Postage: what can be included ?

soolin

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.

The issue though isn't his feedback but his expanded dashboard. Do you really want to be a seller that worries every time they log in that they may have hit a small minority of buyers happy to leave a 1 or 2 * for excessive postage?

Most of us are bound to meet buyers who are happy to ding our stars, I for one am not going to make it easier for them to have a reason to lose me my TRS status and as a low volume seller I can only get 3 or 4 low stars a year before i lose my discounts.

porto_bello

soolin wrote: »

...as a low volume seller I can only get 3 or 4 low stars a year before i lose my discounts.

Also, the law of averages and my rather smaller scale experience of selling on eBay suggests to me that you could pick up 1 (or if you're really unlucky) 2 low stars per year from the small minority of unpleasant characters out there, so with such a small safety net, artificially inflating p&p costs could be very costly in the longer term.

soolin

porto_bello wrote: »

Also, the law of averages and my rather smaller scale experience of selling on eBay suggests to me that you could pick up 1 (or if you're really unlucky) 2 low stars per year from the small minority of unpleasant characters out there, so with such a small safety net, artificially inflating p&p costs could be very costly in the longer term.

That's how I look at it. I think as a very low volume seller I am lucky to even manage to maintain TRS so I don't want to be in a position where I lose it and then wish I had not been silly with my postage.

plumface

porto_bello wrote: »

Also, the law of averages and my rather smaller scale experience of selling on eBay suggests to me that you could pick up 1 (or if you're really unlucky) 2 low stars per year from the small minority of unpleasant characters out there, so with such a small safety net, artificially inflating p&p costs could be very costly in the longer term.

I think that statement hits the nail on the head.
A buyer, or buyers can quite easily by mistake,or by malicious means mark your stars down and that is the end of it!
No redress,no appeal.If the buyers marks you down,the buyers marks you down and you have virtually no way out.End of account,end of sales.:(
It is no good spouting the usual "go freepost or put your p&p price down".
If you offer free p&p you get 5* automatically even if you send a glass vase in a sheet of newspaper.Is this not going against the ebay philosophy of a safe trading platform.
If you have the audacity to charge for p&p you run the risk of idiots marking you down because they can.
It still amazes me that people moan like hell about p&p costs in ebay yet,will happily pay OTT prices everywhere else

techspec

plumface wrote: »

I think that statement hits the nail on the head.
A buyer, or buyers can quite easily by mistake,or by malicious means mark your stars down and that is the end of it!
No redress,no appeal.If the buyers marks you down,the buyers marks you down and you have virtually no way out.End of account,end of sales.:(
It is no good spouting the usual "go freepost or put your p&p price down".
If you offer free p&p you get 5* automatically even if you send a glass vase in a sheet of newspaper.Is this not going against the ebay philosophy of a safe trading platform.
If you have the audacity to charge for p&p you run the risk of idiots marking you down because they can.
It still amazes me that people moan like hell about p&p costs in ebay yet,will happily pay OTT prices everywhere else

So true - its only happened since DSR's and a new breed of less intelligent Ebayer that does not understand Ebay brought them in to INCREASE fees and subsequently PRICES.

Eg. Seller one - item £1 - postage £89.
Seller two - item £99 - postage £1.

Despite saving £10!!!! - some fools on here think that seller one has ripped them off and will mark them down. :rotfl::rotfl:

hoadie

I personally don't care what the postage is as I only buy an item if it is good priced, I count the total price, I would rather pay £1 and £14 for the item than £15.10 with free postage as I hunt for deals.

mtc95

hoadie wrote: »

I personally don't care what the postage is as I only buy an item if it is good priced, I count the total price, I would rather pay £1 and £14 for the item than £15.10 with free postage as I hunt for deals.

I wouldn't - because it's clear that the first seller is out to avoid ebay fees and would make me doubt how honest they are as a seller when it comes to the item description or how they would react if there was a problem with the transaction.

But I guess that makes me a fool