Post #64582 by tikibars on Thu, Dec 11, 2003 11:41 PM

On 2003-12-10 22:47, jonboy wrote:
I have shipped over 2000 books albums and videos by media mail, lost maybe 10, damaged about 4. It is as fast as First CLass when delivery is in the west, east coast can take 2 weeks or more. I use media mail because most items shipp for $1.42 or $1.84. I charge $3.00 shipping/handling, additional profit. It is harder to juice the buyer when you are shipping First Class or Priority.

Nothing personal Jon, but as someone who goes out of my way to mention in my Ebay auctions that buyers are paying actual cost of shipping, I feel that adding extra profit into a shipping fee is kind of lame. Conversely, when I buy things, I am acutely aware of sellers who purposely jack up the shipping fee to make a buck, and I will not patronize them.

Back to the topic at large:
I always give my buyers options. If they want it fast, I ship Priority, and charge appropriately. If they want to save, I'll offer media mail and charge less. Insurance, Delivery Confirmation... up to the customer with the charge calculated as needed... I also try to reuse or recycle boxes and foam peanuts to save my customers more money, and also to help the environment!

Anyway, given all of this, if the customer opts out of insurance... it's not my problem if the package never arrives, although of course I do feel bad about it and I do everything I can to ship securely. It has not happened much, however and I have conducted about 400 Ebay auctions (as a seller, similar number as buyer) over about 6 years.