On-line shipping costs... what's fair?

Browsing Discogs recently, I've been noticing shipping costs rising as high as $6, $7, even $8 for a single LP, with a buck or more per additional item. And that's for domestic (US) media mail, with no extras (insurance, etc).

So I was wondering, do you have a cut-off point, over which you won't buy a record because the postage is too high?

 

Not sure why people are charging $6-8 media w/out insurance. I charge $4.00 media and usually eat the cost of insurance depending on the price of the item. If the buyer paid via PayPal the seller is on the hook for reimbursement if the package gets lost (and it doesn't matter if you disclaim "not responsible for lost packages if you don't insure"--you are responsible according to PayPal), so I guess the buyer decides whether the (over)charge on media shipping is worth it to them. I usually avoid folks who ask too much for shipping, unless I absolutely have to have the item they're selling.

My 2 pesos...

 

Over here, if they charge more than £4 for a single LP I don't buy the item, although I'll quite happily browse their wares and order extra items I didn't intend to buy if they combine shipping. £3 is reasonable, I think, but £4 is the maximum.

 

I used to buy quite a lot from Popmarket in the USA. The shipping costs to the UK were reasonable and offset by the bargain prices. Then about 2 years ago, like a rocket they shoot up in price, the shipping costs often greater than the cost of the item being shipped. The same also applies to most shipping from the USA to the UK these days.

Yet I can buy an 800 page book or bigger in size and weight from the USA on Amazon Marketplace for 1 penny and the shipping is just £1.26. Something wrong somewhere.

 

Amazon keeps increasing the minimum theshold for free shipping. Now it's at $49.99. Even then, there are other considerations. How competitive is the price of the discs vs. other vendors? With Amazon, state tax will be added. So, unless it's a pre-sale, it might be wiser to purchase from secondary vendor. It might be wiser to buy from marketplace instead. For instance, an MFSL or AF SACD will likely be offered for less on an Import CD's listing. Then the $3.99 shipping fee is added with no sales tax.

Discogs is a mine field. The rates are set by the sellers. So, it's really only recommended if you can't find the item elsewhere.

 

I rarely buy off Discogs because of shipping costs. Usually the LPs or CDs are fairly reasonably priced but to get anything shipped from anywhere to Ireland makes ordering from there prohibitive. Especially when it comes to 7" singles.

 

I can't wait to tell my grandkids of the good ol' days when Amazon charged only $2.99 for Shipping...
Free Shipping with $25.00 minimum.

Without Tax, to boot.

 

What's wrong in your last example is that that Marketplace seller is stupid. He/she/they probably aren't careful with their listings. It's obviously going to cost a lot, lot more than £1.26 to ship a heavy book from the USA to the UK, and with listings where the item isn't being sold at a profit it makes no sense for a seller to lose so much money selling a book to someone. Makes me think it's some larger seller who simply lists a lot of items and isn't really paying attention to the details.

Back to the original question, I don't really care what someone charges for shipping. I care about the overall cost, including shipping. If I get an item for a dollar and shipping is charged at double what it actually costs, I don't mind if I would have paid significantly more than a dollar for that item otherwise.

 

Do Amazon Sellers have a "choice" with postage? In my experience, Amazon sets a flat rate and that's it. Either way, I've been getting much the same prices from multiple sellers, UK to USA ($3.99). They can't all be "stupid"...

 

Amazon Marketplace sellers don't have a choice for standard shipping, but do have a choice whether to make their items available for international buyers. I just checked postage from the US to the UK on usps.com. Assuming that 800 page book could fit into a small, flat rate box, the postage cost is nearly $34. Assuming the book weighs two pounds or less (I assume it would weigh more than that at 800 pages, but I went with a conservative estimate), the postage in one's own box would be over $22.

All I am saying is that if I were selling a book for a dollar and only getting a couple of dollars from Amazon for shipping, I certainly wouldn't be willing to sell to an international buyer where I am going to spend over $20 in postage. I'd rather throw the book into my recycling bin.

 

Any Amazon Sellers here willing to explain?

Apparently Amazon give a shipping credit up to different amounts, depending on shipping speed and international. Maybe that's enough to cover it?

 

This is what's posted on Amazon's website. What's confusing is that you indicated you paid only £1.26 for international shipping yet amazon lists these shipping credits and indicates the amounts are the same it charges purchasers, which begins at about $17 for one pound or less.

Amazon Seller Central »

 

The seller (located in the USA) probably offered the item on Amazon.co.uk, so a buyer from the UK pays for domestic shipping only.

 

There are a couple of UK megasellers, like Better World in the US, that do such a volume in books they don't pay for that the losses either don't matter and/or they've worked out a deal with Royal Post such that they can get items across the pond cheaply enough to send to US addresses at the regular domestic Amazon rate. We've ordered books from these and they were actually shipped from the UK and arrived in a week or two. I think thriftbooks was one name and maybe another was greener(something). Anyway, an individual sending one or 100 books a day here or there could never get those rates.

 

Anyone else (besides me) from Oz who wants to mention what we are being expected to pay. I bore even myself saying the same thing every time.

OPs quoted prices would be a miracle job for us.

 

Here we are discussing Amazon Sellers charging cheap rates... but my original question still stands. How much is too much?

 

Depends. What's the actual cost vs what the seller is charging me? What's the total cost for the item with shipping vs how much I'm willing to pay in total?

I once had a US seller tell me that one lp to Canada was $15.50 and two lps was going to cost almost double because "twice as many records means the cost almost doubles" I knew he was full of s**t. But I really wanted the records and went for it. Of course the package arrives and postage for both records was basically $15.50 and not the $25+ he said it would be. I got a refund for the difference.

 

I had a similar situation - the seller wanted $14 to mail three 12-inch singles media mail. I queried it and it was actually $6.

 

The charge for shipping a single CD should not exceed $3 for a domestic US shipment.
The charge for shipping a single LP should not exceed $5 for a domestic US shipment, and that includes a buck to cover a proper mailer.

These prices don't include insurance and the LP would ship media mail. Obviously, there are exceptions for very valuable items which you might want to double box.

 

What's fair to me would be the actual cost of shipping (I'd give a buck for packaging though usually that doesn't happen). If it costs $4 then I get charged $4.

 

$4 or more for one LP CONUS via Media Mail is too much for me. I try to buy in larger quantities to spread the shipping out a bit.

 

$3.99 that after market sellers charge on amazon is way over the line.

envelope - 25¢ - 50¢

bubble wrap - 10¢

postage - $1.25

that comes out to a $2 profit on shipping.

 

US$ 3.99 is what Amazon charges the buyer.

Maybe a third-party seller can tell us how much Amazon actually gives to them?

 

All of the $3.99 collected for US domestic shipping is passed to the seller, AZ takes their cut ahead of that. There are two classes of Amazon third-party sellers. People who sell in high volume pay $40 a month for the privilege, for them that $40 has to be divided among the number of items sold that month. If you don't pay them $40 up front every month you pay $1 per sale. Take something simple like a $5 CD an individual might list. From that $5 AZ takes $1 for a "referral" fee, 15% of the sales price, and $1.35 for a "variable closing" fee. So

AZ customer pays
$5.00 CD
$3.99 postage
---------------
$8.99 total

AZ casual seller gets

+$8.99 paid
- $1.00 referral fee
-$1.35 closing fee
-$0.75 commission
=$5.89 total

for her $5 item, out of which she has to pay for packaging and postage

+$5.89
-$2.61 4 oz postage
=$3.28 total less the price of packaging for her $5 CD

If packaging is all recycled about 1/3 of what the AZ customer pays ends up in the seller's hands, less if she uses new packaging. Same for a professional seller who pays $40 a month up front and sells forty a month, if the pro sold let's say 120 a month they'd get ~$3.94.

 

As far as I understand the Amazon fee structure the variable closing fee is taken from the shipping costs. Both shipping costs and variable closing fee vary with the location of the buyer. There is no connection between the price of the item and the variable closing fee.

So in your example the seller gets US$ 2.64 to cover shipping expenses.