postage and packing

[rockape560]

hi guys,

i am a small time seller on ebay,mostly spending what i get on more badges for my collection.

i recieved a message form a buyer asking why my postage costs were high compared to others.£2.10 recorded and £5 for international signed for but may be higher depending on the item.when i explained that i can track the package on the royal mail site and see that its been signed for,the buyer said he had recieved much dearer items by 2nd class post and would not be buying from me again.fair enough.

when i first started selling i sent by ordinary post and air mail however a cpl of people said they had not recieved the items and started a dispute with paypal who of course took the buyers side.so my feedback% went down and their negative feedback stayed with me for a year.

has anyone else had problems regarding p&p from buyers?

philip

[Charlie585]

Hi Philip,

I have had the experience as a buyer when getting an item for a steal where it has been "lost in the post".

Now if I get a bargain I request SD delivery worth the extra few pounds usually.

I have also though genuinely had items I have sent standard 1st class go missing never to be seen again.

I don't think your charges are excessive though, you can't win with some people so better not to try sometimes.

Regards

Ry

[Mike]

Originally Posted by rockape560

hi guys,

i am a small time seller on ebay,mostly spending what i get on more badges for my collection.

i recieved a message form a buyer asking why my postage costs were high compared to others.£2.10 recorded and £5 for international signed for but may be higher depending on the item.when i explained that i can track the package on the royal mail site and see that its been signed for,the buyer said he had recieved much dearer items by 2nd class post and would not be buying from me again.fair enough.

when i first started selling i sent by ordinary post and air mail however a cpl of people said they had not recieved the items and started a dispute with paypal who of course took the buyers side.so my feedback% went down and their negative feedback stayed with me for a year.

has anyone else had problems regarding p&p from buyers?

philip

Philip, ask him to pay by cheque or postal order and he can have it posted anyway he wishes. Get a certificate of posting and if it gets lost send him Royal Mail's Customer service address and phone number. Simples.

[grumpy]

If militaria is worth buying for more than £10 its worth special delivery!

My only exception to this is books.

[Mike]

It's still worth going for no insurance as a buyer in some situations, but you shouldn't whinge at the seller if you've been offered the choice and you lose something uninsured. Perhaps paypal should have a box you can check to say you accept the risk of an uninsured item for lower postal costs.

Lets say you set out to buy 60 of the common infantry badges on ebay at about £5 each with £2 recorded or £1 normal post. If you chose the latter royal mail would have to lose 10% before you were out of pocket. total cost would be £420 by recorded or £360 normal.

(is my maths ok?? )

[Sawstonjohn]

Postage costs or more particularly postage overcharges infuriate buyers. I don't think it is the actual cost but the ethics. I fact I received today an item, purchase price £8.50 with a postage charge of £1.50. It was sent in a simple white envelope, (the type that takes a piece of A4 folded in three). It had been through a franking machine, cost £0.36. So I reckon I was overcharged £1.00 if you allow £0.14 for the envelope. Buy just one small item a week on this basis over 12 months and we are up to £50 'overcharged' a year!

Strange thing is, if the price had been £9.50 plus £0.50 postage I would have felt I had found a bargin!

I'm afraid many sellers see mailing costs as a nice bit of additional revenue - Do the maths - a seller that makes £1.00 per transaction on postage, sells twenty items a week, well thats £1,000 a year!!!

[connaught]

I was charged $30 for an item to be shipped from the US, said item arrived yesterday with a postal charge of $9.30, not very happy.

[MH331]

When I buy the minimum I ask the item to be sent for is Recorded Delivery and for items that I have been chasing for an age its always Special Delivery. I have no quibble with slight overcharging and to be fair to most sellers they are reasonable some even refund overcharging.

Mark

[peter4447]

What annoys me is E Bay's Detailed Seller ratings and the yellow stars.
I sold 15 items recently and as they were all paid for by Paypal every item was despatched within 24 hours of being notified that payment had been received.
I also communicated fully with each buyer telling them that the item had been despatched and answering any questions they raised.
Even though they were all items that fitted into small jiffy bags (which I did not charge for) and were sent 1st Class, I found when I posted them off I had not charged enough for postage - that, however, was my own fault entirely for not checking first and I made no attempt to ask the buyers to pay more!
I received excellent feedback for every item sent ie; well packed, as described, good communication, very fast delivery and yet I was marked down in the 'Communication' 'Despatch time' and 'Post and Packing' by some of the buyers (who are, of course, anonymous in the detailed seller ratings)!
I did complain to E Bay about this but they were not interested, although it did make me wonder when you do your level best to provide a good service just what some buyers expect!
Peter4447

[appie_b]

I think some e**y sellers see P&P charges as an extra money maker. Not long ago I bought a bank note from the US for $0,99 and was charged $14 for postage. I took a few mails to convice the seller it was do-able to send it for less then $2. Most of the sellers are reasonable with the charges but some.....

In the last 5 years all my purchases have arrived, not one lost....but maybe I am lucky.

Albert

[paj1]

hi chaps i know the cost of p&p is a real bug bear to some people,but the
way i see it, unless the item is very cheap and easy to obtain , i think it
worth a few pounds more to make sure you get the item you have bought
delivered safely to your door via some sort of recorded delivery.
cheers paj1

[slick_mick]

Originally Posted by peter4447

What annoys me is E Bay's Detailed Seller ratings and the yellow stars.
I sold 15 items recently and as they were all paid for by Paypal every item was despatched within 24 hours of being notified that payment had been received.
I also communicated fully with each buyer telling them that the item had been despatched and answering any questions they raised.
Even though they were all items that fitted into small jiffy bags (which I did not charge for) and were sent 1st Class, I found when I posted them off I had not charged enough for postage - that, however, was my own fault entirely for not checking first and I made no attempt to ask the buyers to pay more!
I received excellent feedback for every item sent ie; well packed, as described, good communication, very fast delivery and yet I was marked down in the 'Communication' 'Despatch time' and 'Post and Packing' by some of the buyers (who are, of course, anonymous in the detailed seller ratings)!
I did complain to E Bay about this but they were not interested, although it did make me wonder when you do your level best to provide a good service just what some buyers expect!
Peter4447

The ebay feedback system is now immensely flawed with a bias towards buyers. I personally don't bother with it any more. I don't think feedback means much these days.

Mick

[DavidS]

Originally Posted by rockape560

hi guys,

i am a small time seller on ebay,mostly spending what i get on more badges for my collection.

i recieved a message form a buyer asking why my postage costs were high compared to others.£2.10 recorded and £5 for international signed for but may be higher depending on the item.

philip

The UK mail service's international signed for post is the best deal going. I only wish Canada Post offered a similar service for as little money. By comparison, it is $15 CDN for a proximity to that service. Like others have said, if the badge is worth more than $20 it's worth the money to get it delivered safely, for both parties' sake. I use fixed rates, and no one has complained (so far), although I charge more than some vendors. I think folks who quibble over $1 or $2 more than those 'others' can be answered simply with 'it's what I charge'. It costs money for mailers, appropriate packaging and time, too, a fact these folks might like to ignore. But then again, maybe they prefer getting a $150 badge sent out in a $0.49 mailer then twisted beyond recognition, with the lugs punched through the envelope, bent and broken. After all, they did save $3 on the delivery cost

[John L]

This is what up sets people about postage.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/WW11-DISPATCH-...item19c23a2d2e

Maybe they will adjust it or maybe not.

[DavidS]

Well, there is a difference between reasonable and unreasonable. 28 days within your own country just sucks bilge water -- the translation, I believe, is "can't be bothered to trot your item to the post office even if I do have your money". There is (was?) a bit of an eBay scam going, as seller fees are calculated on the hammer price, not postage. So if I had a $20 item, I could list it for $1 buy it now with $20 postage and be ahead of the game. Not sure if/how eBay addressed that, but for a while there were some pretty interesting examples of creative postage & handling fees in buy-it-nows.