Are Shipping costs negotiable?

[Edgewise]

I'm out of the U.S. and use international shipping, and usually choose my companies according to their shipping costs.
Standard international shipping from one very reputable company costs as little as $5 or $6, another $8 or $9.
I know that some shipping costs more than others according to shipping company, tracking services, insurance, etc.
My question is:- Can a buyer request a particular shipping company and method (example USPS STANDARD INTERNATIONAL) and accept responsibility for it? Or is there an unspoken protocol which says that the sellers shipping method and cost should not be questioned for whatever reason? Or is there some link between knife cost and shipping cost I'm not aware of?

[jerryd6818]

Excellent question Paul. I wish I knew the answer. What I do know is I've shipped to England, Australia and T&T. Shipping for all locations using USPS 1st Class has been between $10 & $15 each and every time. Just my experience. Your mileage may vary.

[XX Case XX]

I'm assuming you're talking about shipping from an AAPK Store. I don't own a store here, however, I have sold knives and other things before on eBay, so I personally feel the negotiations are transferable.

If it were me, here's what I'd do. Contact the seller first and tell them you are interested in one of their knives. Let them know beforehand that you are not in the US and that you would like to possibly choose an alternate shipping method and see what they say. I have found that most sellers are agreeable to this as long as you notify them before the transaction takes place.

I sold a torque wrench on eBay once, and the buyer, before he bought it, wanted to know if he could send a pre-paid Fed Ex shipping box and asked if I could just drop it off at a Fed Ex drop station. He even provided me with 3 different drop off locations near my home. Naturally I agreed.

Anyway, I would ask the seller before and go from there.

__________
MIke

[americanedgetech]

Assume the item is $100.00, and shipping is $10.00.
The buyer says he will pay $5.00 shipping, and no more.

The 5 comes out of the 100 because shipping via a given method is the same unless you down grade the shipping method.

[Mumbleypeg]

Speaking as a buyer, negotiating shipping before hand is the way to go. I don't often do it especially if the stated shipping cost is reasonable. However I've seen some items offered where the stated shipping cost is very high on an item I m interested in. I send a message to the buyer advising that I'm an interested bidder if they are agreeable to ship the item in a USPS fiat rate box at cost. They usually say okay.

On expensive items I've asked the seller if they will include free shipping with insurance. Some will, and some will ship free if I pay for the insurance to what ever amount I want.

If you wait until after the sale to negotiate you've lost any leverage you have as a buyer. I've found most eBay sellers to be really nice folks and easy to work with. Communications and setting expectations up front helps both parties.

Ken

[Edgewise]

Thanks everyone. That tells me all I needed to know.

......... What I do know is I've shipped to England, Australia and T&T. Shipping for all locations using USPS 1st Class has been between $10 & $15 each and every time. Just my experience. Your mileage may vary.

That sounds rather low in my experience Jerry, especially for all locations.
Anyway, the U.S. is about two thousand times bigger than T&T and wider than 72 Trinidads lying side by side, so I'm always grateful when the shipping costs less than the knife.

[orvet]

This is an excellent topic and I think it can have considerable effect on the sales in our AAPK stores.

Speaking personally, I wish our AAPK stores offered more flexibility in shipping, though I realize there are limiting factors in the programming. On most knives I offer free shipping in the Continental US if the buyer pays via check or money order though there is no way I am aware of to set the shipping parameters of the invoice to $0 if the buyer elects to pay by check or money order.
In the past Paul, I believe I have ship to someone here in the US who acted as a forwarding agent for you. That might be a little help to you, but I don’t know what is involved with an international check or money order.

I am almost always amenable to alternate shipping arrangements. Sometimes the alternate arrangements end up saving money for both my customer and myself. This is always a win-win!

I appreciate shippers who give me options and postage instead of just shipping everything flat rate and charging me the price of a flat rate box. I just checked the rate to ship about 2 pounds of knives within my own state. It would take a medium flat rate box to accommodate the length of one of the pieces, so the shipping rate would be $13.60 if I buy the postage at the USPS website, it is slightly higher if I pay for the postage at the post office. However, at the USPS website I can get a larger box called a Regional Box A and I can ship these 2 pounds of knives by priority mail for $6.40! Because I am willing to dig a little bit, I saved my customer more than half the shipping cost, and a happy customer is more likely to be a repeat customer!
A lot of people don’t know about the Regional Boxes but they come to sizes, A and B, and are based on weight not on flat rate. Flat rate is sometimes a very good deal if you shipping something very heavy, but if you’re only shipping one knife a small flat rate box is a pretty expensive way to ship.

I haven’t checked into the cost of shipping flat rate versus by the pound to T & T but I imagine the same would hold true there.

As a AAPK store owner I am always willing to discuss shipping options with the customer and I frequently ship First-Class Postage, especially if I am shipping a single knife. A medium stockman pattern will usually ship via First Class Postage for about $3.40 within the continental US, (without insurance).
While it may be more convenient for the seller to ship only by Priority Mail, often it makes the customer pay a lot more than is necessary.

I understand many people can’t afford expensive EDC knives, or choose not to purchase expensive knives for everyday users. Lots of people, myself included, are thrilled to get a good EDC for $10. But if I pay Priority Mail Flat Rate for shipping, my $10 knife cost me $17.40! I prefer the option of First-Class Postage, so that with shipping in I have my new EDC in my hand for $13.40 total.

[Edgewise]

Dale, I used to have a forwarding agent, what we call a skybox, for my AAPK special purchases, but the agents are more expensive than the ordinary post direct to my door and the normal postal service has been 100% reliable since I switched to them a few years ago. They even have my duties and taxes waived on occasion.
My question was really with eBay in mind, not AAPK.
Without using the forwarding agent who charged a flat rate per pound with a minimum charge, I suddenly paid closer attention to sellers' international rates but I thought it better to check with you guys first before I suggested that the sellers change their own chosen shipping method or rates.
I discovered that one shipper's advertised rate to ship the same knife to me was four or five times less than another shipper's advertised rate and I was paying for shipping services like tracking that I didn't need.
I suppose that these costs are in the automated checkout system and not subject to negotiation. So I began to seek out companies with cheaper shipping methods. But these companies only sell current production, not vintage discontinued knives.
I'm happy to hear your detailed replies concerning individual sellers, because now I may be able to put more shipping money into knives.

[OLDE CUTLER]

Dale
The $13.40 you mention for shipping via USPS (without insurance) is fine and dandy until such time as I buy from you and the USPS loses the package. Without insurance, what recourse does the buyer have if this happens? Before you laugh out loud, consider this. I have had it happen in my neighborhood, where we all have locking mailboxes, that the mail carrier put the package in the wrong mailbox. It was addressed to me, but the person whose mailbox it was in thinks, "Wow, I just got a free knife". The seller says "I shipped the package, that's where my responsibility ends". The buyer says "I paid you $13.40 and got NOTHING". There is no way to ever find out what happened to my knife if the person who actually got it never says anything. You are going to say "This should never happen", and it shouldn't, but it does. Every week I get mail in my box that is not mine. I know all my neighbors, so when this happens, I walk it over and hand deliver it to them. And I give them the number of the letter carrier supervisor to call and file a complaint. In the past I have gotten very large checks in my mailbox that were not mine as well as packages that were not mine. The buyer and the seller must communicate how the package is to be shipped and balance that by the cost. But in all cases there has to some recourse for loss by both the seller and the buyer and the USPS "cheapest rate" does not cover that.

[Shearer]

I have purchased many knives of Ebay where the postage was too high. I just ask if they can post first class and supply the customs number . I would take responsibility for any loss in the mail.
I have over a period of time saved enough money to cover any knives that could have been lost in the mail.
I might be lucky but I have never lost a knife when asking.
It would surprise you how many Eday sellers who don't know the price they are asking for postage because they don't list their item properly.

Grant

[orvet]

The $13.40 was for the cost of a $10 knife and $3.40 shipping. I am generally not too upset if I lose a $10 knife, it doesn't break the bank. If my customer has opted for no insurance and that is how I will ship it. If he wants to pay $7.40 for priority mail Shipping to have insurance on a $10 knife I will be happy to ship it to him via Priority Mail with insurance.
I certainly do not advocate shipping two or three hundred dollars worth of knives without insurance!

In the 10 or 12 years I have been shipping knives with AAPK I have had exactly 2 issues. One was recently, the post office delivered the package to the wrong address, their fault, not my fault, not my customers fault, it was totally the post office's fault. I offered to split the loss with my customer and he it was very gracious. He was more concerned about losing a knife that he didn't have that it was about the money.

The other issue I had with a delivery was win one of our members in a POS swap, if I remember correctly it is been several years, inadvertently gave me the wrong address. The post office delivered it to the address on the package and that was the last anybody ever saw it. The people at the house where it was delivered denied receiving it.

Ironically, I have never had to file a claim for a lost package that had insurance.

[OLDE CUTLER]

If you have only had 2 issues in 10 or 12 years, then you are indeed fortunate. The only reason you have not had a claim for a lost package with insurance is that most of those require tracking and / or a signature to deliver. So any mistakes are self correcting. Even though I live in the middle of a city of 180,000 people, the mail delivery here would rival most 3rd world countries by any ones standards. It's just that you never know what you are going to get and who is going to deliver it. All I am saying is that when people accept shipping by the cheapest method, not many of them realize that if the package is lost, they are out!

[Edgewise]

I can buy a new Case CV Peanut for $35.43 to my door (international shipping $5.48) which is about as cheap as a new Case can get, delivered by a specific company.
A Taylor 33OT can reach my door for $19.80 (international shopping $7.48)
That's why I now tend to buy new and Chinese from certain companies rather than vintage from individuals.
And the low cost deliveries are usually ignored by customs.
Otherwise I usually add 45% to the knife cost still without shipping.