P&P under / over charge.. would you ask for the difference?

ViolaLass

cyberbob wrote: »

You're being very silly.

It comes down to this. If you wish to sell on ebay you have to charge reasonable P&P charges if you don't be it your downfall. As people may still buy your items and then mark your DSRs down. A few low ones of these you start to lose customers you risk your seller compliance going down and the possible suspension. I have bought items that I couldn't get anywhere else and when I realise the postage is extortianate I will happily make my feelings known in the DSRs as that's what they are for.

I think it's pretty clear that I'm not saying that sellers /should/ charge a lot for postage, only that they may charge what they like and you can choose whether to bid or go elsewhere. No one here is complaining that they haven't been able to sell because of their charges, we've only got buyers complaining about charges that were made clear up front.

Also, as an eBay buyer and seller, I've never understood why a buyer shouldn't charge a little more than the literal cost of sending the item. I have no issue with it.

OK, so John Lewis is free - that really was just an example as I've never really ordered from them (I wish!). But Bravissimo, for example, charge £3.50, which I have no issue with although it's quite possible that it costs them less to post my parcels. The charge is stated up front and I have a choice. Free market anyone?

macfly

Also bob, some of your post is rather silly. You buy items you can't buy anywhere else and then damage their business if you feel like it? If they go out of business, where are you going to get these items?

soolin

Using your example if you were able to rate Bravissimo for their postage costs would you rate them as perfect, or maybe take a small percentage of as you feel it a bit high. What if other sites sold the same goods with free or cheaper postage, would you still be happy to buy from the site that charges a lot of postage?

The difference with ebay is that buyers are asked to rate the sellers, and as any seller knows it is far tooe asy to come across a disgruntled seller who misuses the system, the last thing any of us need is being marked down by any other buyer as well. My main account is still very small compared to the majority of sellers on here, but I can still get a 20% discount on my FVFs, however i only need two people to badly mark me down on my stars and I lose that discount. That's why I am so nervous of this whole postage thing. I may even have to give up on one of my lines as my main competitor has gone free postage and I cannot compete as my sales don't warrant any sort of Royal mail account and discount as I don't sell in enough quantity.

BLT_2

This site should be called threshers there is so much whine about. When you bid for the item you work out the total cost including postage and packing, thats the price you are prepared to pay. If you don't like the overall cost don't bid, go down the shop and buy the item, don't forget to pay for your fuel and parking costs.

macfly

Trouble is, you applaud and sometimes advocate the very thing that makes you nervous.
Overall price has to be the criteria. You would not buy from a free postage site that charges double for the goods. But you may be forced to if you use ebay, as that seller would be rated higher than a cheaper one,. who may end up out of business If ebay was truly trying to make it a better place for buyers there would be a value for money rating. There isn't, because there are no fees involved.

Smit1970

BLT wrote: »

This site should be called threshers there is so much whine about. When you bid for the item you work out the total cost including postage and packing, thats the price you are prepared to pay. If you don't like the overall cost don't bid, go down the shop and buy the item, don't forget to pay for your fuel and parking costs.

Well said BLT. :T

Anyone who sells on fleabay will be only too aware of the excessive fees levied by them and the dreaded Paypal. Any seller with nouse does his best to claw some of that back via the postage charges as one doesn't pay eBay fees on postage charges.

Some of these petty people are beyond amazing........

pinkshoes

Personally I would never complain about the postage, as it is stated upfront, but if something arrived that had cost a fair bit less to send than they stated, I'd leave them low star ratings for p&p.

I don't often sell, but if I ever made a mistake and overestimated postage, I'd automatically refund the excess to the buyer. They shouldn't need to ask.

ViolaLass

soolin wrote: »

Using your example if you were able to rate Bravissimo for their postage costs would you rate them as perfect, or maybe take a small percentage of as you feel it a bit high. What if other sites sold the same goods with free or cheaper postage, would you still be happy to buy from the site that charges a lot of postage?

I think their postage charge is very reasonable, considering their costs and the hassle it saves me.

If an identical business started up with cheaper postage, would I go to them? Well, yes, maybe, but we're discussing whether the charges are reasonable, not whether we'd prefer to pay less or nothing at all. I could actually go elsewhere but the alternate companies don't look after me as nicely or have quite the wide range that Bravissimo has so I'm happy to stick with them.

You yourself complain about one of your competitors offering free postage as you can't afford to, but at the same time, you appear to be advising/telling other sellers to keep their postage as low as poss. I can understand why the issue makes you nervous (I think eBay can be very anti-seller) but I don't see that someone charging a bit more for postage is really such a big deal. Looking at it another way, if by paying a smidge more, you help that person to stay in business, might that not be a good thing? Or should everything be done according to who can do it cheapest?

baffcat

It's because of buyers raising this topic, on here and after receiving items from me, that I now include P&P in my prices and show the P&P as free.

Of course it isn't free. But now I don't get even the few who did previously complaining about my charges.

I may sell a little less (possibly), I may pay higher ebay fees (marginally), I'm supposed to get better Best Match placing (I did say 'supposed to') but I also don't get knocked down on my DSRs, as free P&P is an automatic 5 stars. I've noticed my P&P DSR increase from just over 4.6 to 4.92. My other DSRs were always 4.9+ and even those have increased by a few points.

Also, when buyers order more than one item, from the same or additional listings, as maybe 30% do, I'm quids in.

I even get feedback praising me for offering free postage.

I was a little concerned when I went over to free P&P, but now I can't see myself going back to showing it separately.

dnhcomp

but then p&p on ebay isn't strictly p&p is it. It can be a way od paying less in fees to ebay for selling.

And if you agree to the overall price when bidding then you can't really complain. If the final combined price is ok for you why does it matter.

And if you don't look at the p&p when bidding then you should start.

This seems like a complaint about nothing really!