Sick of being accused of Postage Rip Off

danmanchester

kmhtkmhtkmht wrote:

I ALWAYS charge ton's extra for postage - they can't do nothing about it, if they don't like it they can go else where - had this guy pay me around 9ish for postage and it cost me 0.71 Pence to send!

another yesterday I charged around 18 quid for postage and it cost me 6.58 to send - it's just business - when companies charge you ridiculous amounts of postage you don't say nothing, but on Ebay you can?! I don't think so - it's part of the money making process!

Well if you feel happy ripping off people on postage good luck to you! It's because of companies that rip people off that this forum/website exists..so we know who to avoid! Yes, business is business and people can go elsewhere..which if I ever came across one of your auctions taking the p*** on postage is exactly where I'd go! It's at this point I'd like to include a "middle finger" smiley :mad: but this is the nearest I can manage!

d.ylan

Hintza wrote:

I seem to be getting a lot of mioans about my postage charges and wonder what other people think.

My auctions start at 99p which is about the cost of the item to me. About 20% - 25% of my auctions will close at this price or within 5p of it.

I then charge £1.45 for P+P (and send items with proof of postage) and post item 1st Class in an envelope which is adequate. I will post within 24 hours thus offering a very fast service. My prices are clearly displayed.

Costs to me:-

Postage:- 28p
PayPal Fees:- 30p
Final Value Fees:- 5p
Listing Fees:- 30p
Envelope:- 5p
Sheet of Paper:- 1p
Printing Invoice:- 3p ??
Petrol/Car to PO:- 10p ??
Time/Effort:- ????
Total(excld Time):- £1.12

Is this unreasonable?

"Sellers who accept electronic money services as a means of payment for an item purchased on eBay may not impose a surcharge. PayPal is an electronic money payment system." ... "Sellers may not pass onto buyers any eBay selling fees including but not limited to listing fees, listing enhancement fees and final value fees." - THESE ARE TERMS YOU AGREED TO, TWICE (assuming you signed up for both PayPal & Ebay seperately).
http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/listing-surcharges.html
https://www.paypal.com/uk/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/gen/ua/policy_payments-outside

If you're trading and aiming not to sell for less than then the item cost you, I prefer it when you recoup your fees in the sale price rather than in the postage fees. This annoys me royally, and I will not bid on items that I feel have an excessive postage cost as several of you sellers have said you wish buyers would do. This then decreases competition for your items. By incorporating extra charges in the P&P it irks me that sometimes you're just avoiding ebay fees yourself, yet expect the seller to cover your paypal fees (unless ebay have closed this loophole since i last used this).

Nobody will complain at you for pricing properly, include your whim-charges in the AUCTION PRICE, and save postage for pure justifiable directly postage related expenses. :P

Maybe it all depends on your perspective, unless I'm buying from someone who legitimately pays their taxes and offers new products or a great price, I consider most ebay purchasers in the same way I consder bootsalers or bric and brac stands and such like. I might expect the seller to deduct his petrol cost of getting to the bootsale when totting up his money, but I wouldnt expect him to charge me 50p for sticking the second hand junk you're selling in a carrier bag for me, which conversely I might be find plausible if it was a legitimate tax paying business (!).. dont think I'm explaining my opinion very well, but aaaaanyway.

either you're selling second hand stuff ala a bootsale or you're trading, either way, the item price should include anything you think the item is worth and any of your hidden premiums.


/2p