Well, that's unexpected

bylromarha

I switched from using brown wrapping paper to grey plastic mailbags this month.

NOTHING else has changed.

My P+P stars have got 3 1 or 2 ratings this month - making 0.46%. :eek:

Last time I got a low score for P+P was March 2010 I think. Certainly nothing on the trending data.

Why on earth would mailbags make a difference to brown paper?!

Red_Rose_Exile

Did you have some environmentally aware customers?

scottishblondie

I've heard that the plastic bags can make items smelly sometimes - but I can't see what they would mark you down on P&P for that. Perhaps it's a coincidence and you've just had a bad run of people feeling like you've overcharged or something?

elver_man

I dont know what you sell but from my point of view it could just be buyers perception.

For example,

I tend to think that a package neatly wrapped in brown paper looks much better than "plastic" mailing bags which can be purchased almost anywhere. The brown paper if used correctly makes me think that the sender has spent a little more time and poss money sending out the goods.

terra_ferma

Maybe the grey ones look cheap, and the coloured ones are liked better? The grey ones remind me of black bin bags.

Red_Doe

I used to use brown paper to wrap my items, but found it got mangled going through the mail too often! I switched to the plastic bags (blue ones) and haven`t had any trouble from them, though I do give free pnp now.

bylromarha

Thank for input.

All items I send are boxed, so the plastic smell won't permeate the item, although opening the packet if it whiffs can put a downer on the buying experience.

OH breaking into cold sweats at the thought of wrapping so much again...I switched to mailbags as volume has increased and paper just is so time consuming.

So options are

1) go back to brown wrapping paper (-ve: time cost)
2) offer free p+p (-ve: more fees to ebay AND less sales (free P+P gets less sales in my categories than seperate. Low item cost is the winner for my buyers, even if your total price with free P+P is cheaper)

Anything else I haven't considered?

hermum

I only mark the p&p on the charges.
Are you charging much over the stamp cost for the packaging?
I've had several things that have come wrapped in brown paper ripped so would rather it came in the plastic mailers. It could keep the price down as well the paper & tape together probably weighs more than a mailing sack.

macfly

Almost everything I sell goes in mailers. My stars are fine. Lokk elsewhere for the problem.

rileydog

As a buyer I have to say I think mailing bags look more professional and brown paper looks a bit 'cheapskate-ish'. I certainly wouldn't mark down DSR stars on packages sent in brown paper though as long as the p&p cost was reasonable and it got to me in one piece.

I would rank packaging types in the following order for my perceived 'quality'.

1) Jiffy bag
2) Plastic mailer
3) Brown paper

Some of the grey mailing bags smell like stale smoke (although it's just the plastic). I wonder if buyers noticed the smell from the packaging and thought you were using skanky old smoke ridden bags? I've bought purple and blue ones which are fine smell wise.

bylromarha

macfly wrote: »

Almost everything I sell goes in mailers. My stars are fine. Lokk elsewhere for the problem.

As stated in the original post, nothing else has changed. The problem can only be the change of packaging.

Price wise, I don't charge much over the actual cost of postage - normally round it up to the nearest 20p.

Off to investigate the costs of jiffy bags and non grey bags.