High P&P - Opinions Please!

meester

footballmanagerwidow wrote: »

Hi All

I bought an item from an established seller with 100% PF and was charged £7 P&P - I didn't really question the amount as it was an electrical item and I didn't know how heavy it was going to be. The item arrived 3 days after I paid and I noticed that they had sent it via 2nd class post at a cost of £2.49 - it was just wrapped in plain brown paper. Does anyone else think this difference in prices is unreasonable and if so what do you think I should do? I appreciate people do need to make some extra on p&p but this much seems a bit extreme to me...

You have four options:

* complain to the seller
* leave negative feedback, for exorbitant postage
* leave positive feedback and then leave a 1* rating for the postage cost
* do nothing

I think the polite thing to do would be to email the seller asking them to justify the £7 postage cost and asking them to justify why you shouldn't leave negative feedback for exorbitant postage. If they respond saying, "sorry, thought it would cost more than that", and give you some money back, then job done. Otherwise, you can go on from them.

Personally I would tend to leave positive feedback and 1 or 2* postage cost in the detailed seller rating. Letting the seller know, by emailing them, or by leaving negative feedback is more likely to have an effect though.

meester

stevew8975 wrote: »

Sweeping generalisation of the day award.... :rolleyes:

One day when you may have your own business and are looking at why you are not making any money, it will be apparent that employee time and travel is not free.

While this is true, the bottom line is the ebay buyer doesn't give a damn about your cost of doing business. In the old days you could say 'my postage cost is high because it costs money to get to and stand 20 minutes in line at the Post Office', and then revenge neg the buyer.

Nowadays ebay buyers expect low-cost postage, and if they think you are overcharging they are 100% within their rights to mark you down for it. Nothing you can do about it.

The model has moved from the sellers saying "this is how I do business, like it or lump it, I will revenge neg you", to sellers having to aim to please buyers. Don't forget play.com, amazon, etc. offer free postage, presumably for sound business reasons.

If you want to continue to say 'I do business MY WAY' and my way alone, don't expect any sympathy from me next time you're whining about ebay banning sellers for having low feedback for not making enough effort to please buyers. Bottom line is, ebay/buyers expect all your costs of doing business to be included in the selling price of the item. Don't like it, trade elsewhere.

Road_Hog

DGJsaver wrote: »

Really ?
Whats the point in ebay asking for rating on p+p charges then ?

Were you born yestreday?

There is only one reason for that, to get sellers to push their costs in to the sale price there by paying up to almost 10% FVF on their shipping costs as well as the 3% they're paying paypal on their shipping costs.

This is all about increasing ebay revenue, not about saving the customer money. If that was the case, why when I offer free shipping, don't I get 5 star ratings on my shipping costs or why doesn't ebay automatically give you a 5 star mark? Well, because the customer knows he didn't get free shipping, because it isn't free, it is just hidden elsewhere and also ebay doesn't want you or it to give you a 5 star rating, because it doesn't want to pay the powerseller discounts each month.

I'm not sure what the OP's problem is, how much did you expect the shipping cost to be, £7? How much was the shipping cost, £7? Well, seems like the seller performed spot on, he charged you exactly what you agreed to pay, you can't say fairer than that.

If I was the seller and you complained afterwards, I'd say, okay I've reduced the postage to £2 but I've raised the sale price by £5, at which point you'd say, hey you can't increase the price after the auction and we've agreed the price and I'd say yes, and you can't start haggling for a discount either.

The one thing I will say, sellers don't help themselves when they charge above the cost price and put it in cheap/shoddy packaging and use handwritten address labels etc.

Time2Go_25

I realy don't see why buyers get so worked up about it. Surely it should be just left to people to decide how they wish to trade and then buyers can make a choice. There are very few items where there is only one supplier so it is up to you to decide whom to buy from and if you think the cost and the postage is what you want to pay.

If you see two items for sale one at £1 with £10 postage and the other and £10 with £1 postage, you take a decision on which one to buy, but to buy the one with more postage and then complain is unreasonable.

RFW

Cute_n_Quirky wrote: »

Most ebay sellers over-inflate their p&p costs.

We don't find out how over-inflated that p&p cost is until it is delivered.

Most add £3/£4/£5 to the actual cost when the packaging is reused, etc so has cost them nothing to buy it.

The travel to the post office should not be included, that is one of the perks of being a seller.

Apart from the first 'most' I'd agree with that. If you sell regularly on Ebay, and you have to cover standing in a post office queue, your shoe leather, time taken to pack, petrol, etc, etc into your postage charges when essentially that is your job, then you should consider doing something else, as your business is obviously not profitable.

Inflated postage charges to save paying Ebay fees is fee avoidance and tells me the seller is dishonest. Again if you can't cover the fees and earn a profit do something else.

For the OP, why not contact the seller, they may have made a genuine mistake in the listing and refund the difference.

jasmineswhiskers

Funny how buyers are backward at coming forward when it works the other way round, ie. undercharging on postage. Would there be a thread 'I purchased an item and the postage was stated as £2.50 and it actually cost £3.50 - should I send another £1 to the seller....' hmmm.

geri1965_2

I don't think it's really worth getting all hot & bothered about. I know when I sell an item I often charge more for postage than it costs, not because I want to rip people off but because I genuinely don't know how much it will cost until I get to the post office. It's all very well saying weigh it, but it often depends on the size not the weight. Nobody has ever complained. Likewise, I bought an item this week which I was charged about £5 postage for and it cost less than £2 to send. It's swings and roundabouts really, unless you are always a buyer and never sell anything.

StaffsSW

Cute_n_Quirky wrote: »

So I take it that, as a Seller, you regularly over-inflate your p&p.

Most ebay Sellers are not businesses. They take more than one item to the p.o at a time therefore there is no need to charge £4 for the time taken, etc.

As a seller, I have a P&P DSR of 4.83, so obviously my buyers are more than reasonably satisfied at my charges.

Without having hard facts to hand on the split between business and private sellers, I could not comment, however I suspect that there are a large number of sellers who should be registered as a business but aren't.

Jakg

richto wrote: »

The seller had to stock it, handle it, invoice it, pack it, treck to Post Office, queue, etc.

You aren't meant to include travel to the PO in the P&P cost btw.

DGJsaver wrote: »

Really ?
Whats the point in ebay asking for rating on p+p charges then ?

To make sure people charge as little for postage as possible so more goes into the main price which eBay get 2 whacks on (FVF + PayPal) rather than just one on P&P (PayPal fee)

soolin wrote: »

I don't agree that 'most' people over inflate their charges by much. I am happy to pay a little extra for packing but would certainly reflect too much inflation in the star ratings that I leave. People that add £2 or more to the charge are just asking for problems, star ratings and buyer satisfaction are very important now and any seller who risks those risks a lot of problems.

I inflate all of my costs - i use postage rounded up to the nearest 99p, or to 49p if it's a small item.
I never buy any packaging, though, usually i just re-use stuff I have laying around. My P&P charges thingy is 4.8, so my buyers don't mind. My Dispatch Time is a 4.5 though, and seeing as all my items are dispatched Next / Same day then !!!!!!!

I really don't care about P&P charges, it's the total amount that i pay, but i'd be wary of a 99p + £5 P&P item incase it breaks.

Recently bought a phone for £15 postage, which was "to cover the extra special delivery and the paypal fee", didn't say anything (although this is technically a NPS complaint) - she waited almost a week to post the bloody thing 1st class recorded and it can't of cost more than £5 to send...

If it was less than a tenner I wouldn't of minded, but the box is a re-used heap of junk.

Road_Hog

DGJsaver wrote: »

what absolute TOSS
Difference being the seller has ALL the info needed , if they stitch themselves up thats just being inexperienced or stupid.

Yes, when are you going to start refunding sellers when they have undercharged.

BTW, I have reported your post for offensive language.