Amazon postage and packing rip off

flashnazia

I just want to warn others about this practice.

It's not just Amazon sellers. Ebay sellers use the same system.

It's about sellers through Amazon and Ebay being allowed to charge exorbitant amount for P & P.

Some of you might think there is nothing wrong with this providing the actual product is cheap but think again.
If you buy a product for a penny and pay around five pounds for the P&P, (this is a real example of an fm transmitter on Amazon), if the item is faulty you will only get one penny back. You won't get the P&P. The worse thing is, the seller will be making their profit on the P&P so they keep that cut.

Surely this encourages sellers to send out shoddy stuff!
I have written to Amazon who have fobbed me off with a crappy answer.

Be warned.

looby75

it's just like sellers that do that on ebay....simple answer, don't buy from them.

Bunny

amazon set the P&P price don't they, sellers don't have a choice, I've never been given one anyway when selling, I know on ebay you can set the P&P to whatever you like if you're selling, i have noticed on ebay quite a few times that the P&P costs more than the product, ridiculous amounts sometimes.

Andy_L

I beleieve that's because the p&p oneBay doesn't attract comission

rosysparkle

Amazon P&P is set by Amazon and not the sellers.

On ebay, if you don't think the postage and packing is reasonable (and bear in mind packing means it will be above the stamp price) then don't bid.

mountainofdebt

EBAY have addressed this issue with the new format of feedback.

janey_uk

I got stung with this the other way round as a seller on Amazon marketplace. I assumed the postage was calculated to match the product, but sold a couple of hardback books, only to find that the postage was actually as much as the cost of the book and the postage amazon gave me together, meaning I had effectively given the books away free.

I complained to Amazon and they said that it was because Royal mail had changed parcel sizes and wouldn't budge. They don't make it very clear that you can't rely on their prices though.

trisontana

When you sell books via AbeBooks you have the ability to alter the postage rate before you complete the transaction. If you want to increase the rate then an email is sent to the potential buyer asking them if they still want to go ahead with the purchase. If you are feeing generous and want to lower the postage charge then you can do this without having to contact the buyer.

mishkanorman

On amazon its the reason things are priced at a penny, the seller knows that they will receive X amount after postage and fees are taken into account so they can price things accordingly. It doesnt matter if the seller charges you £5.00 for the item and 1p for postage or the other way round you pay the same, there is no underhand tactics here as Amazon set the postage amount and the seller has no say in this.

Also with amazon you will receive a full refund if the item is not correct, however you have to return it at your own cost to the seller. (most will also actually re-imburse you for return of faulty items)

The feedback is a good way to judge if the seller frequently provides poor quality products not the price they are selling at


mishka

eyelinerprincess

One thing that annoys me is people on ebay moaning about postage. Put together the price of the item plus postage. If you can afford it, buy it, if not, press the little x at the top corner! And people that think that P&P is JUST postage, and then moan they were overcharged!