To be pissed off with eBay sellers who...

[0pheliaBalls]

...use 'recycled' packaging and charge a fortune for p&p?

I've just received a bag which was wrapped in - I kid you not - a Sainsbury's carrier sealed with address labels. Not even a bag for life which might have offered some protection, just one of the thin ones. It cost £2.80 to post second class, but she charged £6.20 p&p! I know the charges are stated in the description and I don't mind it so much if the item is decently and securely packed but that's just ridiculous.

Last week I was sent something wrapped in newspaper and duct tape which cost them two quid to post but me four quid.

The packaging cost you nothing! So surely you should only be charging me for one p, not two!

Arseholes.

Mine is 5.0, for everything. But for post it can't possibly be any other. Buyers have to give 5 if postage is "free".

trouble is the postage is not rolled into the headline bid amount so people see big bold £0.99 with little grey £2.00 postage as a much better deal than something for sale for big bold £2.99 - or even big bold £1.99

Should have added, for the sake of balance: now that postage is so expensive, some buyers will be disgruntled no matter what the seller does

You could deliver their item personally - you could even send a marching band ahead to announce it - but still they'd moan

Free post is the way forward. You automatically get 5 stars in that category and as avoire says I don't understand either why everyone doesn't list with free P&P.

Add the postage to the start price, subliminally a buyer will be happy to pay £5 with free P&P than £2 with £3 P&P because they think they are getting a better deal.

Oh Christ this annoys me no end. I bought a Frozen collectors' doll from eBay, which I intended to keep displayed in its box, and it came wrapped in a bloody Disney Store bag 'secured' (I use the term loosely) with parcel tape. The box arrived crushed with huge creases in the plastic, and that was for nearly £7 postage.

When I sold on eBay, I asked the post office for a list of their current postage charges so I knew roughly what it'd cost to post, or if I'd already boxed and wrapped the item ready to go, I'd take it to be weighed and priced up before I listed it. It was a pain, but I've encountered some seriously petty buyers on eBay who apparently like to vote down/leave negative feedback for fun, so I was covering my own ass.

I still can't believe they can take a cut of p and p charges!

I stopped charging long ago as buyers only look at the stamps and not the packaging or the fact that you had to make a special journey to post.
I now calculate how much I need for P&P and the minimum I want - add them together to get a starting price. I then do post free and noone can complain!

Neither can I, it's fucking cheeky - I reckon it's to deter those sellers who ask for extortionate postage. You know the ones: 99p item, £50 postage. Shame we all get shafted in the process!

The other thing with free P+P is you don't have to factor that into your bid, so again subliminally as a buyer you'll probably pay a little more than you would have done because P+P is 'free'

It is irritating but some people see their arrival (maybe by car) and a wait in post office queue as worth something.
Time is money ! :-)

Maybe she includes petrol costs in her p&p?

I think as long as the item is adequately packaged and the P&P isn't too pricey, it doesn't matter what it comes in.

I recently sold a lot of clothes on ebay. I packaged them in two sainsburys bags and brown paper. I often save jiffy bags from other things i've bought as i can't bear to throw all of that paper and plastic away!

I had a parcel once wrapped in just one layer of princess wrapping paper. It was so thin it had torn in several places. I was very lucky that the items hadn't fallen out. I was disgusted and gave her negative feedback (the clothes also stunk of cigarette smoke even though she listed as smoke free home so I was very annoyed). She had charged me £5 for postage - it cost her £2 in postage costs, the other £3 was supposedly for the wrapping paper and tape.
So I gave negative feedback and got negative feedback right back stating it was correctly wrapped, not her fault if the postman tore it!

When I was a seller on Ebay I was a big fan of Jiffy bags, bubble wrap and brown parcel paper and parcel tape. Never did I use a binbag or old carrier bags (have received items in those) so it annoys me when others do.

i buy and sell on ebay and have recently had an item i bought and was charged for first class recorded delivery at a cost of £4.85 and then the seller sent the item 10 days later 2nd class normal post and the postage cost her £2.40...i sent her an email as i was waiting for the parcel for a specific occasion and i had to wear something else! it would have arrived with a week to spare if she had posted it when the listing said she would and at the method promised! she ended up refunding my postage cost.

Alternatively, when i sell items i always post recorded tracked/signed for and would never charge for packaging cost unless the item is awkward to package. a dress is easily packaged in a jiffy bag/similar and costs me next to nothing. i also save any jiffy bags i receive in the post if they are in good condition to reduce my personal cost and i take the hit if the postage is slightly more than i advertised. the last item i posted i stated the postage was £4.85 but as the dress i was selling was heavy it cost £5.20. I would never dream of taking a payment for something and then providing a less than promised service...

in your case i would definitely complain to eBay if the seller does not get back to you...

It is annoying and certainly doesn't make me want to rush back to the seller any time soon.

However, more often I have had the scrupulously honest a
sellers that refund pennies if they have overestimated postage, and packages neatly wrapped in tissue paper before being properly bagged.

I am very careful to check feedback before buying, though.

Both ebay and paypal take a cut of the postage & packaging charge.

The joke is that ebay want you to start some small item listings at
99p.

Hmmm, assuming it costs 2.80 in postage that's 61p after ebay fees, and 28p after paypal fees. Assuming you have some recycled packaging to hand, it's still going to cost you some tape so approx 25p net from each 99p sale. You keep only 1/4 of what you sell it for.

Is it any wonder that something that costs £2.80 in postage will be charged for at £3.45 for postage & packaging and then sent in recycled packaging ?

What would be useful is if each listing had a compulsory dimensions and weight section plus a tick box for whether seller intends to us recycled packaging so buyers could judge for themselves before they bid whether they are happy with the postage and use of recycled packaging.

Avoiretre I have absolutely nothing against recycled packaging as long as the fact they've not paid for packaging is reflected in the p&p. Equally I don't mind paying a quid or so more for packaging if the item is carefully and securely packaged - I'd much rather pay the extra receive it in one piece. What annoys me is when they charge loads and it's in newspaper, or a thin carrier bag, or a torn binbag (all have happened to me). Unfortunately you never know how well an item will be packaged until you've received it, so you've no way of knowing if the extra p&p was worth it. I actually DO think I've something to moan about when somebody is taking the piss (and my money).

I totally agree, too, that you might need to charge extra for transport to the post office etc - absolutely fair enough. But that should be stated in the description, I think.

I sell on eBay but my stuff is mainly handbags, most of which are really lovely and a bit expensive. Mostly they count as a small parcel but I always send them second class signed for following several things going missing. I package them beautifully with tissue paper, bubble wrap and brown paper - if somebody is spending a lot of money on something I think it's nice to receive it well presented so it feels like a treat. The parcels usually cost £3.90 to post and I charge £4.60 p&p - considering eBay take 10% I'm left with a few pence to pay for packaging etc. I think that's reasonable. Often I'm out of pocket because the item has cost more to post than I thought it would but that's fine, I'd rather undercharge than overcharge.

As an aside, I've just noticed the bag I received today has some kind of foul hard sticky food residue in the front pocket. In vast quantities. Excellent condition my fucking arse.

Oh and excellent tip re free postage. I think I'll try that next time I sell

I tried the free P&P for some clothes I've been selling. I found I did better with the postage listed separately even though it had amounted to the same.

was charged for first class recorded delivery at a cost of £4.85 and then the seller sent the item 10 days later 2nd class normal post and the postage cost her £2.40

That would garner 1 star in the p&p category, 1 star in the item as described category (as you paid for one method and got another) and 1 for communication as well.

There would also be a nice, factual negative left about how charging for one postal bracket and sending in another is deceitful.

That seller wont have her account for long.

Isn't it just a sneaky way of bumping up the price?

Don't know if folk realise, but Ebay actually suggests postage values to sellers. A lot of the time it's a bad guess by the automated system, and sellers don't realise, they just assume it must be a reasonable value.

As a seller, I badly don't want to enter compulsory info about size & weight of the parcel, I never wrap anything until it sells (if it sells) and then you might get local buyer who picks up so it would be a lot of pointless effort.

Xpost with Nanny0gg, I've heard of other people running that experiment & having same result. Items with postage listed separately seem to sell better even if total price is same as listing with postage-included.

Bear in mind it is possible to get the item size wrong - I once charged small parcel for an item of clothing yet somehow it went through as large letter. I did get marked down and I am very careful now (I have, however, always refunded partial costs when I've noticed before and since). It does annoy me when people blatantly take the piss, however.