Postage Costs

Crowqueen

I had this recently on an item broken off its pictured base to get it to fit in a LL envelope rather than go as a small packet which was reasonable for the postage actually charged. So it was basically half the postage cost - free money - which went into his pocket. I marked down the DSRs and moved on - no desire to have an argument with him over it but no desire to let him get away with it (he then got a negative for something else broken to get it into a smaller postage band so not going back to him in a hurry!).

This is just why eBay UK should charge fees on postage - people would actually think about it a bit more and not try to get away with obvious overcharging. They'd work out at the time what it costs.

KxMx

That seller part-refunded me no problem, last time I noticed an overcharge it was after leaving feedback & dsr's so I didn't pursue it, my own fault etc. I would never ever take part in feedback extortion but I thought having left it already it was pointless to pursue it. I just won't buy from them again.

This again was from a seller charging packet rates but it coming through as a LL- and as it was a custom made item which they had sold 100s of they knew well what they were doing with their charges!

lil.smartie

The £2.70 did include the jiffy bag & their time & effort (& fuel) to get to the PO though. I do agree 1st class should have been sent 1st class though not 2nd.

Kate

soolin

lil.smartie wrote: »

The £2.70 did include the jiffy bag & their time & effort (& fuel) to get to the PO though. I do agree 1st class should have been sent 1st class though not 2nd.

Kate

No, post and packing does not include time or shoe leather or that nice latte you have on the way to the Post office. Any seller who thinks they can add that to their p and p costs is going to have a very short career on ebay.

Buyers have all the power and sellers need to remember that they need 'most' buyers to leave them 5* across the board. Yes we can take a few lows, but actually very few- and a poor seller is one that thinks none of that matters and believes a lot of nice huggy people on a forum who tels them to charge what they want.

The most important tool for a seller is the expanded dashboard- watch that like a hawk and if you are not getting nearly all 5* across the board then you will have serious problems.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/56895243#Comment_56895243

on a 69p stamp I don't think many sellers would get away with much more than around £1.30 max for p and p without getting marked down.

plumface

Crowqueen wrote: »

This is just why eBay UK should charge fees on postage - people would actually think about it a bit more and not try to get away with obvious overcharging. They'd work out at the time what it costs.

Could not agree more.(even though it would cost me more!)
If this did happen,what could buyers moan about then as it could not be classed as fee evasion?

Crowqueen

No - Soo is correct. If you are having to charge transport on your items then think about whether it is efficient for you to sell at all. If you sell in bulk as a business then it is easy to calculate transport costs, but as a private seller, not everything will sell in the same batch and it is pretty bad to charge full petrol costs on everything just to make sure you can drive to the PO to post one item.

Finding cheap packaging is easy - a jiffy bag should not cost you more than 20p if bought in reasonable bulk; even pound shops have them for roughly that (though beware the quality is markedly deteriorating in line with inflation).

Also charging for time is paying yourself a wage, which is taxable, particularly if you have other PAYE income. It just doesn't work like that and buyers mark down on what they perceive as a large overcharge.

plumface

KxMx wrote: »

Maybe because a) only one seller had what I wanted and
b) from my end I wasn't sure if it was a LL or packet so trusted the seller knew it was a packet and P&P cost listed was appropriate- but it came through as a LL. Thus with a mark-up of £1.40.

What does it matter what the actual p&p cost was?
You bought an item at an agreed price and where quite happy to do so.
A business makes a mark up on the actual product and no one complains yet you all complain about anything put on the postage costs.
Touchpaper lit,standing back and waiting!

Crowqueen

plumface wrote: »

Could not agree more.(even though it would cost me more!)
If this did happen,what could buyers moan about then as it could not be classed as fee evasion?

But equally sellers would also think properly about postage and not just dump everything there to fund their coffee habit and lavish packaging charges. They'd actually calculate the cost, work out what is worth paying for and what isn't, and keep their own costs down.

Buyers would presumably still have a say but the more eBay works like Amazon, the better. Private sellers on 'The Big River' have to make these sort of calculations every time they list because of the fixed postage credit and large fee deductions - so they can't afford to add transport costs, etc to the postage.

Meanwhile sensible business sellers charge what is economical, with an eye on the competition and what their marketplace can stand.

It would be better all round - and that's before feedback plays any part in it at all (and quite seriously, what successful seller does NOT let customer satisfaction play a part in their decision-making?!).

soolin

plumface wrote: »

Could not agree more.(even though it would cost me more!)
If this did happen,what could buyers moan about then as it could not be classed as fee evasion?

I'd also add my vote to charging a fee on the whole lot as per the US method. However, I would expect that fee to be less than the current 10% I am already paying.

A trade off with a lower FVF but charged on the lot would seem to be logical if ebay really care about buyers experience. However, I can see that those sellers with high postage costs on specialist items might struggle. I am lucky in that the most I pay for postage is about £8.80 standard parcel, the majority of mine going for £2.20.

Crowqueen

Off to find out what the US tariff actually is...

EDIT: looks as if it's a flat rate on the entire amount, a la Paypal.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/insertion-fee.html#fvf