Ebay - sellers charged me for `extras`

StaffsSW

appleblossom wrote: »

Perhaps it is about time ebay started selling at a single price only with both asking and post price combined as a starting price as I for one and fed up with sellers taking the p.

You can always sort the search results to show a combined P&P...?

But a single price is hardly fair on sellers of heavy, but low value items, such as hardback books, collectables etc, and nor is it an ideal situation for those living in the "surcharge" areas of Northern Ireland or the Scottish Highlands/Islands, and it gives the "collection only" items a massive advantage in search results.

But more importantly, eBay can not levy a fee on a part of the service that they do not provide - I'll try to find the quote, but this was clarified by a Pink a while back when the suggestion was put forward.

Paypal can charge a fee on the total, as their service is one of money transfer/exchange.

But as always, if you don't like the price you are not forced to buy. Buy it from somewhere else - eBay is not the only retail venue, either online or on the high street.

dazza.mk

appleblossom wrote: »

#8

I would not have to pay anything extra in being the buyer.

So you think that if eBay fees increase whether through insistance on 'equalising the postage' or general fee increases that you don't actually pay them through an increase in the purchase price or P&P????

And of course if it is through an increase in the purchase price you'll also pay the 3.4% Paypal fee.

flea72

dazza.mk wrote: »

If someone lists something for
£10 + £2 P&P

or £2 + £10 P&P

and the item arrives safely I don't really care how much the stamp cost!

yes, all well and good if its as described and arrives safely. But you can bet the one time is doesnt, is when you paid for the £2 item with £10 p&p, in which case you only may get a £2 refund, as the seller doesnt have to refund postage. But then again, you only get that refund if you return the item at your cost, by a trackable method. The sellers know you wont bother, so they are £12 up!

yes, as a buyer you should factor the p&p charge into your maximum bid, but its when sellers take the pee, by adding excessive amounts on, that you have no idea about. ie most people can roughly guess how much a cd would weigh and cost to sent, but its unknown weights/dimensions where most sellers really try and up the p&p costs

most buyers dont mind sellers rounding up postage to the nearest pound, over the actual cost of the wrapping/stamps, but its when they add on £10s. Ive even been charged for collecting items in the past from sellers houses. so how do they justify p&p?

Flea

martindow

Lisey_Loo wrote: »

Seller 2 charged me £6.40. I bought 6 CD`s from him over 2 auctions. I emailed to ask if I could pay for them all together, and asked for a postage discount, he replied yes to both questions, discount would be applied. CD`s arrived in 3 jiffy bags, postage a total of £2.34. I know jiffy bags cost money, as I account for that myself.

Sending CDs in pairs probably is cheapest as they can go at large letter rates rather than a packet. You mentioned asking for a discount. Did you negotiate a figure for this?

grannybiker

flea72 wrote: »

yes, all well and good if its as described and arrives safely. But you can bet the one time is doesnt, is when you paid for the £2 item with £10 p&p, in which case you only may get a £2 refund, as the seller doesnt have to refund postage.
Flea

Not quite right, providing you pay by Paypal, (as most savvy buyers do.) Paypal will refund the total amount paid , i.e. item cost plus P&P if you need to claim an "Item Not Received." or SNAD, (Significantly Not As Described.) Providing you win your claim of course!

windra

As ive pointed out in another thread, it is common and acceptable practice to add extra onto P&P to reduce ebays fees.

When buying an item you should take the cost of the whole into account. Most ebayers do this because it saves the buyer and seller money, ebay does not charge fees on postage, so if you save aprox 10% fees the item overall is cheaper. for example...

A Book costs 50p plus £3 postage, you pay £3.50p, however if you paid £3 for the book and 50p for postage...the seller pays 30p extra in fees...add this to the end cost and its £3.80 instead of £3.50 for the seller to make the same profit...for the sake of how its listed.

30p isnt much, but scale this up for more expensive items and its well worth the savings.

Its not neccecarily morraly right but it works out best for all parties, its just a shame that an awful lot of ebayers dont understand this and think they have been hard done by, when infact they have been helped to get a lower cost item.

withabix

appleblossom wrote: »

The OP's seller can be reported to ebay - you are not allowed to cover the cost of paypal charges via the buyer - this was stopped some years ago - I don't think you can out the selling fees onto the seller either.

You can't ADD fees onto the final selling price and P&P. THe OP's seller didn't do this. They factored these costs into their P&P rate. The OP accepted this by bidding on the item and buying it.

Assuming that I value my time at £20/hour, if it takes me 15 minutes to wrap an item I sell on eBay and take it to the post office, is it not reasonable for me to add £5 to the cost of postage and packaging materials to cover my time, as long as I show the P&P figure in my auction??

If a person bids on my item, he is accepting my charge for getting the item from my desk to his house.

If I then use that £5 to pay my eBay and Paypal fees, surely that's my business.

Personally I use undefined 'other' trackable delivery services that don't price-mark the package whenever possible. That way silly buyers don't know what they don't need to know.

One particular delivery company invariably delivers Economy rate parcels (2-4 day) as quickly as the more expensive Express (1-2 day) service, except at busy times like Christmas. That provides an alternative solution to this problem...

appleblossom

withabix wrote: »

You can't ADD fees onto the final selling price and P&P. THe OP's seller didn't do this. They factored these costs into their P&P rate. The OP accepted this by bidding on the item and buying it.

The OP paid £1.99 believing this to be the cost of post and packing, not that she was paying the sellers fees. Post and packing charges covers the following: (as per ebay help pages)

Sellers may charge reasonable postage & packaging charges to cover the costs of posting, packaging, and handling the items they are selling. While eBay will not prescribe exactly what a seller may or may not charge, eBay will consider member reports when determining whether or not a seller’s postage, handling, packaging, and/or insurance charges are excessive. Postage & packaging and handling charges may not be listed as a percentage of the final sale price.
In addition to the final listing price, sellers are permitted to charge:
Actual Postage cost: This is the actual cost of delivering the item.
Handling Fee: Actual packaging materials costs may be charged. A handling fee in addition to actual postage cost may be charged if it is not excessive. Sellers who want to be sure they are in compliance with this policy may charge actual postage costs plus actual packaging materials cost.
Insurance: Sellers offering insurance may only charge the actual fee for insurance. No additional amount may be added, such as “self-insurance”. Sellers who do not use a licensed third-party insurance company may not require buyers to purchase insurance.

I am sorry, but it does not mention that paypal, listing and final value fees are to be included in this charge therefore, I stand by my first statement, the OP can report the seller for breach of ebay policy.

withabix

appleblossom wrote: »

A handling fee in addition to actual postage cost may be charged if it is not excessive.

If my employer pays me £20/hr, then 15 minutes of my time is justifiably worth £5. Where's your problem?

Whilst eBay and their Paypal company continue to charge extortionate fees for a service which costs them very little (evidenced by their massive profit margins), then they have absolutely no justification for persecuting sellers who try to cover these fees.

The OP placed a bid on an auction for mascara stick which stated that delivery was £1.99. They accepted this by placing their bid. End of story. If they had bought it from Boots.com the delivery cost would have been £2.95. The OP got a bargain - They saved 96p on delivery.

Their seller was foolish for responding honestly by breaking down their handling charges.

Cerisa

tbf I've had buyers think my postage fees are excessive. But - tweed skirt has to go in a large bubble wrap jiffy bag. That's 90p. it generally then costs 1.30 or so to post 1st class. So - as my standard charge is £2.00, i *usually* lose money on postage. And people still think it's excessive.