Ebay Postage - Opinions

Cornucopia

And free P&P takes away the option from the buyer to comment on the quality of your packing. It would be the ideal option for sellers - if eBay didn't charge more for the privilege.

Ultimately, this argument takes us to the position where either base prices rise to compensate for "fair" P&P rates, or sellers simply take their business elsewhere, and you are left with big companies in mail order, the way it used to be, who are quite happy to charge £7.99 P&P for a small, light item.

The bottom line ought to be that the price overall is what you base your value for money decision upon. Anything else doesn't make much sense if you look at the bigger picture.

And that's particularly true whilst eBay continues to offer free listings at 99p (where there is an obvious incentive to make up some shortfall in the P&P cost).

RHemmings

Cornucopia wrote: »

And free P&P takes away the option from the buyer to comment on the quality of your packing. It would be the ideal option for sellers - if eBay didn't charge more for the privilege.

Ultimately, this argument takes us to the position where either base prices rise to compensate for "fair" P&P rates, or sellers simply take their business elsewhere, and you are left with big companies in mail order, the way it used to be, who are quite happy to charge £7.99 P&P for a small, light item.

The bottom line ought to be that the price overall is what you base your value for money decision upon. Anything else doesn't make much sense if you look at the bigger picture.

I've heard for years and years that X will happen and ebay sellers will leave on mass leaving only big sellers who will hike prices. And that therefore buyers should act in the way that sellers want them to. It hasn't happened, and I don't think it is going to happen. Some sellers will leave, and the slack is taken up by new sellers arriving. If there is any category where there is profit to be made, someone will spot it and start supplying.

I agree that the price overall is the major factor on which the purchase/don't purchase decision should be made. However, as described above, I don't agree that price overall is the major factor on which the decision of how many stars to give for p&p.

Cornucopia

What difference does the P&P cost make, if you are happy overall, though?

POPPYOSCAR

RHemmings wrote: »

I've heard for years and years that X will happen and ebay sellers will leave on mass leaving only big sellers who will hike prices. And that therefore buyers should act in the way that sellers want them to. It hasn't happened, and I don't think it is going to happen. Some sellers will leave, and the slack is taken up by new sellers arriving. If there is any category where there is profit to be made, someone will spot it and start supplying.

I agree that the price overall is the major factor on which the purchase/don't purchase decision should be made. However, as described above, I don't agree that price overall is the major factor on which the decision of how many stars to give for p&p.

It is my impression that Ebay has lost a lot of the smaller sellers and buyers over the last few years due to the increased costs of paypal fees and postage, hence why they do their free listing weekends so frequently.

RHemmings

Cornucopia wrote: »

What difference does the P&P cost make, if you are happy overall, though?

This is covered in detail in my first post in this thread. Including a specific example.

POPPYOSCAR wrote: »

It is my impression that Ebay has lost a lot of the smaller sellers and buyers over the last few years due to the increased costs of paypal fees and postage, hence why they do their free listing weekends so frequently.

Which items/categories have become more expensive due to a lack of sellers?

Cornucopia

RHemmings wrote: »

This is covered in detail in my first post in this thread. Including a specific example.

Not really - you don't say whether you were happy overall - I get the impression not. If you weren't happy overall (and I can understand that you weren't) then that's not an answer to my question.

One of the reasons why this is a sensitive subject is because it is one of the deceits/compromises/misunderstandings of eBay.

The item is called Postage and Packing. I see this as including-

- Postage due to PO/Courier
- Cost of packing materials
- Time taken to pack
- Time and costs to take to PO/Courier

In other words, if I choose, I can add a fair amount more to the P&P than just the PO charge without breaching those implied rules. My time could be quite expensive.

RHemmings

Cornucopia wrote: »

Not really - you don't say whether you were happy overall - I get the impression not.

In my ebay example in that post, I said explicitly that I would be equally likely to purchase two items with different price breakdowns. That doesn't mean that I'm equally 'happy' overall in the two situations. I would prefer honest postage and a higher item price than a ripoff postage price balanced by lower item price.

The restaurant analogy explains that even if I'm happy with something overall, that doesn't mean that I am happy about every component of the item/service purchased.

Cornucopia wrote: »

In other words, if I choose, I can add a fair amount more to the P&P than just the PO charge without breaching those implied rules. My time could be quite expensive.

You could, but buyers may not like it. And hence may give you lower stars than you believe you deserve.

Cornucopia

RHemmings wrote: »

In my ebay example in that post, I said explicitly that I would be equally likely to purchase two items with different price breakdowns. That doesn't mean that I'm equally 'happy' overall in the two situations. I would prefer honest postage and a higher item price than a ripoff postage price balanced by lower item price.

So it's essentially a question of honesty? How can you know if the P&P charge is dishonest if it is not accurately itemised?

The restaurant analogy explains that even if I'm happy with something overall, that doesn't mean that I am happy about every component of the item/service purchased.

Not sure the analogy works. You could have enjoyed your meal without any bread. If you had complained about any element, the chances are it would have been taken off your bill.

However, the P&P charge is intrinsic to the eBay purchase - you cannot have one without the other. Not practically, and in some cases, not economically.

You could, but buyers may not like it. And hence may give you lower stars than you believe you deserve.

In my experience, that does not happen. It seems that most buyers know that if the item is 99p and the postage is £1.99, then there is some legitimate trade-off between the two. Or putting it another way - it doesn't matter if there is no profit in the item price, as long as I get a fair return on my time & effort in packing & sending.

RHemmings

Cornucopia wrote: »

So it's essentially a question of honesty? How can you know if the P&P charge is dishonest if it is not accurately itemised?

In my example, it was £8 postage when £2 was reasonable p&p in terms of stamps and packing. I.e. 4x a reasonable packaging charge. That stands out fairly clearly.

Not sure the analogy works. You could have enjoyed your meal without any bread. If you had complained about any element, the chances are it would have been taken off your bill.

You are trying to create complexity where none exists. Do you not understand the general concept 'It's possible to be happy overall with a product/service while not being happy with every component of that product/service'? If not, what don't you understand about it?

However, the P&P charge is intrinsic to the eBay purchase - you cannot have one without the other. Not practically, and in some cases, not economically.

This doesn't in any way counteract the analogy in describing the basic concept that it's possible to be happy overall with something while not being happy with part of that something.

Cornucopia wrote: »

In my experience, that does not happen. It seems that most buyers know that if the item is 99p and the postage is £1.99, then there is some legitimate trade-off between the two. Or putting it another way - it doesn't matter if there is no profit in the item price, as long as I get a fair return on my time & effort in packing & sending.

Then if you aren't getting low stars for your postage, then there's no problem. We're specifically talking about the situation where the overcharge is sufficient to annoy buyers and lead to them giving low stars for p&p. Such as £8 p&p when £2 is reasonable.

campdave

The question being if £2 cost and £8 p&p is the same as £8 cost and £2 p&p, why a seller would choose the former and risk their account and DSR for the sake of saving 60p in fees.