Overcharged for p&p, can i get refund?

macfly

It tells you what a few buyers think. There are two posts on fakes, are most ebay items fake? There are a few on NPB's, do most people not pay?
You could also assume that because there are people moaning about postage, perhaps many sellers do really think it's worth it.

soolin

macfly wrote: »

It tells you what a few buyers think. There are two posts on fakes, are most ebay items fake? There are a few on NPB's, do most people not pay?
You could also assume that because there are people moaning about postage, perhaps many sellers do really think it's worth it.

It only takes a few buyers though to leave poor stars and sellers soon drop by the wayside.

annie-c

macfly wrote: »

Ever popular these posts. People can't get enough of them.

macfly wrote: »

It tells you what a few buyers think. There are two posts on fakes, are most ebay items fake? There are a few on NPB's, do most people not pay?
You could also assume that because there are people moaning about postage, perhaps many sellers do really think it's worth it.

Either these posts are 'ever popular' or they represent only 'what a few buyers think', surely?

Please don't try to squash us from speaking up, with your put-down comments.

If charging excess postage works for the sellers and they can cope with the consequences then fair enough. The cheek of it is funny sometimes but overall I agree with Soolin and Crowqueen. I don't like being overcharged as a buyer and so I don't do it to my customers as a seller.

macfly

These posts are "ever popular" with a few people. I buy occasionally, so I also have a view if that's ok with you? It is a forum, not a private chat room. I have no intention to squash anyone, your comment just means "don't disagree with us we are having a lovely moan."
It's a simple matter. All the power is in the hands of the buyer, so use it.

StaffsSW

Crowqueen wrote: »

Really, people shouldn't be charging for transport at all. It makes people look uncompetitive if they live a long way from a PO, particularly if you are selling privately, and it should be properly accounted for in the item costs if the seller is a business. If people live so far from a PO that it costs them £8 to get there, then they really should think twice about selling on eBay as it is not really that practical for them in the first place. I'm lucky that I have a PO in the village, but it costs me £4.30 on the bus to get to the town centre.

As a legitimate business cost though, how would you propose that it is covered, especially in a price senstive marketplace, or one where RRP's are enforced by the manufacturer/distributor?

Every trip I make to the PO costs me £2.40 in my business mileage allowance - whether I have one item to post or 20. With a major line of products that I sell I am only allowed to retail at the RRP, and even then the supplier is not 100% happy that I'm listing then on "that online flea-market"!

martindow

stevew8975 wrote: »

As a legitimate business cost though, how would you propose that it is covered, especially in a price senstive marketplace, or one where RRP's are enforced by the manufacturer/distributor?

Every trip I make to the PO costs me £2.40 in my business mileage allowance - whether I have one item to post or 20. With a major line of products that I sell I am only allowed to retail at the RRP, and even then the supplier is not 100% happy that I'm listing then on "that online flea-market"!

You have to build your incidental expenses into your business model I'm afraid. If you have additional expenses, your customers are not going to be interested in subsidising them, so maybe you ought to work towards increasing your volume so that your travelling costs are shared between more items. Or perhaps you would be better off moving towards selling heavy items and have a carrier collect from you?

StaffsSW

It was a rheotorical question...!

Crowqueen

stevew8975 wrote: »

It was a rheotorical question...!

But a very sensible one if you have ever studied cost accounting.

I am not interested as a customer how companies pay for their items. I assume they are selling at a price that can cover their costs and make a profit. If someone else can sell an item cheaper then I'll buy from them, not from the one charging more. People overcharging on postage will end up pricing themselves out of the market.

As a business, therefore, I would want to make sure my costs were covered by my prices, but equally if I was selling something that was bulky to send but fetched a relatively low price I would think twice about it: for example, cheap secondhand hardback books are not really worth selling online as they cost a lot to post and no-one will buy a book for 4.99 (including postage) which they can get in Oxfam for 99p. You also want to keep your prices as low as possible - another example would be buying padded envelopes in bulk to cut down on the exorbitant price they cost retail in WHSmiths. It's common sense that a business should want to keep their costs as low as possible.

Buyers aren't stupid. They want value for money. If your item is twice the price because you can't sell in enough volume to achieve an economy of scale, then it will just end up not being worth selling it.

StaffsSW

I don't sell at a prices that undercut, or even compete in some cases, but it protects margins and nobody wins in a race to the bottom, but ultimately it does come down to what each seller decides is a strategy that they "think" works for them, and whether customers accept that.

"Value for money" and "twice the price" are not necessarily mutually exclusive though. If something is too cheap, I will ask myself at what cost.

Crowqueen

stevew8975 wrote: »

I don't sell at a prices that undercut, or even compete in some cases, but it protects margins and nobody wins in a race to the bottom, but ultimately it does come down to what each seller decides is a strategy that they "think" works for them, and whether customers accept that.

"Value for money" and "twice the price" are not necessarily mutually exclusive though. If something is too cheap, I will ask myself at what cost.

If you ignore your customers and their wishes, though, they will usually go elsewhere. Buyers routinely post threads here about postage overcharges, and yet you still get people saying "if you don't like my prices, don't bid". The answer I have to this: "Fine, no problem, I won't bid then". That's not good for your business, surely?

I'm not even talking about "too cheap". I agree - no-one will get an iPod for 99p. I'm talking about persisting in uneconomic selling (e.g. cheap hardback books) because you refuse to accept that your pricing structure is not working for you and that the customer will gladly pay a premium for your particular service. It's no fun to be sitting on a load of unsold stock because you persistently believe that the customer will somehow realise you are the best seller in the world and buy from you even though you are more expensive than your competition. You have to actively persuade people to buy, and one of the ways in which people do that is to keep prices attractive and economic.