You know, I love what eBay has done for the collecting community. Beautiful cards like this that "Book" for probably around $15-$20 are easily attainable at reasonable prices. Like this 2000 Skybox Star Rubies Extreme parallel of my main man, Carlos Delgado. Opening bid: $0.99 green American money.Awesome.
Being a typical sheisty eBay buyer I skimmed it, and decided to wait until it was almost over to bid (when it rises to the top of my 3-15 page long watch list). This morning I check it out with 11 hours remaining and...what the f...$4.50 shipping?! No way. This is what really bothers me deeply about eBay. There is in no way justification for this card costing $4.50 to ship.
Example: Ed from Roll out the Barrel stuffed three (3) team bags full of Rockies for me sometime in the last two weeks. We're talking 30+ cards here, and not light-weight '88 Donruss. The total shipping for the package, I believe, was less than $1.75. For three team bags filled!
Could this Delgado possibly cost more than $2.00 to ship? Like most sellers, this one probably will arbitrarily stuff it into a scotch-taped-to-shit-beyond-recognition-destroyed top loader and stuff it in a letter to Grandmother white envelope.
Maybe he'd put it in a top-loader and bubble envelope. Still $4.50? I doubt it. A few weeks ago a I bought a 10-pack of #00 bubble-mailers...for $4.44. So those are $0.44/package.
Let's do some Sunday math (or college math, since I always waited until Sunday nights to do Calculus and Statistics last year):
$0.44 (Package)
+
$0.05 (Top Loader)
+
$0.01 (Penny Sleeve)
+
$2.00 (Shipping, being Very Generous)
=
$2.50 Maximum.
I guess there's a $2.00 "handling" fee here or something.
And I look a little further to find the item location is Seoul, South Korea. What in the hell is a 2000 Skybox Star Rubies Extreme Carlos Delgado doing in Seoul?
Answer: Topps gimmick.
Yep. More and more sellers are using this tactic with serial numbered cards that NO ONE but card core player collectors will want. .99 cents plus outrageous shipping. They also avoid ebay auction fees because it's shipping, NOT what the auction closed for. In short you're paying $5+ for a card you could grab out of the dollar box at the local, provided that the local had the card. They don't, so you're stuck paying WAY above market which, ironically, is still WAY below book.
ReplyDeleteGreat points CCC. In regards to local...the nearest store is in Fayetteville, Syracuse suburbs, 50 minutes away. So, $4.50 shipping or $4.50 in gas? It's a dilemma.
ReplyDeleteSkybox 2000 are so hard to find, too. I'd love to rip some boxes apart but I cannot find them anywhere.
For that card and in that location (I guarantee it is actually in Seoul), that shipping price is extremely fair.
ReplyDeleteI bought something from Japan on eBay recently and they had $4.00 shipping on the card.
They paid about $6.45 total for the shipping (it showed it on the package).
For international sellers, I am willing to pay the extra for shipping since it generally costs them more.
I've had a few eBay purchases from Asia. Mostly I've dealt with China (Capitalist Hong Kong, not Socialist Mainland) and have never had shipping be that high.
ReplyDeleteI have not ordered from Japan or Korea, however, so you may be on to something Anthony. I wrote up about 90% of the post before I noticed it was in Korea, and it just confused me more at that point.
Personally, the only time I bid on a card on ebay is if the shipping is under $2.00. And I always take the shipping into account when bidding.
ReplyDeleteWith all of the other sites offering cards, it is just not worth it in most cases.