Making Proft on postage?

[oxcat1]

Hello,

I recently bought a top on ebay for £0.99, and only afterwards noticed that postage was £4.99. Given I lived in teh same town as the seller, I contacted them to see if I could arrange to collect in person, but I never heard back so in the end I just paid up.

Now I'm looking at a dress I'd like to buy, and postage is listed as £5.50 for 2nd class recorded. I contacted hte seller to ask if I could just have it sent normal second class, if I won, and she replied saying that she was quite new to ebay, but she did have to 'make a profit somewhere'.

I had thought that you weren't meant to make a profit on the postage? Whenever selling I have tried to be as reasonable as possible, and only charge for the packing materials and the cost of postgae. Sometimes I've got this wrong and lost out horribly, but it is true that I often make about 10p profit or so on the postage.

Is it unreasonable to think that charging over £5 for postage just to make a profit seems a bit mean? I thought hte whole point of selling on ebay was that you took your chance with the auction price? I can't now find anywhere on the ebay help pages where it says you shouldn't aim to make a profit on the postage though. Hmmmm.

yanbu, that's ridiculous. P&P is for just that.

rip off, dont buy. she will only get bad rating if she cons people out of post and package

I've noticed that sellers who are greedy with the p&p don't get as many bids.
There is something somewhere on Ebay about 'unreasonable postage' charges..

Hi oxcat

It is very annoying but it's how sellers keep their costs down. If she puts the top on for 99p it costs less to list and she makes up the profit in postage (which doesn't cost her anything to list). She is relying on people like you not noticing the postage cost until they've already bid.

it's illegal but is very common now.

just avoid these sellers and check about pick up before you bid.

you can leave feedback re. postage now too and sellers can't leave neg feedback anymore

Illegal

To be honest I dont have a problem with it.

Ebay rip you off left right and centre.

Thanks.

Well I'm afraid I've been a bit of an a*se and written back drawing her attention to the page on ebay where it says you shouldn't aim to make profit on ebay (pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/listing-shipping.html).

I know I should really have left it, and I've tried to phrase it as nicely as possible, wishing her good luck with the auction even though I wouldn't be bidding etc etc - she did say she was new to ebay and she only has a feedback rating of 8.

She'll just think I'm a pain, and I get a tiny bit of a moral victory to make up for being a mug and falling for it the other time.

I do feel better for it, although I know I should have left it. sigh

Didn't realise it was actually illegal? Probably a good job or I might have got even more on my high horse!

p&p isn't just for the packing & stamp though, is it? It's supposed to take account of the time and effort involved in getting the stuff packaged and taking it to the PO - some people live a distance from the nearest PO (esp now they keep closing the buggers) so there's the time & fuel (or bus fare) involved in getting there.

DS2 posted some football shirts out yesterday - ordinary first class post was £1 on each one and the jiffy bags were another 95p; as he'd charged £2.50 p&p he made a whole 5p on each one (and had to go to & from town twice, for the envelopes & then to the PO).

So £5.50 is on the high side but not that extortionate really - not like that poor MNer who bought a load of sweatbands or something at about 10p each as party bag presents & then discovered the bloke expected about £2 postage on every single one (and she'd bought about 50 )

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Yes, I know she said that, but if you sell something that goes for only 99p, and then charge exactly what the postage costs you, there's not much point doing it at all if you're not going to make anything on it, is there?

If something sells for 99p, how much do ebay charge to list it? And if you are paid by paypal, what percentage do they take off the top? I think she's entitled to make a bit of money for herself - it may be outside the letter of ebay's rules but it's well within the spirit of the enterprise.

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What are the charges, seriously? I have no idea. I mean if you put something on with say a minimum of £6, p&p thrown in, how much would ebay & paypal cream off the top?

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I agree, Knickers - I've honoured sales which have gone for 1p.

P&P should cover the cost with perhaps a bit over for the materials but excessive postage isn't on.

N

ok...i've just sold something for £10 (Buy It Now) and the ebay charges were 25p and the paypal charges 73p... so thats 98p fees

Then there's the jiffy bag- £1

Plus actual recorded delivery postage of £1.67

thats £3.67 COSTS TO ME

I charge the customer £2.50- so that we are 'splitting the difference'

I think now both ebay and paypal fees add up to not far off 20%

So, what are you supposed to do - go and get the item weighed at the post office and then work out postage? Or buy scales?

I estimated the postage for an item and it was about right, but DP underestimated it and ended up at a loss.

oops posted before I had finished I dont like obvious p&p over charging but I can sympathise I dont think you get charged final value fees on postage.

I avoid people who overcharge as a buyer and as a seller I dont do it people only bid less if you do

ebay charges vary depending on the listing
and then charge a % of total winning price

you shouldways check postage price first and calculate into your winning bid- if you do that there's no problem (so if you're willing to pay max £10 for a dress and postage is £5, bid up to £5).

DH has a policy of refunding any postage charged that trns out to be more than £1 over sctual cost (under £1 not worth paypal fee)

at new ebay no feedback system, we had somneone tell us they'd leave negative unless we sent them a new unit (claimed item was lost in the post but wuldnt sign postage claim) and they did too so we cant reply to it. We offered new item if she signed form so we could reclaim (item £50, we cannot afford that!), she wouldnt have it, pretty sure she was on the fiddle but we have the negative.

I seem to pay 20 to 25% of the final price to ebay as fees and paypal charges

If the item goes missing or the buyer claims it has when it hasn't you have to refund them at your own expense.

I cannot be bothered with it anymore, it just isn't worth it to flog stuff, easier to car boot it or give it away imo.

no you dont Darth, it depends on the terms of your sale- ours specify that buyer must confirm loss in writing (Ebay okayed that) so we can get a postage claim sorted, then we offer full refund or replacement.

(we did provide her with p&p mind so she knew we weren't ripping her off, and we had item set to go on receipt of letter- still would send it now if we giot it..... oh asnd it was only 3 days after postage she wouldnt wait longer but refused to pay recorded or first class)

never mind, one sale in 800 eh?

1 in 800 not bad but #i fear this will change now there is no seller -ve fbk

I pay out on more than 1 in 800 though

You can't ask a seller to send normal class post if they state recorded as recorded is for the seller's benefit, not the buyer's.

If you don't like the p&P simply hit the back button. A new ebayer will soon realise a competitive p&p will help sales.

charging extra isn't illegal

If you are selling and don't wish to be out of pocket, either ask at the PO (before you list) if you can work out what the postage will be, or use your kitchen scales and look it up on the RM website.