I have shafted myself.

Darlyd

Just got back from PO, I had to send everything 2nd class recorded as I never charged enough p&p. And even 2nd class recorded never covered many of the items. And I have lost out on a few, especially one item which was a coat, PO said it was to heavy for 2nd, it cost me £6.63 to send, eBay only allowed me to charge £4, plus silly me started all bids at 99p for free listing. And it only had 1 bid.:eek:

I know next time... (Listing more today) BUT I no like to charge to much for p&p puts buyers off, shall I up the start price and pay extra in fees OR?

Anyone else had similar experience?

EDIT: I have this vision of my stars being marked down on p&p costs lol... eBay is a mad place sometimes a..?

tattycath

darlyd wrote: »

Just got back from PO, I had to send everything 2nd class recorded as I never charged enough p&p. And even 2nd class recorded never covered many of the items. And I have lost out on a few, especially one item which was a coat, PO said it was to heavy for 2nd, it cost me £6.63 to send, eBay only allowed me to charge £4, plus silly me started all bids at 99p for free listing. And it only had 1 bid.:eek:

I know next time... (Listing more today) BUT I no like to charge to much for p&p puts buyers off, shall I up the start price and pay extra in fees OR?

Anyone else has similar experience?

For future reference: You can get round the maximum postage on coats etc by choosing the option freight and explain postage within the listing.
Also I'm a big believer in never listing anything for less than the minimum price you want for it. HTH

hermum

I really wouldn't bother with recorded delivery, especially cheap items, it can actually put some bidders off. Something that could go through a letter box if a signature is asked for could mean an expensive, time consuming trip to a delivery office, if you're not in when the post arrives.
I rarely start items at 99p, I'd rather pay a listing fee, especially on heavy items with capped postage. You need to make sure that your postage is covered.
Hopefully your next lot will be better.

MissGivings_2

darlyd wrote: »

Just got back from PO, I had to send everything 2nd class recorded as I never charged enough p&p. And even 2nd class recorded never covered many of the items. And I have lost out on a few, especially one item which was a coat, PO said it was to heavy for 2nd, it cost me £6.63 to send, eBay only allowed me to charge £4, plus silly me started all bids at 99p for free listing. And it only had 1 bid.:eek:

I know next time... (Listing more today) BUT I no like to charge to much for p&p puts buyers off, shall I up the start price and pay extra in fees OR?

Anyone else had similar experience?

EDIT: I have this vision of my stars being marked down on p&p costs lol... eBay is a mad place sometimes a..?

I don't think it puts buyers off to do free p&p for a while and add to start price- they see the word 'free' after all:)

Take advantage of free listing weekends to put in higher start prices and free p&p in free listing weekends.

It's a waste of time and just not worth risking selling for 99p!

soolin

tattycath wrote: »

For future reference: You can get round the maximum postage on coats etc by choosing the option freight and explain postage within the listing.
Also I'm a big believer in never listing anything for less than the minimum price you want for it. HTH

Only if you then use freight, so no good if you just want to pop down to the local Post office rather than arrange couriers. many buyers like me would also be very put off paying for a courier when Royal Mail is so much more convenient. It is also risky as buyers know that certain categories have cappe dpostage, and so any attempt to get round ti usually affects a sellers stars eventually. Best just to add th eextra cost to start price.

Also OP- I know it has been said before , but really sit and think about whether you want to risk using recorded in future. It is costing you 77p a go and in many areas, like london, it never shows as delivered at all- so it is worthless.

If an item is lost you get the same level of loss cover whether you use 1st or 2nd and /or recorded.

Also if you are going to sell more a set of digital scales for around a fiver is a good investment.

Oliver14

tattycath wrote: »

For future reference: You can get round the maximum postage on coats etc by choosing the option freight and explain postage within the listing.

Unless you actually send via courier you'll just put possible negs and low dsrs more probable. Also you'll put a lot of customers off. I list at cost price added my star stays at 4.9. Don't be too paranoid most people are reasonable and as long as you're not ripping them off you should be O.K the majority of sellers charge reasonable postage and manage to keep their stars healthy so there is no reason the OP can't do this.

texranger

soolin wrote: »

Only if you then use freight, so no good if you just want to pop down to the local Post office rather than arrange couriers. many buyers like me would also be very put off paying for a courier when Royal Mail is so much more convenient. It is also risky as buyers know that certain categories have cappe dpostage, and so any attempt to get round ti usually affects a sellers stars eventually. Best just to add th eextra cost to start price.

Also OP- I know it has been said before , but really sit and think about whether you want to risk using recorded in future. It is costing you 77p a go and in many areas, like london, it never shows as delivered at all- so it is worthless.

If an item is lost you get the same level of loss cover whether you use 1st or 2nd and /or recorded.

Also if you are going to sell more a set of digital scales for around a fiver is a good investment.

who says your using a courier.
as the postage is capped, chose freight as the postage option and place your postage costs (you can find these by weighing the item and then use the royal mail site) to find the postage costs.
then in your listing add a paragraph explaining the postage and how it will be sent and even explain you marked postage as freight due to ebays postage cap.
items i sell are postage capped at less that what royal mail charge to post, so i just add this to price and offer free postage

kiwi_fruit

darlyd wrote: »

And I have lost out on a few, especially one item which was a coat, PO said it was to heavy for 2nd, it cost me £6.63 to send, eBay only allowed me to charge £4, plus silly me started all bids at 99p for free listing. And it only had 1 bid.:eek:

Royal Mail Standard Parcels cost £4.41 up to 2kg. And why did you need to send them recorded delivery?

Crowqueen

texranger wrote: »

who says your using a courier.
as the postage is capped, chose freight as the postage option and place your postage costs (you can find these by weighing the item and then use the royal mail site) to find the postage costs.
then in your listing add a paragraph explaining the postage and how it will be sent and even explain you marked postage as freight due to ebays postage cap.

Apart from the last line of your post - which I cut off - that's still not allowed though - it would be reportable.

I'd steer clear of anyone doing this as it would mean that they are more interested in breaking rules to suit themselves than behaving properly to suit their buyers and the people they sell with.

You also shouldn't really advise people how to get round eBay's rules - they are there for a reason, mostly because sellers were taking the mickey. If it was acceptable to do this there would be no point anyone sticking to the rules.

soolin

texranger wrote: »

who says your using a courier.
as the postage is capped, chose freight as the postage option and place your postage costs (you can find these by weighing the item and then use the royal mail site) to find the postage costs.
then in your listing add a paragraph explaining the postage and how it will be sent and even explain you marked postage as freight due to ebays postage cap.
items i sell are postage capped at less that what royal mail charge to post, so i just add this to price and offer free postage

You are doing it what could be termed 'the correct way' but I don't understand why you appear to be suggesting someone else does it in a way to attract problems.

Freight is freight, it doesn't mean using it as a way of chagring more than the cap and still using Royal mail. All that will happen is that buyers will either avoid the auction as postage will not show up unless they read the auction blurb, or will just mark down the sellers stars.

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/sell/maximumPP_FAQ.html#coverexpense

What can I do if the maximum P&P charge do not cover my expenses for packaging and postage?
The maximum P&P cost may not cover sellers' P&P costs in some cases. In the event that it does not, you can do one of the following:

• When selling via auction, you can continue to list your item with the same start price and a P&P price at or below the maximum postage cost. Many of our sellers have success with auctions, even when offering free P&P, because their item looks more competitive to their buyers.
  
• When selling a very heavy and bulky item, choose the option “Courier: heavy and bulky items” instead of “Flat cost for all buyers” in the Sell Your Item form. This will allow you to insert a cost higher than the limit. We will monitor items using this option to make sure that those that are over the limit differ from the assumptions that we used to establish the maximum postage costs. In this instance, the item must be genuinely bulky or heavy and that the delivery charge will vary according to where the item is located.
  
• When selling via Buy It Now (also known as fixed price), remember that you are free to select an item price, which reflects the true value of the item.
  

Crowqueen

I do all my listings free postage. It saves the quibbling about postage costs.