P+P etiquette

[missknows]

sorry for posting 2 questions in a week but i'm new to auctioning on ebay having only bought buy it now in the past.

Are P+P charges just that or do people usually top them up a but to make an artificial reserve but still get the free listing for starting at 99p?

If people usually top them up you can stop reading the rest of this post but if they are purely meant to be reflective of P+P I have a couple of questions:
Is £3 for a large letter considered taking the mick? What do you do in this situation? Query it, rate the postage stars down? If you do rate postage stars down who even sees this and do they care?

no - making profit on postage is a huge no no, not allowed and buyers are likely to trash your stars.

I send anything under 1kg with My Hermes, costs £2.98, they collect and you have online proof of delivery which is a requirement with paypal/ebay.

Wait for free listing days, never ever start at 99p, from 13 May they are bringing in free listings plus free scheduling so you can sell 20 items a month starting at the right price, ie the minimum you want, plus at the right time of day which is vital. Ending during the day is a waste of time, evenings is best - Mon & Tues night seem favourite too.

Thanks, I have loads of stamps from doing royal mail surveys a while back which I'm using up but once I have I think I will switch to my hermes. I have only been selling baby clothes which I'm happy to let go for 99p so have been starting at that as it was free.

I have received a number of items of baby clothes which have had £3ish postage recently. To give them the benefit I assume they didn't realise it would fit large letter. How should I approach this if it happens in future?

What do you also think is the best day/time? I missed out on a lovely jumper on the bank hol weekend as it went for loads but then 2 of the same jumper ended last sunday so I bid on both expecting them to go high again and I now have 2 on their way to me! oops.

If you sell an item at 99p after final value fees and paypal fees you will make a profit of pennies.

Just ask the seller to refund the overcharge on the postage - or ask for a cheaper rate before bidding.

8.30-9pm is the best time I find.

Lavender, i start all my listings at 99p and have always got what I expected it to sell for.

and if you only have 1 bidder you will only get 99p - it depends what you are selling tbh.

If you do rate postage stars down who even sees this and do they care?

YES. If sellers are rated low enough by enough buyers they can lose their selling privileges permanently. Lesser penalties are: missing out on free listing weekends or losing discounts in fees, probably other stuff.

This is a hotly debated issue, OP. Some people (like me) would say you knew what the delivery charge was when you bid, then you agreed to that charge when you bid, you were happy to pay that total including delivery, so why complain later?

Ebay gets the same amount of profit however the amount you pay is divided between sale price & postage (nowadays).

The official guidance to sellers is contradictory & a bit vague.

Ebay only cares to the extent that you care; Ebay doesn't want you pissed off & not shopping later on Ebay. So you are entitled to whatever opinion you have.

Ebay will allow up to 20 listings/month to private sellers, starting at any price. Or a flat 35p for Buy-it-Now listings (start at any price). So lots of ways to get a good price without using 99p listings & resorting to high postage to make any profit.

sorry, Ebay will soon allow up to 20 listings a month, etc. And there will be other free listing promotions, too. We're still waiting to see how it pans out.

Thanks for that info. I am learning a lot everyday. For now (as I have loads of free stamps) I am charging what it actually costs to post, sometimes even less as I am effectively gaining the postage as profit. Once I run out of stamps I will charge more than 99p per listing if I want more for it and that should coincide with the free listing date.

One more thing... If you received an item posted with a large stamp but paid £3 postage, would you contact seller first or rate less stars? If you were a seller rated less stars for doing this would you feel annoyed that you weren't contacted first? (or is it just your own fault)

How much are you usually charging for postage, Missknows? I mean, what does buyer think you paid?

You should always contact a seller first if you are unhappy & give them a chance to resolve a problem. Whatever the problem is, give seller a chance.

If they blow you off then consider other options like opening a case to get your problem fixed. You can't force a postage refund, though, so low stars or neg feedback is probably your last word on that dispute if no better choices.

yeah, it annoys me if buyers don't contact me about problems. I'm just an ordinary Jo private seller. Mistakes happen to everyone.

I haven't sold a lot but I have posted a couple of things which were small parcel but charged £2.50 and £3 (1st class so 'cost' £3.20) and a couple of items at £1.50 which were large letter size but heavier than 100g so probably about £1.50 anyway.

I consider the postage charge when buying things but have noticed a lot recently which is listed as £3 so I assume it's small parcel but when it arrives it's large letter (and sometimes under 100g) so I've started to think it's a bit cheeky. I haven't done anything yet as I think 'oh it's only £1' or whatever but the more it happens the more I'm thinking it's adding up. How would you word a message to someone asking if they want to refund some postage if they did that to you?

Short and polite? Like "I notice that you charged me £3 postage when the large letter stamp on the parcel only cost £1.48. Please can you refund me £1 for excess postage? Thanks."

That should allow the seller to at least break even on the sale. I would refund and put you on my blocked buyer list for asking (although I only do inclusive postage nowadays, anyway).

Some scenarios....
You sell item for 99p + £2.50 postage charge, and real postage cost to you = £2.20 because you have stamps purchased a while back, while buyer thinks amount you paid for postage is £2.80. Buyer paid £3.49 of which
£2.20 is real postage cost to you
35p to Ebay in FVF
12p in Paypal fees
buyer (doesn't think about fees) thinks your profit is 69p
Your actual profit is 82p
If you paid current RM small parcels rate of £2.80, your actual profit would be 22p.

All that assuming you have zero costs for getting item to Post office & that packaging materials cost you nothing.

But the stamps were free :) but I get what you are getting at.

ah, lucky you with the "free" stamps... I was just trying to explain what it really means to sell for 99p + actual postage at cost. My numbers were wrong, I left out 20p in fixed paypal fee, so take 20p off the profit numbers (82->62p & 22p ->2p).

My minimum price right now is £4.70 including small parcels postage; that leaves £1 profit after costs (assuming parcel tape costs 7p).

I think I have been lucky in that most of my items have gone for a few pounds anyway but I will certainly be looking into my numbers very carefully once I run out of stamps (next week :( )

Think I am going to wimp out on the postage refunds though and just consider it more carefully when bidding.

Dh usually sets a starting price he is happy with, and does free P&P.

I've just been stung with £3.50 p&p for postage that cost £1.24 that leaves a bad taste, I think something up to £2 would have been ok anything over that is blatant profiteering.

What's the opinion on rolling the postage charges into the item price, and offering free postage?

Do sellers like this, or would they rather see a lower item price and an additional postage charge?

I know, whenever I buy, I add the two together and consider that to be the "price" of the item.

it guarantees 5 stars for p&p but you need to list during free listing so your listing costs are kept down.

Well - as I said, Cointreau, it is what dh does - he's happy doing it that way, and he's never had any complaints from buyers.

honestly p&p is just that, postage may cost only £1.50 but bubble wrap and a box does cost, plus maybe a little extra to help cover ebay/paypal fees so you dont lose out

I got fed up with hassle with posting charges ages ago. I work out how much I think it will cost and put it on top of my listing price and offer it for free. No one can quibble then. I only list at free times.

It was all because people don't understand that it isn't just stamps.