over charged on ebay postage. can I please have some good advice?

poet123

vacheron wrote: »

I absolutely agree, but the whole system is there to warn buyers of sellers with bad postage policies so that they can be avoided. If the seller you use has a high rating (and I can't believe that you would use one that doesn't), does this not mean that the vast majority of othey people who have bought from your seller are quite happy with the service for the charges quoted?

Even those with high ratings can have low stars for postage. I would leave high stars and a positive comment for the product but a low star if I felt there was a postage overcharge. So, the headline rating would be unaffected.

ballisticbrian

It is not a finite quantity and it is subjective. Postage is quantifiable and measurable against the actual

It's also not possible if you run an eBay shop with thousands of items of different size and shape. Between the different items there are myriads of combinations, some for which postage would combine and the weirdest, ones, where a tiny related object to the first like an extra component or spare, takes it into the next category. Which before price rises was one thing, and now greatly exaggerated by RM price rises.

You are going to reply that in that case you should refund the buyer, and there I rest my case that you shouldn't be trying to advise business people.

POPPYOSCAR

ballisticbrian wrote: »

What about asking stars for the item price? eBay are only interested in the postage because it's the component they don't raise revenue from.

This is it in a nutshell.

poet123

ballisticbrian wrote: »

It's also not possible if you run an eBay shop with thousands of items of different size and shape. Between the different items there are myriads of combinations, some for which postage would combine and the weirdest, ones, where a tiny related object to the first like an extra component or spare, takes it into the next category. Which before price rises was one thing, and now greatly exaggerated by RM price rises.

You are going to reply that in that case you should refund the buyer, and there I rest my case that you shouldn't be trying to advise business people.

I am not necessarily advising business people, they can probably take the hit of a few low stars, but even being a business seller I think you protest too much!;)

I am really referring to the private seller who routinely charge up to the limit of whatever Ebay will allow even though it will go for much less.

ballisticbrian

OMG ***faints*** :T

TrickyWicky

Oh wow, page 19!

Well have a nice weekend..

ballisticbrian

Everyone too, and you poet, raises glass!

stig

Poet123, can I ask - do you routinely ask your sellers what the object you are buying cost them, so you can satisfy yourself that they haven't made any profit on the sale of the item?

Because I really can't understand why buyers would get their knickers in a twist over the supplier making a profit on one business transaction (the delivery of goods from seller to buyer) while showing not the slightest bit of interest in the profit the seller is making from the other part of the transaction (the sale price).

Is it just because you can look up the postage cost, but can't look up how much the item cost the seller? Or do you believe it is intrinsically morally acceptable to make a profit on the sale of goods but not on the service of delivering those goods to the buyer?

I'm pragmatic. I charge Ebay postage at approx 50% of cost so buyers feel they are getting a bargain. My stars are 4.9 and 5. Buyers leave 5 stars on transactions where they have paid many, many times what the items cost me for the purchase - because they feel they have "saved" 50p on postage. So I have no problems with the system - I don't work to tight margins.

But I'm still fascinated by why buyers think delivery is a service that should be provided at cost but don't ever concern themselves with the margin the seller is making on the actual item?

I'd rather charge postage at cost (real cost,, not inflated, but including all the actual costs of a delivery service) for one reason. It would stop the small minority of buyers who collect from me in person having to shoulder part of the postage costs when they are "built into the sale price" as so many on here have recommended. It would also enable me to offer a real bottom line price i.e. the minimum I will accept for the item with no postage costs - at present every starting price of fixed price has to include a proportion of postage, which could well put off buyers who wish to collect.

But as I say - if anyone can shed light on why buyers are so fixated with one part of the transaction (the postage cost) while making no effort to find out about the markups involved in the main body of the transaction I would be fascinated.

Stig

poet123

I think that is a very good point. I can only answer it by saying that I feel the service aspect is different to the product mark up aspect of any given transaction. Like you, when I sell I don't work to tight margins as I buy judiciously, use it myself and then sell on sometimes at a great deal more than I originally paid. However, I would always charge postage and packing at cost. I am a hobby seller, but if I ran it as a business which I could if I was able to devote more time to it I would probably add my time element and associated costs into the selling price more diligently than I do now. I would not however, inflate postage costs, which are transparent, to achieve a higher overall margin.

In the case of Ebay sellers it is a risky business model because of their star system. Selling elsewhere you would have to judge your market.

King_Nothing

How has this thread got this long? And I think the OP is pathetic for even starting it personally.

What exactly is the problem?

Go on eBay > find item looking for > look at postage costs > agree you want it, so put in a bid or BIN > receive item > case closed.

I've always given 5 stars for postage costs as I've known what they are before I've agreed to buy it, so if it wasn't reasonable I wouldn't have bought the item, I don't really care if it cost the guy less or more to post the item.

Asking for a £1.20 postage refund as I've said is !!!!ing pathetic.