Ebay postage and delivery.

julie777

I don't charge for petrol or coffee as the last poster suggests.

When I buy from others I don't expect that their p&p charge would be the same as the cost of the stamps, for the reasons given.
One should only bid if one feels they can happily accept a)the stated p&p. and b) that overall they will get a good deal.

Obviously_the_best

julie777 wrote: »

As a private seller, I would like to point out how long it takes to package the item, travel to the Post Office and queue to post it and get proof of posting. This may take half an hour out of my day. Time is money and this could therefore be worth well over a fiver. If I am posting an average of 3 items each time I think an extra £1.50 on each Ebay item, above the postal cost is reasonable! It is all related to the posting of the item after all.

Has anyone considered this reasoning?

If you are charging for your time you should be registered as self employed etc etc, which I hope you are

Crowqueen

RainbowDrops wrote: »

But if it's "costing" you so much to post something, isn't this something you should consider when deciding whether it's worth selling something.
If it's such in incovenience, why bother.
Most buyers don't consider these extra costs as something they should be expected to cover.

Agreed. I have a summer off so I'm selling as much as I can now, both on eBay and on Amazon. I have a PO five minutes away - otherwise I wouldn't be able to do it so easily, particularly on Amazon where you have to ship when something sells. I've got a lot of unsellable stuff because after fees and postage I would make nothing, particularly on Amazon. But I'm not whinging about it - I'll just donate those books to Oxfam instead. No problem, particularly now I have a boyfriend with a car .

If you can't get it done in an efficient way, it is not worth selling stuff. Buyers don't owe you a living - quite the reverse, you owe it to them to get it right. They're the ones paying you for the item, after all; they may be somewhat tolerant depending on circumstances but no-one puts up with excessive postage charges any more except a few people who charge them.

Plus, if someone ends up significantly more expensive than someone else, then you will end up selling nothing anyway - in fact the way eBay works, you will end up paying a lot out of your own pocket just to keep things listed.

Crowqueen

julie777 wrote: »

I don't charge for petrol or coffee as the last poster suggests.

When I buy from others I don't expect that their p&p charge would be the same as the cost of the stamps, for the reasons given.
One should only bid if one feels they can happily accept a)the stated p&p. and b) that overall they will get a good deal.

Be careful what you wish for.

By that logic, no-one here would touch your listings if they knew your selling account, because they know you will stiff them on the postage for things that shouldn't really be chargeable by a private seller.

Even still, making yourself uncompetitive and unresponsive to the demands of your buyers will still put a dampener on sales.

So it's really only you who loses out from that sort of attitude, not the buyer faced with a panoply of other sellers who know what they like and know how to encourage people to buy from.

soolin

julie777 wrote: »

I don't charge for petrol or coffee as the last poster suggests.

When I buy from others I don't expect that their p&p charge would be the same as the cost of the stamps, for the reasons given.
One should only bid if one feels they can happily accept a)the stated p&p. and b) that overall they will get a good deal.

If as a buyer you are saying you would leave an 'excellent' 5* rating for post and packing charges even where a seller has charged you a lot extra, then you are in the minority. I doubt whether there is more than a handful of regulars on here that maintain 5* for post and packing unless they go freepost, most buyers will not stand for overcharging and may leave excellent feedback but hit the stars. too many low stars and like my colleague you can face a ban even while your headline dashboard shows you maintaing 4.8. It is hard to maintain 5* across th eboard when the buyer is asked to rate you using their opinion of how 'fair' your p an dp charges are

Most of us on here are sellers as well as buyers and probably all of us value our accounts enough to not want them lost in order to save a few pence on ebay fees.

You really need to keep a close eye on your expanded dashboard if you are going to continue charging buyers for your time and effort in sending them their goods. Every month on the community boards near the first day of the month you'll see threads about people facing restrictions or a ban for thinking that they can charge what they like.

julie777

Hmmmm.
Didn't know about that expanded dashboard but having checked it I find my ratings are exceptionally good. The last low rating for p&p was in January and I've had 128 sales since then!
I may have given the impression that I always charge an extra £1.50 which isn't the case but I do often put something extra onto the p&p (and I accept that others do too)
The customers haven't complained because they always get a good item for a good overall cost.

mushypeaman

soolin wrote: »

'disgusting' really?

I assume you have never run a business then and had to pay merchant fees for anything.

You do realise ebay and paypal are a business and not a charity. If you want to sell for free then use local freeads or Gumtree and stick with cash on collection.

Yes we all moan about the fees, I like a good whinge when I get my bills in- but I do think 'disgusting' is a tad over reacting.

:eek: You've completely misunderstood what I meant. However, if the standard reaction around here is to shoot a newcomer's head off if they stick it above the parapet, then I think I'll stay in the trenches, so thanks but no thanks folks, I'm gone.

jetplane

julie777 wrote: »

As a private seller, I would like to point out how long it takes to package the item, travel to the Post Office and queue to post it and get proof of posting. This may take half an hour out of my day. Time is money and this could therefore be worth well over a fiver. If I am posting an average of 3 items each time I think an extra £1.50 on each Ebay item, above the postal cost is reasonable! It is all related to the posting of the item after all.

Has anyone considered this reasoning?

On your 'reasoning' you are charging over £10 an hour for private selling.

I have considered the time & charges spent listing, selling, posting and dealing with buyers, hence the reason why I don't sell. For me the time and effort is not worth the profit - v - leisure time. I donate my smaller items and clothes to charity and if it's large I advertise locally.

It is rare that I do not pay around 60p - 80p more than the actual stamp cost and this doesn't concern me but when it's £2 - £6 overcharge I feel like the seller is taking advantage. Particularly when the item is posted late and shoved in a carrier bag.