DSR stars/rating do buyers understand them?

StaffsSW

I thank you from the bottom of my heart and wallet for your constructive advice on how I should run MY business.

I'm already making money, I have proven satisfied customers, and good star ratings - not the latter are hugely important to myself. The ebay guidelines clearly state that a discretionary amount can be added for handling as you accept, but NOBODY is going to tell me how much I can and can not charge. As long as people are still paying the price and showing their satisfaction, then I've no need to review my business strategy.

But why in the name of all that's holy would I want to reduce my margins needlessly, especially when real costs are rising? How do you know if I am "overcharging" on postage? Do you expect a stamp to stick itself onto a jiffy bag, that grows on the jiffy bag tree, write it's own address on a professional label, include a receipt that comes from the never-ending paper tray, from the printer that runs on fresh air and uses magic ink that never runs out, and after it's done all that will magic itself to the front of the post office queue. Or are you in fact my accountant or tax consultant who knows exactly what I am doing and why?

I'm running a business, not a charity.

meester

stevew8975 wrote: »

I thank you from the bottom of my heart and wallet for your constructive advice on how I should run MY business.

I'm already making money, I have proven satisfied customers, and good star ratings - not the latter are hugely important to myself. The ebay guidelines clearly state that a discretionary amount can be added for handling as you accept, but NOBODY is going to tell me how much I can and can not charge. As long as people are still paying the price and showing their satisfaction, then I've no need to review my business strategy.

But why in the name of all that's holy would I want to reduce my margins needlessly, especially when real costs are rising? How do you know if I am "overcharging" on postage? Do you expect a stamp to stick itself onto a jiffy bag, that grows on the jiffy bag tree, write it's own address on a professional label, include a receipt that comes from the never-ending paper tray, from the printer that runs on fresh air and uses magic ink that never runs out, and after it's done all that will magic itself to the front of the post office queue. Or are you in fact my accountant or tax consultant who knows exactly what I am doing and why?

I'm running a business, not a charity.

I'm not telling you how to run your business, which as you've said twice now is so marvellously successful and wonderful and profitable and wonderful. I really couldn't care less.

All I have been discussing is ebay rules, which as stated exclude charging for anything other than postage costs, the cost of materials, and in rare cases, surcharges for credit cards (other than paypal/nochex etc.).

They might have changed their minds on this, so I am going to ask them to clarify.

kiwi_fruit

meester wrote: »

Basically a five-star rating should only be given for free postage, or for postage that has been charged at no more than the cost of postage plus a reasonable cost for packaging materials, perhaps rounded up to the nearest 25p.

it's useful to understand that
1. it's not only about stamp and a jiffy bag
2. not everybody lives next door to post office, and if you know where to get free petrol or free bus tickets let us know as well
3. time does costs money, and selling on ebay takes a lot of time
There're loads of auctions on ebay that go for 99p+ very fair postage(stamp and Packaging). While some buyers think they are doing seller a favour by buying from them, seller virtually doesn't get ANYTHING from 99p sales. You're left with less than half, that is less than 50p after all the fees deducted, and where that 50p goes? no, not to sellers profits, but to buy petrol to get items t the post office/parking!!

meester

Ebay have just got back to me. Their policy has evidently changed at some point. It seems to much more favourable to the seller than their previous policy.

Here is their full reply.

As a seller, you will sometimes need to gather boxes. You can buy them,
of course. And that cost goes into your "handling" charge that is tacked
on to the shipping charge. If you want to travel around to different
stores, you can collect free boxes. But you will pay for gas money and,
of course, your time - to do this. Unless you hire someone to do this
for you - so you pay them. And that cost goes into your "handling"
charge that is tacked on to the shipping charge. You may need bubble
wrap. They can be purchased, or they are available to get for free --
again, if you spend the time and the gas to collect them. And that cost
goes into your "handling" charge that is tacked on to the shipping
charge. If you were a big and busy seller, you may have to hire a part
time worker to come in one day per week and help you pack, label, and
haul-to-the-post-office the packages of items you have sold and been
paid for. And that cost goes into your "handling" charge that is tacked
on to the shipping charge.

You have to buy labels for your packages. And you have to buy ink to
print those labels. Or buy ink pens to write out the name and address.
And you have to buy packing tape for your packages.And that cost goes
into your "handling" charge that is tacked on to the shipping charge. If
you accept PayPal payments, PayPal requires all packages to have
Delivery Confirmation on the package. And that cost goes into your
"handling" charge that is tacked on to the shipping charge.

And last, but not least, is the cost of gas to bring your items to the
post office. Some people live fairly close to a post office and it's not
so far for them. Some people live quite a way from the post office, and
the cost is a lot more for them. And that cost goes into your "handling"
charge that is tacked on to the shipping charge.

They really should explain these things a bit more clearly, clearly there is a lot of confusion.

From their reply, it seems pretty much anything is justifiable.

For instance, if I live in rural Scotland and I am sending something by standard second class post. In order to comply with paypal policies I should get proof of posting. So I have to go to the post office. But the post office is 10 miles away. The accepted cost (by HMRC) for a mile is 50p. 10 miles each way is £10. Perhaps add on £1 for parking. And then 30p for the actual postage.

So according to ebay's own stated policy £11 for posting a letter could be reasonable.

It seems then that you can charge:

* actual cost of envelope and other packing materials (say £1
* providing receipt (say 10p)
* a packing cost to actually physically pack the item (about £1 I guess would be the actual cost after payroll costs for a large outlet)
* cost of postage (say £3)
* cost of parking and travel to post office
* cost of actually GOING to the post office, even if it is your own time, note they say "you will pay for gas money and, of course, your time - to do this'. I don't think it's justifiable to charge my normal rate, but OTOH, if you wanted someone to come and pick up an item and post it for you, you'd pay well over minimum wage. I think for a TYPICAL small seller it's going to take 30 minutes round trip to get to the post office (to sell one item), and 15 minutes there, that's 45 minutes at £8/hour = £6.

All in all quite a lot of money.

This contradicts their own example of an excessive postage 'offending item' http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/listing-shipping.html

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (2001, DVD)
BIN: £1
P&P:UK £10 Royal Mail First Class
Explanation: The actual cost to post this DVD would be less than £2 using Royal Mail First Class Mail stated in the listing. This seller is charging all costs for this item in the postage price thus hiding the “true” cost for this item from buyers.

Obviously by doing it BIN for £1 you are making it clear you are making money on the postage, but start the auction at £1 and charge £10 for postage, seems justifiable to me by what the ebay support person told me. If I have to take the item to the post office it's going to cost me £6 (according to my logic) just to go there and stand in the queue. More for some people. Add in petrol and parking and you've easily got £10. And there's no courier that will collect from your house for £10 that won't force you to hang around all day (= money).

This does say one useful thing for casual ebay sellers - cost your time. Count your time to sell, post, etc., and you're looking at a loss on many items..... Of course many people don't place any value on their time, but others have better things to be doing.

soolin

The problem with post and packing still is htough that if buyers start knocking a sellers stars that seller runs a real risk of falling foul of the 'bottom 5% of sellers' rule. It's a very fin eline between actual and what a buyer consider excessive and it is well worth keeping an eye on the star rating when changing your selling model.

StaffsSW

meester wrote: »

This does say one useful thing for casual ebay sellers - cost your time. Count your time to sell, post, etc., and you're looking at a loss on many items..... Of course many people don't place any value on their time, but others have better things to be doing.

Welcome to the world of being a business seller - all of these things have always been considered when setting realistic P&P charges, which is regularly overlooked by those sellers that are non-accountable, yet balancing the charge so as not to appear as "gouging", or affecting the star ratings.

From the eBay response, it is yet more evidence that they are moving away from the private seller, to considering the needs of the business seller. An it officially proves that P&P is more than just a stamp.