Postage: what can be included ?

justjohn

alykatz wrote: »

Better still ban everyone, open a shop an get rid of postage costs altogether , job done...
In no other shopping forum ie: town center ect do you get to pick and choose who is allowed to walk through the doors and actually give you money for your stock. yes you can
This whole ban shopper ect attitude it really non productive and is in no way conducive to having a succesful business.

Many businesses refuse too deal with certain types of people and are very successfully.

There is no point dealing with a customer that is going to cost you money or excessive time IF there is a queue of customers that are not going to cause you any hassle.

Good example is a bank, many banks don't deal with bad payers. In effect they are banned. Ebay already allow us to auto ban bad payers.

Pubs sometime have a pub watch scheme. Anyone on list is banned.

There are also many places that give better treatment to good customers.Eg. Some of my good reg wholesale customers pay no postage and get a discount.

A high street shop does not HAVE to serve a customer, they can refuse service for no reason.

Awkward buyers cost ebay sellers money, banning them minimizes the risk/cost

alykatz

justjohn wrote: »

Many businesses refuse too deal with certain types of people and are very successfully.

There is no point dealing with a customer that is going to cost you money or excessive time IF there is a queue of customers that are not going to cause you any hassle.

Good example is a bank, many banks don't deal with bad payers. In effect they are banned. Ebay already allow us to auto ban bad payers.

Pubs sometime have a pub watch scheme. Anyone on list is banned.

There are also many places that give better treatment to good customers.Eg. Some of my good reg wholesale customers pay no postage and get a discount.

A high street shop does not HAVE to serve a customer, they can refuse service for no reason.

Awkward buyers cost ebay sellers money, banning them minimizes the risk/cost

So how does a high street store know a customer is going to awkward? Any store that turns away customers because they dont like the look of them isnt going to last long.

My point was which you seem to have missed is that nowhere else does a customer carry around references to give in at each store to see if they will grant them the privilege of spending their money there.

Yes stores ban shoplifers ect but that is as far as it goes.

As for banks that is a slightly dubious anology as they offer a service and dont sell goods as would a store like BHS. The same goes for pubs people are banned for being drunk and causing problems not because they ask awkward questions or neg another pub.

At the end of the day ebay has given both sellers and buyers in some instances imo a skewed view of what shopping online entails.
I do think some buyers do mark unfairly and sellers do gouge on postage. But until ebay change the way things are set up you just have to work with how things are at present or else suffer the consquences.
I do wonder if at some point ebay will start to include postage costs in fee`s like they do in the US. Just in part to stop those that cry ebay is trying to force everyone to go free postage..

lindseykim13

This is always a hot topic, personally i used to charge 50p over but now only 30p and at least half of my listing are bin's with free postage so balance up any potential low stars. I've climbed from 4.8 to 4.9 so i'm happy with this method. When buying I think it's unreasonable to be paying more than £2.50 for something that costs £2.20 to post. I also don't like sellers that charge and send small worthless items recorded delivery.

soolin

lindseykim13 wrote: »

This is always a hot topic, personally i used to charge 50p over but now only 30p and at least half of my listing are bin's with free postage so balance up any potential low stars. I've climbed from 4.8 to 4.9 so i'm happy with this method. When buying I think it's unreasonable to be paying more than £2.50 for something that costs £2.20 to post. I also don't like sellers that charge and send small worthless items recorded delivery.

That's a good point. It does seem that charging for recorded on cheap items does seem to result in poor stars.

justjohn

alykatz wrote: »

So how does a high street store know a customer is going to awkward? Any store that turns away customers because they dont like the look of them isnt going to last long.
QUOTE]

A high St shop does not always know a customer is awkward. just like ebay it is often after the fact. There are sittuations were customers are asked to leave a high st shop before purchase. for instance if they stink too high heaven and effect others shopping experiance. Point i was making to someone was you don't have to be served.

Also on ebay you can see feedback, if buyer has neg or neut every second seller or moans about many purchases,i would put them on the ban list. Unlike the high st these comments and ratings cost money/sales and effect other customers.

laurel7172

lindseykim13 wrote: »

I also don't like sellers that charge and send small worthless items recorded delivery.

It's not just the charging-it's the 5 mile drive and 20 minutes queuing in the post office. Amazingly, some of us work and can't be in to sign for every pair of socks we buy.

porto_bello

laurel7172 wrote: »

It's not just the charging-it's the 5 mile drive and 20 minutes queuing in the post office. Amazingly, some of us work and can't be in to sign for every pair of socks we buy.

Indeed, I find it amazing that there are sellers on eBay, who require 'lifestyle subsidies' from their buyers, in the form of hefty shipping premiums.

Those sellers operating in competitive, price sensitive categories are obviously going to be unable to compete and will rapidly fail.

Those sellers operating in specialist categories will make a few sales in the short-term, but their buyers will be aware of and resent the 'shipping stitch up' and will reflect this in the DSRs, such as the rather naive business seller I mentioned at #40.

Buyers also have to wait in post office queues and have to buy petrol and socks, but don't look to on-line sellers to cover their actual costs and and those extra 'notional' ones attributed to 'inconvenience'.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

It's funny how you constantly read about people being annoyed about P&P but my competitor who is charging £2 to post something that probably costs them 96p in stamps plus a jiffy bag not only has great DSR ratings but is also gaining sales as the buyers see two BIN prices, one £2 cheaper despite the overall cost being the same. Looking at feedback plenty of 1 item only purchases and I'm really wondering if paying eBay 13p a sale extra for the last 5 years or so has just made me a bit of mug?

Someone posted on the eBay boards regarding P&P to say a lot of people want the item cheap and the postage cheap without considering the worth of the item which I think sums it up in most cases.

justjohn

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head wrote: »

It's funny how you constantly read about people being annoyed about P&P but my competitor who is charging £2 to post something that probably costs them 96p in stamps plus a jiffy bag not only has great DSR ratings but is also gaining sales as the buyers see two BIN prices, one £2 cheaper despite the overall cost being the same. Looking at feedback plenty of 1 item only purchases and I'm really wondering if paying eBay 13p a sale extra for the last 5 years or so has just made me a bit of mug?

Someone posted on the eBay boards regarding P&P to say a lot of people want the item cheap and the postage cheap without considering the worth of the item which I think sums it up in most cases.

lol @ mug

You have to compensate for thick buyers that are unable to add the total price up. Then balance that with the workings of ebay.

Summing it up the buyer does not understand the postage rating on ebay or the costs. So you have too hide it from them and charge them more, due to it increasing costs lol

Free postage is the only thing that will stop you getting any bad ratings for postage. But you have too increase costs as there are more fees from ebay.

There is always a chance the buyer is going to bad rate you on postage if you charge anything other than free. EVEN IF THE OVERALL PRICE IS CHEAPER. CAUSE HE IS DIM LOL

it is technically in the interest of the buyer to have the postage heavily loaded if they understand the overall price is cheaper.

So loaded postage saves the buyer money, saves the seller money and ebay loose out.

Current mind set on postage buyer looses out, seller looses out and ebay gains.(someone has too pay for that and thats going to be the buyer)

That assuming buyers can get to grips with total item cost lol

Also as the seller looses discount for bad ratings due too these few that do not get to grips with overall cost. Many sellers will compensate for that. By loading the overall price. (buyer losses out again lol).

BTW we are talking about a MINORITY of buyers.

plumface

laurel7172 wrote: »

It's not just the charging-it's the 5 mile drive and 20 minutes queuing in the post office. Amazingly, some of us work and can't be in to sign for every pair of socks we buy.

Simple solution,do not buy anything that states 'recorded delivery!'
You wont be able to moan then.;)
:rotfl: