Ebay to make free postage on DVDs Compulsory!

Brooker_Dave

fox wrote: »

International postage doesn't fall under this rule, I just listed and I was allowed to choose my own international postage.

Really pointless this whole thing. Now noone will be able to offer different postage servies. I used to offer second class (as the cheapest option) or first class - buyer could decide.

Now as I have to list "free" it will all be going second class to keep my "total price" competative. So obviouly a moneymaking exercise for ebay.. no way they sat around and discussed this as a good iddea to make a better buyer experience.

Theres a good "beak down" of the official ebay email on this here:
http://www.buildaskill.com/blog/2008/10/07/ebayag-reacts-to-free-pp-campaign-criticisms/

I think the guy has it spot on..

"And to top it off, as a company that retails nothing whatsoever, you have the gall to tell me what customers want? I’ve been in retail longer than most of your staff have been alive"

Respect.

traveller022

Does anyone think its worthwhile listing my West Wing series 1-7 dvd's in another category? For example, if people are searching for west wing dvd's and I list mine in say books, or any category where I can charge postage, surely buyers will still find it. This way I'd only lose out if people were browsing the dvd section. Alternatively are there any other auction sites I could use? Postage won't be cheap on 44 dvd's!

soolin

traveller022 wrote: »

Does anyone think its worthwhile listing my West Wing series 1-7 dvd's in another category? For example, if people are searching for west wing dvd's and I list mine in say books, or any category where I can charge postage, surely buyers will still find it. This way I'd only lose out if people were browsing the dvd section. Alternatively are there any other auction sites I could use? Postage won't be cheap on 44 dvd's!

I wouldn't risk them on another category, if you get reported for misusing the categories the auction gets pulled anyway.

Try Amazon instead, although you still only get a £1.25 credit before fees for postage.

bertbugman

Most older dvds on ebay used to start at 99p with sellers usually charging £1 - £2 postage fees, now the starting price is £1.99 or £2.99 with "free postage" :whistle:there's nowt for free in this life.

moomaloo

RFW wrote: »

There really is no reason why on Ebay Brian in Barnsley can charge £5 for p & p on a Harry Potter DVD and Gary in Glasgow charges £1.25 for the same p & p, a flat rate makes sense to me.

Agreed, but the difficulty here is when Brian is selling a rare limited edition first pressing 6 disc Harry Potter DVD with an incredibly large and fragile case (maybe shaped like Hagrid's head or something...!) and Gary is just selling the bog-standard single disc version. - They're both 'Harry Potter DVDs' as far as eBay are concerned but the buyer expectation will be very different.

One would expect that Brian's item would cost more to post and should be packaged a lot better than Gary's.

I occasionally sell rare, limited edition CDs and LPs on eBay. Some of these are multiple disc sets and, particularly in the case of records, can be extremely heavy. My buyers expect my packaging to be of a very high standard. High standards cost money. Given that I prefer to list my items as auction-only I can't really increase my selling price to cover the cost of postage / packing. (And, I might add, I only charge what it actually costs me for P&P).

The only way I can currently get round this is to list the heavy multi-disc sets as 'memorabilia' rather than under the 'music' category. I could compromise and use cheap flimsy packaging but my buyers would soon complain.

It's a headache..!

sujynx

And now ebay are spreading the free postage to cover lots more items as I knew they would. It starts on June 15th
see here pages.ebay.co.uk/sell/april2009/pandp.html

I'm off to ebid - there's only one winner on ebay with this. Anyone can work out the total price when bidding. Why should we have to offer free postage ? As sellers it should be up to us.

"eBay Shop owners will qualify for a 20% Final Value Fee discount when they offer free P&P" Well I don't have an ebay shop so thanks for nothing ebay.

<I feel better after that>

duncansby

I think the longer term problem for selling DVDs (and Cds) on ebay is that the bottom has fallen out of the market. If you still have a dvd retailer like HMV in your local town they are selling DVDs more than 6 months old for 3 or 4 pounds, so who would want to pay much more than that on ebay.

Potsdamerplatz

E-bay should be ashamed of themselves.

They are basically forcing the ordinary punter to compete with the likes of HMV, Amazon and Play.com who offer free postage on most DVD deals.

I haven't sold a DVD since before Christmas and won't be doing so again. They are the most greedy company I have ever come across.

goodfella66

I'd love to know whether sales of DVDs have gone up or down since Ebay implemented the free postage. Also, whether the actual amount being listed is more or less.

Blame_the_French

Why are ebay not applying this rule to Ireland?