eBay advice please

[FatTrucker]

Don't understand this argument either - why pay fees if you don't need to.

What's the difference between an item selling for 99p with £4 postage and an item selling for £4.99 with free postage. For the buyer, none at all - for the seller, a few extra pence in the pocket - eBay still gets it's cut, just not so much...

Because its an auction. If you want to sell something at 99p to attract bids and it sells for 99p then the buyer should get it for 99p plus whatever it costs to send it. If you want £4.99 then sell it BIN at £4.99.

Ebay is full of sellers playing the system in various ways to lesser or greater degrees trying to avoid paying fees. That's entirely up to them, right up to the point where they shunt those fees onto the buyer. If you don't want an item to sell for less than a certain amount then put a reserve on it. Its an auction, that's how they work. In any other auction environment sellers wouldn't get away with it.

Whenever ebay then put policies in place like the free postage rules and such, sellers go berserk, but its due to these types of shill selling practices that the various rules and things are put into place. If people played it square there wouldn't be an issue.

[clarance]

But that's not what I said - final price, item sold, 99p plus £4 is the same as £4.99 and free postage.

99p is only 99p with free postage, otherwise, ADD THE POSTAGE TO THE TOTAL. It's not as if it's a hidden fee printed at the bottom of the listing. Really do not understand

[FatTrucker]

But that's not what I said - final price, item sold, 99p plus £4 is the same as £4.99 and free postage.

99p is only 99p with free postage, otherwise, ADD THE POSTAGE TO THE TOTAL. It's not as if it's a hidden fee printed at the bottom of the listing. Really do not understand

Because as a buyer, I won that item for 99p and the seller is deliberately charging more than the postal cost effectively adding extra charges to my auction total to make themselves more money....again that's not how an auction is supposed to work, if you want more money for something you are supposed to put a reserve on or BIN, not just stick an extra few quid on the postage.

Yes the charges are there in black and white for people to see before they bid, but an auction price should be the winning bid amount + the actual postage cost, not the winning bid amount + the actual postal cost + x£ the seller wants to pocket to avoid paying fees. If people don't want to pay for the service, don't use it, auctions should be legitimately priced, anything else is just dishonest wether you're scamming the buyer or the service provider.

[aztecca]

I am sure that on eBay now the lowest reserve you can set is £50.So with the majority of games being sold that is useless.Is a bit of a pisser though with people charging over the odds on P&P.This is especially the case when searching the "Vintage and Retro" section as for example they bundle all the Snes items into one section now games,console,Accs, so if you are putting a snes cart on ebay you have the option of charging up to £20 for the postage.If you are selling a ps2 or 360 game the most eBay lets you charge is £2 for p&p which is fair enough.In my opinion the whole P&P gubbins on eBay could do with a complete over haul.

[do_sucol]

Speaking personally I tend not to make repeat purchases when someone uses postage to bump up profit on ebay.

That has been really p*ssing me off lately, people charging £2 to send a Cube game and then sending it 2nd class for 81p, ain't half annoying.

Oh,righty then So it's only the postage that people pay for .This is just as annoying and as those who charge silly amounts for P&P.

What it says on the stamp means nothing,you're paying for three things really.The postage ,materials and my fecking time in sorting this all out and how ever far i have to travel to the post office.I hope you never have to employ the use of a brief ,then you'll see some expensive letters

Well it said 23p on the stamp and they charged me £1.20 ,phone the polis! HA BLOADY HA

If anyone isn't happy with the p&p ,well use some sense and don't bid on their tat,just the same as you'd do if you went to a bricks and mortar shop and one was cheaper than the other .Moan at them(i just laugh at them) or go next door .

More tea vicar ?

[clarance]

Because as a buyer, I won that item for 99p

At the risk of going round in circles, no you didn't, you won it for 99p plus the postage... so you add the two totals...

[do_sucol]

Because as a buyer, I won that item for 99p and the seller is deliberately charging more than the postal cost effectively adding extra charges to my auction total to make themselves more money....again that's not how an auction is supposed to work, if you want more money for something you are supposed to put a reserve on or BIN, not just stick an extra few quid on the postage.

This is the flipside ,a total scam and these sellers need pulling!

[Dominoid]

So I'm assuming you all live in the post office right? No? Well consider how you get there if you need to go there? Because I'm assuming it's exactly the same way as the sellers you're vilifying. Postage is not just the cost of the stamps, it's the cost of the stamps, the materials, the time used in getting it there and the cost of getting it there. Where I am now, I live just 5 minutes walk from a post office, but when I didn't I factored in the cost of a bus ticket to get to the town and back in my sales. Transport's more expensive than ever now, so it's costing more and more to post things. Also, bear in mind this person is using an hour of their life to send you a game for the sake of 99p, it's not unfair for them to add a small handling charge for it; indeed it states on eBay that this is acceptable. The example cited of 2 quid postage for something where the stamp cost is 81p is, I would say, fair and proper. Were you to take it to court, it's unlikely that the charge wouldn't be upheld. Let's be honest, how many people would be happy to regularly work for a pound an hour in this day and age?

[Bub&Bob]

Well, all of this is very interesting.

Ive got lots of parcels to send today and I will find out how much the postage is and factor that in next time - will be interesting to see how much the 19 C64 games to Norway will cost!

One thing I will do from now on is make sure I state how much for multiple items.

But I still dont think im ripping anyone off - my prices are visible and as many of you say, if you think its too much then just dont bid!

[psj3809]

Because as a buyer, I won that item for 99p and the seller is deliberately charging more than the postal cost effectively adding extra charges to my auction total to make themselves more money....again that's not how an auction is supposed to work, if you want more money for something you are supposed to put a reserve on or BIN, not just stick an extra few quid on the postage.

BUT the postage is shown up front. I've said it before, i've seen items sell for a lot of money as they start off at 99p and postage is great. The SAME item doesnt sell that well as the postage is high - but you get a bargain with that one as less people bid. I've won a few items this way, the postage was high but i got the item at a very good price as less people bid.

When the postage is shown up front whether its 9 quid or 30 quid at least you know up front. If you dont like the postage DONT bid.

If you win an item and the postage isnt shown and then the buyer says 'well its 9 quid postage' THEN 100% complain for sure.

But when youre shown the postage up front, doesnt matter how much it is i cant see why people moan. Its not a hidden charge or that. Sometimes my postage might be a bit higher as i've had to buy jiffy bags, sellotape but the biggest thing is i have to use my lunch break to stand in a queue for 15 minutes to post this item. Yeah might not seem big but its a pain.

So to me if people dont like the postage, dont bid. BUT if you do bid then pay the postage. If i see a table and chairs in some shop and want them and they say its £50 delivery fee then i know up front, i dont have to do it but if i agree to buy it then i cant moan days later when i get charged that delivery fee.

Just dont see the issue here. Its been proven many times, items with high postage dont always get the same number of bidders so you can get yourselfs a bargain rather than an item for 99p and free postage which turns into a bidding frenzy.

Dont get me wrong, i know a lot of people do take the mick with high postage and low starting fees (Bit like seeing something for sale in a shop saying 'only 99p *' and the text for the asterisk says 'plus 40 quid postage). BUT i honestly dont see the issue when its up front, as i've said you can get yourself a bargain many times like this as it puts off other bidders

[Pixiu]

After reading this thread, I'm going to go buy some items on ebay and then hassle the sellers about the postage costs. I can't believe that all this time I've been missing out on the fun of trying to dictate the seller's P&P costs after the fact according to my own idea of what's reasonable.

[Fred83]

Sometimes i think people would be taking the píss when complain about prices even if they know about it before they buy.Sometimes for your price you get well packaged items which makes it worthy.

[FatTrucker]

Its not just about 'reasonable' postage costs. As I stated above I think sellers charging a couple of quid generally for postage isn't an issue, stick in time, materials etc and you're arguing over pennies anyway. However I completely disagree with someone deciding they want at least £6 for something so sticking it on at 99p with a fiver postage. I understand the arguments that as a buyer the amount you pay is the same so why bother, but its not a question of how much you pay, its the case that its meant to be an auction and sellers are effectively sticking on their own standing charge in the form of postage.

As anyone who sells regularly on ebay will be aware, probably 1 in 10 bidders will bid after reading the item description and looking at the current bid price without looking at postage. Yes this is their fault for not checking, but its also exploited by sellers in full knowledge that not everyone checks the postage. Its no different to a bank or CC company telling you to get f**ked when you query a charge they've made because its in the small print. Its overtly above board but deliberately designed in full knowledge that a lot of people won't read it and think they're getting a better deal than they are.

What ebay should do is automatically add the p&p cost to the current bid total, so rather than showing 99p it shows up as £4.99 if the p&p is £4, if they did this I wouldn't have as much of an issue with it as its all above board.

[Fred83]

amazon marketplace would sometimes have weird rates in a good way,instance some cd boxsets,you might be charged a very cheap £1.79 for shipping,sometimes i had to email the sellers to ask was this correct!.

[Bub&Bob]

Ok, so here is the detail from my first batch of posting:

1 item charged £2.00 - Postage cost £1.55
1 item charged £3.30 - Postage cost £7.14 (to italy)
1 item charged £5.00 - Postage cost £5.82 (to sweden)
1 item charged £2.00 - Postage cost £2.25
1 item charged £2.00 - Postage cost £1.55
1 item charged £4.00 - Postage cost £5.67 (to sweden)
10 items charged £5.11 - Postage cost £3.58
2 item charged £7.36 - Postage cost £8.87 (to greece)

So clearly, my UK prices are fair (to me) but I was way off for Europe - I did send them recorded which bumped up the price.

But the example of the item to Italy - that was Chase HQ Cart - I got £8.70 for it but after ebay / paypal fees and getting the postage so wrong I probably got around £3

But its useful for next time I guess!

However, I have a few DC games to ship - I charged £2.00 recorded so I suspect the postage will cost me more