Ebay to make free postage on DVDs Compulsory!

RFW

deebeedee wrote: »

If the shipping costs are clearly shown before the customer buys, there is absolutely no reason for eBay to be involved in the shipping fees. If the customer doesn't want to pay, they just shouldn't bid.

In which case they'll go to any other site they can where the pricing is clear, hence the reason Ebay are changing it.

If you can't factor in your costs, expenses, VAT, and show a profit, don't sell on Ebay, use another site, start your own or give up, its simple.

JPS

RFW wrote: »

If you can't factor in your costs, expenses, VAT, and show a profit, don't sell on Ebay, use another site, start your own or give up, its simple.

It really isn't that simple when we all know that eBay have a complete monopoly on the C2C market? eBay shouldn't be pushing sellers away because their stupid fees and rules make it too hard to make a profit on their site any more, that's not what they are about.

Starting your own site or giving up are hardly 2 viable options!!! How silly....

RFW

JPS wrote: »

It really isn't that simple when we all know that eBay have a complete monopoly on the C2C market?

Do we? Ebay don't have any such monopoly, there are loads of other options. The only thing Ebay have a monopoly on is Ebay, it didn't exist ten years ago and buyers and sellers got by without it, if it ceased trading tomorrow I suspect buyers and sellers will still get by.

If you want to sell on Ebay, then do so, if you can't do it profitably with their changes then don't, I really can't see why saying so is 'silly'.

soolin

hereishappyhelen wrote: »

I have 2 question, if anybody knows the answer that would be great...

1) Will postage for dvds still have to be free for overseas to???

2) Can I offer special delivery at an extra cost for dvds?

Thanks for any comments...:beer:

1) Only the UK post and packing is free so yes a charge can be shown for shipping outside the UK
2) Yes you can add further services but of course the default postage will be free and no sane buyer is going to pay for insurance that only benefits the seller.

gtmacc

[FONT=&quot]This is truly awful news for selling on ebay, i was willing to accept the recent rate price hike but this is the last straw for me selling on ebay, this is clearly aimed at making more money via fees just to feed there profit margins.

How can ebay justify this, just because they have the market cornered doesn't mean they can charge what they want![/FONT]

hereishappyhelen

soolin wrote: »

1) Only the UK post and packing is free so yes a charge can be shown for shipping outside the UK
2) Yes you can add further services but of course the default postage will be free and no sane buyer is going to pay for insurance that only benefits the seller.

Thanks for the answers.

Its not that I want them to pay for insurance, sometimes people are happy to pay extra for it to be sent special delivery so they know for sure they will get it the next day, say for a bithday present etc, As we all know first class does not always get there the next day ,

Brooker_Dave

RFW wrote: »

Why on earth would he be against a clear pricing structure? It is better for the consumer.

How is paying more for something better for the consumer?

And how many consumers are too dim to add up?

Brooker_Dave

gtmacc wrote: »

[FONT=&quot]This is truly awful news for selling on ebay, i was willing to accept the recent rate price hike but this is the last straw for me selling on ebay, this is clearly aimed at making more money via fees just to feed there profit margins.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]How can ebay justify this, just because they have the market cornered doesn't mean they can charge what they want![/FONT]

Ebay don't want small sellers.

Quite a few large and few very large sellers will be cheaper to manage than 10s of thousands of normal people.

Sellers cost money.

RFW

Brooker_Dave wrote: »

How is paying more for something better for the consumer?

And how many consumers are too dim to add up?

Most consumers want a flat price, ie the price they see is the price they pay. Yes they can mostly add up, but most people see extra charges (however they are justified) as a rip off, inclusive pricing is always a better marketing strategy, that's why the likes of WH Smith and HMV do it. If the price is all inclusive then the prices with competitors will be on a level playing field and will in a free market start to fall, a few moaning small sellers won't really bother anyone.

You are quite right that Ebay ultimately want more big sellers, less overheads, less problems and maximises profit, that's what they're interested in, as you so often like to point out.

Contains_Mild_Peril

RFW wrote: »

Why on earth would he be against a clear pricing structure? It is better for the consumer. If you can't make it work selling on Ebay, go somewhere else. They are currently losing customers to Amazon and can't compete as they are, I wouldn't even think of buying a cd, dvd or book on Ebay first, I always go to Amazon, a new pricing structure may just make people like me have another look on Ebay to buy.

Interesting. I haven't used Amazon for a few months because I can usually find what I'm looking for much cheaper on eBay, but the last time I did shop on Amazon I found the pricing structure much less clear than eBay's. Postage at a flat rate per order normally applied to items bought directly from Amazon, but with free postage if above a certain threshold. Items from third party sellers were listed alongside Amazon's own items leaving the customer to check which items were from Amazon (and so would count towards or be included in free p&p), and just like eBay, delivery charges for many items varied hugely between different sellers.
I found eBay's system much easier: just add item price and postage together for each item you buy. If the arithmetic is too much for you, Buy It Now items show the total before you commit to buy. Simple. I really can't understand why anyone would have a problem with that.
I can understand fixed rate UK p&p for items like single DVDs or CDs when there is generally little variation in size or weight, but inclusive p&p makes items less attractive to overseas buyers if they're paying postage on top of a price which already includes UK postage, and also makes it impossible for the seller to offer postage discounts.
I've also bought a few cheap but good value items on eBay from Hong Kong, which would probably not have been worth the seller's while to sell to the UK if free p&p were required.
When buying from sellers who actually weigh items and charge p&p accordingly (and yes, they do exist), the p&p charged would be a good indicator of the approximate weight and possibly size of the item, which is another reason why fixed maximums for books are a bad idea.
As a buyer as well as a seller, I feel I'm losing out all round.