postage costs - taking the piss?

[warthog]

i have only bought stuff off ebay but it seems to me that some people really charge high prices for postage.

latest example was £3.95 for a tiny item of baby's clothing, and most of the stuff i buy of ebay arrives by 2nd class post.

it seems that most people at least double or triple the cost. in other words, they charge through the nose to claw more money from you. yes, i understand about the schlepp of going to the post office, and cost of packing the goods but in a lot of cases, this seems excessive.

I think some sellers try to recoup some of the listing fees through the postage-the trouble is, by the time you pay ebay and paypal fees it is often not worth selling an item in the first place unless it is of high value.

ah i see... didn't realise about the listing fee.

i just feel £3.95 is ridiculous for something that will cost them 40p.

they should bundle the listings up if they can't be arsed to sell it singly. it's annoying to feel ripped off. of couse, you could say i don't have to bid, but i want that one!

I just factor the cost of postage into the overall cost of the item. I decide what I want to pay (including postage) and won't go over that. If i'm outbid I just snigger to myself at the gullible fool who's prepared to pay over the odds (to make myself feel better you understand).

I too factor the total cost.
if I know they are charging waaay too much for P&P i simply don't bid - eventually when sellers realise they are losing sales due to high P&P they will (hopefully) change their ways.

£3.95 - 40p is definitely too much and I doubt that seller would get many sales doing that, but as you said, you wanted that item and obviously were prepared to pay the total amount.

Selling something at 99p with just the actual postage cost or just a few pence more for the packaging results in an overall loss for the seller. Many long term sellers realise this and so stop selling low value items. I can see the time coming when there simply won't be many bargains, nic-nacs, paperbacks etc etc on ebay at all.

i don't take into account my time when calculating the P&P, I just try to recover some of the actual packaging costs. If I were to take into account my time - even at minium wage, I wouldn't be able to realistically sell anything for less than £20 If I could add my 'time' to the P&P I simply wouldn't sell anything.

I've often wondered what a solution to the P&P issue could be. As ebay now display the P&P on the search results, sellers need to be competitive with the P&P as well as the start price. the idea behind this was to encourage buyers to calculate 'total' cost even before they click on the item page. This is a good move but still, I'm sure there could be another way.

yes, i also base my bids off total cost. but what i find is that the p&p portion of the total cost is quite sizeable sometimes, and i start to feel ripped off. mind you i have been bidding on baby clothes, so perhaps therein lies the problem: they are low value items...

yes, i also base my bids off total cost. but what i find is that the p&p portion of the total cost is quite sizeable sometimes, and i start to feel ripped off. mind you i have been bidding on baby clothes, so perhaps therein lies the problem: they are low value items...

I agree with Tiggi and 6lostmonkeys, by the time you've payed the insertion fee, gallery fee, paypal fee and final value fee you'd be selling at a loss if you didn't bump the postage up. I normally add 50p above actual postage to recoup some of the fees but stay competitive, but sometimes it backfires and you're letting things go for a "profit" of pence

hmmm didn't know about these extra costs.

I'm selling stuff at the mo with 2.95 postage - the actual cost is 1.52 but then I have the wrapping on top of that and the trip to the po plus 42p to list 26p when it sells and usually 47p paypal so I think it is fair however I am being marked down on the postage on the star system. I'm not changing though because it wouldn't be worth my while and the items i'm selling are new and 75% cheaper than shop price so i think thats fair.

tabither - I wouldn't worry about being marked down on the stars - I've seen sellers being marked down and they offer FREE P&P!!

I used to love Ebay but postage costs are really putting me off at the moment. I only buy new items anyway but instead of being cheaper like in the past its usually the same cost if not more than standard internet shops.

When i sell the off item on there, i charge the postage plus 20p for packaging - i dont try and recoup my fees within the postage. I now only bid if the postage is near accurate.

For clothing i put P&P as £2 - £2.50 Depends if it's heavy clothing .If anyone does comment then i'll offer difference back.No one has yet though.
Your allowed i think to add packaging into P&P.
I always start my stuff as 99p cos it costs more to start over £1 doesn't it?
Did reduce starting bid recently to 50p and the top sold for 55p with postage of £2.

it annoys me actually this new postage system. i can sell two items of an identical weight and if ones a bit netty or something (think baby dress) its classed as a packet, costs more.

I havent sold anything on ebay for about a year and have sold a couple of nappies on mn in the last few weeks - I can't believe how much royal mail are charging to send items now!! I thought when the new postage system came in you'd be charged for the size of the package instead of weight and now they seem to charge on both! It cost me £1.50 to post a package that would've cost 60p not long ago...

Dh listed a large toy - went for 99p plus £5 postage - cost me about 6.30 to post plus all the packing, plus po is 3 mile drive away... wasn't happy with him. My current items (all adult clothes) are £2 post each. I always wrap clothes in tissue paper, ribbon round baby stuff etc and send 1st class. Maybe I'm being a mug??

swedishmum, the vast majority of items i've received have been sent 2nd class. but it's nice to get something that's nicely packaged