P&P charges , what do you think that should include ?

sweep9

soolin wrote: »

My best selling item goes at £1.52 second class and needs a brand new jiffy and I tend to charge around £1.75 and still get marked down for my posting costs when I look at my star rating!

This is as bad as my best selling item!

I have my best selling item at £5.99 BIN with free postage, where as other sellers have the same item at £5.99 + £2.50 postage and I still get marked down on stars for the prices I charge for postage!!!

Unbelievable!

wolvesinwales

juno wrote: »

I had a really great seller recently. She charged for normal Special Delivery, but coz I bought tickets close to the event ended up paying more for the saturday service, and she didn't charge me extra! And I emailed her before buying to check, and she said it was fine.

I have done similar silly things like this, guess that's why i would never make it in business :rolleyes:

wolvesinwales

sweep9 wrote: »

This is as bad as my best selling item!

I have my best selling item at £5.99 BIN with free postage, where as other sellers have the same item at £5.99 + £2.50 postage and I still get marked down on stars for the prices I charge for postage!!!

Unbelievable!

They must expect you to pay them then ?

impecunious

I personally thnk your p&p charges are more than fair. As already mentioned, adding on the cost of jiffy bags, sellotape and, don't forget, saliva etc is perfectly acceptable. But what is debatable to me is the true cost of actually getting the package to the buyer. I have made countless trips to the post office for a single item where it has taken over half an hour - I dare say the rest of you have as well. Bearing in mind the minimum wage is £5.35 an hour, is it justifiable to add that cost? I know some sellers do charge for their time, yet I wouldn't dream of dong so (hence why, I hope, I still have 100% feedback!). I wouldn't argue if someone else did though. I just wouldn't buy from them

baffcat

natalie1974 wrote: »

Hi ,

I would be interested if you could tell me what you think P & P costs include/should include or cover .
The reason I ask this is I am selling an item which the P&P is set as £4 . The item would cost £3.08 1st class recorded delivery and then a little extra for all my packing,bubble wrap,mailing bag and sellotape etc . Do you think this is reasonable as someone has asked if I can send it cheaper , I did explain all the costs to her . I did offer to send 2nd class for a cost of £3.20 .
Hope this makes sense .

Natalie

Hmmmmm. I wish I could be as bold as Stamford, or as obvious.

I give an excellent service to my customers, and I think it's worth them paying for it. It's not as if I hide my p&p fees away, they're on every listing.

I send between 10 and 50 packages a day. They all take some time to pack, whether it be three minutes or fifteen.

Most of my stuff is breakable, so I use corrugated cardboard, bubble pack and jiffy-type envelopes. Some of it I buy (particularly the envelopes), other bits I 'acquire' through various means. None of my stuff goes letter, and very little goes large letter. A lot of my customers buy 2-5 items at once.

This all makes it difficult to work out p&p (not postage - postage AND packing) beforehand.

Generally, for an item costing £1.52 or £1.92, I charge around £3. When I combine items, the p&p charge usually drops (per item) quite a bit, but as soon as I think it's going over 1kg, and as long as it's under 25kg or so, the price goes to £8 - £12, and I send via payperdrop/DHL (whom I pay £5.99). If it's less than a kilo, but worth over £30ish, it goes Special Delivery & I charge accordingly.

Most buyers' feedback I get mentions the quality of the packing, and the speed of delivery (usually 2nd class, but always sent same or next day). Very few buyers have ever complained about what I charge for p&p

LOL. This week, I even had someone leave a positive which said 'very pleased but the postage was too much, will buy again though A++++++++++'. To which I left 'Glass needs to be well packed, so postage cost is only part of post & packing'.

If I took into account the time I spend packing, and travelling to and from the Post Office, I'd have to charge up to double what I do now.

What this all boils down to, I guess, is I think you're charging too little if you're giving a good service, but if your delivery times are poor, then you should charge as little as possible to make up for it.

HTH

Baff