To think some eBay sellers are CFs?

[fuckedupfriendships]

I have been looking on eBay for summer clothes for my 3dc. Money is tight and I'm all for second hand, passing things down and my eldest is growing so fast that nothing lasts long so eBay seemed the way to go.

I couldn't believe how much some people were charging for postage! £4.50 for a child's T-shirt that will class as a large letter?! And starting the bidding at £5! These are used items and you could end up paying more in total than if buying new.

I've listed lots of stuff for sale and usually go by the eBay recommended postage price plus 10p for the postage bag as they are really inexpensive. Most things have cost £2.90 to post. However yesterday I discovered that postage is now £3 not £2.90 so I'm only covering the cost of the postage. How can people justify £4.50 postage for a T-shirt and second class post at that! Mainland post too. Some sellers want £5.50 postage for jeans and lots of people seem to be bumping prices up in general and eBay is no longer the bargain it used to be.

Please tell me the info in the pic I'm attaching is not wrong..... Spent a few hours this morning setting up my Etsy account and have made second class signed for large letter to the UK postage £2 based on this, and it being between 9p + 11p for the envelopes I require, per order.

What's £3?

I know what you mean. It’s cheaper to go to Primark. I pay £1.30 for a brand new t shirt

Small parcel is £3 - you're taking about Large Letter @KissUntilTheyDieOfRabies. Royal mail.com has all the costs of postage.

Bundles tend to be better value unless it's an expensive brand you're getting cheap. You can usually get a bundle of 5-10 items for £5 + postage, depending what you're looking for.

Fuckedupfriendships just be aware eBay now charge their 10% fee on postage (they used not to!) as well as on your selling price plus approx 4% to Paypal. I sell a LOT on eBay, and charge £3.45, which was based on the £2.95 small parcel price, I probably need to put it up a bit now to break even on postage! However, I do agree with you, I would charge a much smaller amount for large letter, I actually have a special gauge like at the post office so I can try and pack to fit within the size, where possible! A lot of eBay sellers seem to try to make money on the postage and not just cover costs :(

@KissUntilTheyDieOfRabies signed for large letter according to your screen shot is minimum £2.03

I now go for bundles rather than individual items as it is far better value.

Postage costs are high although you will find the odd seller who charges way too much but their items never sell

I sell a lot too and undercharge really by charging £2.90 for most items and using large letter cost flattish things. I pay my postage through PayPal and print labels at home, the costs are a few pence cheaper than paying over the counter, but I probably need to rethink it a bit! I also have a gauge thing so I can work out best postage. Some people really are CFs when it comes to postage. Just trying to make more money, but most buyers would just avoid them I should think!

I won't buy from those sellers, unfortunately there is usually someone else stupid enough to and they get away with it

I don't charge extra for signed for, it makes the postage charge too high, and I look carefully at charges when buying. I know it is sometimes necessary to protect yourself from thieves and mishaps so if I think I need a signature for an item I just pay the extra myself.

OP, you might be better off on local selling groups, charity shops or asking on Freegle or Freecycle. Ours are very busy these days.

Is it a really desirable make? or a very on trend item?
Is it a business seller or private? If business then they include their time to package and go to the courier drop off/post office.
With ebay fees and paypal fees they would be getting £5.03 if the postage cost them £3. But they would take off more for packaging/label too.
With how much kids clothing there is being sold now I doubt they will sell at those prices though. Unless its a very on trend maybe sold out high street item or designer.

The ones with high reserves are really funny. Try local pages instead, car boots or just go to Primark.

Maybe filter the listing down to local ones and go pick them up especially if you buy bundles. Or look on selling sites like schpock and fb groups for your local area. Most of the time you get bundles for a little more than what someone on eBay charges for postage. Fiver or a tenner for smallish bundle of clothes.

I always charge a lot for postage but that is because I will only send things second class signed for* and my local post office is 8 miles away, but the charge is there on my listing plain to see and gives people the chance to choose if they want to buy from me or not.

*I have had several things go 'missing' so I won't send anything without proof of delivery now.

KissUntilTheyDieOfRabies what sized things are you selling? There is a big difference between large letter and small parcel prices.

I sell quite a bit on eBay and charge £3.50 postage for most clothing. At this price I make a small loss on postage. But I don't use large letter/2nd class post - I use a courier who collects it from me.

I could probably squeeze some items into a large letter and take them separately to the post office but it's not worth the faff.

The ones with high reserves are really funny.

Why? That’s how an auction works. If someone has something they perceive to be of sentimental or intrinsic value they set a reserve that meets it. I’ve sold items before where I’ve thought if someone wants it for £20 then fine but for the sake of £10 I’d rather keep it.

YABU - it is not compulsory to pay postage rates you don't agree with.

You are paying for time, packing, travel to post office as well as the Royal Mail costs and as others mentioned, Ebay's cut.

Ebay are the real CFs here.

Ebay are the real CFs here.

Agree so much. The whole thing is rigged against sellers now.

Yes. eBay have become so expensive- esp with the Global shipping thing. It's generally not the sellers.

Yeah I gave up on E-bay when the postal charges to Ireland, for a cheapy dress was 15euros .

Check out Facebook marketplace for second hand clothes (if you have fb that is)

Its really good for clothes bundles etc. Although you generally have to collect in person.

I buy and sell on facebook marketplace and find the postage rates extortionate (royal mail) which puts a lot of buyers off.

I understand the OP’s complaint is about sellers overcharging for postage, but it really is a pisstake on eBay’s behalf to charge seller fees on postage.

I tend to only charge buyers the actual cost to me of the postage, say £2.90 for a small parcel, but out of that eBay take 10% and PayPal take their fee, leaving me with £2.31. I then also need to package the item up properly so it doesn’t get damaged. I actually re-use boxes, jiffy bags and bubble wrap from things I buy, but if I had to pay for it you are probably talking another 10p-20p per parcel.

That leaves, at best £2.21 from the buyers’ £2.90, so everything I sell loses me 69p. It’s not worth selling anything on eBay these days for less than £10.00, especially factoring in the cost of the time it takes to photograph, list, pack and take to the post office.

YABU - You do realise that if you're selling on eBay, you have to pay a percentage of the sale price as a final fee value, plus PayPal takes their cut, plus you're then expected to pay a percentage cost of your postage to eBay - for no other reason than they can get away with charging it. Then, you need to take into account the cost of packaging the item up well and the cost of good envelopes - padded for CDs or clothing, hard backed for magazines.... Plus, the Royal Mail have recently put their costs up.

I won't even add into that the amount of time you have to take with some customers who don't seem to know how eBay works, wont look at the photos you provide and then ask you to provide them with more, want you to walk them through how to make a payment and then don't say please and thank you for that service and then proceed to make ridiculous Best Offers before they commit to buying the item.
In my opinion, it works both ways and some eBay buyers are just as guilty, if not more so, of being CFs...

I wish some buyers on eBay realised that sometimes they're massively taking the piss with their derogatory offers.