Postage fees on ebay

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

The thing is its easy enough for the majority of people to get the odd box from their local shops for free. In reality most people have odd cardboard boxes lying around. If not they will be able to find one.

This is true, the question is does a seller deserve to be punished for they lack of ingenuity? If a seller has charged £4 because they have paid nearly £2 fr a box at the PO they aren't overcharging. Whether that £2 is value for the buyer is debatable but considering the damage a low score can do to a seller I wouldn't mark down because of this.

Ironically when purchasing from a larger seller in a lot of cases you have no idea what they pay for postage (if they use PPI) or packaging costs. A 900g parcel will cost 3.71 at the PO, I can easily and correctly post these at the 250-499 bracket using averages and am paying less than the PO charge for that bracket rate but the customer hasn't a clue about all this.

shaun_from_Africa

Another thing to bear in mind with regards to postage when buying from a large volume seller is VAT.

A seller may have P&P shown at £4.00, but if they are VAT registered they will have to pay 80p of this to the taxman, so if the package was to arrive with the buyer and it showed the actual postage paid as £2.00, the seller would only have added £1.20 for packing and handling and not £2 as many people would have assumed.

NickyBat

ludovico wrote: »

Agreed. Packaging is in abundant supply on eBay itself for much, much less than PO or WHSmith prices.

Sorry but I disagree, if you sell an item and just need the one box buying it on eBay will be just as expensive. We don't all have the luxury of needing 20 of the same sized boxes or 4000 jiffy bags. Some smaller, private sellers will just buy as they need at their local shops and for people in small villages for example the local PO may be their only viable option.

I'm a small private seller, i only sell items when my house is busting at the seams and i have a clear out, so i buy packaging in small quantities and i use my car to go to the post office, but i don't pass these costs on to my buyers, i only charge what it actually costs me to post plus a few pennies and it is only pennies, i calculate any "profit" as whatever is left over after my selling fees and postage and packaging have been paid and frequently this has only been a few pence that i have made.
I was even once marked down by a buyer for late postage, and postage fees, and i had posted the day after they paid and charged 20p more than the actual RM cost!!!!!, i personally would never do that to anyone.

Ebay certainly isn't the place it used to be.

ravenjet

I recently bought 8 items, which were in one auction, so no need for combining postage, the p&p looked reasonably high but I gave the business seller the benefit of the doubt because if packed correctly they may have tipped the scales into a higher price bracket and then allowing for expenses it was OK. When I received the items they were not as described and looking at the envelope I realised that they had considerably overcharged on p&p.
The reply from the seller was
" my mother in law listed them on my site so i cant comment as i have not seen them. Personally i think postage is fair once you have taken into acoount the cost of envelope, her time and petrol to the post office. Also paypal will charge for the transaction which is another approx 30p all these extras add up"

Isn't it against ebay rules to cover your paypal costs by hiking up your p&p?
as a business seller they will be claiming all the costs as expenses anyway.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Isn't it against ebay rules to cover your paypal costs by hiking up your p&p?

Yes it is, but if these costs weren't in the P&P they'd be in the item price by way of a higher start price, you have to pay them one way or another. However the seller isn't really doing themselves any favours by stating this to you, or from the sounds of it, by making up excuses about petrol to the PO. This is the sort of seller who will earn themselves low scores for P&P, more due to their attitude than the actual charge.

If they weren't as described you will get your original payment back in full if you ask for a return and refund (if the seller doesn't agree, eBay/Paypal will do this for you) and as they are a business you are entitled to your return costs for an item not as described, although enforcing this can be difficult if the seller doesn't play ball.

JC_Derby

ludovico wrote: »

It isn't really good for buyer, if the seller is happy to avoid fees, basically being dishonest to save a few pence, they aren't likely to go to much effort should a problem occur or more importantly cover your return postage should the goods be not as described. .

Dont agree that its being dishonest. Its just a way to avoid ebays fees, especially when, if you are paid by paypal you are charged twice.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Dont agree that its being dishonest. Its just a way to avoid ebays fees, especially when, if you are paid by paypal you are charged twice.

eBay charge a fee for their service and you have a choice whether to use that service. Their User Agreement which you have agreed to covers their listing policies and it is against those policies to avoid fees. In those terms it is dishonest.

You may think eBay's fees are expensive but they are cheaper than Amazon Marketplace and far cheaper than the fees charged to both buyer and seller at an auction house, and of course your auction house doesn't have a worldwide audience of millions upon millions of people looking to shop.

RFW

custardy wrote: »

rather ironically RM would most likely be blocked from supplying free packaging at POs
competition laws
comparing RM to the USPS is flawed anyway,no competition for them and yet its cuts cuts cuts in the USPS too

I'm guessing from other threads we broadly agree with each other, I'd agree the comparison is flawed, having said that it should be flawed the other way, given the vast difference in jobs that USPS has to do compared to Royal Mail. Getting a letter from Manchester to Inverness looks a piece of cake in comparison to Florida to Alaska.

Having been in the US for a while and using the post there (I even sold on Ebay a little bit), their whole system is so like what Royal Mail should be doing. Even the linked post with Ebay has tracking on none tracked parcels, the post you buy on line has a barcode that is scanned when delivered, this automatically gets fed back to Paypal as delivered. It shouldn't be too difficult for such a system to be in place here, I know it was trialled a little bit with business users.

Royal Mail do supply some packaging free if asked for. Also a number of couriers give free packaging, so shouldn't be against any rules for RM to offer it. UPS offer a range of boxes and so do DHL.

I've personally been suffering from Royal Mail and the Post Office's latest attempt at modernisation when the automated machines at Manchester post office keep breaking down, they seem to have more staff managing the machines than would take to do the job in the first place.

custardy

RFW wrote: »

I'm guessing from other threads we broadly agree with each other, I'd agree the comparison is flawed, having said that it should be flawed the other way, given the vast difference in jobs that USPS has to do compared to Royal Mail. Getting a letter from Manchester to Inverness looks a piece of cake in comparison to Florida to Alaska.

Having been in the US for a while and using the post there (I even sold on Ebay a little bit), their whole system is so like what Royal Mail should be doing. Even the linked post with Ebay has tracking on none tracked parcels, the post you buy on line has a barcode that is scanned when delivered, this automatically gets fed back to Paypal as delivered. It shouldn't be too difficult for such a system to be in place here, I know it was trialled a little bit with business users.

Royal Mail do supply some packaging free if asked for. Also a number of couriers give free packaging, so shouldn't be against any rules for RM to offer it. UPS offer a range of boxes and so do DHL.

I've personally been suffering from Royal Mail and the Post Office's latest attempt at modernisation when the automated machines at Manchester post office keep breaking down, they seem to have more staff managing the machines than would take to do the job in the first place.

Oh I agree,theres so much RM could do
however its all about money now
they tout the word modernisation around
the biggest part of modernisation seems to be giving posties larger rounds to deliver.
the walk sequencing machines cant handle the mail volumes(you know the stuff they say keeps dropping)
so what happens is on a busy day you dont get sequenced mail
however the delivery offices are staffed and the routes designed on the assumption you get sequenced mail
the people at the top arent interested in making a decent service available
its sad but true and the rot has long since set in

they have poorly thought out IT solutions
RM systems that dont talk to the Post Office systems
cobbled together software that doesnt do what its meant to
honeslty I could sit in a room with an RM manager and list many things that thy could address(no pun) and create that would make the operation smoother and the end result better for all

RM is tied by different rules to couriers and with the 'open' postal market
they cant be seen to have an advantage
eg at Xmas if they want to offer free local collect at the PO's then the regulator has to okay this.
they supply the competitors with yorks trolleys,trays etc for their DSA mail etc etc

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

The problem with Royal Mail offering free packaging materials is it would be abused. Look on eBay there are people selling Airmail stickers! If people will do that for just a few pence profit I'm sure there would be those loading up and selling on boxes and jiffy bags in large numbers.

I should also imagine USPS factor the cost of those materials in to their prices, so those who don't use their materials contribute to the costs of those who do. With the way Royal Mail are at the moment, if they started handing out free materials prices were certainly go up to pay for it.