Ebay - overcharged on postage

Strapped

Yay, let's all have the same arguement over and over (while eBay/PayPal laugh all the way to the bank).

thelawnet

Ebay have decided to penalise sellers that shift the costs of doing business onto their postage.

By doing this, they maximise their own fee income.

If you don't like it - tough.

Sellers are increasingly doing free p + p, jiffy bags are 5 or more for a pound in poundland, and if you charge more than a few pence over the postage cost for p+p people will mark you down.

No use whining about it.

steph25

My humble opinion on postage is that when I am buying something on ebay then I am having to trust the seller is charging a decent and honest rate.

Like if I bought something that had £8 postage I would expect the actual postage to be anything from £7 upwards...If it turned up and it had actually cost the seller £3 to send then I would rightfully feel like I had been diddled!

As a buyer I will not know the exact price the item will cost to post so having to rely on honest sellers is the only way and I think buyers rightfully feel conned when they are overcharged alot (not pennies but pounds).

RainbowDrops

soolin wrote: »

In reality and despite all our differences of opinion none of what we say on here matters at all, we can all agree that we can charge whatever we like and buyers can't moan- but it is our buyers who leave stars.
...
So regardless of people saying I can charge for my petrol, my time and anything else I want to and tough luck to my buyers, I prefer to keep my account and charge a realistic price that keeps my stars high and my expanded dashboard above average.

Nail on the head.
When buying I do consider the total price inluding P&P, but if the postage price has been heavily loaded then I might drop them one star.
As a seller, if it's costing you so much to pack an item and get to a post office then maybe you need to re-think the way you're going about things -as suggested abouve, buy mailing bags in bulk, sell in lots etc.

Just because a seller can justify their costs, doesn't mean that a buyer will be as understanding unfortunately.

charlies_mum

Frankly, you can charge whatever you like for postage and packing, but you run the risk of low stars, and a restricted account.

I received 6 low stars for charging 19p over the stamp price and lost my Top Rated Seller Account.

Taadaa

That seems harsh - buyers leaving low stars for 19p. I usually charge 10p for packaging, more if it's for a delicate item. I think the problem is not all buyers look at the label for actual cost, so base their judgement on what they think is reasonable. And let's be honest, postal services are pretty expensive these days.

Rhymsta

tattycath wrote: »

I agree with soolin. I've sold on ebay in the past and managed to source cheap jiffy bags etc. I only ever charged no more than 50 pence for packaging materials. I would never have dreamed of charging for my time or petrol to the PO

But if you are running a business those costs have to be recovered from somewhere and I can see why people would rather add them to the postage rather than to the item due to FSV fees not being taken from postage. As has been said before, the buyer knows what the total amount they are going to pay when they choose to buy.
Transport costs are included on everything you buy at the supermarket - you just don't get a breakdown.

My only gripe would be if the items are not sent by the service as advertised eg: using second class when the description says first. Or if the seller makes some sort of statement like, "£20 carriage due to item being very heavy" then being able to send it for less than £10.

tattycath

Rhymsta wrote: »

But if you are running a business those costs have to be recovered from somewhere and I can see why people would rather add them to the postage rather than to the item due to FSV fees not being taken from postage. This is very true, but not so good for business to add the extras to the postage-why not include it in your markup. As has been said before, the buyer knows what the total amount they are going to pay when they choose to buy.
Transport costs are included on everything you buy at the supermarket - you just don't get a breakdown.
Yes but the transport costs are on the price of the product-so if a buyer chooses to buy that product there are no extras to pay 'coz it's included in the price
My only gripe would be if the items are not sent by the service as advertised eg: using second class when the description says first. Or if the seller makes some sort of statement like, "£20 carriage due to item being very heavy" then being able to send it for less than £10.

Personally my ebay account is not a business-it's just getting rid of things I no longer want or need, or collected and got bored with.
My OH has an ebay business account and despite the postal price going up at the PO he still manages to charge a fair price. Only charges for the stamp and mere pennies for the packaging-no charge for petrol, time or anything.

easy

tattycath wrote: »

Personally my ebay account is not a business-it's just getting rid of things I no longer want or need, or collected and got bored with.
My OH has an ebay business account and despite the postal price going up at the PO he still manages to charge a fair price. Only charges for the stamp and mere pennies for the packaging-no charge for petrol, time or anything.

Fine, that is your (and your OH's) choice. But many -most- people selling on ebay are there to make money, not just as a hobby. If they don't add an amount to cover their time/petrol, they will be getting far below minimum wage for their efforts.

Why is it that the british consumer now resents paying a proper price for anything? A price which covers not only the value of the goods, but the 'service' that goes with supplying them.

I suppose this is why they buy 2 chickens for £5 in the supermarket - sod the welfare of the chickens, I just want cheap food.

It's also why we have a culture of poor service in the hospitality industry, the average brit won't pay the price which would allow for proper training and above minimum wage for waiters etc - we are notorious for poor tipping when service is good.

OK, if you don't want to cover the costs of the seller getting your item into the post for you, will you wait 3 or 4 days so he can take a bulk of parcels to the post at the same time?

tattycath

easy wrote: »

Fine, that is your (and your OH's) choice. But many -most- people selling on ebay are there to make money, not just as a hobby. If they don't add an amount to cover their time/petrol, they will be getting far below minimum wage for their efforts.
Funnily enough my OH runs a business-not a hobby and it's doing very well

Why is it that the british consumer now resents paying a proper price for anything? A price which covers not only the value of the goods, but the 'service' that goes with supplying them.

I suppose this is why they buy 2 chickens for £5 in the supermarket - sod the welfare of the chickens, I just want cheap food.

It's also why we have a culture of poor service in the hospitality industry, the average brit won't pay the price which would allow for proper training and above minimum wage for waiters etc - we are notorious for poor tipping when service is good.

OK, if you don't want to cover the costs of the seller getting your item into the post for you, will you wait 3 or 4 days so he can take a bulk of parcels to the post at the same time?

Hope you feel better after your little rant