I want to moan about P&P

[giggly]

I am a regular seller and an occasional buyer so have a good idea how much items weigh.
I really liked a chiffon top but the postage was £4 when I know it would only be about £1.70.
I know people price in their costs for packaging and travel to PO but felt they were taking the piss.
Doesnt come close to the women who charged me £5 combiined postage for 2 items and the stamps were £1.72
Moan over.

Hi giggly. I'm very new to ebay and was coming on to ask a question about p&p - maybe you could help me? Sorry for hi-jacking your thread!! :)

I have a few items to sell. I've weighed them and used the weight/cost estimator thingy. But, my problem is that one of my items will be 2.79 to post, yet ebay will only let me put in a maximum of £1.25 p&p. I wanted to start the bidding at 99p. I think if i put them on at higher start rates people won't bid. I understand they are (rightly) trying to stop what's happened to you in your post, but i'm worried i'll end up out of pocket!

What do i do? Not sure where i'm going wrong. Sorry for being such an idiot novice and sorry for hijacking!
Thanks.

How much do people think is ok to pay for postage? I always weigh mine and add on perhaps 20 - 30p for the packaging, but have had a couple of comments about expensive postage. I do always pack carefully with bubble wrap and waterproof outer package - but yesterday I got a tshirt that was £2.50 in postage, stamps £1.70, wrapped in a plastic bag.

So how much is reasonable?

However much people are willing to pay.

I used to get really fecked off about people taking the piss overcharging massively with P&P and then sending it in a bin bag so now if I think the P&P is over priced I just don't bid.

I don't think 20p -30p is excessive balia; but don't know how you get round the problem realdarkmavis

P&P really annoys me too!

I tend to send everything 1st class recorded (too many 'lost' deliveries - on new clothes with a value of £15-20) at a cost of £2.50 per parcel. The stamps usually come to £2.37, so that is 13p for the packaging (tissue paper, parcel bags etc etc). I've frequently misjudged it and made a loss on postage stamps alone, And I always refund any discrepancy of more than 35-40p on charged versus costed.

Still I get only 3/5 stars! AAaaagggggh!

I got a bit annoyed when I asked someone before bidding if they would reduce postage if I bought more than one item from them. They said yes. So I bid and before paying checked again. They again said yes - they would refund any extra cost.

Received the items and had paid about £4.50 more than they cost to post (they cost £7.50 to post, I paid £12). Asked about a refund of extra cost and was told that no, i should have realised the cost in getting to post office and packaging. Thought oh well, she probably lives in the middle of nowhere but looking online there is a post office less than a mile from her and it was recycled packaging.

To contrast that I did a similar thing with another seller who reduced the cost to only just more than the actual cost. Have learned that if someone says they will refund the difference that they are unlikely to do so.

realmarkdavis You could put in the item description that the items are heavy and will cost x amount - but that ebay will only let you charge the set amount and ask people to contact you before bidding - I've seen that done before.

Thanks Jaspants, I thought it was OK but you can get a bit paranoid about feedback!

We're power sellers and contantly get complaints about our pricing when we charge the cost of postge and even refund occasional differnces- and it's people loike the one in the OP that cause that.

I think up to about a £1 extra is OK but after that I get a bit annoyed.

I know also that there is no need for people to combine postage - but the seller that annoyed me had put the items in one package so I feel a little justified in my moan. Still gave positive feedback but did mark down for postage.

Mavis, in answer to your question, list the postage under 'freight'. You should then be able to put any price in.

Ah, thanks for your suggestions. I hadn't even thought that i'm going to need packaging. Stupid me. Definitely gonna make a loss!

hey peachy please do not lump me into people like that who complain about p&p.
I have stated clearly that I am moaning not complaining so I cause nothing thank you.

I usually cover cost of packaging by about 20-30p .

I think peachy was referring to your chiffon top seller not you. At least that's how I read it .

If I understand Peachy's post correctly, I think she means that it's those who over charge on p&p by massive amounts that cause the problems not just those who complain about it - so I don't think she was meaning you as in your instances you had every right to have a moan and indeed complain.

For too long some sellers have been overcharging like the examples given in the op. Buyers do get annoyed over this and so eventually they get that don't want want to pay a penny more than the stamp (or even in some cases complain even if they pay just stamp price) Ebay in their wisdom provided ways for buyers to express their annoyance eg the star system, and this has had an effect even on the sellers who don't overcharge on P&P.

The star system is flawed. When a buyer is asked if they are happy about the p&p charge they think "heck no I paid £5" - they don't take into consideration that it actually cost the seller £5 - so they mark the stars down. Too many low stars causes selling restrictions, and this can have a massive effect on a business.

the star system wouldn't have been introduced if buyers weren't complaining about overcharging and buyers wouldn't have complained if some sellers didn't overcharge in the first place.

I have had this discussion on here before where some mumsnetters thought it was ok to 'make a few pounds on the p&P'. And, as I have done here I explained the knock on effect of such a practise. I ended up being called all sorts of names and the state of my mind was questioned

Back in the good old days of ebay, a seller could charge the correct amount of p&p ie the stamp price plus enough to cover packaging and everyone was happy. But then too many came along who thought it was a great idea to profit from the p&p and it was all ruined.

I now use free p&P on everything, just so that my stars don't go down. This does of course mean I pay higher fees. It does annoy me when I see or hear of those like the ones in op because it is those who have forced me into this corner. So moan away giggly! I shall join you :)

Oh goosdness yes- people qwho overcharge causing trouble

sorry!

Dh buys and sells hitech lighting equipment for stage etc- frequently will pay £30 and then somethinga rrive by courier for £6.99.

That sort of thing.

I always add an extra 50/60p for p&p. I wrap it nicely tho, in tissue paper and thank you note on nice card.

I have got it wrong a few times as most item I would say was a parcel but as I have gone to post it was a large letter. Too late by then.

Some people do take the piss but whenever I bid on something I include the postage in the total I would be happy to pay for that item. That was I don't feel robbed! I guess some people up the postage so the fees are less.

That way not was

I tend to round my P&P up by 50-75p on top of the packaging costs. When I bid on something myself, I look at the total cost so it doesn't make any difference to me how much the P&P cost the seller. I have marked down a bit when the seller has added far too much in my view.

hugs all round peachy

Unless you have a business it is quite difficult to estimate cost of packaging materials. One large padded envelope in my local post office was £3.30! Such things have massive variation in cost and if you are just a punter will not be buying in bulk.

Most mail order companies never charge what it actually costs to send. Most have a blanket £4.95 or such. I am not sure why individuals expect eBay to be so different.

It is so hard to estimate the time element aswell. My PO is a 30 minute trip so at minimum wage the time element would be £3.50 or so. But again many people are not at all on minimum wage so consider the time element to be a bigger factor.

It's a minefield. Impossible to please everyone. I think eBay should apply better principles for example, standard costs for weights then at least I would know for sure I am being ripped off for a padded envelope (oh and have to travel further to get some at a decent cost!)

Why, as a buyer, would it matter to you what the P&P cost is? It is shown on the auction before you bid so you simply factor it into your bid amount.

The problem nocake is that some sellers are going too far (eg £2.99 for a child's t-shirt ) and making money from their P&P charges.

I don't object to sellers factoring their fees into P&P, but making a massive amount (around £2.20 in that case) on P&P is wrong.

What really winds me up is that the Paypal / Royal Mail website won't let me send e-bay items second class. Only by expensive first class, which is daft if I'm selling something light and small.

I don't sell as much these days as I can't list the full cost of postage. Books can be pretty heavy but e-bay has a limit on the postage cost. If I'm only likely to sell an item for 99p then I can't afford to lose out on postage costs.

I always package (but not secure) and weigh my items before I list them so I get the postage cost right.