Is eBay seller 'melodicmetalhead' on here?

[glam_junkie]

Have sent a pm about shipping options to Australia thru eBay but got no response.
Wondering if they're a member here?

Keen to bid ....but looking to clarify the $21 shipping cost for 1 cd.

[phaffas]

Are you getting crazy prices like that also??

 

Only a Couple of years ago a cd from the US to Australia was $3 -$5 max

 

Now im getting people saying $16, $25, $12 etc etc, they often go back to post office (or say they do) and say yes that is the cheapest option. Yet often they turn up and the details clearly say it only cost a few bucks.

 

90% of my cds came from ebay overseas, but its getting really hard to do that now.

[glam_junkie]

Yeah, this seller wants $21 for 1 cd USA to Australia.

I ahve since received a reply from them saying that's the price.

 

I recently purchased a cd from someone in the US who wanted about $60 for shipping.I went to the USPS website myself and showed them the link where it could be shipped for about $12 (or as low as about $8).

They said that in the store the workers were directing them toward the most expensive option and not actually telling them the cheaper options were even available.

But yes... importing cds not really viable these days. Shipping is now more than the cds.

[Mullethead]

$21 is cheap if it is registered. One cd shipped registered is $24-$28. Shipping without tracking is $12.95,

[glam_junkie]

so then how can some US mail order companies sell some new / current cds for $12-13 shipped? (eg I order the Corabi unplugged cd for about $US12 shipped)

[Geoff]

It's a sad state, but for me, purchasing CDs from overseas (where I bought/buy 99.9% of all my CDs) is no longer an option. Unless I can get free shipping for whatever reason. Seriously, otherwise it's completely not worth it anymore.

 

Add to that the fact that if you don't like the CD there is no longer any possible way you can sell it, and it's not worth the shipping costs to trade anymore... well, basically, the CD "scene" is completely dead to me.

[Stefan]

It's a sad state, but for me, purchasing CDs from overseas (where I bought/buy 99.9% of all my CDs) is no longer an option. Unless I can get free shipping for whatever reason. Seriously, otherwise it's completely not worth it anymore.

 

Add to that the fact that if you don't like the CD there is no longer any possible way you can sell it, and it's not worth the shipping costs to trade anymore... well, basically, the CD "scene" is completely dead to me.

 

I use Play.com quite a lot and now and then I buy some stuff for a couple of dollars. Usually from the States and with free shipping.

Is that lucrative business for the seller?

[Geoff]

 

It's a sad state, but for me, purchasing CDs from overseas (where I bought/buy 99.9% of all my CDs) is no longer an option. Unless I can get free shipping for whatever reason. Seriously, otherwise it's completely not worth it anymore.

 

Add to that the fact that if you don't like the CD there is no longer any possible way you can sell it, and it's not worth the shipping costs to trade anymore... well, basically, the CD "scene" is completely dead to me.

 

I use Play.com quite a lot and now and then I buy some stuff for a couple of dollars. Usually from the States and with free shipping.

Is that lucrative business for the seller?

 

 

Thanks for the tip. Just had a look, though - can you get much stuff from there? Like slightly rare or non-common titles? Looks like pretty standard stuff there.

 

I happily get all my modern stuff from secondspin.com during their free shipping sales, so I keep my modern rock collection up to date. But I'm sadly trailing behind on my MHR/AOR/Glam new releases, purely due to the cost of getting the mofos.

[Jez]

I don't know where these prices for shipping from wherever you are come from, but $20 wherever it is to ship one CD is a complete rip off. I post stuff from the UK fairly often. 1 CD (international recorded delivery to virtually anywhere abroad) from my local PO Is about £3 ($4.5). I recently sent a shipment of 50 odd discs to Indonesia (without cases of course) but the weight was 2 KG and it cost me £28 ($44) international Recorded delivery.

[Dead Planet]

Shipping costs from the U.S. are ridiculous these days...they even want $15-$30 to ship a single cd to Canada. I used to buy 90% of my music from the U.S. but it is rare that I buy anything from there. I buy from Europe and Japan mainly and yes I even buy from Australia more than the U.S....

[heavyharmonies]

I don't know where these prices for shipping from wherever you are come from, but $20 wherever it is to ship one CD is a complete rip off. I post stuff from the UK fairly often. 1 CD (international recorded delivery to virtually anywhere abroad) from my local PO Is about £3 ($4.5).

Just because it costs you $4.50 to ship from the UK to the U.S. doesn't mean that it costs the same to ship to ship from the U.S. to the U.K. Each country has their own postal rates.

 

I charge $14 for international shipping on eBay.

 

How does that break down?

 

Most CDs are 4-5 ounces, with 2-disc sets or heaver CDs (like early Japanese imports, some promos, etc.) in the 6-7 ounce range. Depending on the country, the actual postage cost is $7-12. Then add the cost of packing materials, labels, and insurance. Finally, add the fact that both PayPal and eBay take their cut off the top, figure 13%.

 

Not exactly getting rich on shipping charges...

[glam_junkie]

Don't u just re-use packing and materials?

Surely no one on here would need to purchase and charge for new packing materials every sale.

[heavyharmonies]

Actually, I don't re-use packing materials, at least not for eBay sales. Some buyers will ding your stars or even leave neutral or negative feedback if you re-use shipping materials.

[glam_junkie]

If you charge for it, but then use recycled... Probably.

[heavyharmonies]

Maybe fodder for a different thread, but as someone who is coming up on 5,000 eBay transactions (60% as buyer, 40% as seller) I seriously wonder why some people get hung up on shipping charges.

 

$20 item + $10 shipping.

 

$10 item + $20 shipping.

 

$30 item + FREE shipping.

 

More people will go for #1 or #3 before considering #2, yet they are all equal. When I shop, I ignore the shipping costs by themselves. When comparing items from various sellers, the only dollar amount that matters is the total out-the-door sum. How it's broken down is meaningless!

 

If you feel an overseas seller is charging you too much for shipping, then buy from a different seller who you don't feel is overcharging for shipping. If the seller in question is STILL the cheapest when compared to other sellers even after shipping costs, then what is there to complain about? What does it matter then how much the seller is charging for shipping vs. the base item cost?

 

 

P.S. "S&H" means "shipping and handling", which includes more than just raw postage. It's postage, insurance, packing, labor, overhead, etc.

[zacharyamelie]

Most buyers feel they should only be paying for the 'raw postage' which isn't fair to the seller.

 

I lose money on shipping. For example: I can only ship a cd through Ebay to the USA from Canada for 3$....Ebay won't let me charge more. So I ship it and it costs 2.79$ for raw postage, plus 50 cents for the envelope, about 25 cents for my labels, zip-locks,Sharpies and cd envelope cover....and then like Dan said 13% from Paypal and also another 13% from Ebay. So far I'm in the hole about 75 cents to 1$ per transaction.

 

In the end, with the 5$ cd I sold I make like 3.50$ in profit....not including how much I originally spent on the used cd before selling it. So selling on Ebay is only worth it if you can sell for big amounts for each items. Therefore I shouldn't be selling because I sell for peanuts.

[glam_junkie]

At $21 I must be paying for the pizza that they are eating whilst packing the CDs.

[glam_junkie]

so how is Sax able to do international shipping at $5 first disc and $1 for each additional?

 

It always confuses me why there are so many prices at rates from the US.

[heavyharmonies]

No idea. I can't ship internationally for anywhere near that low, and certainly not on eBay.

 

Possibilities (no idea if any of these are how he's personally doing it):

 

1. Ship without jewel cases (cuts the weight by 30-50%).

 

2. If you're a high-enough volume shipper and have an electronic shipping account with one of the providers, it's possible to garner discounts. The thing is though, shipping through PayPal/eBay gets you volume discounts and those still aren't enough to get the cost that low.

 

3. Build a certain amount of the shipping cost into every CD's price, thus lowering the appearance of shipping charges. THis goes back to my post above about the different perception across multiple pricing alternatives where the bottom line is identical.

 

4. Eating the cost overrun just to clear product.

[glam_junkie]

5. He's shipping from work

[Uncle saxon]

I ship all international cds without the jewel cases. That way it sneaks under the 1/4" limit for "letter rate". 3oz to most countries with this method is $4.16-$4.70. I have about 1% breakage, but I have no problem eating the refund. Most of my customers understand the ridiculous situation the USPS has become in the last 2 years.

[Uncle saxon]

They also charge 21 cents for "non-machineable" [to make sure it is sorted by hand].

[heavyharmonies]

There you go. That makes all the difference in the world (literally).

 

So what happens if it is a digipak or a CD with special embossing/lettering, etc.? Do you just eat the overage for having to ship parcel rates?

[Uncle saxon]

There you go. That makes all the difference in the world (literally).

 

So what happens if it is a digipak or a CD with special embossing/lettering, etc.? Do you just eat the overage for having to ship parcel rates?

If it is just one digi-pak, I ship it the same way, but without padding. The digi-pak itself does a pretty good job as protection. I know it seems like a pretty flimsy way to ship, but It's worked well for a couple of years now. Of course, I always give the customer the option to ship package rates or priority, too.

[glam_junkie]

I think it also comes down to what you're selling.

$5 cds that's a great way to ship.
$50 cd, probably worth $10-12 to ship.

Back to the op, it was a $5 cd that had $20+ shipping cost on it. Seller might have been making a bucks on postage but was probably losing double that by discouraging people to bid.