Pay to collect

flea72

i know under ebay rules you are allowed to charge 'reasonable' fees to cover p&p, but can you charge a collection fee?

an item i am interested in says they charge £5 for collection and i just wondered if this was acceptable?

tia Flea

frivolous_fay

Is it acceptable to you? If you have to ask, it suggests it's not.

Sellers can ask for a fee to collect; it's arguable what constitutes a reasonable fee.

Hintza

Seller will either have to hang around or employ someone to hang around. It is obviosly cheaper than you can buy elsewhere or you would have not contemplated buying on EBay.

Obviously the terms are clear so either bid and agree or walk away.

Personally I would want more for someone to arrive at my house. Personal collection would be my worst nightmare. Face to face contact with my buyers....arghhhh!!

flea72

i suppose i dont think its acceptable, as they arent having any outlay, and im the one having to do the running around. its just that its not something ive ever come across on ebay. whenever ive collected items in the past, its always been free, and at the sellers convenience. but if they are allowed to do it, then no, it doesnt really bother me, i will just factor that into my bid, like i would on items that have p&p to consider.

flea

StaffsSW

I've seen this a few times, but it only tends to be business sellers that charge it. I've bought and sold a few items where it has been face to face contact, each time it has been a private seller and has been very much like a financial version of Freecycle.

It may be hard for some to stomach, but business sellers have a different purpose on eBay to private sellers, so all "handling" costs have to be considered - they still had to pay for the listing fees, buy the stock in advance and hold it until sold, therefore the P&P charges are more than just the price of stamp. The P&P they charge is reportable income that is used to offset costs incurred. Alternatively, I have also suggested an "off-ebay" transaction to some sellers and agreed a price between us.

Private sellers tend to just be interested in getting a few quid for something they had lying around so selling and handling fees are not an issue. If it is a private seller though, it could be that they are mis-representing themselves, or just a bit greedy and taking a chance!

blue_haddock

Also bear in mind that the collection charge covers their time whilst waiting for you to arrive and then actually doing the deal. I've done a few collection only items and even if they say they will arrive a7pm you still need to be there earlier just in case they turn up before then plus 7pm often turns into 7:30pm etc.

Basically the collection fee is paying for the time they will spend waiting so i see no problem with a collection charge.