Postage: what can be included ?

Sambucus_Nigra

soolin wrote: »

Did I mention I use a cab to take eaach individual item to the post office , one at a time and that costs me £8 return?

Seriously though, how can a buyer tell what costs a seller has incurred- for all we know seller passes PO every day on their way to work, or maybe even takes the works post there on his way home at night..

We don't - hence looking at their address and the nearest post office on google maps when a buyer has overcharged for postage by saying that they have had to travel to the post office to post something.

You may not bother but in the time it's taken for you to respond to my post I could have found out the nearest post office to a seller's address.

So what's your point?

porto_bello

The overcharging of postage - particularly when accompanied by the under packaging of items will certainly increase profits, but it's a short-term strategy.

Buyers hate to find that as well as overcharged postage, the item's packaging has been forced down in size and weight, so the seller can make an off-radar profit and buyers usually reflect their displeasure in the DSRs (if not the feedback itself).

After a while, the unrepentant seller finds their DSRs are on the rocks and soon after, discover their selling privileges have been withdrawn - and they're still unrepentant!

It's a crazy way to lose the ability to sell on eBay - but some do it!

Yorksboy

Hi
It seems that sellers can charge whatever they like for postage, ebay doesn't care. I recently won an auction, postage was described as carrier at £10. I was happy to pay this as this is what I charge for a delivery service. However, when the package arrived it was in an old battered box and came via Royal Mail at £2.70. I contacted seller and they refused a partial refund and admitted that they felt postage was part of the overall price of the item.
I raised a dispute with ebay- they found in the sellers favour!
I'm just listing items on ebay this weekend, should I inflate the postage??
I think not, in my opinion postage is to cover post &packaging only.

soolin

Yorksboy wrote: »

Hi
It seems that buyers can charge whatever they like for postage, ebay doesn't care. I recently won an auction, postage was described as carrier at £10. I was happy to pay this as this is what I charge for a delivery service. However, when the package arrived it was in an old battered box and came via Royal Mail at £2.70. I contacted seller and they refused a partial refund and admitted that they felt postage was part of the overall price of the item.
I raised a dispute with ebay- they found in the sellers favour!
I'm just listing items on ebay this weekend, should I inflate the postage??
I think not, in my opinion postage is to cover post &packaging only.

As above though sellers that think they can charge what they like just don't stick around long enough to worry ebay. A small private seller might only need 3 low stars to be considered below standard- and that means no free listing- which for many means they lose out big time. So they maybe save 30p a time on FVFs (assuming £3 excess per parcel at 10%) and then end up having to pay 10p to list all their 99p items when other better sellers are doing it for free.

martindow

Wasn't there a suggestion that Ebay might start charging fees on the item cost plus postage? This would stop all of this nonsense with excessive postage charges.

porto_bello

martindow wrote: »

Wasn't there a suggestion that Ebay might start charging fees on the item cost plus postage? This would stop all of this nonsense with excessive postage charges.

I think that already happens on the US eBay site.

Unfortunately, I think it will make things worse, rather than better: I can see two problems resulting from this:

1. It will push up the price of postage by 10%, as many sellers charge the actual price, and eBay will have inflated it by 10%. [I suspect most of us avoid sellers who charge obviously excessive postage].
Bad news if you're a buyer!

2. An artificial inflation of postage by 10% isn't going to be appreciated by buyers, who will hurt their seller's DSRs - even though it's a premium that goes to eBay, not the seller.
Bad news if you're a seller!

poet123

I was looking a a lovely designer suit on Ebay and the postage cost was £25 by courier, and they stated it was non negotiable. I looked at the feedback and although no one had neg them they were making comments. I have watched this business seller slide down the scale of stars and now their postage star is about 3. They sell lovely BNWT clothes at well below RRP but my guess is that they will not be selling on Ebay much longer.

justjohn

Please if leaving bad feedback for postage/admin costs, Please inform the seller so he can ban you from future purchases.

justjohn

Yorksboy wrote: »

Hi
It seems that buyers can charge whatever they like for postage, ebay doesn't care. I recently won an auction, postage was described as carrier at £10. that statement is very apt , you notice you said BUYER.


I think not, in my opinion postage is to cover post &packaging only. BUYERS OPINION...not ebays or many sellers.

A buyers assumption should not be taken onto consideration for ratings.

soolin

justjohn wrote: »

Please if leaving bad feedback for postage/admin costs, Please inform the seller so he can ban you from future purchases.

No need, a seller that routinely overcharges by large amounts wont be there much longer so won't be an issue for future buyers.

Buyers hold all the cards and sellers that forget that tend to have a poor grasp of how business works.