I sold something on trademe recently, and due to not wanting it damaged, I packed it in quite a large box with lots of padding. The shipping came to about $15 cost price, which I thought was fair, and I told the buyer the price. However the buyer wasn't happy and said that they could get stuff shipped from china cheaper than that for the same sized item. I always wondered though how stuff shipped from china is so cheap, although I had heard that the incoming countries post system wears much of that cost. IMO sellers shouldn't probably be charging for their time to pack, unless they are a businesses. Otherwise IMO they should be paying tax on that extra amount they are making.
When I was selling a DSLR on TradeMe I'd put free tracked courier plus free packaging etc. in the listing. I got a lot of favourable comments about the effort I'd made to pack it safely even if it took them a few minutes to un-wrap everything.
The item in my case was about $100 and was getting back what I paid for it, as it was a new item, so very difficult to absorb free shipping in the price. I always pack stuff well too and get good comments too, as I have had a lot of bad courier damaged experiences.
I only charge what the courier quotes on TM and sort of factor in the packaging cost into the asking price for the item. Agree, packaging items cost a fair bit but I do try to avoid those sellers who put exorbitant shipping charges
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