kansashogan Posted September 11, 2019 Share Posted September 11, 2019 I've been selling a fair amount of parts lately and I just want some guys to understand that shipping isn't cheap. I just shipped a spare tire winch to Ohio and it was $14.95. I made $30.05 profit on it so I don't think I was out of line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJXJjeepguy Posted September 11, 2019 Share Posted September 11, 2019 42 minutes ago, kansashogan said: I've been selling a fair amount of parts lately and I just want some guys to understand that shipping isn't cheap. I just shipped a spare tire winch to Ohio and it was $14.95. I made $30.05 profit on it so I don't think I was out of line. I'm curious, which shipper did u sent to? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manche757 Posted September 11, 2019 Share Posted September 11, 2019 1 hour ago, kansashogan said: I've been selling a fair amount of parts lately and I just want some guys to understand that shipping isn't cheap. I just shipped a spare tire winch to Ohio and it was $14.95. I made $30.05 profit on it so I don't think I was out of line. Holy Ship! Thats a good price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kansashogan Posted September 11, 2019 Author Share Posted September 11, 2019 Post office, way cheaper than UPS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyComanche Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 I always laugh when I hear Americans complain about the price of shipping. You pay less than anywhere else in the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gogmorgo Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 Yeah... I mean with so many places offering free shipping I can sorta understand it, but still. Half the parts I order online I end up paying almost as much again in shipping, then there's always a chance of getting stung again for duty at the border. And most carriers seem to have figured that one out and automatically charge a brokerage fee now, even though there's only about a 0.5% chance of CBSA actually opening your box and you getting charged duty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
75sv1 Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 Where do you guys think the 'FREE" shipping comes from? Yes, the other guys pay for it. I do find FedEx to be the cheapest when shipping within the Continental US. To HI AK and US possessions, USPS. Also, USPS to Foreign countries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kansashogan Posted September 12, 2019 Author Share Posted September 12, 2019 I went to the hassle once of getting more than one quote. No more. I'm a busy guy. That's why I just pay the shipping. And I live in the middle of nowhere with not many options so they take it or leave it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
75sv1 Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 15 hours ago, DirtyComanche said: I always laugh when I hear Americans complain about the price of shipping. You pay less than anywhere else in the world. Canada is one of the most expensive to ship to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gogmorgo Posted September 13, 2019 Share Posted September 13, 2019 13 hours ago, 75sv1 said: Canada is one of the most expensive to ship to. I mean it kinda makes sense. Everything is further apart and there's less stuff going. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schardein Posted September 14, 2019 Share Posted September 14, 2019 Shipping isn't cheap, unless the package is under 16 ounces and can go USPS 1st class. Then it's pretty reasonable. Priority mail is expensive. If you have a really heavy part and can fit it in a Priority Mail flat rate box, it can be a relatively good deal. I think the boxes have gotten smaller over the years. I remember mailing a Dana 44 power lock differential in a flat rate box, from Hawaii to the mainland, when flat rate boxes first came out. The postal worker said it was the biggest savings (versus regular priority) that he had ever calculated at the time. I sell on ebay, and most of the stuff can go in a padded envelope and be sent 1st class. Even though eBay and PayPal fees add up (about 30% of total sales), there is the convenience of printing 1st class postage right off the internet and sticking it in the mail box for the postman to pick up. Years ago that was possible straight off the USPS website. Currently, you can only do Priority mail online on the USPS website, you must go to the post office to mail a 1st class package. It's a PITA. I suspect it's that way because people were abusing it (trying to send packages, claiming they weighed less than they actually did), but that's just a guess. With an accurate scale (accurate to .25 ounce), I've found I can calculate a price on the USPS website, and it will be the same at my local post office. The nice thing is it is a very small rural post office, just a mile and half down the road, and never a line. I don't miss living in town and standing in line at the bigger post offices. If you start selling more, you will find that shipping materials add up also: boxes, padded envelopes, bubble wrap, paper padding, printer paper, printer ink, packaging tape, ziplock bags... Free shipping isn't free, it's always factored into the cost of the item. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NHMJXJ Posted September 14, 2019 Share Posted September 14, 2019 You just have to put it out there. 'Free shipping' and build the cost into the sale price, or "I will ship on your dime, I use "fill in the blank"". Sooo many variables. USPS can vary simply because the counter person measures differently. For smaller items they have "if it fits, it ships" flat rate priority boxes but you need to compare, because parcel post for the same size/weight box is often still delivered in 3 days and can be half the price. I use a blank box and buy a roll of Priority tape. I used to invert the (free) priority boxes until they started printing on the inside of the box too. My experience is UPS is the most expensive, but offer the best delivery times to a greater range. FedEx is my "go to" because they're close, open until 8pm and significantly less expensive than USPS/UPS for the same package. I've used Greyhound for bulky, odd sized/shaped items (bumpers, door cards, hitches). Super reasonable, but there's no telling exactly when it will arrive at its destination and there's little to no tracking. Once upon a time when eBay was a real auction site (I signed up in 2001), I shipped hundreds of item per year. Times have changed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gogmorgo Posted September 15, 2019 Share Posted September 15, 2019 I just ordered a bunch of stuff from RockAuto that's shipping Fedex. I'm assuming (hoping) it's coming from the US because I'm paying duty on it. I messed around with some different shipping stuff (looking at maximizing what I can get from different locations). For bulkier and lighter stuff it seemed "post" was much cheaper, but for more dense packages Fedex and "post" were roughly equal in cost but FedEx promised a week vs almost a month for "post". I went fedex this time because I'm in a bigger city for school so I figure there's a good chance it'll show up. In the past fedex hasn't been terrible back home, probably better than most couriers, but I've had issues with some couriers not delivering. I live in a reasonably busy tourist town on the second busiest highway across Western Canada but it's about 200 miles to most of the couriers' nearest depot. I don't really know what all goes down, but it seems like a couple times a courier has attempted to deliver (or didn't bother) and left it at the depot for me to come get, 200 miles away, and just sorta assumed I would know to come get it, then sent it back to the shipper. I've also had couriers hand things off to the post office after refusing to take my PO Box number, but the post office won't deliver to my street address so it ends up going all the way back. If a shipper hasn't been communicative, I've got no idea what's going on or where it is, and it's too late by the time I realize it's been taking too long, so usually I try to default to snail mail to my PO box. It usually takes a while longer, but it just seems more reliable to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted September 16, 2019 Share Posted September 16, 2019 I've got a pile of small boxes and envelopes and packing materials from all the smaller things I've bought over the years just so I can reuse them to ship things out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kansashogan Posted September 16, 2019 Author Share Posted September 16, 2019 23 hours ago, gogmorgo said: I just ordered a bunch of stuff from RockAuto that's shipping Fedex. I'm assuming (hoping) it's coming from the US because I'm paying duty on it. I messed around with some different shipping stuff (looking at maximizing what I can get from different locations). For bulkier and lighter stuff it seemed "post" was much cheaper, but for more dense packages Fedex and "post" were roughly equal in cost but FedEx promised a week vs almost a month for "post". I went fedex this time because I'm in a bigger city for school so I figure there's a good chance it'll show up. In the past fedex hasn't been terrible back home, probably better than most couriers, but I've had issues with some couriers not delivering. I live in a reasonably busy tourist town on the second busiest highway across Western Canada but it's about 200 miles to most of the couriers' nearest depot. I don't really know what all goes down, but it seems like a couple times a courier has attempted to deliver (or didn't bother) and left it at the depot for me to come get, 200 miles away, and just sorta assumed I would know to come get it, then sent it back to the shipper. I've also had couriers hand things off to the post office after refusing to take my PO Box number, but the post office won't deliver to my street address so it ends up going all the way back. If a shipper hasn't been communicative, I've got no idea what's going on or where it is, and it's too late by the time I realize it's been taking too long, so usually I try to default to snail mail to my PO box. It usually takes a while longer, but it just seems more reliable to me. Dang, that is a real mess. It's not like Canada is a third world country. Fed Ex around here is terrible. I chewed a driver out about a month ago. He was looking for my house and for some reason their system does not find my house. He drove by 3 times with his foot to the floor in a Chevy van. When he finally pulled into my drive the chewing started. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gogmorgo Posted September 16, 2019 Share Posted September 16, 2019 Usually it's okay, I just have this tendency to live in the middle of nowhere. The last place I lived wasn't really an official town, and my post office was in the next town over. At least in Jasper I can put my PO box in the second address line and usually things will find me, but that wasn't really an option when the post office and street address are in different towns and one of them doesn't exist. We've got local smaller couriers who are very good, but when bringing stuff in from outside of the province, the big name couriers struggle a bit. But it makes sense I suppose. If you had five packages you got $15 a piece to deliver, how far out of the way would you want to pay someone go to deliver them? We're two hours at least and over 100 miles round trip from the next town over, and the next towns over aren't exactly huge metropoli either. The local businesses don't use the big names because the little guys are far more reliable, most people in town use the post office by default because they're the most reliable. If you live in the city everything's okay, I've never had a problem getting things shipped to city addresses. It's just out in the middle of nowhere in low population density areas that we have logistical issues like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gogmorgo Posted September 16, 2019 Share Posted September 16, 2019 Well I guess I shouldn't complain too much about Fedex... I ordered everything Friday night, and package one showed up today (Monday) while my cousin was home for lunch. Fortunately he was home, because they just rang the doorbell, dumped the box on the front step (no porch, may as well just be on the sidewalk) and left. So maybe I should complain about Fedex? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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