Do you charge a handling fee?

AFashionableLife · 08-06-09

When selling on Ebay or online, do you add a handling fee to your postage charge?
I always did, because of the fact that i have employees that did the picking and packing, so it had a real cost.

Anyone else have any thoughts?
Just ask, because a few of my wholesale buyers / resellers are saying people are complaining about them charging $2 or $3 more than the actual postage cost.

Cheers,

David.Pagotto · 08-06-09

Hello Jamie,

We ALWAYS charge a handling fee, however it is integrated into the price of the postage and the postage cost is not disclosed because we are on an Australia Post contract.

Basically the customer does not know how much of the cost is actually postage.

We have had people complain in the past about this and we just explain to them our costs involved:

- Employees
- Packaging Materials (Box, Bubble Wrap)
- Time
- Pick Up

And once we explain it to them, they are more than happy to pay.

I would do the same with your customers.

Stay firm and keep your handling charges.

David.Pagotto · 08-06-09

While we are on the topic of fees, do you charge a credit card surcharge?

AFashionableLife · 08-06-09

I don't charge for credit card usage, not yet anyway!
But I am aware that some of my resellers do.
I think it is becoming more common as peoples margins are squeezed more and more.
I do however charge a paypal surcharge as their cost is so high!

Cheers,

2Dogs · 08-06-09

A Paypal surcharge, sounds good.
I think I will have to start charging it.

Do you ever have complaints about it?

AFashionableLife · 09-06-09

No complaints at all.
Most people that use Paypal are aware that it costs around 2.9% which is huge compared to credit cards etc.
I am sure to let people know up front that if they choose to use Paypal the charge will be incurred.

Cheers,

BlackSpider · 02-07-09

eBay does not allow you to add a surcharge for Paypal payments.
If you do any decent type of turnover, the fee wil only be 1.5%-1.6%.
Not too much above merchant rates for credit cards.

To be honest, I would not shop with sellers charging the surcharge.
It just looks greedy, even if your prices may be slightly lower.

Why not just price any potential charges into your prices?
Most of our customers do not shop based on price alone.

AFashionableLife · 05-07-09

I only charge a paypal surcharge to my wholesale buyers, not for Ebay transactions.
As I do less than 50 Ebay transactions annually now, I wouldn't even be concerned with recovering such a small amount.
Wholesale margins are very reduced, so I always charge for the transaction cost.
People are free to buy from whom they want, if you would not purchase from someone charging the surcharge, that is your decision, as it our decision not to sell to people who would not pay the charge.

Cheers,

AnticGod · 12-11-09

Nope, I try to make my services very cheap. This is my strategy to get even more clients. Charging a handling fee would be pretty unfair.

sprinklerz · 16-11-09

If you have to add a handling fee, just add it onto the total shipping cost. Refrain from stating $20 shipping + $5 handling.. this could scare away potential customers.

Some pubs with singing facilites require you to buy a drink before you could sing any songs and they did it this way.. $10 for drink, +$2 if you want to sing.. many consumers dislike the extra condition but if you just charge $12 for the drink and you could sing all you want would be better.