How much are sellers allowed to charge for ‘packaging’

Middlestitch

Dox wrote: »

You're missing the point - they are asking for combined p&p (i.e. a discount) because they know it will cost you less than posting the 2 items separately. I get it all the time, which is why I no longer offer free p&p! See http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=73676083&posted=1#post73676083 - clearly I'm not alone.

Me too - and if you don't offer some sort of discount, of course all the buyer does is buy each item separately because they're annoyed you won't play ball (which ends up costing me more both in cash terms and time/effort to pack and send).

epm-84

marliepanda wrote: »

I am the buyer here. I bought a few items (small items which from my own experience would have gone for £2.80) postage listed as £5 each.

I bought about 5 of these items and the revised postage was given as £12.00. When I got the items today £6.50 is the postage cost.

I have asked the seller to refund some of the difference however she has said that the postage cost includes postage and packaging. I don’t feel very happy to pay £5.50 for a reused BeautyBay box and a few bits of bubble wrap, and her ebay fee also. What are eBays rules on this?

In my opinion I’d have expected £4 back.

If the postage costs £2.80 then the seller would have to charge £3.18 to give them a net £2.80 after eBay and PayPal fees.

Personally I'm of the opinion a second hand box or jiffy is not worthless if you originally paid for it one way or another and it's still in good enough condition to be used again. There's also a small cost to seal it up and print/write a label. However, if the postage cost was £6.50 I wouldn't think charging more than £8 is reasonable.

epm-84

olgadapolga wrote: »

So do I. But I have still had buyers asking for combined postage when purchasing a couple of items . . . until I point out that there is nothing to combine as it's inclusive P&P

I get the impression some eBay buyers want to negotiate by offering something they expect you to reject. I had one recently who made a Best Offer of around half the value I had it listed for, someone else also made a higher Best Offer. I rejected the lower one and put a note that I had another Best Offer and gave the amount the other offer was for. A couple of hours later I received an email saying my item had sold (for the listed price) and it turned out the buyer was the lady who had earlier offered half the listed price. She obviously didn't want to miss out on the item but wanted to get a big discount, if possible.

Brooker_Dave

You'll notice that eBay thinks its perfectly reasonable for eBay to profit from postage, but not sellers, if they do it they're crooks.

Brynsam

epm-84 wrote: »

She obviously didn't want to miss out on the item but wanted to get a big discount, if possible.

Isn't that what many buyers want? Seems entirely reasonable!

epm-84

Brynsam wrote: »

Isn't that what many buyers want? Seems entirely reasonable!

Not everyone who makes a Best Offer or asks for a postage discount would be willing to buy from you at the listed price. Hypothetically, if your item was listed for £10 one buyer making a Best Offer of £5 might go elsewhere unless you agree to give some form of discount even if it's not the 50% discount they initially proposed, while another might buy the item for £10 if you don't agree to their Best Offer.

ballisticbrian

It's the best way for the environment to re-use a box (it has zero production costs in energy) but costs a lot in time to do it. You have penalised your seller for doing this.

KxMx

ballisticbrian wrote: »

It's the best way for the environment to re-use a box (it has zero production costs in energy) but costs a lot in time to do it. You have penalised your seller for doing this.

marliepanda wrote: »

I checked with the seller and she said she’d need to purchase a larger box to ship them in, and quoted the £12.

She them shipped them in a reused box.

Seller stated a new box would need to be purchased, justifying the overall postage cost.

Item was then shipped in a used box with no reduction in postage (until buyer asked).

I hardly think the buyer is in the wrong here!

ballisticbrian

Seller stated a new box would need to be purchased, justifying the overall postage cost.

Item was then shipped in a used box with no reduction in postage (until buyer asked).

I hardly think the buyer is in the wrong here!

The trouble is with a "he said", "she said" story isn't it doesn't help try to establish a principle.

epm-84

KxMx wrote: »

Seller stated a new box would need to be purchased, justifying the overall postage cost.

Item was then shipped in a used box with no reduction in postage (until buyer asked).

I hardly think the buyer is in the wrong here!

It's entirely possible the seller needed that box for something else but dispatched the items in the used box she already had so they could be sent straight away, whereas if the seller had waited until she had acquired the new box the items wouldn't have been dispatched as quickly.

However, unless the seller communicated why she said a new box was required and sent it in a reused box then it's understandable why the buyer isn't 100% satisfied.