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Original poster

Are less p&p fair?

26 replies

RoseRedder · 21/01/2014 15:09

Relatively new to ebay so this may indeed be the norm

P&P charged £4.95 v's actual cost £3.70

P&P charged £3.70 v's actual cost £2.60

Do sellers add a poundish on as standard for wrapping and taking to post office?

OP posts:
Lollypop1983 · 21/01/2014 15:16

I think u'll find that p&p is very competitive. Depending on what I'm sending, I'll normally add about 20p on. I find if I'm selling a lot and buying packaging in bulk, that is more that enough to cover it.

Tbh, I only use ebay to sell DVDs, etc. p&p cost me £1.20 per item. I list about 10 item at a time. I charge £1.40 per item. It cost me £1 for a roll of brown paper. Sometime I use bubble wrap, again £1 per roll.

A lot of seller offer free p&p. Depending on what ur selling, u might find adding on an extra £1 per item might put sellers off. It would put me off.

Lollypop1983 · 21/01/2014 15:17

I read that as if u we're selling items....I re read that and not sure if ur buying or selling.

Original poster
RoseRedder · 21/01/2014 15:40

sorry I am the buyer

I'm not going to dispute things because I got a good price and accepted the costs advertised

I was just wondering if it's standard to add on a £1 or so as I am thinking of selling in the future

OP posts:
nickstmoritz · 21/01/2014 17:00

No it is not standard. I wouldn't be annoyed with P&P up to about £1 more than cost but more than this I might mark lower stars for postage. I charge actual Postage cost but it's fair enough to add on a little for packaging. You can't charge for taking to post office etc. I avoid sellers who overcharge for P&P.

LilyBlossom14 · 21/01/2014 17:39

£1 seems the top of what most would accept as an extra. Private sellers are not allowed to charge for time or petrol to the post office. You can take it up with the seller, but most won't refund. You can leave appropriate feedback, and if you want low stars to count you have to mark them as a 1 or 2 - leaving the stars blank doesn't count against the seller.

Original poster
RoseRedder · 21/01/2014 20:08

what would you do given the above, mark down or just leave it?

OP posts:
LilyBlossom14 · 21/01/2014 20:21

I would probably give 4 stars for p&p if that.

BuggedByJake · 21/01/2014 20:26

It depends what they've packaged the item in. A large jiffi bag is around £1.
I hate being marked down on postage when I've actually charged what it cost me to send if you include the packaging.

ZenNudist · 21/01/2014 20:32

I've just started selling and went with recommendation from eBay as to setting postage costs, plus changed it if I thought I could do if cheaper.

I'm not trying to rip people off but I'm new to weight and post costs and plan to be more organised in future. I certainly don't price p&p to make a profit but I do hope to not lose money on p&p.

I assume any buyer does same as me and prices p&p into what they are prepared to pay so it should always be fair.

Original poster
RoseRedder · 21/01/2014 20:33

It is part of a thick bin bag

OP posts:
alltoomuchrightnow · 22/01/2014 13:19

i now do about 20p - 30p to cover p&p as got too many complaints if were a £ or more and often had to refund postage

alltoomuchrightnow · 22/01/2014 13:19

and i didnt want to lose any stars

CarmonEileen · 22/01/2014 16:58

I won a dress last week for Dd, paid £3 p&p which I assumed was good looking at what some folk charge. Arrived today and the stamp is £1.20 LL Shock
Do you think I should query it or put it down to bad luck for me?
£1.80 is a lot don't you think?

LilyBlossom14 · 22/01/2014 18:05

you can ask the seller to refund the difference. And you can leave feedback and low stars if you want to - up to you.

lljkk · 22/01/2014 19:14

When you bid you agreed to the Terms & Conditions which include the stated p+p charge. It's a bit churlish to demand a change to terms & conditions after you bid. Why not insist on a different delivery service? Different item altogether, even?

On the other hand, as a seller (since OP is thinking of selling) the safest thing to do is to sell item with postage inclusive (Ebay's idea of "free"). Add the postage price you think is reasonable to your start or BIN price. Then buyers can sit and ponder whether the postage charge was reasonable or not.

lljkk · 22/01/2014 19:15

cannot* sit and ponder...

LilyBlossom14 · 22/01/2014 19:43

as a buyer you trust the seller is offering p&p as stated at the cost they display - you do not know the weight of the item. If after you receive it the seller has clearly over charged I think you are quite within your rights to ask for an amount back.

The nonsense of you know what it cost when you bid does not wash with me - sorry. If a seller charges £3 I would expect the stamp to be £2.60 at most. Making 100% profit on postage is just not on and dishonest.

SparklingMuppet · 22/01/2014 19:56

I had an ebayer who once charged three times the actual postage on the stamp... I neg'd and reported. Not a lot else you can do really. The thing was I'd happily bid on the item with that postage but she didn't send it using the service she said she would, and that's dishonest and fradulent.

lljkk · 22/01/2014 20:01

There is no Ebay rule that says that p+p must not exceed the cost charged to the seller. Other expectations have grown up among Ebay users, but Ebay refuses to be drawn into the debate. They make sure they get their 10% regardless and they let buyers give their opinions about what is reasonable to punish sellers that buyers don't like. No buyer needs to justify their opinions to anyone.

There are conflicting official Ebay webpages that talk about whether a charge for seller's allied costs for delivery (such as petrol or packaging) may be reasonable. The contradictory statements only fuel this stupid debate. And there are different lines of logic, for instance, some say that business sellers can charge an excess but not private ones since business sellers should be registered for tax.

Since OP thinks she got a deal then she really doesn't have anything to complain about.

MissMilbanke · 23/01/2014 10:31

So we are talking about a £1 or so for something you have decided you want, and then it gets delivered to your door a couple of days later, without you having to do a thing??

Jeepers...

neddle · 23/01/2014 16:27

I tend to charge 1.1 x the postage price then rounded up a bit.

So if the postage was £1-60, then I'd charge £1-80.

Covers the fee I have to pay to ebay and makes it a round fee, adds a bit for packaging.

Original poster
RoseRedder · 23/01/2014 16:42

Thanks for the replies.

So it seems like there is no right or wrong way.

So if I thought £4.95 for postage was perhaps on the high side are you saying I could ask the seller about that before bidding?

It was advertised as economy delivery though?

As I've said I'm not going to do anything I'm just trying to figure out how it all works.

I'd hate for someone's business to become less appealing for the sake of £1.25 and low stars or comments (flip side is if all 3000+ sales are charged that, that's quite alot of extra cash)

I don't think I'll venture into selling until I understand the whole thing a bit better

OP posts:
MissMilbanke · 23/01/2014 16:55

Gosh it's really like how long is a piece of string really there are so many variables.

Royal Mail prices have gone up a lot recently it's £2.60 to send a small parcel or if it is too large or too heavy then it's twice that.

Couries start from about £4.60

To be honest if you asked me a question about my postage I would probably put you on my blocked bidder list which wouldn't allow you to make a bid - there are too many awkward types on eBay and if you can eliminate some of them all well and good.

Having said that if a business seller was quoting £4.95 and actual cost was £1.20 I would be a bit miffed but I'm sure I could have seen that it would have been cheaper and probably wouldn't have bid - I don't think professional sellers would do that though, there are too many risks on eBay and postage gouging would be one sure way of putting your account at risk.

Original poster
RoseRedder · 23/01/2014 18:06

Thanks MissMilbanke, I'll stick to buying only for a bit I think

I was just curious about the p&p a I've only bought 9 things in total since being a member and trying to figure out, how, if I was to become a seller I would price things

So if someone asked you a question about postage and they were a new user you'd block them?

As a new user I'd find that a bit unfair but hey ho, just out of interest what would your response be if I contacted you after delivery and queried p&p being £1.25 over, would you just think I was nuts?

These are hypothetical situations, I'm just trying to get a feel for what is and is not 'the norm' iyswim

There does seem to be two firm camps though...buyers v's sellers and a bit of distrust from one to the other which seems a tad confusing to me.

Maybe I'm not cut out for ebay?

OP posts:
Gingefringe · 24/01/2014 16:42

I was watching a dress last week where the postage was quoted as £7.99 for standard second class! I contacted the seller to query as I had a similar dress in different colour and suspect it would have cost £2.60 to post - I thought she may have made a mistake but her reply was '"if you don't agree with my charges that's fine". Needless to say I didn't even bid on the item - what a greedy seller.
I think max £1 mark up is ok but i normally add about 50p to cover charges and packaging.