eBay Shipping Fees?

[GreenDiesel]

Over the past few years, I have purchased several 00 items from the UK to be shipped to my home in Canada. The shipping fees were usually reasonable -- only £4-10 per items depending on its size and weight.

Now that I'm working on an N scale layout, I've started searching eBay again for N scale locos, but I was surprised by the high shipping charges. I emailed one seller, asking if the £16 or so shipping fee could be replaced by a small parcels airmail fee of only £4-8 and he said, Yes. He said he was only using eBay's calculator which automatically worked out shipping fees.

These high shipping fees -- anywhere from £15 to £30 -- recently put me off eBay. You'd think that small N scale items would cost even less to ship than 00.

So, maybe this is a new eBay feature, or maybe I've only clued into it just now. Just curious, has anyone else noticed any changes with how eBay calculates shipping fees?

Thanks!

[MJKERR]

In eBay UK the default Royal Mail and Parcel Force prices are used
The seller can then change these to more appropriate ones

You can of course contact the seller and suggest a different method of postage
However, I would be very surprised if the seller can post an item from UK to Canada for less than £5 now, the basic UK cost is now £3.60

Furthermore, Royal Mail and Parcel Force no longer guarantee tracking outside of the UK, and for that very reason I only sell to UK now
I could use other courier companies (fixed price of £10) but it would mean sitting at home all day waiting for the pickup

[GreenDiesel]

In eBay UK the default Royal Mail and Parcel Force prices are used
The seller can then change these to more appropriate ones

You can of course contact the seller and suggest a different method of postage
However, I would be very surprised if the seller can post an item from UK to Canada for less than £5 now, the basic UK cost is now £3.60

Furthermore, Royal Mail and Parcel Force no longer guarantee tracking outside of the UK, and for that very reason I only sell to UK now
I could use other courier companies (fixed price of £10) but it would mean sitting at home all day waiting for the pickup

Thanks! I have bought some N scale items from two UK "non-eBay" retailers recently and they only charged £6-10 for small N scale parcels.  I find this reasonable and don't mind paying that. So I will contact the seller to double check what shipping options are available then -- and I'll do this before I purchase anything!

Thanks again.

[Sprintex]

I have noticed recently, especially when buying stuff from US sellers on Ebay, that items listed through Ebay's "Global Shipping Programme" have much higher postage rates than items sent by USPS mail. So much so that most of the time it's put me off bidding altogether! 


Paul

[GreenDiesel]

I have noticed recently, especially when buying stuff from US sellers on Ebay, that items listed through Ebay's "Global Shipping Programme" have much higher postage rates than items sent by USPS mail. So much so that most of the time it's put me off bidding altogether! 


Paul

This has been my situation exactly. But now I'm thinking eBay's shipping prices are inflated and, if you "press" or push the sellers, they will offer you cheaper options. At least I hope so!