ebay and couriers

ken_gibson

i live in northern Ireland, which is UK believe it or not,,
mostly not it seems with eBay.
recently purchased an item that said post to uk £6 (small light item 4-5oz) got message from seller wanting another £10 to post (as advertised via royal mail) and i pointed out i an in the royal mail area and to just post it.
after a bit of arguing i got the item, post on the item was £2.20

my point, i see a lot of shops description stating postage to NI is higher via courier, not in the postage description but in item details.
it is not allowed according to ebay ,, but there are thousands doing it.

any item i send from NI to NI , or NI to england scotland wales or Uk/Gb islands ,, the rate is the same.

:money:don't put us down as stupid, it's the shop loosing out on sales.

HeadAboveWater

I've noticed that too - a LOT of mainland UKers seem to think that NI is a different country and whack on a load of extra postage for the privilege I've had to contact sellers before when they've asked for additional postage, and send them the Royal Mail link/document which clearly shows NI as part of the UK.

Some courier companies will quote for 'mainland' UK in which case then yes, it will be dearer for NI. But for Royal Mail - no.

I always find it amusing when people start giving out their phone number, then basically interrupt themselves to say 'Oh! Plus four four: I'm in the UK'.

Duh! Me too!!! :rotfl:

plumface

NI is indeed the UK and costs the same when using Royal Mail as if posting say from London to Birmingham.
With some (if not all) couriers it is a whole different ball game altogether!
You will pay extra. :eek:

RFW

Ebay introduced a while ago that UK postal areas can differ in price, this can be automated, much as with different countries.

I use an account with Parcelforce and Northern Ireland is charged at double the price of mainland UK, some Scottish highland areas and other UK islands are also more. Including VAT UK parcels are £5-£6 and other areas are £10-£12, so a big difference.

Oddly enough Paypal postage using Parcelforce charges a flat fee for all UK, it isn't a bad deal for Northern Ireland but if I charged my customers that same rate for mainland I'd lose a lot of customers.

I think I'm fairly unique in charging the same rate for all the UK, I don't get many courier parcels going to N. Ireland, so it usually works out ok, it is something I keep my eye on though. If I began to get too many Northern Irish customers I'd have to put the rate up.

ken_gibson

just checked with courier charges for uk N.Ireland and EU.
they charge the same price to post to the end of the street, N.Ireland or south of France.

it appears to be a farce charge to bump the price and profits of the item.
if i post to london via courier they don't charge me more than posting it to londonderry.(ni)

the charge extra is most likely pick up, ,, if they have a heavy item at 29kilos and bulky, they may be charging to have it collected by the courier, which is of course eXtra.

ebay rules state you can charge for postage only,, (not collection, your loss)
but they also say you can't charge extra in the description,,(which happens all the time)
and you can't PM customers to charge extra if they have accidentally forgot describe postage properly. (which happened me)

the item postage should be clear when you get the item, but everyone seems happy enough to be ripped off. :mad:

RFW

ken_gibson wrote: »

just checked with courier charges for uk N.Ireland and EU.
they charge the same price to post to the end of the street, N.Ireland or south of France.

it appears to be a farce charge to bump the price and profits of the item.
if i post to london via courier they don't charge me more than posting it to londonderry.(ni)

Which courier charges the same rate for N. Ireland or South of France?

The rate you may be quoted by Parcelforce to send across the UK is likely the same price, however it is substantially more than for those with accounts. For example, on their website next day UK service is £13 plus VAT, they charge my account less than half that, but for N. Ireland it is almost the same.

Every courier company from mainland UK charges extra for parcels to Northern Ireland, as far as couriers are concerned there isn't a UK flat rate.

Obviously if the seller is using Royal Mail then there isn't a difference on a standard non account service. It's possible a service such as special delivery is charged extra for RM account holders (I don't know on that one).

custardy

ken_gibson wrote: »

just checked with courier charges for uk N.Ireland and EU.
they charge the same price to post to the end of the street, N.Ireland or south of France.

it appears to be a farce charge to bump the price and profits of the item.
if i post to london via courier they don't charge me more than posting it to londonderry.(ni)

the charge extra is most likely pick up, ,, if they have a heavy item at 29kilos and bulky, they may be charging to have it collected by the courier, which is of course eXtra.

ebay rules state you can charge for postage only,, (not collection, your loss)
but they also say you can't charge extra in the description,,(which happens all the time)
and you can't PM customers to charge extra if they have accidentally forgot describe postage properly. (which happened me)

the item postage should be clear when you get the item, but everyone seems happy enough to be ripped off. :mad:

got a link to the rule that you can only charge the postage cost?

sham63

Parcelforce/Royal Mail charge the same for delivery to all parts of the UK including NI, however most courier companies charge alot more for deliveries to NI from the mainland.

Just looked at GWizz and a 12kg parcel (which is normally around £13) costs £21 to NI

techspec

Parcel to go wanted £8 extra from me for Northern Ireland - so i now block it for larger items.

Its only Royal Mail that don't charge extra.

RFW

sham63 wrote: »

Parcelforce/Royal Mail charge the same for delivery to all parts of the UK including NI, however most courier companies charge alot more for deliveries to NI from the mainland.

I can't say for sure on Royal Mail, but as I said Parcelforce charge different for account holders.

ken_gibson

ebay post calculator for say "a mobile phone" only lists postage and packaging. any other charges must be paid for by the seller.
so i don't see collection
staff wages to go to the post office
the wifes fuel money
extra for sweets if the kids do it.
the ticket for parking on the double yellow for "just a minute"

p&p only.
their is ranges of post, recorded, signed, second class,blah!
i don't see collection.
:eek: i'm not paying for some lazy sod.
uk law says all charges must be open and clear, easily understood and choice to withdraw.
well i'v never seen anyone say, b.t.w. i'm paradise and have to charge for collection as i can't get down the post office.

couriers in NI ,, dhl, captain courier, yodel, ups,,
all buy and sell,(to smaller couriers,) space on the planes to england.
if they charge higher prices, they will loose out to royal mail.
the counter staff at the couriers here, say its the same uk wide. :wave:
so someone is ripping someone off, you just need to state to them that they can't charge extra, even report them.

is the wrongs of these big companies not what this site is all about, or what am i missing. :rotfl:
and my cousin lives in Juif SW france, 10kilo back pack of clothing forwarded for a motorcycle trip around europe, recorded cost me £14.10 ,, yet someone in manchester wants £16 to post a fat envelope weighing a few ounces to NI. :mad:

sure you can call us paddy(which we get in the north too) all day long, ya can't call us stupid.