As a buyer - what do you want cheap shipping or free posting ?

StaffsSW

kprigg wrote: »

I dont think people should include their time & petrol costs etc into the p&p price

Surely it depends if they are a business or private seller? I agree that a private seller only needs to cover their fees and postage in order to be "in profit", but a business seller is not driving to the post office/courier depot on thin air, or selling on ebay purely for anthropological reasons!

Time and fuel are a legitimate cost and should be factored into selling prices - in my case, time is factored into the selling price, and fuel is aggregated on past usage and roughly split across the same number of items sold in that period. Some days I may only have 3 items to post, others may have 23 to post, but I wouldn't dream of charging the buyers more on those 3 items.

Patrick20

A)obvious overcharging
C) either of these two, i always look at total price i pay and go for the cheapest. D) would make me feel like i'm paying too much postage, 200% of the item.

StaffsSW

Patrick20 wrote: »

A)obvious overcharging

Is it really though? It is a hypothetical question - we do not know what the item is or what it weighs, therefore it is impossible to jump to such a conclusion.

C) either of these two, i always look at total price i pay and go for the cheapest. D) would make me feel like i'm paying too much postage, 200% of the item.

But again, what if it is a low value but heavy item such as a book?

Your post highlights exactly why it is so difficult for a seller to do the "right" thing, when opinions are so subjective and why I also find that the cheaper the item, the higher the risk of having a picky buyer trash my stars.

thepedestrian

thats the point Ebay should educate buyers as well as sellers as to what the DSR rating system protocols are

RFW

thepedestrian wrote: »

thats the point Ebay should educate buyers as well as sellers as to what the DSR rating system protocols are

There aren't any buyer protocols for DSRs, its about perceptions, you can't tell people what their experience was.

Some people love going to Venice and say it is the best city in the world, some say its a dirty smelly place, so one gives it 5 stars and another gives it one star, if it was selling itself on Ebay it would be unfair.

I think I do pretty well with a buyer experience but you're always going to have problems along the way, no amount of 'education' can stop someone leaving one star for whatever reason they feel like. For communication, it could be for sending too many emails or too few emails. For item described, it could be because the t-shirt they bought didn't fit them, even though they'd ordered it two sizes too small. For dispatch time, they may mark down because they forgot to pick it up at the post office and got the parcel two week's later. For p & p charges they might think you profited an extra 5p.

Do the best you can, treat people as you would expect to be treated yourself, if that doesn't work and you aren't making a profit, give up:p

cyberbob

thepedestrian wrote: »

thats the point Ebay should educate buyers as well as sellers as to what the DSR rating system protocols are

If you start telling buyers what they should do and what their experience is you'll just drive them away. As RFW said treat people how you wish to be treated and you should do OK. you'll always get one or two who don't agree no matter what you do but in my experience 99% of ebay buyers are honest and just want a quick hassle free buying experience without thinking they are being taken advantage or ripped off.

macfly

I agree with the above when you are talking about remote selling. And the vast majority are honest decent people. Expecting them to understand the importance of the star system may be a bit much. Pleasant as they are, many can't read a listing properly. How many emails do you get asking questions which are covered clearly in the listing? Is this new? Has it got a warranty? Any marks on it? Listing is "used, in full working order, 90 day warranty, some scratches to the top seen in picture 2". I rest my case.

thepedestrian

well sellers are expected to know the rules inside out about what / how / what`s not allowed etc , maybe some less variable aspects of the DSR process should be taken out of the poor buyers hands ( bless em ! ) and be made automatic - i.e. if it was post free a minimum rating of X must be given - did it arrive within the listed stated time ( 2 days ) ...it arrives in 2 days ,again a minimum rating of X would apply

better still build in to it feedback calculation software that would have for example 8 mainly yes / no questions and a couple of the automated ones mentioned above , the buyer would then enter anwsers and a DSR calculation pops out the other end - either automatically inserted or left for a yes / no answser to use the generated DSR`s

thepedestrian

RFW wrote: »

There aren't any buyer protocols for DSRs, its about perceptions, you can't tell people what their experience was.

Thats not right - its not about perceptions if its free postage - then its free postage , if it states 2 days delivery - it arrives in 2 days - no perception there just facts:p

RFW

thepedestrian wrote: »

Thats not right - its not about perceptions if its free postage - then its free postage , if it states 2 days delivery - it arrives in 2 days - no perception there just facts:p

As I said two people can always see 'facts' differently. If you pay for an item at 6pm on a Wednesday and it states two day delivery, does that mean it will arrive Thursday, or that it will be sent out Thursday and arrive 2 working days later on a Monday? That's where the perceptions come in, one customer will expect it Thursday and another maybe Friday or even Monday.