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Doing a little collector based market research. When buying from ebay, which is more important to you? The item in question is priced at $6.99 USD and shipping to USA is $1.00 and anywhere in the world (Global) is only $1.50 USD.

Identical items sell for 6.99 up to 10.99 with domestic shipping ranging from $4.00 to $4.50 USD.

Would the inexpensive shipping be enough to sway you to buy my item over the competitions?

Question number 2: The same item is priced at $1.50 more ( $8.49 USD) than the competition but the shipping is Free. Do most of you add the shipping costs into your consideration to buy or do you just shop by item price alone?

When I am looking for newly released items that are available from many sellers, I always select the list option of "Price + P&P: lowest first" so I don't really care if the postage itself is more or less - but everything together should be one of the cheaper offers (though not necessarily the cheapest).

I would sort the listings by price + p&p with the lowest first. I would look at the feedback of each seller in turn until I found one which I would be confident buying from.

I look at the combined price and make a judgement on the seller (feedback score, items sold and for sale, etc). Sometimes, especially inland, a low shipping price can mean poor quality shipping materials, so I would also need to be sure that the item would reach me safely.

When looking on ebay both the item price and carriage are considerd as a combined total. But if the item is one that is
wanted the cost of carriage is probaly of secondry importance. The carriage charges from the US are sometimes higher than
what the item is worth so then the item would not be considered

Idris wrote:I would sort the listings by price + p&p with the lowest first. I would look at the feedback of each seller in turn until I found one which I would be confident buying from.

I adopt the same approach to buying as Hugh.

I'm going to make it easier for everyone. I've just laid in a huge supply of Matchbox replacement treads/tracks. I've the green treads for all size Cats, Case & Drott as well as for the Ruston Major Pack crane. Green a gray treads for the crane and the half track and white treads for the snowtrak. I also have green ones for the Kings. Packaging will be minimal as they are almost impossible to damage in transit. I want to keep my price as low as possible and the shipping to be minimal or free. But free shipping means a slightly higher item price (as nothing is really free, I've still got to pay the postman).

They will be priced in pairs and if I do go with a shipping charge, the one charge will allow multiple pairs to be mailed at no additional cost. If I go with free shipping, additional pairs will be discounted.

Does that change anyone's opinions and i would like to hear all opinions.

when i was working...my budget was very high...never paid attention to shipping unless it was like 20 bucks or something stupid...now i add it in as my budget is very small...if im lucky ill have 100 dollars for the year to spend on models...so yeah i penny pinch as much as possible...im also at the point where i have all the commons and am not just trying to get the rares...as most people...so if i see a 99 cent auction with 9.99 shipping...if the auction goes to 2 3 5 dollars or higher im out

as far and accessories...i used to buy them...like what JP is selling...now i wont even consider them as i rather have the model missing easy to source parts than buy them right now

Brad Pittiful wrote:
as far and accessories...i used to buy them...like what JP is selling...now i wont even consider them as i rather have the model missing easy to source parts than buy them right now

...but if your were in the market, what would be the most attractive option for you?

From some other's comments, I gather a low buy it now price gets me on the radar of their search and then shipping cost is sorted out later.

Here's what I don't want to be:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Matchbox-M3-Cen ... 5658453d21
13.00 USD for a set of treads with $5.50 for shipping! Ouch, you don't even get a movie or dinner with that date rape.

Or this, from the same seller.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Matchbox-49-Hal ... 3a8bf14ad5
$11.00 USD and $4.50 for shipping for these gray half track or crane treads/tracks. Both cost the same as a pair of green tracks for a Cat and he's got them marked up to silly prices. The tank track weigh a fraction of an ounce more then the rest of the tracks and yet he;s gouging another dollar in shipping costs.

I like to be able to sleep at night.