The cost of shipping
The most recent issue of California, UC Berkeley’s (surprisingly interesting) alumni magazine, mentions a recent paper by Berkeley Professor John Morgan, in which he discusses eBay users’ reaction to changes in seller shipping policies.
“During the past year Morgan and his colleague from Hong Kong University, Tanjim Hossain, have been using eBay as a giant research laboratory. In a recent study, they auctioned the same CDs—including Britney Spears’s Oops I Did It Again and U2’s Joshua Tree—using different pricing schemes. In half of the auctions, they started the bidding on the CDs with a low opening bid ($.01) and a high shipping charge ($3.99). In the other half, they started the bidding with a high opening bid ($4.00) and no shipping charge. Morgan and Hossain found a low opening bid price and high shipping charge led to earlier bidding, more total bids, and a higher final sales price for the CDs—21 percent higher, in fact.” (Read full article.)
Some of these issues most certainly also apply to comparison shipping sites like BookFinder.com.
What experiences have you had with high or low shipping prices for books purchased online? Has the pricing been justified, e.g. do sellers that charge more for shipping do a better job of packing books? I’d appreciate your comments.
[Now Reading: The Great American Novel by Philip Roth]
Comments
We're still smarting over a recent purchase on e-Bay.
My husband won a Near Fine copy of a scarce sports books. In addition to reasonable Media Mail shipping, there was a $4 Packing and Handling charge. It struck us both as unusual but not unreasonable. The reference to packing, combined with glowing feedback, caused us to drop our guard and not specifically ask for professional packing.
The almost three pound book appeared in our Post Office box with the corners torn through a bubble envelope. Said corners are bumped; the book is no longer Near Fine (but still a good addition to inventory.) There was no other wrapping or protection.
On complaint to the seller, it was suggested that the damage may have been intentional on the part of a postal person or neighbor that we've irritated and could have been avoided had we purchased insurance (huh?). And, finally our personal favorite, "Shipping in a bubble envelope is 'industry standard'."
I'm not quite sure what to call that industry but I sure don't want to be a part of it.
Posted by: Helen Crow | May 16, 2006 6:03 AM
For maybe ten years now, I've been buying a lot of books online and on eBay. The theory of this article appears to be, "ebay buyers are not rational," and the experiment appears designed to prove that. Auction bidders are not rational, of course, that's the point of being an auction bidder. It can be like betting on horses. Some people learn to enjoy going to the track every day, and sometimes they will pay more than they should so they don't go home empty-handed.
Another point I would make about purchasing on eBay. Many browsers sort by lowest price. If you list a CD with a starting bid of $1 and a $20 s/h charge, you will get browsers who are looking not for that CD, but for CDs with a starting bid of $1. Some will jump the gun and buy without reading the s/h charge. Others will read that, add it up, and decide that's an OK price. And few of these buyers would ever see another auction, for the same CD, say starting at $10 with an $11 s/h, because they are not specifically looking for that CD. They are just looking to buy something; they came to the track with some money in their pocket, and it's time to spend it.
Buying on bookfinder is a different story. I come here, as I imagine most do, because I am looking for one specific thing. If it's available, I choose what appears to be the best copy from what appears to be the most reliable seller. Price is a factor but not the only one.
Posted by: Jon Miller | May 16, 2006 12:06 PM
In response to Helen Crow's observations, the experiment was evidently designed not to prove that ebay buyers are irrational but to test the variables that affect buyers' decisions. The experiment might well have yielded different results -- I see nothing to suggest that it was designed in such a way as to compel the result that bidders are irrational.
Many ebay sellers, deliberately or not, obscure the shipping information so that once you've arranged the items by current bid, you cannot readily compare them by total cost. Often (though not invariably) it turns out that those are the sellers who are imposing ridiculous shipping charges of $8 or more simply for sending a book by media mail.
As for buying books via bookfinder and other sites, I've never noticed any correlation between cost and quality of packing/shipping. Indeed, there is one bookseller, whose name I've forgotten, whose shipping charge varies according to whether the buyer is east or west of the Mississippi -- this despite the fact that the book is being shipped via media mail, which involves no such distinction in price.
Posted by: Peter S. | May 17, 2006 9:35 PM
I'm every day on eBay and I absolutely agree with conclusions of professor Morgan.
But I mean that this partial depend on national mentality. I'm from Czech Republic (from heart of Europe) and I mean that here are peoples more cautious in these cases than in US.
Posted by: Awe | May 25, 2006 1:08 AM
I make it a habit, on ebay and elsewhere, of paying attention to shipping price. If I think there is an unnecessarily high or gratutious shipping charge, I won't buy from the seller. Even if the book is cheaper (ship. charge included), just on principle.
Posted by: squidlow | May 29, 2006 5:26 AM
Someone explained to me that, sometimes, high shipping charges are applied by the seller to get the value of his item from the sale without paying higher eBay fees. Apparently the fees are not assessed on shipping charges. Sellers complain that eBay's fees are ever rising making it increasingly difficult to make a profit on items. The shipping charges are a loophole for circumventing part of the fees--not to mention the added benefit of getting a better spot in a list sorted by price.
Posted by: justme | June 8, 2006 4:16 PM