[Boatanchors] FedEx and eBay

[Brian Harris]

No, I’m not going to rant about FedEx or EBay.  I intend to start using them to my advantage. Let me explain.

Lately I’ve been selling a lot of heavy items (boatanchors) on eBay and Facebook and shipping them via FedEx. In doing so I began to notice a huge disparity in Fedex shipping charges for items I shipped using my FedEx account and Fedex shipping charges using the eBay shipping program  Apparently eBay has negotiated significantly discounted shipping rates (about 45%) with FedEx.

Non-eBay sellers and buyers can take advantage of this discount if they are clever. Here is an example:

You have a 100 pound transmitter for sale and you found a buyer and settled on a price but the buyer balks when the FedEx shipping estimate is $100.  Enter eBay and their Buy It Now feature. With telephone or other coordination the buyer and seller can ‘work the system’ to their mutual advantage. The buyer will list the transmitter on eBay (with the pre-agreed sale price as a buy it now price) at time when few people would see the listing and at a time the buyer knows it’s going to listed. As soon as the buyer sees the listing they pounce on it.  Voila!  Discounted shipping. Yes, eBay will get their cut but you’ll sell your item and the buyer will not be taken to the cleaners on the shipping. 

Good luck,

WA5UEK 



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