Not sure if I am in the right.

masonic

macfly wrote: »

Free p&p means the price is already inflated to take care of the extra fee.

I often see items with an identical total price, but one has more of the cost shifted onto P&P. So I do not believe those sellers who inflate P&P necessarily pass on any of the savings to customers.

Paying more to create a level playing field? Anybody can judge a price based on total cost, so there's nothing unfair going on. Paying more to cover increased fees is actually what you are doing.

What I'm doing is selecting the most honest looking seller. As I've said above, that does not necessarily come at any premium. If a seller is fee-avoiding by inflating P&P, then I figure they are less likely to be 'on the level' in other respects and could be difficult to deal with in the event of a disagreement. I'm willing to pay a few pence more for a seller whose P&P charges reasonably reflect the cost to them for that reason.

And no, you shouldn't have. I assume you mean lower the level of fee or insertion fee? They haven't done this in the U.S., so they are not likely to do so here.

That's probably an indication that a fee increase would otherwise have been on the cards. Ebay will take their pound of flesh one way or another. At the moment, those people who are setting reasonable P&P charges are subsidising those who aren't. As someone who hardly ever sells anything, I still think that is slightly unfair.

I'm not particularly in favour of a seller pumping up the postage price. I just object to the fact that even if the item in this case had been perfect, the OP would have had an axe to grind for the grand total of £3.49.

But just look at the OP's case - a clear example of a seller who's happy to load up the P&P and also happens to misrepresent the item in their listing. Exactly the sort of thing that makes me try to avoid sellers with unreasonable P&P charges.

macfly

masonic wrote: »

What I'm doing is selecting the most honest looking seller. As I've said above, that does not necessarily come at any premium. If a seller is fee-avoiding by inflating P&P, then I figure they are less likely to be 'on the level' in other respects and could be difficult to deal with in the event of a disagreement. I'm willing to pay a few pence more for a seller whose P&P charges reasonably reflect the cost to them for that reason.

That's an oft repeated mantra on here. It bears no scrutiny. Due to ebay/paypal rules, dishonesty in dealing with buyers is redressed easily.

But just look at the OP's case - a clear example of a seller who's happy to load up the P&P and also happens to misrepresent the item in their listing. Exactly the sort of thing that makes me try to avoid sellers with unreasonable P&P charges.

There's been nothing said by the OP which tells me that this item was misrepresented. Just their impression of what to call the item.

I do agree that ebay will have their fees one way or another though. Just not the pap tha tthey are doing it for the good of the punter.

masonic

macfly wrote: »

That's an oft repeated mantra on here. It bears no scrutiny. Due to ebay/paypal rules, dishonesty in dealing with buyers is redressed easily.

It's still annoying and I'd still rather avoid it.
Edit: and with SNAD claims where the buyer is left having to return the item, they have to foot the bill for trackable return postage (unless they do a Mastercard chargeback, I believe).

There's been nothing said by the OP which tells me that this item was misrepresented. Just their impression of what to call the item.

There was a comment about the item being 'well used' as well, rather than 'in beautiful condition'. But anyway, without seeing the item and listing, who is to say...

I do agree that ebay will have their fees one way or another though. Just not the pap tha tthey are doing it for the good of the punter.

Well don't think that I disagree with you on that point. Lost revenue will be their primary concern.

montsie

There was no indication this was a freebie and there were no measurements.

Just as a side note- I'd be careful with mentioning these points.

The measurements could have been requested by yourself (even though I agree a clutch bag is not a wallet and vice versa so please don't think I'm griping at you).

Secondly the fact that it was a freebie is neither here nor there. How the seller came by the item is irrelevant in this so I would advise to just stick to the absolute facts about item condition for the best result.

Sorry you've had a disappointing experience on ebay. They are so hit and miss lately