Official ruling on p+p for a book?

antispam246

I'm trying to find the exact ruling according to eBay on something,

If I list a book in the "book" section of eBay I have to offer free p+p right? Can I still put "see description" and then add the p+p costs to my item's description?

If I did this would I be breaking the rules and what would be the consequences?

Really need a definitive answer on this, many thanks.

cyberbob

antispam246 wrote: »

I'm trying to find the exact ruling according to eBay on something,

If I list a book in the "book" section of eBay I have to offer free p+p right? Can I still put "see description" and then add the p+p costs to my item's description?

If I did this would I be breaking the rules and what would be the consequences?

Really need a definitive answer on this, many thanks.

No you can't the first domestic option has to be free (just add it to your start price)

You could try what you said but the buyer is totally within rights to refuse to pay it and you can get reported. Listings pulled and maybe lots of negs low DSRs etc.

antispam246

What about listing it in a different category, like "others"? which would allow you to put p+p is that a no no too?

soolin

antispam246 wrote: »

What about listing it in a different category, like "others"? which would allow you to put p+p is that a no no too?

If you put it in the wrong category then you can be reported for that as well. Also, stuff in the wrong category often doesn't sell as well.

A colleague of mine was doing very nicely from a couple of sellers who tried to be clever getting round the rules. I need to be careful what I say as there are still live listings but say for instance they were horse riding fanatics and happened to see some rare horse riding books in the pet 'others' section. Those books are obscure and no one browsing for books (as many of us do to resell on Amazon) would know the titles off hand so wouldn't check them out and because they don't come up if you browse books they were selling at opening price of 99p plus a couple of quid for postage.These books have been delivered and listed already on Amazon for £25+. So far one seller has got stroppy and refused to sell as they know how much the books are worth and say it isn't fair that buyer got them for 99p, but that is their problem for trying to get round the P and P rules and if seller insists on refusing to send then no doubt my colleague will leave a strongly worded neg.

A book with a popular title would come up if buyer does a search for that book alone, but any casual browsers looking just through the various book sections for impulse buys would never see your stuff.

chja

antispam246 wrote: »

I'm trying to find the exact ruling according to eBay on something,

If I list a book in the "book" section of eBay I have to offer free p+p right? Can I still put "see description" and then add the p+p costs to my item's description?

If I did this would I be breaking the rules and what would be the consequences?

Really need a definitive answer on this, many thanks.

This would rather defeat the object of free postage on books.

There are some sections where you can still charge for a book - for example if it is a Disney book, you can list under Collectables -> Disney -> books and legitimately charge postage.

Not sure what others there are and which would get you the best total price.

pinkshoes

Why don't you add the cost of the postage to the start price?

phizzimum

so have I understood this correctly...ebay wants all books to have free postage? is this a recent change?

I'm a bit confused, as I recently bid on a book which was listed as having free postage. I won the item and received an invoice which had added a postage cost. I emailed the seller, as I wouldn't have bid on the book if I'd known he was going to do this. He has agreed to cancel the transaction, but said that book seller often list postage as free but still charge. I just don't understand this. I have carefully re read the listing and it doesn't say "contact seller for postage costs" or anything like that.

how do we know whether free postage means what it says?

soolin

If they try and charge you postage then refuse to pay, as you did, and leave a neg to warn other buyers. Free post and packing, whilst unpopular among many book sellers is not negotiable you either comply or risk a neg and a non performing seller complaint.

You might be interested in my post yesterday on the sticky thread about changes on ebay.

phizzimum

thanks soolin - i'm use ebay quite regularly but I'm not up to date on any changes. I just wanted to know where I stand with this guy, and whether it was me being a bit thick or him being a bit cheeky!

milliemonster

Do you know I am glad this has been asked, my oh has put some books on yesterday for a friend of my dad's who was going to throw them out, I told my oh that I thought P&P had to be free on ebay now for books, he's new to selling so when he listed the items he showed me the listing page and it did state that other couriers can be used and charged for which is the option he has selected?, can anyone explain what's going on????

TurkishDelight

milliemonster wrote: »

Do you know I am glad this has been asked, my oh has put some books on yesterday for a friend of my dad's who was going to throw them out, I told my oh that I thought P&P had to be free on ebay now for books, he's new to selling so when he listed the items he showed me the listing page and it did state that other couriers can be used and charged for which is the option he has selected?, can anyone explain what's going on????

That's for couriers- ie, not Royal Mail. If you don't use a courier, but put a charge for one you can face all the above- negs, reporting etc.