biggest stumbling block. Very pragmatic. I'm still working on re-doing my system, but already seeing small increases. THANKS! p.s. - Hair is overrated.

[@carrieowens4907]

I totally agree with all your points. I offer free shipping on most things under a pound. Sometimes I do flat rate shipping if I know I can mail it for that cost. One really heavy things I'll do calculated shipping and negotiate with the buyer for the cost of the peoduct. No one size fits all on eBay adjust for each item. However when I started it was all calculated shipping until I learned more aBout shipping rates. Thanks for your content it is so helpful!!!!

[@deargray81]

Brilliant video! Thanks!

[@mobilexautos5670]

Thanks for laying this out in such a clear and succinct manner. Great info! Thank you sir!

[@justinresells]

Glad it was helpful!

[@Leishasenter]

Thank you!!!! We have been discussing this issue….our first week posting items soooo trying to figure it out

[@wwz1011]

Best explanation ever on free shipping. I do it when the competition (other sellers listings) are mainly offering free shipping.

[@justinresells]

thanks for watching :)

[@smkur50]

Very well explained and broken down. 👍👍

[@arte1989]

Buyers can use the “Not as described” option to receive free returns, after that eBay may raise the final value fee by 5% extra.

[@Pokedex-Family]

I sell jeans and everything fits in a flat rate envelope or poly bag. I charge shipping on my store. If I get a return for the item not fitting I don’t have to refund the return shipping because I have measurements in my photos. Saves me $7-$10 a return which can add up. I sell 30+ jeans a day and have a 3% return rate (mostly for doesn’t fit)

[@DebraCorning]

"Subscribing will also give you an opportunity to track the progress of my hair loss." :) Thanks for the Saturday afternoon belly laughs...and your experienced take on free shipping. Much appreciated, Justin.

[@wayneperry9585]

Thank you

[@john-ze7eu]

If the specific category u are in mostly has free shipping- some clothing, cd/dvd, books- you should probably offer it as you are competing against those other sellers

[@Media_Madman]

Free shipping on light weight items i sell as letters, everything else is paid shipping. Why? So if i ever need to adjust what im charging for shipping both local/international i can update a single policy which in turn updates all my assosiated listings 👍 I live in Aussie where postal rates fluxuate far too often 😮

[@helensavvides6582]

Your last comment made me laugh. Love a dry sense of humour.........thank you.

[@StringTips-gr2ig]

Nice work!

[@NineteenEightyFive]

As a long time eBay seller enjoying the channel so far! Building shipping into the markup makes sense if you can. I personally haven't found many opportunities to do that from what I've sold. I'll keep it in mind for future listings tho.

[@justinresells]

thanks for watching!

[@bootlegcraig6525]

I currently offer free domestic & international shipping on everything in my store, plus I have a coupon. I'd rather have things move quickly out of my store, instead of waiting for the perfect buyer who wants to spend top dollar. I get all of my stuff dirt cheap, so it all works out.

[@LittleBargainNook]

I sell craft supplies and the majority of my items are lightweight such as stickers I’ll offer free shipping but larger ones like 12x12 paper pads I’ll add shipping. Great advice here!

[@hawkeyebricks9905]

Nice breakdown. I do free shipping on most items for the exact reasons you described. I live in the midwest also so I know it's gonna cost a buck or two more to ship to the West Coast and I know if someone nearby buys it I'll make a buck or two more. It all evens out... and I want those California and Washington sales. So I feel like free shipping gives me a leg up. I also deal with a lot of items under 1 lb. But I even do free shipping on most items between 2-10 lbs too. You just gotta know typically what shipping costs and adjust your price so you know no matter what you're getting the margins you want. If you look at sold comps for the exact same item in the exact same condition generally the free shipping and the item cost+shipping are usually right around the same. Buyers are smart like that. The market value is stable even for items with moderately low sell through rates. For auctions I still do free shipping.. I make the starting bid the cost of shipping. That way I know every bid I get is going into my pocket. It usually works out and I think buyers will bid more freely knowing they don't need to calculate shipping in their head. What they bid is roughly what they're going to pay.

[@weswiesman4476]

Great video thank you!

[@justinresells]

thanks for watching!

[@deborahveryking6441]

Smart, clear explanation!

[@justinresells]

thanks!

[@lisaquillman691]

Excellent information. When I first started shipping was a stinkin nightmare.

[@justinresells]

Thanks for watching!

[@lxreedyxl4605]

USPS Ground Advantage has been a great change. Definitely ship and save more with USPS now.

[@817Thrifter]

I huat started following your ch. Alot of great info for someone barely starting out. What kind if scale do you use to weigh you Light weight items only a few lbs or so?

[@theflippintoothfairyjackie5702]

I do exactly as you’ve described Justin.. I live in Maryland so shipping to the West Coast obviously costs more. Since most of my heavier items have a Buy it Now with Best Offer turned on I can make my decisions with customers offers seeing where they live before I accept their offer or counter offer. It works for me 😊

[@maxinef6654]

I live in Maryland too. 🦀😊

[@Michael-fw5ef]

Ebay needs to allow different processing times for domestic versus international shipments. Right now, if I select same day processing for domestic orders, I can't change it to 2 day processing for international orders. But international orders take me longer to process, so I need to be able to differentiate the processing times between domestic versus interantional orders.

[@angryretrogamer7313]

Im a buyer on eBay of mostly just video games. I always check the listings with free shipping first. I understand that the shipping cost is just added to the price of the game but i still usually buy from the sellers with free shipping.

[@zachariah7114]

Hmm, I wonder if this is category specific more than anything? I’ve noticed that media in general (including video games even tho it isn’t “media mail” according to USPS) often has free shipping. And new items. But maybe for say clothes, or pre owned stuff it becomes less important?

[@mariap2226]

Firstly, let me get this out of the way, NOT SURE WHAT THAT DUKE GUY WAS LOOKING AT BUT I SEE A FULL HEAD OF HAIR ON YOU AND IT LOOKS AMAZING TOO!!! oh my gosh the haters UUGGGHH!!! I just don't get it with them. Anyway, just wanted to say that I'm new to your channel and I've already binged watched about 5 of your videos this morning. And, even though we've been selling for over 5 years on ebay, I have learned some new things with you, so thanks a bunch and keep up the great work! Oh and btw, your daughter's cake on the other video was so cute, and props for getting the seal of approval of HairyTornado, that was cool of him as always him & his wife spreading kindness. Also, on this video, you are 1000% on point!!!! Great vid!!!👍👍😊

[@FoldingChairJonson]

I hate it when I get low ball offers and then a potential sport buyer ask for free shipping when they are on the other side of the US. I'm in California but I get these resellers from states like New or Florida mainly doing this.

[@SpiceBear]

Great video

[@sweetgirl4u247]

I always wondered about this. I also wonder about discounted shipping too. I think since I just am getting back into reselling. I am going to charge shipping given I live in Cali.

[@rick9705]

I sell clothing with best offer turned on, and I noticed even with free shipping I was still getting about the same quality of offers on items and so naturally free shipping wasn’t working often times cutting half the profit out of an item. I’ve gone back-and-forth experimenting, and probably will again in the future. Someone returning a pair of jeans really hurts $8 there and $8 back… I feel like women and jeans are the worst. 😅

[@crosswalklarry]

One negative I don't think you mentioned, if item is returned, you as the seller eats the cost of shipping since shipping was "free".

[@zachariah7114]

Also free shipping is an inducement to make people who weren’t 100% commit to the purchase, meaning “having to pay shipping” is a good form of self-selection for serious vs nonserious buyers. Bet dollars to donuts that customers willing to pay for shipping are also less likely to return it! Funny enough. Weird how we think.

[@shinewu7738]

Hi, Justin, you said you exclude Hawaii and Alaska with everything you sell. What do I need to do if I also want to implement that policy for my listings? Is there something in my account setting or in my listing I can set that up? Anyway, how to let buyers know I don't sell and ship to those two states when they see my listings?

[@CaptainRon76]

Great video!

[@justinresells]

Thanks!

[@FashionRevive75]

I recently started Re-selling and asked for some technical help on an EBay reseller FB page I'm on. When a couple people private messaged me, I told them I wanted to offer Free shipping, but couldn't get the Business Policy set correctly... anyway, most people just told me off and wouldn't help me because they "don't believe in using free shipping and I shouldn't even try it anyway." The struggle is real

[@ConcernedCitizen-fx7du]

Lol

[@Cards-In-The-Closet]

I feel people look at the cost listed when browsing and tend to buy the lower priced items even though they may pay more in the total cost.

[@CarolanRoss]

Good thinking here, thx. Right, there's no such thing as free shipping. Absolutely, buyer psychology is all. So many potential benefits for the seller when used with care. The variables you discuss are helpful to consider. I think one of the best reasons to consider offering free shipping is placement - to get to the top of the search list. So if I were considering marking down the price of an item anyway, might switch to free shipping instead. The end price would be the same but more potential buyers would SEE it. The only aspect of shipping I was hoping you might discuss that wasn't covered here was international shipping So many changes in that eBay arena lately, but many sellers avoid free shipping in fear of a sale from the other side of the world. Do you ship internationally? Hopefully, you will discuss that another day.

[@jonm4501]

Know your competition, some categories expect it, like car parts, other categories are different. Also, new items are much more likely to need free shipping because your competition, Amazon, Wal Mart provide it. Generally the rarer the item, the less pressure for free shipping. Also, second-hand items tend to not require it. Also, the size makes a big difference. Big boxes items are trickier because there's a big difference in shipping cost to go a state away versus going 2000+ miles. And, I have found a fixed flat fee shipping will often work as well as free shipping.

[@st2su]

Or to the community.. how much do you know about using multiple boxes that aren't the same size to ship the same item. Example, 10x9x2, 8x9x2.5, etc... They all work for the item I'm selling, I'm stuck. Thanks!

[@lyndiepatchell5588]

I tried both ways when you do free shipping do you also check best offer

[@bbsaid218]

I can save money on multiple orders by not combining postage if I offer free shipping. If the buyer pays, they will always ask to combine shipping.

[@user-it3ft7xp2i]

The problem is that when you get a return you have to reimburse the buyer the full invoice amount. This includes the shipping that you paid out of pocket as well as a return shipping label if you offer free returns. There are creepy buyers out there that know this and try to get you to give them the item for free because they know that the seller will feel that it is not worth the loss. Beware of other resellers that try to get free inventory from you by using this tactic on low price items. We have blocked 100's of other clothing resellers over the years that tried to prey on our store that way.

[@zachariah7114]

You’ve blocked hundreds of customers? Send them my way! I’m at the point I’ll empty the BBL if it increases my sales…

[@user-it3ft7xp2i]

@@zachariah7114 These are only people that scam us. I don't think that you would want their business.

[@peterlopez4529]

I don't generally mess with free shipping, only because I feel like people could be more inclined to purchase an item at a lower price, despite seeing a $5 shipping fee. Perhaps folks are used to paying shipping on practically anything sold online, anyways? Thing is, though, (and my apologies if you mention this in the video, I paused to write this out LOL) are your offers on the items with free shipping? It seems like accepting an offer on something that's marked free shipping would only eat into your profit.

[@johndough23]

There's no reason to GUESS when you have the sold comps feature. On anything really. The more you dig the more amazing the tool is...Just restricting yourself to a selling a certain SIZE can double your profits. People would be shocked to learn just how important BRAND is for most items. In Clothing it can be 5-10x sales over another brand. Same stuff, different tag. the public is so trained to look for brands.

[@RB1TR4G3UR]

There's more leverage to offer Best Offers and Adjusting the Price in such a way that's perceived differently, Although there are the buyers who only search Free Shipping and also Shipping from one place to another is different , So Calculated works better this way .... I feel like it really doesn't matter , But people also Don't look at shipping until they hit the BIN and already committed once they see that , and also if they want to sort it from lowest price .... then it will sort it rather it's free shipping or not ...

[@PeteBuchwald]

Lately I've been wondering about dealing with returns. Meaning, I wonder if in some cases it would be beneficial to able to refund the buyer for the cost of the item, but not have to refund what they paid in shipping.

[@DeirdreDuBoseETxReseller]

My items are 9.00-19 my return customers expect these prices weight not light, I’m still debating

[@MokiGirl]

One of my main concerns on using free shipping is that it does make some people think the shipping supplies will be sparse, the box inferior, etc....this would be a concern of mine, since when I've bought items with free shipping, this almost always is the case. Not sure many people think like this though.

[@justinresells]

Very true! I talked about this at 9:32

[@maxinef6654]

If you sell pre-owned clothing, you can get away with charging shipping since most times it’s not going to be a flood of sellers selling the exact same thing you’re selling. Also most of those sellers charge shipping. But if you are selling popular name brand items that everyone is getting from the same retail stores, that’s when you are going to have to follow the crowd with shipping in order to compete.

[@johndough23]

if you have what they want you can charge $12 to ship a shirt. Doing FS is throwing money away...Even this 2k on the Bay who got banned was charging $9 flat shipping and he was doing 1000's a day.

[@matthewsweeney653]

Hey Justin! I’m a new follower from London U.K. great videos keep up the good work 🫶🏻

[@ASMRKlotz]

I don't offer free shipping mainly because I sell stuff on facebook marketplace and sometime people pick up stuff locally. Keeping the shipping separate makes sense for that.

[@flippintobyland7257]

The one thing i would mention is you can profit a couple bucks more on almost every sale charging shipping , as the discount the seller gets usually nets 2$3$ more bucks to me. Buyer pays 10$ but with discount seller pays 7.50$ for example. But i live in Va and get nailed with Ca buyers on free shipping.

[@TwoTrakMind]

My observation has been that buyers are generally savvy enough to know when your item is priced way too high in order to offer free shipping. I haven't been at this for long, but my experience has been that people are more willing to pay a reasonable shipping cost than they are to pay a higher price on an item. My assumption is that even if they are going to spend the exact same amount of money in the end, they feel like they're paying too much for an item that has been inflated in order to offer free shipping.

[@tanzellam]

I do free shipping and add it in to the price. Then at the end of the year I write it off when I do my taxes which seems to work for me I sell about 100k a year in sales. Last year I spent 18k in shipping I just sold some rare large toys and sold them for more than over $200 over other sold comps by having free shipping and the shipping cost me $20

[@sarahinhere]

I've tried it all the ways, free flat rate based on weight and calculated. All would be the same total price for an item and I have found it really doesn't matter. As long as I'm I. The right total range I still make sales.

[@karansahota566]

Brother can I do ebay dropshipping from India because in India ebay is not available?

[@AgathaBlanco]

Calculate shipping here

[@user-sz8ju4hi7j]

Free shipping also eliminates combined or discounted shipping in most cases

[@will-grier-investor]

I will continue to charge for shipping so i can keep my hair. Thanks for the tip.

[@pathicks1108]

You are excellent.

[@justinresells]

thanks!

[@st2su]

I have a question, but first of all thank you for sharing your knowledge of reselling with us, truly appreciated. So I'm having the free shipping debate myself. All my stuff is under a pound, and not going international.. I just feel overwhelmed still and I don't quite know how to decide. But my question really is, I have 10 items, all the same. Must I use 10 identical boxes? I have 10 boxes that I could use that are all similar in size, so should I just enter the largest of all the box sizes? Does that make sense? I've saved so much packaging to reuse, is it all just trash? And do I have to spend money now on packaging to ensure it's all the same size? Thank you

[@justinresells]

No you don't need to use the same size box. Personally, when listing, I just eyeball an item and put in the rough weight and size that I think it'll fit in, and then when something sells I adjust the weight and dimensions to match the box it was actually shipped in. I don't use calculated shipping though, which makes this easier.

[@performer1100]

Let me ask you, is there a quick way to change my listings to free shipping minus Alaska and Hawaii quickly. That was a good point!

[@justinresells]

Yes! But honestly it would take me awhile to remember how. eBay's settings are a pretty confusing mess. You can use the bulk editor to do a lot of it. Sorry I'm not more of a help.

[@ShortCrypticTales]

I just do calculated

[@reggiethecommenter9137]

My take: 1)If there is a fixed price shipping option, free shipping is fine. Ex: Flat rate boxes. Free shipping for items under a pound is also okay since the rate doesn’t change much even for distant buyers. 2) If the shipping rate is variable, I use paid by buyer. If not, one of two things will happen. a) You will jack the price up too much to make sure that you don’t lose money on shipping. Your item sits unsold. b) You underprice shipping and inevitably your buyer will be on the other side of the country; costing you more than you built in.

[@madmax8620]

Sorry, im new to selling on ebay... So question, is "shipping paid by buyer" option, mean that your listings DON'T show any shipping amount, until AFTER the item is bought, to be determined then?? Thanks!

[@stevenleblanc2316]

I have a question is there an area you exclude when offering free shipping or just shipping in general areas to exclude thanks

[@justinresells]

lower 48 and no PO boxes

[@JK-ze3dd]

Hi, thanks for your videos, I watched the one about the trouble you had with return scams and I wanted to say, it explains a lot about a reason I almost quit buying anything on ebay, when you said every return is a scam. I bought a pair of earrings, and only received one, it had a lot of packing so I figured it just didn't make it into the box for whatever reason. When I wrote to the seller, I thought it was possible they might have the other earring. After having to upload pictures of a box, demands of "Where's the baggie?" and the requirement that I repackage the whole thing and take it to the post office, I was just banned. At the same time I saw an auction where the item was listed as 18K gold, and there were no returns. In the past I've seen things (and bought things) that were marked GF for gold filled, etc. so I wrote to the seller and mentioned that the price seemed really low, and I was interested but not sure what happens if it does not test as 18K, if I can return it. I got blasted by the seller, and banned from bidding on her other listings, although I was already the winning bidder on some of her other items and that went fine, she literally prevented me from buying anything else because I asked about her return policy. I am kind of terrified now because I sell on ebay but am not a reseller, I might sell one or two expensive things I have because it's not practical to expect a store or dealer can pay what one could sell it for on ebay, if that is worth it to someone. It's a great resource for people for whom it's not a full time or even part time job or even a way to make income, it's just better than donating something in many cases. For people like me, your video was absolutely terrifying (can't stress that enough) and almost prevented me from listing my mother's watch, after crafting a description for three hours involving the return policy, which should scare anyone away from bidding on it. I think the competing objectives of efficiency and having a pleasant buying/selling experience means that one has to write off things due to "shrinkage" or theft as stores call it, with some amount being the amount under which one wouldn't bother to argue with someone who will ban you and give you horrific feedback regardless, just to make it seem justified. I left positive feedback for those sellers, and that's the only good thing about those experiences. I'm going in now to list the watch, without assuming anything about a return, it comes right up against someone's video that said you can't waste time with perfect descriptions and 12 photos of everything and just copy a previous listing, vs. the exact opposite, they both seem successful so the difference seems to be price point, and if they are selling things they bought for the purpose of reselling them, or giving their possessions new life :) Thanks for the opportunity to go on like this, wish me luck please and best to you.

[@JK-ze3dd]

It's probably different for every category--in the jewelry category, there is so much wishful thinking going on coupled with no time researching or listing the item, with sellers with hundreds of listings, I've seen people now start to post GIA certification for something you'd never certify because it's not worth it to fake, while suggesting that everything that isn't certified is potentially fake as the explanation how a $200 report is with a $300 ring, except it's impossible to sell a $300 ring if there are 300 of them for $1 that aren't the same thing but you can't tell from the picture. I sympathize, but it's the same problem any store would have, it probably isn't a lot cheaper to be online, it's just a bigger sales region. Where does that leave anyone with an expensive watch and no paperwork? Competing against someone with thousands of five star reviews, because buying something is work too, the only automated thing is leaving 5 star feedback on categories that weren't necessarily important to you. Ebay is doing the same thing, saving time and making it easier to increase profits, there's no mission there to help the economy by giving people the ability to sell houses filled with things after a loved one passes away, there's a feeling of joy if one buys something from it for a dollar and sells it for $100 on ebay, which I'm not sure anyone would do if it's their neighbor without sharing the profits. Even auction houses don't necessarily see the things they are selling anymore, they literally don't have time, and have minimum lot sizes starting at $1000, and tell you in an automated email to try ebay. I did sell the first thing almost immediately, to someone who just wouldn't pay but kept asking for my information in order to pay. That's not really a problem since I don't ship anything, but it doesn't prevent anyone from buying things with a fake id to prevent something from being listed, or give the appearance of something wrong with a listing, but I can't see it happening systematically. No one makes more than the certification company does with things that people worry about being scammed, GIA is not for profit, so I'm thinking online selling is just like selling anything, things are generally returnable for no reason within a short time frame is my understanding in commerce, the difficulty is how. It makes sense to start off by saying no in advance, which is what I realized the ebay guarantee is, nobody can sell something with an incorrect description anyway, so it just goes to the standing of the buyer or seller. I see things that would make me cringe so hard in person--feedback that says, it's ok to buy it guys, I had it checked and it's real! It's like telling someone that it's okay to eat at a restaurant, because you did a health inspection yourself, and it passed. Why do we think the feedback is credible? I think it means that people understand it's so stacked to the seller who is making a profit, and people proudly saying what the markup is (yes, if you did significant volume, selling anything ten to twenty times more than you paid for it is good money), but it will destroy anyone who is just looking to not get killed on shipping one thing, that has to get there in perfect condition and can't be replaced (only USPS insurance involves special considerations in shipping the thing itself, UPS and FedEx actually make money by selling insurance and assuming a certain amount of loss and reimbursement). I don't want to be reimbursed for anything I value personally, I want someone to be extra careful. Buyer protections have to be emphasized, if anyone remembers the days when you'd be a fool to send money to some company somewhere, and there was an actual consumer protection ad from a government agency that ran on TV, that said if you received something in the mail you didn't order, you got to keep it for free. That was due to companies sending things to people who felt obligated to pay for them, a tactic used only by charities now. There is no protection except the majority of people don't return things because it's a hassle and there are so many sunk costs. The only exception I can think of is when things are made to order, which is an argument against selling anything custom without advance separate payment, which is currently traumatizing me since I will never get what I sent in to get fixed now. :) Basically money is tight everywhere, and I feel there's no faster way to have regular people getting personally attacked for the most ridiculous things, like knowing something is scratched and selling it anyway in the attempt to get rich one collectible at a time, or in my case sending something additional that arrived first becoming my scheme to bait and switch that was so ugly, I had to give a lot of thought why. Once you've thought someone is buying something to replace their mucked up one and return the mucked up one to you, or worse, suggested it out loud, you can't exactly say oops, I'm sorry I accused you of being absolutely without a moral compass. Maybe we can just say I'm sorry I thought you were an AI :) This has not been my two cents, but my two dollars and two cents, sorry got a little carried away there. Your video was really compelling and made me think that since ebay and internet commerce is such a big part of our lives in different ways, we should be talking about it a lot more. Thank you for speaking on the subject, and for the person who suggested it was clickbait way down in the comments I read, Yes :) And every time someone comments, they are paid per word, so you'll want to explain in detail how your time was taken up by someone shamelessly putting a misleading title or unrelated picture, because this is exactly the part that will cut into potential profits, keeping us from interacting with real people, or we could just say everyone online is a real person who doesn't get any feedback, but wants to engage in an actual dialectic.

[@sfarmertoo]

nobody is reading all of that. Literally zero people.

[@HamzaSayyid]

Debate challenge excepted!! Pumpernickel is overrated

[@justinresells]

I can't disagree with that one

[@Bigdawg_74]

I find with singles yes you can get away with adding shipping into the price but if you add $5 shipping to a $5 graded card and list it for $10 most buyers will just walk away and the card never sells. In a perfect world nobody should be submitting cards that are valued at or lower than the grading fee to start with but we all know that isn't what happens or when you grade the card it's worth much more than current market price and now you just want to get out from under it think Wander Franco etc...

[@benjaminsmart2843]

I live on the east coast and do charge shipping on everything. I think with the onset of best offer for buyers, free shipping has become less important. Buyers just send offers less the shipping cost to get a synthetic free shipping. In my experience

[@armandogonzalez8636]

Just adding for anyone reading comments, just switched to a paid shipping policy and I haven’t notice a a change in sales, still averaging about the same thing. I’d say as long as your items are good and competitively priced, having customers pay for shipping doesn’t do anything to your numbers.

[@Michael-fw5ef]

Ebay now charges final value fees on sales taxes. I went away from free shipping because it attracted too many 'return happy' customers. But then, when I do a return, I essentially have to refund the shipping charge anyways, so now I have moved back to free shipping because if a buyer really wants a full return, they will get it if they try hard enough, whether I originally separated the shipping charges or not.

[@justinresells]

I don't really mind that eBay includes sales tax on the FVF. Afterall, I don't have to worry about charging sales tax for 50 different states; the fact that eBay handles all of that for me is great and I'm happy to pay them a few extra dimes in exchange.

[@Michael-fw5ef]

@@justinresells I am saying that Ebay charges FVF on sales tax now.

[@justinresells]

@@Michael-fw5ef Right, and I am saying that I am personally OK with that since I don't have to worry about managing sales tax for buyers across 50 states and am happy to let eBay handle it for me for a very small additional fee.

[@SendCore]

sup justin just found your channel a few days ago! i have been trying to figure out a way to make people buy my custom made watches through send offers. i always send offers to interested buyers and its not very often they buy when i send an offer. should i be putting a message? to try to persuade or make them think the item is more sought after? thanks!

[@justinresells]

Howdy. I don't know that eBay is the best marketplace for custom items. My guess is that it isn't, but I don't really know.

[@SendCore]

@@justinresells ive tried looking elsewhere but i cant really seem to find a market outside of ebay.

[@supersteve76]

I find that FREE SHIPPING usually totals the amount of the same item WITH SHIPPING on average. I find that if I purchase multiple comic books at once from a single seller then I can make the cost of shipping dissolve into the cost of the comic books. If I buy at least 10 books and shipping is less than $10 then it is less than a $1 per book now instead of paying an extra $7 on average on top of the books cost. If I buy 15 issues then the cost is even lower at around $.50 each. It becomes much more worth it to me. At least for comic books. But then it comes to buying GI Joe Classified Series figures I have to eat the cost of shipping unless Im willing to buy 4 or 5 at once from a single seller (if there is a seller with the 5 I want). Its tough dealing with the cost of shipping with so many brick and mortar stores disappearing.

[@jessicalovesluxedesignerfa3806]

I offer free shipping.... and when I'm shopping on eBay, I always sort by the lowest total price (i.e. including P&P). In the UK I'm lucky, as all domestic postage within the UK costs the same wherever it's going to (for international, I use eBay Global).

[@AnimeRenegade]

Doesnt this create a small incentive for buyers from farther away to buy from you and closer buyers to buy from someone else? I am sure it is a small difference, but that seems to be the incentive being created by estimating shipping and adding it to the cost.

[@tomgeorgestory]

I think there was a time that amazon ate lots of shipping cost. I bet they still do in some cases. These losses are easily offset by their numerous other businesses.

[@dwfinds3030]

Its funny cal, tex, fl are my top 3 too. Washington sucks and I'm from Maine, cheaper to ship to Puerto Rico. My 2 points are 1) On returns charge shipping it can be taking out of the refund, free shipping is full refund even though that shipping cost is gone. 2) When you start lowering your prices or coupons etc % off is on the full cost. So you are not just lowering the % off of your item and not touching shipping amount you are discounting everything. On lower items this can bite you $10 item $5 ship with 30% sale is still $7 + $5 but $15 at 30% sale is going to be $10.50 then you will need take out $5 to ship it. Not huge deal by any means but I like knowing my shipping wont be changed.

[@Teena6565]

Free shipping doesn’t work well if you live on a coast. I live in NYC. Frequently I ship for some reason to California and Washington state. Rarely am I local zone for shipping. Always at the top end. Unfortunately as a small seller, shipping a vintage vase that weighs 5 lbs can crush any profit if goes to west coast.

[@livefromthelisteningroom3914]

Do you list with Best Offer?

[@justinresells]

Sometimes! But usually not with free shipping for reasons described in the video.

[@tahaamiri2157]

I have a good Title and selected all the additional details free shipping and also promoted 2% and still making no sales. Can you give me any tips that could help me make sales. Thanks

[@Michael-fw5ef]

You have to promote at greater than 2 percent. Ebay is now requiring about 10% promotion rates. If you don't promote at higher than 2 percent and other sellers do, Ebay will show those sellers listings before they show yours. I know it's hard, but that is the truth.