postage UPDATED

Hollie84

Wow it has been busy since ive been offline,well i got a reply and TBH i really dont know what to reply,according to the listing they have sold 20 of the same items so the message she sent really doesnt make sense.they have 1400 feedback and seem to sell most of the same things.
here is the reply i got...........

'Hi, We are still trying to work out the postage prices, if the item was wrapped one on top of the other it would be £1.33 for postage plus packaging, Did it have a 58p stamp on it?, I have started to lay them flat in a bubble envelope which means they can go as a large letter.
I will refund some of the postage you have paid.'

Strapped

Hollie84 wrote: »

Wow it has been busy since ive been offline,well i got a reply and TBH i really dont know what to reply,according to the listing they have sold 20 of the same items so the message she sent really doesnt make sense.they have 1400 feedback and seem to sell most of the same things.
here is the reply i got...........

'Hi, We are still trying to work out the postage prices, if the item was wrapped one on top of the other it would be £1.33 for postage plus packaging, Did it have a 58p stamp on it?, I have started to lay them flat in a bubble envelope which means they can go as a large letter.
I will refund some of the postage you have paid.'

Seems perfectly reasonable to me, and as soon as I read your OP, I expected that this would be the case - that the seller thought it would be too thick to go as a large letter, so would be a packet and therefore be £1.72 (as you said it was 92p in your OP, which implies 101-250g). As they have offered to refund the difference, I wouldn't personally give them low stars for P&P charges. (In the past I have been caught out by this myself as a seller, but I refunded the buyer as soon as I returned from the PO rather than make them query it).

RainbowDrops

Strapped wrote: »

As they have offered to refund the difference, I wouldn't personally give them low stars for P&P charges.

Agreed, this is a nice resolution, and I would now give them high stars & mention how helful they are in the feedback comment.

ohblimey

Hollie84 wrote: »

Wow it has been busy since ive been offline,well i got a reply and TBH i really dont know what to reply,
here is the reply i got...........

'Hi, We are still trying to work out the postage prices, if the item was wrapped one on top of the other it would be £1.33 for postage plus packaging, Did it have a 58p stamp on it?, I have started to lay them flat in a bubble envelope which means they can go as a large letter.
I will refund some of the postage you have paid.'

I'm struggling to see why you are still not happy and why you even feel you need to reply, the seller has offered to refund you some postage, surely a simple thankyou would be appropriate but I sense from your "TBH i really don't know what to reply" that you are still 'on one'

Leave the poor seller alone and don't be surprised if you end up on their blocked bidder list

vicx

Why is it, everytime there is a question regarding excessive P&P charges there is always someone who will say 'you agreed to the final price so why are you unhappy' 'how does the price compare to other sellers'.

Yes the buyer agreed to the final price but there is no reason why a seller should charge excessive postage other than to avoid extra eBay fee's (which is not allowed) and charging excessive P&P is risking their stars.

The postage stars are there to give a rating of how reasonable the P&P charges are. So if the postage is excessive then leave appropriate stars.

I charge the actual postage cost or free p&p on items which cost £2 or less to send. If I want to charge for packaging I will add that into the item price. Not all sellers will charge the actual postage cost, some may add an extra 20p or 50p to the postage but £1.50 is rather excessive.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

but £1.50 is rather excessive.

We've been through this before, it's not £1.50, it's £1.50 minus the jiffy, label and possibly other things (my toner is £50plus VAT a cartridge which means the cost of labels and invoices can be considered relatively high) probably bring it down to an extra £1 on top.

What a lot of people fail to realise is you have a seller on eBay with a low turnover selling an unusual item. The more sellers like this marked down over a £1 will result in more restrictions and less diversity on eBay. There will always be big companies selling mass product product, eBay is a place to also find a range of weird, rare and unusual items. If buyers want to keep marking small sellers over a pound and as a result suffer a lack of choice, so be it. In the end you'll be paying more for oddities as less competition can allow increases in prices.

'how does the price compare to other sellers'.

I think that is a very important question. If there are 2 items, one at 9.99 plus 4.99 postage and another at 12.99 plus 1.99 post and you buy the 9.99 item and then complaint about the P&P it says a lot about your logic and what type of person you are.

pinkshoes

It's human instinct to be annoyed when you've trusted someone to charge you a fair price for P&P (which means stamps and packaging), then discovering it cost them far less than they charged you.

It's nothing to do with "what you agreed to pay" - it's just human instinct to feel p*ssed off for getting ripped off!

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Ripped off? We are talking about a pound for pity's sake. If the item had been £11 plus £1.50 P&P would the OP still have purchased? Most probably yes so what is the difference?

vicx

ludovico wrote: »

but £1.50 is rather excessive.

We've been through this before, it's not £1.50, it's £1.50 minus the jiffy, label and possibly other things (my toner is £50plus VAT a cartridge which means the cost of labels and invoices can be considered relatively high) probably bring it down to an extra £1 on top.

Well that extra £1.00 should have been included in the item price, not the P&P cost.

I as a seller understand what extra costs are involved in postage and packaging but there is a fine line between 'fair' P&P and 'excessive' P&P. The point you are failing to see is that any extra costs should be included in the item cost not the P&P cost.

Be sure to specify P&P charges and related service charges in your listings. It's against our rules to provide unclear or misleading delivery information or to charge unreasonable fees for postage and related services.

What you can charge
Actual postage cost: This is the final P&P charged. Consider what others in the market charge for delivery of the item being sold to ensure you remain competitive. Also be consistent with eBay policies for the P&P charges for the category you are listing in.
Packaging cost: This can include the cost of packaging materials.
Delivery confirmation and extra services: If these options are offered to the buyer, you can only charge what they actually cost. Examples of services including:

• Proof of postage
• Recorded delivery
• Proof of delivery
• Signed for proof of delivery
• Special dispatch fees

Tax and government imposed fees: Only applicable duties, VAT or equivalent taxes may be charged.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

The point you are failing to see is that any extra costs should be included in the item cost not the P&P cost.

I see the point, what I'd like to know is why you want to pay extra for eBay fees? I sell with fee P&P but could charge 1.25 so my customers between them pay about £1900 a year extra for "free" P&P, that would be £2900 with VAT added and no TRS discount.

I also go back to my point about Argos 4.95 to post a spoon (and they do sell single spoons) it's excesive but they have a flat rate of P&P and of all the complaints I've read about the company their shipping charges aren't mentioned.

So everywhere else you pay what it advertised and on eBay you nit-pick over a quid? The P&P star should be there to stop truly excessive P&P (£10 plus £90 P&P) not to punish small sellers for an extra £1 which you would pay either way.

To highlight how eBay customers fail to understand postage and star ratings, eBay had to switch to auto 5 star on free P&P because some buyers were marking down for this!

I don't have a problem with marking for actual excessive P&P, I have a problem with threatening someone's livelihood because you feel two numbers should be displayed differently, but still add up to the same amount, with the difference only being a quid. I doubt the seller is sitting there rubbing their hands with glee at all those extra pound coins, which he would have anyway, and laughing at you for getting away with ripping you off.