I used to (and still will soon) buy 3.5 cubic pink packing peanuts on eBay and now the price is up by $4.50 compared to a few years back. I used to think back then that the seller had a great deal on them, which he did, and it was free shipping. He still has free shipping and with the new norm increase still has a good price.
But I’m just saying what has gone on over the last few years definitely made a huge increase in price in my opinion. Things off the internet, where there used to only be about a 10 percent increase at a time, now can increase by about 25 percent…..to tell you the truth I think 25 percent increase has been the average norm. In the case of the packing peanuts it is just under a 40 percent increase.
What do you think the norm on items that have had an increase in cost is? Let’s just hope that after the items get their biggest increase that they will go back to having small increases at a time.
I really do not like raising my prices. I fear a little bit that shoppers are shocked at new online prices, but I still think they will continue to shop online. Things are just sooooo expensive compared to what it used to be really a short time back and it is sad.
Thanks,
Sharon
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EmpressDepot Reputation: 6829 See EmpressDepot's booth |
A lot of the increases are related to shipping costs. In addition, every delivery service now seems to have implemented some kind of dimensional surcharge for odd-shaped or larger packages that was sometimes not an issue.
Each item gets shipped several times… from manufacturer, then (possibly) to a distributor, then to your supplier and then, it is shipped to you (for your own sale to your buyer). So, three 15% price increases in shipping costs along the supply chain can lead to a 52% (a 15% increase compounded three times) increase of shipping costs for you to get the item.
Here’s a good example… suppose an item was shipped out previously at a cost of $4. The first 15% increase leads to $4.60, followed by a second 15% increase leading to $5.29, and finally the third supplier’s increase leads to $6.08, resulting in an overall increase of 52% in shipping charges.
Of course, when you offer free shipping, every seller (but not every buyer) understands that shipping is NOT really free. There is a cost that sellers have to recover. When the prices go UP (whether it is the actual cost of the item or just shipping costs), sellers MUST either increase the selling price or absorb the costs and make LESS profit.
And, if you charge for shipping and your shipping costs go up, you may have to pass it along to the buyer who can then determine that the purchase is not worth it.
It is HARD to be an online seller right now. I guess I will need to get the rest of my items listed again (I have another 800 items on reserved status to clean them up) and try to make it up in VOLUME of items sold.
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tomwayne1 Reputation: 8637 See tomwayne1's booth |
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