[ARC5] R23A - Go Figure

[Lenox Carruth]

It's probably not the weight or dimensions that jack up the shipping cost.
eBay allows you to add handling charges which can be anything although eBay
can get unhappy with a seller if they are way out of line.  Of course it
would be easy to lie about the weight too but that would be pretty obvious.
As I recall, the weight is printed on the shipping label although I could be
remembering wrong.

I typically add a dollar on medium size items as I buy all of my shipping
supplies and they are pretty expensive even at the cut-rate places.  Peanuts
can really add up.  If it's a really small item, I just put it in a small
Priority Mail box with no handling charge.  However, most USPS free boxes
are too small for radios.

I double box fragile items and add two or three dollars.  Medium size boxes
usually run around a dollar in small quantities and you can easily add a
buck or two in peanuts.  Particularly if you use the ones that come in small
bags.  They are great because you leave them in the bags and they don't
migrate throughout your house and garage!  Bubble wrap is also quite
expensive unless you can find a place that has damaged rolls.  Then the cost
gets a little better.  I would never use it if I had to buy it at retail.  

A lot of stuff doesn't sell for enough for the seller to be able to eat the
shipping cost.  I have sold a lot of stuff where shipping was greater than
the price of the item.  I might as well throw it in the trash can if I am
going to lose money selling it. - - - Okay, I admit, I have lost a lot of
money over the years collecting boatanchors and military radios.  Heh, heh!

USPS online shipping charges are less than what you pay at the Post Office.
I send almost everything Priority Mail as it is fast and I have had good
luck with them not damaging things if they are packed correctly.  Remember
that most shippers want stuff packed to survive a drop of two feet onto a
concrete surface.  Not easy or cheap to do with many boatanchors.

Last time I sold something on eBay, you could pick the shipping method
including Media Mail. It's really easy since all of the buyer's information
is automatically entered on the shipping label.  Just point and click.  No
typing.

The biggest problem with eBay shipping is that they no longer let their
shipping calculator figure insurance.  One of the stupidest things eBay has
done.  That means that a seller has to guess what his item might sell for
and add the cost of insurance into the handling fee.  That can get very
problematical and also quite expensive on collectible items.  I don't know
how eBay could be so dumb with this move.  Maybe they need Meg Whitman back,
I hear she doesn't have a job!

I try to insure everything that sells for over about twenty dollars.

There are a lot of things that I don't like about eBay but their shipping
does work and work well with the exception of the insurance problem.

Lenox