to complain about £3.50 p+p on ebay when postage costs were £1.52

[lulu2]

and seller states that p+p is not just stamp cost its petrol, wrapping and their time. This i know but I think it's wrong to make a profit out of p+p. Sorry rant over. i don't want to leave negative feedback, what does anyone elsse think?

I had an item arrive today, I paid 2.25 P&P
It cost 1.24 to post and was wrapped in one layer of brown paper that unsurprisingly did not survive so it came in a royal mail clear plastic bag

Item was fine so I left +ve feedback but marked the seller v low on P&P charges

Chequers - no defaults on ebay, unless you are doing a 'similar listing' to an auction you have previously listed.

I charge about postage + £1, which covers bubble wrap, printed labels, printed return address labels, professional mailing bags etc. Some may cost more than this to pack, others less.

If I am sending something like a stair gate (2 on auction at the moment!), I will probably charge about £3 for packaging, just because it will be a pita to wrap up, and I'd rather someone collects in person. Yes, I might use recycled carboard, but when I wrapped up a crib recently, it took me the best part of an hour to get it all properly packed.

I think it sounds reasonable and you did know how much the seller was charging for postage before you bid.

I print postage from home now and this costs labels printer ink. Plus good bags cost 10-25 p each. Tape. Most sellers add on a bit to cover fees and hideous paypal charges though its not meant for that. You know the cost prior to buying though. Fwiw actual cost 1st class of small item say kids clothes is about £1.40

oh meant to say I add 50p to actual costs

As said, a buyer agrees to the p&p before bidding. True, a buyer doesn't know the actual stamp cost until an item arrives (unless it's a standard Cd/DVD etc) but what makes me laugh is that buyers would be happy if the stamp cost was higher ie more went to the RM than to the seller. What difference does it make? The buyer paid the p&p as agreed. It makes no difference how much of it went where; packaging, Royal mail, seller's pocket - you've still paid the agreed amount. Personally I'd rather the seller got the extra than RM.
...Unless it's total extortionate p&P which you know 'before' you bid ....don't you?

I paid £1.99 P&P for a CD which arrived packaged in a re-used envelope with a normal first class stamp on! But I took this into account when I made my maximum bid of £1.00 and as the only bidder I got it for 1p! Gave positive feedback to seller - only fair as I accepted the P&p charge when I placed my bid.

I have explained to buyers that p&p covers not only postage but petrol, car park fees and envelope. I think it's totally reasonable to include all this, especially the packing costs.

I try not to be too excessive in p&p charges but often take a guess at postage costs, so sometimes the margin between cost and charge to buyer is more than I anticipated.

But ultimately, my p&p prices are clearly stated so no exuse for buyers to quibble after bidding IMO.

Incidently I never leave feedback for buyers till they have left feedback for me.

If any buyer gave me bad feedback purely about my stated postage and packing charges, I would then give them bad feedback in return.

tigermoth - you won't be able to leave neg or neut FB for a buyer after May so I'd maybe anticipate problems if the margin is too high and offer to refund the difference before they leave a neg? Also, I wouldn't let them know they are paying for car-parking

when i take something to the post office it costs me £3 in bus fare. other people charge for petrol and car park costs so i think YABU.

Also now sellers have to consider the Closure of local post offices. My local one closed on Friday. I used to be able to post daily from the PO next to my dd's school. Now I will have to drive to my local town to get to the nearest post office which will increase my costs.

I am a believer in if you don't like the postage cost then don't bid for the item buy somebody else's instead.

Don't get me started on not being allowed to leave neagtives - my NPB's have already started to increase and it isn't may yet!!

I received a parcel from a seller where the postage cost them more than the total cost of the item and the postal charge to me. I did offer the pay them the extra, but they were generous enough to refuse my offer. Some you win, some you lose was their reply.

Like others have said, I don't bid for items unless I'm happy with the total cost including postage.

sixlostmonkeys - that's interesting. I don't follow ebay news that closely but have now read the messages about sellers not leaving negative feedback. Hmm...I think this is fine in 99% of the time but I have encountered the odd buyer who is just plain wierd or malicious.

I don't tend to report buyers to ebay for leaving me negative feedback, but as this is now all sellers can do, I will be doing this So if any buyer gave me negative feedback about clearly stated postage charges, I would not hesitate in reporting this to ebay. Assuming the buyer made a habit of complaining about stated charges, ebay would see the pattern and then possibly suspend or warn the buyer.

And why can't I mention car park costs? If I mention petro costs, what's the difference?

Yes, you are being unreasonable. You knew the price upfront and agreed to it. That price might include the envelope or paper and sticky tape. It might include someone's bus fare to the post office.

Personally I tend to charge pretty much what the postage will be, but I don't think your scenario is unreasonable. What I don't like is where someone blatantly charges masses of postage in order to offset a ludicrously low selling price and so evade Ebay selling fees. It's supposed to be illegal, but Ebay's not too hot on policing it.

Definitely don't leave negative feedback, you have no grounds to.

Must add, I think most of us as buyers look at the total 'package price' before bidding - i.e. selling price plus postage. If I think the overall price is reasonable, I will bid, so in that case whatever the stamp actually cost is irrelevant (except for the scenario I described above).

yabu.if you dont like costs dont bid.simple

I sometimes sell on Ebay, and I don't always know how much a thing will cost before posting. 3.50 is reasonable. A fiver would not be if stamp was under 2 quid, no, but they were probably guessing at the cost, and it could have been 3 or 4 pounds. I often lose money when posting things, too - sometimes quite a lot, because costings are weirdly variable. And tissue paper, paddy bags etc. cost money as well.

It's also worth pointing out that a business does need to charge for the time it takes to to wrap and send, because that's a legit business expense - they either have to spend working time doing so, or pay someone else. An individual and not, obviously.

Oh, but there are examples when people take the piss. I bought something described as "beautifully boxed so an ideal gift" and figured that might be why they charged 7.50. When it arrived, it was in a battered thin cardboard box,bunged in a reused paddy bag, and postage was less than two quid. (It was also described - complete with link - as the exact expensive steel what she sent was a nasty, branded Sky Plus freebie!)The silly bint was snotty when I complained, so damn straight I left her a neg. Also filed (and won) a Paypal claim.

Point on postage is that her description implied that postage was reasonable - that the item came in a heavy presentation pack. That was a lie. So postage was unreasonable. But charging a couple of quid over stamp costs in an otherwise decent transaction really isn't, IMO.

Ugh, sorry, mangled the middle sentence badly - meant to say:

(It was also described - complete with link - as the exact expensive steel cocktail shaker my DH had been hankering after. What she sent was a nasty, cheap, branded Sky Plus freebie one!)

when i sell clothes on ebay i wash them, iron them, fold them carefully, use polylopes or recycle previous packing, use strong packing tape, take them to the post office, including time and petrol/parking and tend to charge around £1.50 on top of gestimated recorded delivery postage. ( I should really buy some scales though) I think £1-50 - £2 on top of teh actual postage is reasonable and if you're happy with the item then you're being a little churlish - especially if you have an overall bargain.

when I am buying on ebay I always check the postage charges before bidding, because I once bid for something in the last minute of the auction, without checking the postage costs only to find that a babies top which could have been sent on a first class stamp they were charging £5 P&P for when I emailed and asked if it was right, I got my first negative. Now if i feel postage is to high I dont bid

As a seller I try to keep my post costs as close to the actual cost as possible but its easy for me I go into town most days, I walk and the post office is there so not a problem. I do get it wrong sometimes, I use turbo lister on ebay and have a default postage of £12 I think and have on occassion forgotten to change this when listing clothes

I sell on Ebay and add on a bit extra for packaging, tape ect... Sometimes the post office locally is shut and I have £4 in bus fares to pay but I don't add this on Its not the buyers fault that my local is shut and I need to get a bus so why charge them for it?

I never bid on anything with high postage unless its an absoloute bargain

I always get screwed on p&p when sending on ebay because I want to keep competitive on rates. But I always check postage before bidding and count them in the cost of the item.

I have to say that its not just the time it takes to post and item and the wrapping what about e bay fees they have to be paid. everything costs money dont bid if you dont like the postage costs

Blimey - well given this post is TEN YEARS old I bet they wont come back @boffy42

why the hell did you bump it?