AIBI to be so fed up with being marked down for P&P on Ebay.

[Housewife2010]

I'm now down to 4.6 for P&P & have just had another low score for P&P ( I have 3 of them now). I reuse packaging & only charge for the actual P&P. I never add any extras for sellotape, petrol, time etc. I post everything over £5 by recorded delivery because if I'm sending to a stranger I don't know if they will be trustworthy or not. Also if I overcharge by mistake (the item goes as a large letter) I always refund the difference. What do people want? I can't help it if postage is expensive. I use Royal Mail because it's convenient.

Use Hermes. They collect from you, it's trackable (unlike Royal Mail signed for), cheaper and insured.

Otherwise not much you can do apart from contact the buyer and ask them to change the stars as they should be able to see you charged actual cost

YANBU as the buyer doesn't have to deal with you if they don't want to pay the P&P.

One way round it though is to up the price of the item and offer free P&P - that way you automatically get full marks.

Is it maybe the paskaging? DH states beforehand that he reuses packaging so it might not be a pretty package. He always makes sure stuff is really secure and in lots of layers - whereas I've had packages just wrapped in a carrier bag.

i'm a bit baffled by this. how can they mark you down on P&P if you're only charging cost of postage? (meaning your paying the cost of packaging, petrol etc out of the money you get for the item!)

what do people expect?!

why post everything recorded over £5? You can get a certificate of posting for nothing and claim up to £20.

Do you take a long time to post after people have bought though?

I stopped charging for P&P ages ago. I wait for free listing days and then I work out the true cost of P&P and put my starting price on top of that - they can't quibble with free.
I do however wish that people understood the word 'dispatch'. I dispatch the next day- it quite clearly says second class post and so it will take time.

I've washed my hands of ebay. There are too many conmen on there.

What exactly are the issues resulting in the low scores? I'm not following I don't think?
Do people charge for packaging, petrol to post, time etc? I never have done, or even bothered working it into the cost of the item. I start pretty much everything at 99p, no matter what value as I just want it gone.

I queried a couple of p and p prices on ebay and was informed (quite defensively) to 'blame Royal Mail'. Apparently prices have gone up. Once I knew this it was fine but perhaps people don't know yet.

I'm with squeeky. Why recorded for anything over a fiver? It adds postal costs and it's unecessary. Perhaps that's the problem.

For me, if postage is really high I tend not to bid. However, as you clearly state the postage I don't see why then people turn round and complain after the fact.

The RM prices have gone up by quite a lot. I posted a smallish jumper recntly 2nd class, to a buyer and it cost about £5.00

I post recorded, because then there is proof if someone has received it. Otherwise someone could state that it never arrived & I would have to refund them. In my listings I state that I use recycled packaging & to contact me for updated P&P if they would prefer new packaging (noone ever has). I use jiffy bags & bubble wrap & wrap very securely. Maybe I should add the P&P in the price & offer free P&P. I use RM because I can go to the PO when I'm free - I'm not keen on couriers because I can't be in all the time to receive them - I don't have a safe place to leave parcels.

yes prices are definitely up. the jump is crazy between £2.60 for a package then if it doesn't go through a slot they have at PO it jumps up to £5 or more.

I chopped the top off a shoe box recently to send sandals at £3 first class after being quoted the over £5 price - tricky.

Before the rules changed, I sold some stuff that I knew was going to fetch quite a lot (they were rare books my Mum had) so we opened her an ebay account and sold the books with free postage.

She was also marked down on postage by some wanker Despite her only having sold those items, and all free postage.

By the same token, I received a fab Boden frock for dd today from the UK (am in Italy) and they charged me only £3.50. I was going to bid on another one, and then spotted they wanted £15 to Italy so they can fuck right off.

Recorded delivery doesn't always update on the RM system though. I've had a package that I've signed for MONTHS ago and the system still states undelivered. It's not infallible. Proof of postage is better.

If you offer free P&P you will automatically get 5 out of 5 for postage.

I wouldn't go for recorded at £5 or over. Offer it, fine, but insisting would lose my custom in the £5-£15 level. Might want it after that, depending on what it was.

"Otherwise someone could state that it never arrived & I would have to refund them"

In which case you claim using your certificate of posting.

Hermes use a lot of shops that you can drop your parcels into. If you look on their website you can find out the nearest ones to you.

Am I right in thinking though that you don't get actual money back with a certificate of posting, just the equivalent value in stamps? Or did I make that up?

I go for recorded over £5 as well now, too many chancers about.

YANBU - I've just spent £66 on postage ......... And only charged £34 ..... And that was going on what everyone else was charging!! I'm so and - after eBay take their fees I might as well not have bothered!!!!!

I'm a keen ebayer and sell stuff for friends too and I only ever send recorded as after an incident, found this was the only way I was protected. If the buyer complains they haven't received item then eBay can automatically refund them even if you have proof of postage, the only security is the tracking number on recorded and you can then claim this back through Royal Mail.

There are many dishonest people about unfortunately!

Well OP, if you have no morals you could always do what a recent seller did to me. He sent a small parcel and didn't bother to put any stamps on at all. I had to pay to receive it - the actual postage cost and a PO "handling charge". The seller then ignored all my communication and requests to cover my costs. I opened a case with eBay and guess what - they found in the seller's favour. Apparently eBay have no jurisdiction when it comes to postage costs and wouldn't take any action. And then, to add insult to injury, they deleted the negative feedback I'd left, as you're not allowed to leave negative feedback when a case has been found in someone else's favour.

So, save your money, use no stamps at all, and no one will be any the wiser, apart from the buyer who can apparently just whistle for it!

Obviously I'm not really advocating this behaviour, but it's annoying to see that some people (like you) are so conscientious and correct, and others just do what they like.

I use Hermes now - slow, but cheap and convenient and you can add insurance very cheaply!

If you're close to a collect + shop I've found them to be quite good. They cost £3.99 under 2kg and not much more than that over. It's only a pound extra to have it signed for too!