How much extra over the top of actual postage is it OK to charge?

[ASuitableGirl]

Don't do much ebay selling but did some over the weekend and posted out items today. I have overcharged postage as turned out they count as large letter rather than parcel rate. Each parcel was £1.09 and I've charged £2.00 for each one.

Is this too much? And if so I do I go about making a partial refund and how much do you think it should be? I don't have any packaging costs as they were old jiffy bags and post office is within walking distance.

Thank you :)

I would think that is fine - after all you've gone to the trouble of packaging it all up. Otherwise I think you can.make partial refunds via paypal.

Don't forget that Paypal took 27p of that 2 quid (plus 3.4% of the sale price, but that's not postage). So really you've only "overcharged" by 64pence, not a lot to pay at all for your time to get it to Post Office wrapped safely.
Anything up to 1.50 over the Royal Mail postage charge is usually fine by me. Somewhere past 1.50 I might start to think about it...

It partly depends on how much the item sold for, too, and how much real postage was in absolute terms; I guess I don't care about 2 quid over actual postage for something that cost 30 pounds to buy and 6 quid to post, but I'd grumble if sale price was just 99p and real cost=33p to post.

Thank you - that is true that paypal took some of it as well. Was trying to think what would bother me if I received something and probably up to £1.50 would be OK for me so I would presume probably OK for other people as well.

Think I'll leave it (although if anyone does complain I can revisit it then)

and you've got to factor in the time it takes you to go to the post office, the cost of the jiffy bag/packaging and the time it takes to post it.

up to £1.50 more sounds about right to me.

(just because you've reused a jiffy bag this time doesn't mean you will next time)

You don't factor in how long it takes you to pack it, parking or anything else that goes on the item cost. I charge actual postage plus 20p you are overcharging.

So what PayPal take their fees that is your problem not your buyers. Id mark you down if you charged me £2.00 and it only cost £1.09.

It is never okay to charge more than 25p over the postage price all associated costs should be within your item cost not on your postage charges.

I love it when I read threads like this. Oh if only all buyers thought that 1.50 over stamp price was ok!
I don't charge P&P, but recently, thought I'd have a go at charging just the actual stamp price - sure enough I started getting marked down on my p&P charge star...

I actually think no more than 50p over stamp is fair. In the good ol' days on ebay 50p was the norm (for the decent sellers) Then it seemed too many sellers thought it great to make a few quid on the postage and so the 'stars' were born. Now, buyers have an oportunity to ruin a decent seller's business no matter what they charge.

Do people really notice postage excess that much?
I don't. Life is too short unless it's a whopper of a difference. I look at the postage price when I bid, as a rule, and just mentally add to the total in figuring out what to bid, whether Ebay accounts for it as FV or p+p isn't really my problem; I just care about the total.

What kind of things do you sell, 6lostmonkeys? I get the impression you have a regular business selling certain types of things. I am always amazed at people on Ebay who offer free p+p, it makes me think the quality of what they sell must be really trash, or I must be paying way over the odds, so if only I could find their item wherever they are getting it from. Else how can they afford to offer free p+p?

actually, there is no such thing as 'free' p&p - what it should be is p&p inclusive.
The only benefit of offering free p&p is to prevent buyers from marking the stars down. The problem is the seller ends up paying extra in fees when the p&p is inclusive.

I have a regular business yes, selling books, antiques and collectables. These markets produce very little problems tbh, but I do despair when I get marked down for charging actual stamp price.
I've tried every variation, including 50p 'below' stamp price, and I still get that odd buyer who will mark down.

I agree with Sixlostmonkeys - as a buyer I like free P&P - it always feels as if I am getting a bargain (maybe I am easily pleased). I do despise sellers who cash in on postage, but hope I am savvy enough to hit the back button before buying.

It costs sellers more to offer free p&P, but agree with buyers able to trash stars without a second thought, free p&p is sometimes necessary to keep star ratings within the right limits.

P&P should cover the cost of the posting plus the cost of parcelling it up, and possibly PP fee for the postage part only.

TBH I always check the P&P costs and often don't buy things if I feel the P&P is too much.

More than a £1 more I would be though and def if it was a lot more I would be rating the p&p cost accordingly.

Doesn't P&P mean postage and packaging? If so I think it is fair enough to charge for packaging.

Sorry, I think you've overcharged way too much and if I'd received your parcel I'd be quite annoyed.

I do a lot of selling and buying on ebay, and include a statement on my listings that says 'I weigh my items before listing and use recycled packaging where possible to give you the lowest possible price. I never make money on P&P.'

Parcelling up items shouldn't be that expensive. You can get a cheap roll of brown paper from Asda for about £1 and a roll of clear packing tape is less than that. Use old newspaper or carrier bags if you need padding.

I really don't understand people who try to justify overcharging by saying it is to cover the ebay/paypal fees. Those are yours as the seller to pay, you've used those services to be able to find a buyer and be paid securely. Those costs shouldn't be passed on to the buyer. Start your listing higher if you want to be guaranteed a certain amount after fees!

Even worse are the ones who want to stick it to the buyers for 'my time in going to the post office'. Stupid. Don't be surprised when you get bad feedback or struggle to sell your items!

And for the record, I always notice postage excess and avoid like the plague!

the main problem with not charging P&P, is that you end up feeling like you have to offer "free p&p" to compete with other online businesses.

and to buyers who think that more than 20p over the cost of the stamp is excessive - it is postage "and packaging" which includes the cost of actually going out and posting it, as well as the ink to print out the packing slip/label, and the cost of wrapping it (even a re-used jiffy bag will have new tape on it)
imagine having to pay someone to pack up your parcels andtake them to the Post Office - think about how much you would have to pay an employee (even on minimum wage) to do that piece of work for you.
that's what the seller is charging for, not to make a quick profit.

Thank you all for the further thoughts - am leaning towards partial refund of 50p per person so they will have paid £1.50 each. If i do the partial refund will they get that amount or do I need to factor in the paypal cut and make it slightly more?

Have another parcel to send tomorrow where postage cost will be mire than the amount I was allowed to charge as the category it's in has a limit, but the item I sold was larger than most items in that category. At least I won't have the dilemma of what to do there (I did start it at 99p as I knew there would be interest and it sold for an amount I was happy with sp feel there is some amount of swings and roundabouts)

I think someone overcharging me by over £5 (I asked about combined postage before bidding, they agreed, then sent 6 books in two parcels and said tough basically) means I am dithering now as that annoyed me. Everyone else selling the same item as me charged £2 postage as well - I wonder how many others refunded?

One final thought, if you are going to charge for packaging, anything beyond 20-30p is unreasonable. You should also state in your listing what your packaging charge is, and instruct potential buyers not to bid if they disagree. Otherwise you really open yourself up to complaints when a buyer sees you've charged beyond the price of postage with no explanation. Yeah, it's says P&P, so technically you can charge for postage, but I've always seen it as bad form.

nickel, I have to disagree there, 'packaging' does NOT mean the cost of going out to post the item! Packaging is what the item is 'packaged' in, nothing more.

sorry my post of 21:32 should have read 'technically you can charge for packaging'

ASG, as I said, I avoid the overchargers, so very much doubt it!

Asuitablegirl - when you refund the buyer doesn't get fees - log into paypal, click on the relevant payment then scroll down and click refund, then you can enter in the amount you wish to refund, and add a note to the buyer too if you want.

from ebay itself

"
In addition, sellers are encouraged to check with Royal Mail (or An Post in ROI) or their delivery service to get an exact cost of postage.

You can then add a reasonable amount as compensation for packaging materials, plus a modest handling cost. Please bear in mind, though, that it is not permitted to charge excessive postage and packaging, and sellers who are found to be doing this may find that their listings are ended or they are suspended from the site.

Make sure you pack the item well, (you can buy all your P&P supplies on eBay) as there is nothing more disappointing to a buyer than eagerly awaiting a delivery, only to find it has been damaged or broken in the post. Also, make sure you pay the correct postage - buyers don't want to face surcharges when their delivery arrives."

the words "small handling fee" cover what i said about actually posting the item.
if you run a business, you have to factor this stuff in!

Thank you - will do my refunds and a note. Post person did say it was just large letter rate so I wasn't actually trying to make lots of money on the postage. And as I said I will lose out tomorrow on another item to post out.

'imagine having to pay someone to pack up your parcels andtake them to the Post Office - think about how much you would have to pay an employee (even on minimum wage) to do that piece of work for you.
that's what the seller is charging for, not to make a quick profit.'

This is frankly ridiculous. When you go in a shop, you don't see a price on the shelf, only to be told at the till you need to now contribute £1 for the wages of the people that delivered the goods to the shop, sold the goods to you, and processed your payment. So why would you expect to roll a 'wage' for yourself into the P&P on ebay?

You are selling an item and therefore making some sort of money on it, albeit maybe not as much as you'd like. The costs of being a seller are passed on to the buyer in the price of the goods.