postage probs

plumface

soolin wrote: »

Completely immaterial I pay postage and a bit of packing, nothing more. Luckily sellers who think buyers owe them for everything tend not to last long enough to cause buyers any problems.

What a ridiculous statement.
How can any business survive WITHOUT taking into account ALL of there operating costs?
If it costs £xx to purchase,advertise and deliver an item to a customer then ALL of the factors come into play when calculating a sale price,you cannot 'leave out' any element of this because you don't want to offend anyone.
Or are you saying that you should 'load' (hide) your p&p costs,ie freepost,onto the sale price?

soolin

plumface wrote: »

What a ridiculous statement.
How can any business survive WITHOUT taking into account ALL of there operating costs?
If it costs £xx to purchase,advertise and deliver an item to a customer then ALL of the factors come into play when calculating a sale price,you cannot 'leave out' any element of this because you don't want to offend anyone.
Or are you saying that you should 'load' (hide) your p&p costs,ie freepost,onto the sale price?

Yes I am saying costs need to be included in item cost, that is what they are- costs of the item being sold. The things you mention are not post and packing and any seller that keeps charging them as p and p won't last long at all.

starrybee

Completely agree with Soolin. Sellers who think they can charge buyers for all and sundry will not last long on ebay - they can "take into account" all their costs as much as they like, buyers will simply go elsewhere if they're being charged for the drive to the post office!

sharnad

you have the same seller as me by the sounds of it - £5 postage 2.20 to post item arrived damaged seller says take it up with royal mail admits to overcharging on packaging as she wanted to put shoes on at low starting price

plumface

You really do not understand it,do you?
You will happily pay,say £10 for an item if it is free p&p.
But you will complain if the item is sold to you at £6 plus £4 p&p and find out the actual p&p cost is £1.90.
What,for Gods sake is the difference?

plumface

soolin wrote: »

Yes I am saying costs need to be included in item cost, that is what they are- costs of the item being sold. The things you mention are not post and packing and any seller that keeps charging them as p and p won't last long at all.

So what is the difference between loading the costs onto the sale price as opposed to loading the costs onto the p&p costs,the final price is still the same?

soolin

plumface wrote: »

So what is the difference between loading the costs onto the sale price as opposed to loading the costs onto the p&p costs,the final price is still the same?

The difference is a seller that loads p and p tends to see terms and conditions as flexible and I wonder what else they feel is flexible. Anyway ,I prefer to deal with sellers that will be around for a while and those that load p and p tend to get restricted and banned eventually.

mig1989

I am much more likely to pay for something at say £8 + £2 postage than £2 + £8 postage ignoring the fact the total would be £10

Crowqueen

Same here. Or with inclusive postage - that way I know the seller has costed realistically and competitively and thinking of the total price. I think eBay should introduce fees on postage - that way we will find out whether petrol is really worth charging for or whether some private sellers who insist on charging for it will suddenly either find it's a non-starter to sell on eBay or find more efficient ways of doing it.

You can play devil's advocate all you like but it won't change buyers' minds. If sellers insist on overcharging, in the end it's them that loses out - they will have poor ending prices, poor relations with their buyers and a poor outcome all round. They can stick to their guns all they like, but they cannot insist that people buy from them or enjoy the experience of having to buy the seller's petrol because the seller cannot operate efficiently - which is what counts when you're trying to sell something.

If the PO in the village closed down it's a shame but I would not sell on eBay. I know that's tough on people who have go further or even drive somewhere, but as a business you would factor that cost into general overheads (and if the seller sells in any particular volume those will be a few pence perunit at worst) and a private seller could learn to work PO runs into shopping trips etc. Eventually adding lavish transport costs to a handful of items is just not going to get you many sales. Time is not chargeable (that would make it a taxable wage), a buyer is not responsible for buying you a coffee on your trip to the PO, and if you cannot sell efficiently you are under no compulsion, nor have any human right to do so.

If you still want to, start a business and sell in enough volume that it is productive for you to charge transport costs.

RHemmings

plumface wrote: »

You really do not understand it,do you?
You will happily pay,say £10 for an item if it is free p&p.
But you will complain if the item is sold to you at £6 plus £4 p&p and find out the actual p&p cost is £1.90.
What,for Gods sake is the difference?

The decision on whether to purchase or not I make on the overall price. Plus other factors such as how reliable the seller appears, etc.

The decision on what stars to give for p&p charges depends on the p&p charges made and whether or not they are reasonable.

That's why it's possible for me to be happy with the overall purchase but unhappy with the p&p charges.

This exact same argument has come up before, but I still haven't seen anything posted that convinces me that sellers who overcharge for p&p should be given high star ratings for p&p.

Here's an analogy. Imagine there's a shop that sells the most wonderful chocolate cake at a very reasonable price. But the person serving behind the counter is rude and unhelpful. I'd probably still go there to buy the cake. But, if someone asked me "what do you think of the person serving behind the counter?", I'd reply that I think they're rude and unhelpful. Same for p&p charges. The overall balance for a particular item on ebay might be "buy", but that doesn't mean that I'm happy with all individual components of it.