Aug 27th, 2008
Why do Some eBay Sellers (and Other Vendors) Refuse to Ship to Hawaii, at Least Cheaply?
As a devoted hunter of lower prices, I often peruse Craigslist, eBay, or just the Internet in general in search of products I’m interested in. For instance, it’s clear I’m going to need a new crankset on my bicycle, so I’ve been checking out eBay and qbike.com on a semi-regular basis to see if there’s anything offered that I’m interested in.
Today I found a crankset that I was mildly interested in. It’s definitely a vintage, quality product at what seems like will be a reasonable price when the auction is over, but the description includes the following:
“Shipping is $10 to the continental U.S. only.”
Elsewhere in the listing the seller indicates he’s using the United States Postal Service, so I’m wondering why this is an issue? Fortunately, this seller, when contacted, was more than willing to make allowances for Hawai’i–which is a state of the union, and in fact is the one I live in–but there are so many other sellers who refuse to ship here, and even when they do, it’s at very high prices.
A few weeks ago I was interested in an item being sold by Woot; I was so interested I tried to order it, but I found that they, also, do not ship to Hawai’i (except for t shirts!). Some vendors will indeed ship here, but since they won’t ship by the least expensive of the shipping services (USPS), the price for shipping is often ridiculous–so much so that I sometimes have an item shipped to a friend on the continent who will then reship the item to me via USPS.
Why is this such a problem? Don’t they want my business?
Free shipping isn’t an option for every vendor, of course, but it’s one of the reasons I order more often from The Apple Store or Amazon than just about anyone else. I don’t mind paying for shipping as long as they actually let me get the item and then find a reasonable way to send it to me. Please, sellers, let me buy from you in a way that works for both of us! I’d love to give you my business–and so would my neighbors.
I am a casual seller who only sells something 4-6 times per year. I don’t ship outside the continental US for one key reasons:
Time – if I am not sure about the price to ship to Hawaii or Alaska, I doubt it is worth my time to figure it out.
[...] Uncommon Cents – Why do Some eBay Sellers (and Other Vendors) Refuse to Ship to Hawaii, at Least Cheaply? [...]
I could be wrong, but I thought it was the same price to ship via USPS to Hawaii/Alaska as any other state in the USA.
I lived in Hawaii for 5 years, so I feel your pain. However, necessity is the mother of invention, so when I moved to Denver I started a package forwarding service to Hawaii and Alaska. It’s a service I wish I had when I lived in Hawaii. Check it out at http://www.AlohaForwarding.com.
[...] long ago, I bemoaned that many vendors who sold on eBay or otherwise made products available for sale over th… My solution at the time was to have items sent to a friend on the continental United States, then [...]