The short version: I'm not out to make any money on shipping charges.

The long version:

You pay what it costs me to ship your item and nothing more.  If you successfully bid on several items, I'll ship them together and just charge you the actual shipping cost.  That said, the bottom line is that I'm willing to ship any way you want as long as you're paying for it!

As a default, and unless you request otherwise, the small stuff I ship USPS Priority mail with delivery confirmation.  This costs about $4.00 for one pound, $4.50 for two.  See www.usps.com for current rates.  For stuff going by USPS I try to estimate in the auction how much it'll cost.  Over four pounds I start looking at UPS ground.

If the item you're buying is going to go UPS, FedEx or USPS Express mail, I do the following: I "overcharge" you by some amount that I'm sure will cover the cost of shipping.  When I ship the item, I throw a check in the box that will refund the difference between the shipping cost and what you paid me.  This saves me trips and gets the item to you much faster.

Please note that it doesn't make much sense to over night a personal check to me and ask for over night shipping back -- I hold onto personal checks until they clear, so you've got about a two week delay built in with a personal check.  It makes much more sense that if you're in that much of a hurry you send a money order, cashier's check or pay by PayPal.

Buyer pays for shipping insurance if necessary.  It's hard to quantify, but depending on how fragile the item is, etc. I may require insurance.  When we get over about $100 I require it (depending on what it is).  Send mail if you have a question specific to an item I'm selling.

Last point on shipping -- if you have an item that's going UPS, UPS charges LESS for shipping to a business address -- this is businesses in an industrial area, not businesses that are in a home.  You might save yourself some money if you work for a company that'll receive personal shipments!  If you do chose to ship to a business address, you need to tell that's what I'm shipping to as well as the company's name and phone number.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to send me mail.

roakey V4 2002/02/17