Jun
30
Across eBay, the Shipping & Handling Fee Detailed Seller Rating has the lowest average of the four individual evaluation criteria. As I write this post, the average score is 4.5, which is bad news for sellers hoping to qualify for higher rankings in the Best Match search results. An average of 4.7 or higher in all four Detailed Seller Ratings will provide the seller’s listings with improved visibility.
Like a lot of other eBay sellers, I was having problems getting my Shipping & Handling Fee scores above that 4.7 threshold, so I decided to capitalize on the information I had included in several posts over the past year.
First, I knew I didn’t want to offer free shipping, because I knew from two published university studies that combining shipping and handling into the cost of the product actually lowers revenue on average for auction sellers. So I decided to offer significantly reduced shipping and handling charges.
I went with $0.99 shipping. I figured this amount would be obvious to the buyer that I was offering shipping and handling below my own costs and they would recognize the value in that.
Next, I educated the buyer that they were on the receiving end of discounted shipping and handling. I emphasized this fact in the auction listing’s description. I made sure the postage I paid (in excess of what the bidder paid) was visible on the shipping label. Finally, on the PayPal packing slip I printed and included with the package, I circled the amount of shipping and handling the bidder paid ($0.99) and hand wrote next to it, “Free Upgrade – please leave feedback.”
In reality, the reduced shipping fee’s encouraged increased bidding (more so than free shipping in my opinion), so (in most cases) the final bid price covered the cost of the mailing, therefore I wasn’t taking a loss on the shipping. This technique simply helps bidders recognize the fact that I charge a fair amount for shipping and handling.
The result, happy customers and a shipping and handling DSR average rating that’s finally above the 4.7 mark.
Granted, it’s a radical tactic. But it just might be worth attempting if you are serious about raising your DSR’s.
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3 Responses to “How I Dramatically Improved my Shipping and Handling DSR”
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Nice idea Doug. I’m sure you need to go as low as $0.99 cents but anything under the postage on the package should work.
Of course for those sellers that use stealth postage they might need to try something else.
Interesting test. But how did you measure the “increased bidding”? And did the increased bidding yield an “increased selling price”?
Of course, that’s a tiny bit beside the point as the main idea was to get above 4.7 to take advantage of search results and discounts.
I’m thinking of testing a really low flat rate too, but I sell primarily with BIN so if my sell-through goes up (easy to monitor), I have a winner!
The idea of abandoning stealth postage is a good one, too, if one implements low flat rate shipping.
Robyn,
I have to admit that I don’t have any metrics to back up my claims of “increased bidding” - other than my gut feelings and usually getting more than I expected for my auctions.
I don’t sell the same thing twice, and I always use the old-fashioned auction format - so backing up my claim with some sort of A/B or split testing is nearly impossible.
Check back tomorrow for another idea for increasing your S&H DSR.