T&C question about shipping

Lar

I'm afraid I don't understand this

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Handling / Packing / Lot Fees

Brick Owl does not permit any kind of added charges. The final price for an order on brickowl is the item prices + the shipping cost and nothing else. The shipping price is usually the cost of shipping plus the cost of packaging and handling plus any extra to cover fees or account for small orders.

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At BL we charge actual cost for shipping plus a fixed fee to cover packing/handling/paperwork, which is 3 USD for US orders and 5 USD for non. Sometimes we waive it if we feel like it.

Is that allowed here or not?

Kevin.NXT

Yes, but you have to work it into your shipping prices somehow. Pretty much, the only prices allowed are your price of the Lego parts + the shipping cost you put in.

HTH
Kevin

Lar

So in other words this functionality is missing (building it into shipping is a non starter, as the shipping methods here are all precalculated). This site may not be targeted at me, my selling style seems to differ in several ways from how things are done here.

figbits

The shipping methods are not pre-calculated. You create them yourself.

Lawrence

Hello,

Building it into the shipping is the preferred option, in your case you could add 3USD to all domestic postal and prices, and 5USD for international. You do not need to charge exact postage.

Thor

What about those of us who want to charge a modest handling fee only on SOME orders? Like, for example, orders below $20. Or low value orders with many unique lots (NOT a per lot fee). By building it into shipping it will be charged on ALL orders, which is not what I want to do.

Maybe you could add a handling fee box that can be seen on checkout and which clearly states the fee. And code it so the fee will not be charged on orders above a certain amount. Or not charged on orders where the average lot value exceeds a certain amount. This should be simple coding. And as long as the fee is clearly shown to buyers in advance I don't see it as a problem. A great many online vendors include a handling fee charge on checkout. The aversion some have to fees should not just cause sellers to hide their fees in inflated shipping for everyone.

Thor

Lar

Admin

So how do I waive the handling for some but not all orders? How do I decide that THIS order, but not THAT order, requires insurance based on my assessment of the order destination, the buyer's preexisting orders with me and how they went, their overall reputation, my assessment of the value of the order and the rarity of the items and a host of other factors?

How do I handle the fact that THIS order has to go into two boxes or else the buyer has to use Global Express Guaranteed but that other order with the same dollar value and same weight, and even same total volume.. fit into one box that was inside the 89 inch length plus girth restriction for Prio to Hong Kong?

No set of bands can do this sort of figuring things out, since it's a judgment call. It requires calculating shipping after the order has been placed and invoicing the buyer.

Do you plan to offer that, ever, or will you only allow precalculated shipping? If you never plan to allow post calculated shipping, ever, that's important to know.

Lar

Monochrome

If I can't determine the shipping cost AFTER I receive the order, the shipping is precalculated. Doesn't matter who creates the methods. If it happens before the order arrives, it's precalculated. Hope that helps.

Thor

Lar alludes to a very good point. Sellers may want the flexibility of charging insurance for some buyers and countries and not others, particularly for high value orders over a certain amount. We also need to keep in mind that insurance is not available for some countries or types of shipment.

For me, there are some countries I want to always require insurance for, even on orders as low as $50. Brazil, Mexico and Italy come quickly to mind. There are also a few buyers I want to always require insurance for; such as buyers with bad reputations, a history of filing PayPal claims too quickly or too often, and buyers with multiple BL accounts or with whom I or others have had bad experiences.

Again, MOST buyers should be able to use the immediate payment on checkout option. But, as a seller, I would like the flexibility to over-ride that on a case-by-case basis if I deem it necessary.

Thor

DagsBricks

Based on my understanding of how this site is intended to work, you should work that into your shipping. Add a few pennies to each order so that you can swallow the cost of purchasing insurance for a few orders. This site is not Bricklink nor does it appear to want to be. This is a great experiment in creating an instant checkout marketplace.

Those of you who sell on Amazon and ebay, how do you handle insurance?

Brian

Lawrence

Insurance is another thing that you can work into the shipping. There is a maximum order value limit on shipping methods which can help with this also.

Lar

@Admin, is there a facility to pretend to be a buyer and go all the way through the checkout process to test setups?

(I was able to go as far as getting to paypal and then cancelling which I guess is far enough, but it felt odd because it was "me on me" action...)

Lawrence

Yes, add a non-instant payment method such as cheque and name it "Test", then disable it after you're done. It will affect your inventory though.