tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1693176331381554957.post8539223084695113740..comments2024-03-23T10:16:21.093-07:00Comments on MattCha's Blog: Ground Shipping China Post Puerh is the New Tea Horse RoadMatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736984697520031171noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1693176331381554957.post-63330243484158404212017-06-21T17:19:51.178-07:002017-06-21T17:19:51.178-07:00Some mules cost more. This is certainly true where...Some mules cost more. This is certainly true where I live.Cwynhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17990034926886208526noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1693176331381554957.post-27317062154456367592017-06-20T11:54:43.510-07:002017-06-20T11:54:43.510-07:00Cwyn,
Thanks for putting all of your expertise an...Cwyn,<br /><br />Thanks for putting all of your expertise and experience on this commonly overlooked tea related issue out there.<br /><br />Your writings have helped me override my bias towards "free shipping". I find it amusing that tea shipments that are the same size, weight and come from the same area can have such a difference in shipping price.<br /><br />PeaceMatthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02736984697520031171noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1693176331381554957.post-47676394771846609142017-06-19T13:53:23.444-07:002017-06-19T13:53:23.444-07:00I actually give a lot of credit to vendors who cha...I actually give a lot of credit to vendors who charge shipping because they are presenting reality. eBay and Aliexpress and Amazon trained buyers to look for Free Shipping. I remember when EBay informed all sellers when their Search algorithm would favor items with Free Shipping. This caused a huge brouhaha because buyers would then see Free Shipping items first in Search, even when the the price for the item is higher. <br /><br />The reason selling platforms did this was because the previous strategy used by sellers was listing an item for 99 cents and the shipping cost at $60. Sellers only paid commission to EBay or Amazon etc. based on the selling price, not the shipping. So, as a seller I would rather pay 10 cents commission on a 99 cent sale rather than pay $10 on a $60 sale. This is called "Fee avoidance," but it worked until selling platforms decided they could collect the correct commission by favoring sellers who didn't charge anything for shipping. The only way to compete with this algorithm was to use Free Shipping and just try and add as much of the shipping as you could afford as a seller into the sale price. During this period of time, buyers got trained to look for Free Shipping because these listings were all first in their searches. Buyers got "used" to Free Shipping. Chinese sellers forced to compete with each other all had to use Free Shipping, They still do this for the most part. <br /><br />The algorithms have changed again, and other factors affect search on big retailer sites. But the impression remains, and Chinese sellers still try to compete using Free Shipping, With puerh, if I see $9.99 for a brick tea with Free Shipping, I can assume the tea is probably awful to mediocre at best. Cwynhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17990034926886208526noreply@blogger.com