Ebay packaging and postal costs - am I being naive?

missile

The fees on £16 item are ........... not a lot and certainly not worth the hassle trying you seem to go to in avoiding paying them.

Hermia

rainbowsox wrote:

Evening all...I haven't started a new thread before, so apologies if this has been discussed before - please just point me to the link...
When I sell on ebay, I only charge the actual cost of the postage for the item I'm selling - I don't charge for packaging, as I have a large hoard of old jiffy bags, bubble wrap, brown paper etc.

If you are going to be doing a lot of ebay-ing you should sit down and actually work out your packaging costs. I used to not charge for packaging as I re-used packaging, but then it suddenly occured to me that I was getting through tons of parcel tape and then using the odd bit of new packaging if my old stuff wasn't suitable. As the items I sell are not high-value I soon realised I was eating into my profits if I didn't charge something for packaging.

dounome

I think it boils down to the fact that your just being honest whereby lots of others are just greedy and dishonest with p & p of items. I buy from ebay frequently and would never buy from someone who obviously has hiked up the postage.

appleblossom

I only ever charge the postage rate plus the actual cost of those blue postal bags, don't charge for tape, petrol etc (trip to the PO gets me out of the house for half an hour lol), I weigh everything beforehand so my postal charges are normally obscure amounts like £5.39 etc!!I don;t object to paying packaging charges at all, though I don't like rip-off merchants though who use p&p as fee avoidance. but.........thats just my personal opinion.

code^express

pgilc1 wrote:

Its all swings and roundabouts though isnt it? £1 + £16 postage = £17, £14 + £3 postage = £17, £17 for the item with free postage = £17. Don't think it would bother me though i know it gets up some peoples noses

Why not the "X" item might cost more than £17.00. If I like the item say nearly new or so it might worth paying the £17.00 than paying full price.

I bought an item from Hong Kong BIN for £2.99 P&P £20.00 brand new and the actual postage only cost him £5.00 the product for me to get from John Lewis is £85.00 so which one will you go for?

By the way product from John Lewis & the Hong Kong seller are the same.

CODEBREAKER

when i sell on ebay and use buy now i put a small price and big p&p due to ebay selling fees.

i always note this in the discription so people are aware of the high p&p

Jazzy_B

I've always charged an extra 40p ish on post rates, but lately I've noticed that I've been getting less for identical items than some people are charging for postage. I've decided to increase post rates a bit and see what happens.In the past I thought I was being fair, because I'm not prepared to pay excessive amounts myself, but a lot of people seem prepared to spend more on postage.

dodger65

CODEBREAKER wrote:

when i sell on ebay and use buy now i put a small price and big p&p due to ebay selling fees.

i always note this in the discription so people are aware of the high p&p

I wouldn't actually state in my auction that you are doing it to avoid ebay fees - because that's a big red flag to your competitors to grass you up.
There's ebayer powersellers on MSE who readily admit part of there business model includes trawling through all there competitors listings to find the slightest infringment of ebay rules so they can report them and get there listing booted .

rainbowsox

pgilc1 wrote:

Its all swings and roundabouts though isnt it? £1 + £16 postage = £17, £14 + £3 postage = £17, £17 for the item with free postage = £17. Don't think it would bother me though i know it gets up some peoples noses

Yes, I can see that - obviously if you've got a price in mind at which you are prepared to buy, as a buyer it doesn't really matter what proportion of the cost is p and p and which the cost of the item....although would it affect compensation if the item went missing in the post?

I suppose to me it just doesn't "feel" right to charge disproportionate p and p costs - apart from the fact it's against ebay rules?

rainbowsox

I am also beginning to realise that there's a whole ebay "culture", which is different to other ways of buying and selling..and i'm grateful to everyone that posts on here, as i'm learning alot. I think what worries me about disproportionately high postage costs is that there are a lot of people out there with little money and less sense who will home in on the low price and forget about the postage costs...then realise they've paid in total way over the odds...i know that's not my responsibility...caveat emptor and all that...it still niggles at me though. I used to work with people in severe debt, and it was pitiful how easily they were sold the most awful products /deals because they were vulnerable...
I think if i could meet the buyers face to face it would be easier... in my job i have no trouble charging the going rate because it's a face to face transaction....i suppose high p and p smacks of "small print" to me - although i suppose it helps if you indicate in the description what the p and p is to try and ensure people are aware of it.