Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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

58 replies

Housewife2010 · 24/05/2013 13:12

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.

OP posts:
MrsMelons · 24/05/2013 18:01

Maybe you could add a sentence to each listing (in capitals) to say that you 'only charge the exact postage and will refund the difference if it turns out to be less. If you are going to leave less than 5 stars please could you contact me so we can try to resolve the issue.'

FriedSprout · 24/05/2013 18:11

Be it would help you feel more confident of your buyers honesty, by tightening up your preferences.
You can block the following type of bidders:

Don't have a PayPal account
Have received 2 unpaid item(s) recorded on their account within 12 month(s)
Have a primary delivery address in a location I don't post to
Have 4 policy breaches reported within 6 month(s)
Have a Feedback score of -1 or lower
Have a Feedback score of 5 or lower and no credit card on file
Are currently winning or have bought 10 of my items in the last 10 days

Housewife2010 · 24/05/2013 22:38

FriedSprout - I have all the preferences you've listed.

Also, I state in my info that I only charge the actual P&P & will refund if it is less than I have charged. I think I'll look into other courier services. If I can drop off at a shop it would be OK - I wouldn't be able to stay in & wait for a courier to pop by.
Re posting, in my info I state that my posting days are Tuesdays & Thursdays. - My listings always end on a Sunday evening so as long as they've paid by the end of Monday, I'll post it the next day.
Mrs Melons, I like your idea re the leaving of stars.
If I do free P&P, I'll have to raise the price they pay - I'll be charged more by PayPal.
So many times, I've ordered from Ebay & they charge more than the actual P&P & yet some have better feedback than me. Very annoying!

OP posts:
Nanny0gg · 24/05/2013 23:05

Am just starting out on Ebay, so sorry to hijack, but how do you block the following:
'Don't have a PayPal account
Have received 2 unpaid item(s) recorded on their account within 12 month(s)
Have a primary delivery address in a location I don't post to
Have 4 policy breaches reported within 6 month(s)
Have a Feedback score of -1 or lower
Have a Feedback score of 5 or lower and no credit card on file
Are currently winning or have bought 10 of my items in the last 10 days'

Elquota · 24/05/2013 23:17

Link for NannyOgg

Nanny0gg · 24/05/2013 23:31

Elquota
Thank you
Flowers

QOD · 24/05/2013 23:37

I've just used collect plus. Take it in to a local shop and courier gets it from them. Cost me £4.99 I think to send Ugg boots inc £1 charge to get signature too

2712 · 24/05/2013 23:37

Royal Mail put their prices up from £2.20 to £2.60 and didn't advertise this change.
I only found out when I arrived at the P.O. with a shitload of parcels!
I am seriously considering using a different delivery service as a hike of 40p is disgusting IMO. 10p okay but 40p!!!
And now they have this stupid thing where they try to push all parcels through a plastic "letterbox" so they can charge you over a fiver if it doesn't fit through. doesn't seem to matter how heavy the item is, just the shape, ridiculous.
I took a parcel in the other day. It would not fit the tester thing so it was going to cost me over £5. I took it back home and made it flatter ( but much longer.) took it back and it fit the tester thing so cost £2.60. but it still weighed the same so go figure.
Proof of postage does not protect you from unsavoury characters who make out they have not received the item when they have, so can understand why you use recorded delivery.

GinOnTwoWheels · 25/05/2013 08:27

OP YANBU.

I use ebay mainly to sell the odd unwanted household items and when it started it was great for this. The trouble is that eBay don't want to bother with millions of people doing just this, they want thousands of 'power sellers' selling millions of items of tat from China, which makes them more money.

With the latest changes, its starting to be not worth the bother for people like us anymore. Eg, I have a Bodrum teapot for one, that I don't use because it is all style and no substance DP got me a better one and I might sell that next time I have a selling spree, as I might have got nearly £10 for, but now the postage price has gone up from about £2 to over a fiver, because the box is about 3 mm bigger than their small parcel cube limit, this will impact the selling price, to a level where I probably won't bother as the profit will be much lower.

I have no idea what my stars are because I never look. I also try to ignore my feedback, as I think this is unfair against sellers - I don't leave feedback for buyers any more as you can't leave anything other than positive and there are plenty of buyers that I did not have a positive experience from - eg those who contact you the day after an item finished at 10 pm, with the 'where's my item' question.

I generally charge exact p+p or round it up a bit, or if I am sure the item will sell for a decent amount, I might offer free p+p - I usually start at 99p as the fees are less, but you also have to consider the issue of 'non rational herd behaviour', as I will explain:

People often say 'set the starting price for the item you want, including p+p and offer free p+p'. However, take an example where one item has a starting price of £30 incl p+p and an identical item has a starting price of 99p. There are no significant differences in the reliability of the seller, stated postage times etc. It is likely that the item that starts at 99 p will sell for a higher price than the item that started at £30, which may not sell at all unless the value is significantly above £30.

I've seen it happen time and time again - people take the lack of bids on the £30 item as a sign that there is something 'wrong' with either the item or the seller. Presented with the £30 item with no bids and the item that started at 99p and has several bids that have bid the item up to say £35, many people will go for the more expensive item.

It is the same process as with two similar restaurants next door to each other, where people just walk in, rather than booking a table - if one is empty and the other already has a few people in it, most people arriving later will pick the restaurant with other people in, because this is a sign that that is the 'better' restaurant and there is something wrong with the one that is empty.

alemci · 25/05/2013 18:48

I left some negative feedback the other day. You still can make a comment if you are not happy.

I agree about the 99p idea. It is psychological that people think they are getting a bargain. £30 may be more of a risk.

sarahtigh · 25/05/2013 20:15

people may leave low stars for postage because you send recorded for everything over £5,

the other reason maybe people know that it could be sent for 3,30 trackable with myhermes but you choose to send RM 2nd medium parcel signed for at £6+

if you have anything that will fit large letter category offer free postage and factor it in if you offer free postage it is an automatic 5 stars

I have an ebay business and the number of parcels that go missing is really small less than 0.5% so I do not send signed for below £20 unless to far east south america etc as not worth it

lljkk · 25/05/2013 20:31

All this is why I think it's foolish for sellers to charge exactly and only the courier/Royal Mail cost. may as well add postage to the start price and put free posting if you're going to do that.

Housewife2010 · 25/05/2013 20:38

Thank you to everyone for all your help & to Gin especially for your really long & interesting post. My Recorded Delivery is always the small parcel size - £3.70. I haven't sent anything larger than that since the new prices came in. I'll look into the courier alternatives. I had dismissed them before because I hate missing courier deliveries - some expect you to be in for any time in 14 hours to receive a parcel. If I can drop one off at a nearby shop it would be helpful. Ironically after 3 years of waiting we finally have a Post Office across the road from us now though! I do find it annoying that people can see the price before they decide to bid & when it arrives they can see that the P&P on the parcel is the same amount that they have paid. So many Ebayers charge more & yet their feedback seems to be fine!

OP posts:
Allthingspretty · 25/05/2013 22:47

Op what you are doing would not bother me so much ie charging just for postage. What did bother me was paying nearly a fiver for pp when it came in a used envelope and cost about a quid to post. This was a few years ago and it still bothers me

sarahtigh · 26/05/2013 08:29

I still think your real problem is sending low value items "signed for" it adds £1.10 to cost to buyer and is for your benefit not theirs on a low value item something like £5 that is actually 20% extra

I have costed it out very carefully and sending under £20 signed for does not make economic sense, if you sent normally it would only cost £2,60

£3.70 is 42% more than £2.60 that is a huge mark up on an item worth about £3-10

alemci · 26/05/2013 11:19

I usually reuse envelopes and packaging but i keep my postage costs low. Usually about £2.75 for £2.60 2nd class post. I have never had any problems with items being delivered.

It annoys me if people charge too much for postage.

Patchouli · 26/05/2013 11:31

I think it's a reflection on RM's prices rather than on you.
Buyers think 'cor that's a bit steep' - but that's what it is.

How do you know if it's going to go over a fiver?
You're not suddenly asking for extra for postage if it does are you?

SarahBumBarer · 26/05/2013 11:32

Ummm -YABU (I think)

The problem in my view is a system where anything less than 5 (perfection) is considered not good enough. I would tend to see 5 as for free P&P or a postage speed well in excess of what is promised and 4 for reasonably P&P charges and a speed of posting which meets (but does not exceed) the expectations which are set. I don't think I am being unreasonable in taking that view. In face arguably - meeting expectations is worthy of a 3 rating and you should do something above and beyond to get a 4 with a 5 reserved for truly exceptional performamce.

lljkk · 26/05/2013 11:48

Agree buyers don't know how to reasonably give stars (I didn't, "Don't make me think" kind of thing)
For comparison purposes,
Here's a seller who indulges in blatant repeated fee avoidance with stupidly high P+P.
And he is STILL selling.
I've read several recent anecdotes of buyers complaining to Ebay about blatant fee avoidance and the seller won the dispute because Ebay's policy is to try to leave P+P to seller discretion.

Try MyHermes or Collect Plus, OP, they both have widespread drop-off points unless you live out in sticks like I do. But you MUST state in the ad which delivery service you are using, because a lot of buyers don't want anything but RM.

Housewife2010 · 26/05/2013 17:38

Patchouli
I never ask for additional P&P. I tend to go by starting price. I never start listings lower than I would be happy for an item to go for.
Sarah
P&P and delivery speed are separate fields. You can't give a star rating for free P&P.

OP posts:
sarahtigh · 26/05/2013 18:08

if you think something will sell for £5 and it goes for well in excess of the £20 compensation royal mail give for standard second class you will be making £15 more than you thought so you can cover the extra £1,10 for signed for out of your unextected profit

but Sarahbum is right on nowhere but ebay would less than 5/5 be considered a failure, I give only give less than 5 stars if there was something wrong as i understand how it works 4 star for delivery time was not posted within 2-3 days of me paying I check postmark 4 stars would either be charging more than £1 in excess of cot of postage or not using an economy method ie 1st class signed for etc

Footface · 26/05/2013 18:23

Elquota
Thanks for link, have now activated

Nehru · 26/05/2013 18:26

how an someone object to reused packaging ffs?

Housewife2010 · 26/05/2013 21:21

Nehru
I once had feedback that "Packaging could have been better". I reuse jiffy bags, but I always package securely. It is because of that comment that I offer the chance of new packaging at a price - noone has ever asked for it!
Sarahtigh I've never charged any extra for P&P than the original P&P on my listing. If the P&P is less (if it passes as a large letter rather than a small parcel) I refund the difference.

OP posts:
Nehru · 26/05/2013 22:23

If it's clean and secure who cares? I hated the thing of using tissue paper FFS.
I use brown paper and a plastic bag (clean ).

Swipe left for the next trending thread