Rant about ebay..

Meadows

Lifeisbutadream wrote: »

Well I am just a person selling my daughters barbie dolls - it is a doll and pushchair - the starting price is 99p and the postage is £5.50 - I figured it will cost around £4 to post, and I usually package in one of those plastic bags, which cost 65p. I don't feel the need to justify this to this stupid annoying woman though!

Crowqueen wrote: »

That's still 85p overcharge. (£4.65 rather than £5.50). If you work out what it will really cost and charge accurately, no-one is going to complain when it actually arrives. Seriously, buyers don't like overcharging and it will reflect badly in your feedback. I know it seems petty, but it's true.
No point in ranting and raving if you are the one who is doing something which they tend not to like.
Personally I pay eBay everything I owe and charge postage largely at stamp price so I don't like people fee-avoiding.

Sorry have to agree with Crowqueen that 85p is a lot to charge on top of the postage and packaging costs, yes the bidder has the choice not to bid (I personally do not bid on an item I feel is over the top in postage costs, if two similar items are selling and the cost is identical when you add up the item and postage costs, I will always bid on the item that may actually cost more but has a fair postage cost).
No point saying the buyer can see postage costs before bidding and then wonder why you might get a negative or neutral feedback, better to up the item cost and charge fair postage. You can't moan about eBay fees, you take that on when deciding to use the service to sell your item.

Lifeisbutadream

Meadows wrote: »

Sorry have to agree with Crowqueen that 85p is a lot to charge on top of the postage and packaging costs, yes the bidder has the choice not to bid (I personally do not bid on an item I feel is over the top in postage costs, if two similar items are selling and the cost is identical when you add up the item and postage costs, I will always bid on the item that may actually cost more but has a fair postage cost).
No point saying the buyer can see postage costs before bidding and then wonder why you might get a negative or neutral feedback, better to up the item cost and charge fair postage. You can't moan about eBay fees, you take that on when deciding to use the service to sell your item.

Can we go right back to the beginning again here because this is getting silly?

I have not weighed the item - I never have and have sold over 100 items (over the space of 6 years).

On the odd occasion I under price the postage. I always take the hit and accept that. Once I sold a dolls high chair for 99p with £4.50 postage, which cost me £6.50 to post, but that is just one of those things - I would never have dreamed of asking the buyer for more money.

I do not sell enough or have enough time to weigh everything in their packaging, so I make a guestimate and am usually about right. On this particular item I am GUESSING that it will cost around £4 to post, along with the 65p for the envelope, plus some internal wrap I think £5.50 is a fair guess. It MIGHT cost £10 to post - who knows?

My point is that my items are quite open and fair and say how much they are. People have a choice whether to bid and I find it more than a little strange that people would be so picky (and dare I say sad?) to expect that someone should only charge the exact amount it costs to post.

Anyway, I have not asked for ANY advice - I dont need any advice I have been using ebay for years, I was just having a rant !

piratefairy

Ok no problem, sorry for misunderstanding then and good luck with the auction

terra_ferma

piratefairy wrote: »

But as FAy says, at least she said something rather than just leaving a - or bad star rating.

I agree, I have 100% fb, but not 100% stars because a few buyers said how wonderful I am, but 'backstabbed' with poor stars (from people whose transaction has been very smooth, item well packed, received quickly etc, - I guess it will remain a mystery why they gave 2-3 stars)

At least if someone tells you what the problem is you can do something about it (or choose to ignore it if you wish).
But not all sellers see it this way... you should see the replies I get when I leave a neutral (and don't touch their stars) because I was unhappy about something.
OP you are not alone with your attitude...

conradmum

I don't understand why someone would buy something if they don't agree with the cost of the postage. If I want to buy something online but disagree with the company's P&P costs, I don't shop with them. I don't go ahead buy from them and then make a complaint about something I was fully aware of at the time.
When I bid on something on eBay, I look at how much the postage is and factor that into how much I'm prepared to bid. It doesn't matter if the money is going in eBay's pocket or the seller's (in fact, I'd rather it went in the seller's), it's how much is going out of my pocket that matters to me. Whether the postage is 'fair' or even accurate is utterly immaterial. It all adds up to the cost of the item at the end of the day.

Crowqueen

conradmum wrote: »

I don't understand why someone would buy something if they don't agree with the cost of the postage. If I want to buy something online but disagree with the company's P&P costs, I don't shop with them. I don't go ahead buy from them and then make a complaint about something I was fully aware of at the time.
When I bid on something on eBay, I look at how much the postage is and factor that into how much I'm prepared to bid. It doesn't matter if the money is going in eBay's pocket or the seller's (in fact, I'd rather it went in the seller's), it's how much is going out of my pocket that matters to me. Whether the postage is 'fair' or even accurate is utterly immaterial. It all adds up to the cost of the item at the end of the day.

I'd rather pay the company who is doing a lot of my work for me to sell my item than necessarily support someone who is prepared to rip eBay off.

Postage online is generally coming down, many sites make pricing inclusive or set fixed prices; Amazon recently introduced a free delivery service, so it's not the case that overcharging is all that common any more either.

Lifeisbutadream

Crowqueen wrote: »

someone who is prepared to rip eBay off.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

the_big_fact_hunt

i cant see the problem, the winning bid is the price you pay plus the stated postage charge, this would be the "agreed terms", so by bidding you agree the "terms", if you dont like the total charge, then dont bid.
I have sold items and lost out on the postage, but i usually get it right by weighing it first and adding the cost of the packaging. I have refunded the excess when i first started selling as i estimated the charges, but i stated this in the listings. I have even gone out of my way to help buyers by arranging a drop/collect point with some of my works customers for larger collect only items, you never hear about these things, but you do hear about all the problems such as when i sold an unused unpackaged 99p item that turned out to be faulty. The buyer initially left good feedback but added to it upon delivery how bad i was because i didnt respond to their complaint immediately (i was at work!) i happily dealt with it and refunded, but only after i made them return it according to ebay rules because they were snotty about it, if they had allowed me more than the 6 hours they gave between emailing and adding to the feedback i would not have bothered about the return and just refunded as this put me out of pocket as i refunded the return post too.

dazzer68

if the postage is displayed, and the buyer can see it before they win, not much they can say really. dont bid on it!
some items on tv shopping channels have obscene postage and packing charges, but people must be happy to pay it!

Crowqueen

Yup, enjoy your low feedback and star ratings then.