Avoiding eBay fees by inflating P&P

tonyivb

I was going off subject on a different thread so I thought I'd start a new one.

It appears to me that there are an increasing number of sellers on eBay who are inflating the P&P charges with the apparent aim to avoid paying fees. Some of these vendors are even brazen enough to say as much in their listing.

I agree that sellers are free to charge whatever they like for P&P, and I have no problem with paying a premium on top of the actual cost of postage and packaging as long as it is reasonable and fair.

Also, not everybody has access to scales, therefore they may put a higher than expected P&P amount just to make sure they've covered their costs.

I also accept that some vendors have a minimum shipping cost... usually something like £4.95 for anything under 1kg. Although this may not represent a fair amount for a very small/light item, these guys normally deal in larger or multiple items so this would not be the norm.

I believe that any seasoned eBayer (and most newbies) can tell the difference between a fair P&P amount, a guessed shipping amount and a fee-avoiding cross-subsidy. Especially when a vendor lists a BIN for 1p but with P&P of £29.99, this is a deliberate ploy to avoid eBay fees, which is against eBay T&Cs and is therefore dishonest!

By selling below cost and using P&P to cross-subsidise, these sellers are gaining an advantage over legitimate sellers as they are not paying as much fees. This means they can undercut kosher sellers (or sell at the same price and take more profit).

I deliberately avoid sellers who ramp P&P as I do not want to encourage this dishonest practice. I would much rather pay a bit extra to a reputable seller who is charging a fair overall price.

Conversely, I accept that there are people who are just interested in getting something as cheap as possible without regard for the legitimacy of the goods or the transaction.

I would be interested to hear the opinions of others about this practice.

Sugar_Coated_Owl

I avoid all sellers who list their items in such a way. I view them as dishonest and would not want to deal with them.

Buying from such sellers is encouraging that kind of auction/BIN listing. If people didn't bid, surely the seller would have to resort back to listing correctly?

Something should definately be done by eBay to stop this. It's unfair on genuine eBayers who are paying their fees and also at the end of day it's defrauding eBay themselves.

sockospice

I avoid sellers who do that because if there's a problem, you're not going to be particularly happy if you only get the purchase price refunded, and not the p&p

lightstorm_2

The Post Office are changing the way their sevices are priced at the end of August; called 'Pricing in Proportion'.Basically they are to charge by size and weight.Some large,light items may in future cost more to Post.

soolin

sockospice wrote:

I avoid sellers who do that because if there's a problem, you're not going to be particularly happy if you only get the purchase price refunded, and not the p&p

Only if you rely on ebay protection. A paypal claim gets you the full amount back...which can be a bit of a shock to those sellers who inflate their p and p charges.

Soo

Chalky87

I tend to avoid sellers who try and use infalted P+P charges in order to gain more money from there sales, it strikes me that why should honest sellers pay fees and make less profit just because they're going by the rules.

I've even seen some sellers with these higher postage costs actually say in their auctions....

"you know what I'm doing with the higher postage, saves on fees":eek:

Incredible.

highguyuk

At the end of the day, its less money for eBay ... something im all for.

And because there is less money, many sellers who do this can sell the items cheaper and therefore give the consumer better value. I do condone 1p listings and £29.99 P+P as not only is it to avoid fees but maybe to confuse buyers into purchasing not realising the full costs.

I personally do not p+p anywhere near cost price. Games/DVDs etc I will charge £2.49 - £2.99 to post. But I clearly state the total overall cost in my listing to make sure there are no confusions on BIN auctions.

seabiscuit_2

if its true fee avoidance then i have been known to report the seller - someone selling dvds for 99p but the p & p was a tenner, their auctions were removed pretty fast afterwards

but i dont mind people getting a small amount towards fees etc

HugoSP

This annoys me. A shower for 99p but postage is £50!

I don't think so. As Raorbladekisses points out, these people are obviously going to great lengths to avoid fees. how do we know they won't treat their buyers in the same way?

I certanly don't which is why I won't deal with them.

The other thing that annoys me is when sellers want to charge a fee for the buyer collecting the item in person.

H

jackieb

I saw some Chicken Little posters with a BIN of 2p. I thought it would be nice for the dk's room. Then I saw the £15 p&p!

Anthillmob

how do you do BIN @ less than 99p??? it wont let me.