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Postage charges on Ebay


markytbass
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Now, I've been buying and occasionally selling on Ebay for some time so have a general idea when it comes to postal costs. However some people seem to bump up their postal charges to make extra money on the items they have sold. I recently bought an amp and paid £30 postage, didn't bother me too much at the time as it would have cost more to go and collect. What really got my back up was that it took the guy 2 weeks to post it. For £30 he could have sent it via a courier next day delivery and still have money left over. :) Grrrr

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[quote name='markytbass' post='79492' date='Oct 25 2007, 06:31 PM']Now, I've been buying and occasionally selling on Ebay for some time so have a general idea when it comes to postal costs. However some people seem to bump up their postal charges to make extra money on the items they have sold. I recently bought an amp and paid £30 postage, didn't bother me too much at the time as it would have cost more to go and collect. What really got my back up was that it took the guy 2 weeks to post it. For £30 he could have sent it via a courier next day delivery and still have money left over. :) Grrrr[/quote]

If he's complacent about delivery then he ought to be scolded for it. It's not good enough assuming he doesn't have a reasonable explanation (post strike?).

Ebay/paypal charges are a big deal and expensive items reap expensive fees and it's arguable who should pay these. In my opinion, if a seller is planning to share out or lump all the fees on the buyer, the item description should notify this.

Another thing, assuming packaging is scarce and finite, the seller may have this in mind. Time spent packing is also a concern.

I just think sellers should be completely transparent about all the charges and that then becomes a term of bidding. This can add a pessimistic air to an item description, but is a worthy trade-off for complete understanding.


[url="http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/sell/fees.html"]http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/sell/fees.html[/url]

(Ebay fees page)
--
[url="http://www.ppcalc.com/"]http://www.ppcalc.com/[/url]

(Paypal Calculator - calculates Paypal fees)

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[quote name='obbm' post='79507' date='Oct 25 2007, 06:59 PM']Final value fees are not charged on postage/carriage.

Lower the price. Raise the postage. Go figure.[/quote]

I've seen Chinese basses ("this instrument will bring lifetime of good luck to your house" :)) where they're asking £1 + £199 postage... ebay could simply put a stop to this by charging fees on postage as well - I'm sure the only reason they don't is because it'd discourage worldwide sellers, but they must be losing loads of money at the moment...

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Well he used some old banana boxes and some newspaper wraped in just enough tape to hold the boxes together. The address label was stuck on with masking tape and had nearly come off.

If the amp had been caught up in the back log of the postal strike I would have accepted it.

I bought the amp on the 9th. I e-mailed the guy on the 12th to see if and how he was going to send it and raised my concernes about the strikes. He replied that he hadn't sent it yet and was going to sort it out on the Monday(15th) and if the strikes hadn't ended he would arrange a courier (i took this to mean he would be sending it on the monday either by post or courier).

On friday in another message he said he hadn't posted it as he was waiting to see if all the strike action had ended (going back on what he had originally said).

The amp finally arrived yesterday (Tuesday), seems to be all working ok. But I think had I not kept chasing him up and hadn't reported it as not recieved I wouldn't had got it at all.

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It's a double-edged sword - it's all very well to add a couple of quid on postage to offset fees & to cover packing materials/time (and bubble wrap ain't cheap!) but when some gonk is charging £30 to post a bass that he's going to pay £8.94 to to send by RM Standard Parcels - then I'll automatically adjust my potential maximum bid down by £15.

All my auctions are 99p start, no reserve & £15 postage, anyway. But I only sell junk. :)

Jon.

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If I charge say £20 for postage I will find the best service for that amount i.e next day delivery, insurance. I won't charge £20 and get the cheapest i can just to make an extra tenner. I may not have many morals, I drink too much and swear alot but I feel people should get what they pay for.

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[quote name='paul, the' post='79503' date='Oct 25 2007, 06:50 PM']In my opinion, if a seller is planning to share out or lump all the fees on the buyer, the item description should notify this.[/quote]

You dont see any listings with that info because it violates ebay's T&C.

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[quote name='Toasted' post='79796' date='Oct 26 2007, 02:35 PM']You dont see any listings with that info because it violates ebay's T&C.[/quote]

These days parting your hair on the wrong side violates Ebay's T&Cs.

How the fark am I supposed to flog a Les Paul copy to people who want to buy a Les Paul copy if I can't [i]say[/i] it's a Les Paul copy? :) Bunch of arses.

J.

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  • 3 weeks later...

sorry but 50 quid postage??
not like its heavy or big for that matter
bollocks

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Warwick-Rockbass-Streamer-2-pick-up_W0QQitemZ280172565161QQihZ018QQcategoryZ4713QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem"]evilbay streamer of impending postage doom[/url]

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[quote name='grosa' post='88687' date='Nov 14 2007, 10:14 PM']sorry but 50 quid postage??
not like its heavy or big for that matter
bollocks

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Warwick-Rockbass-Streamer-2-pick-up_W0QQitemZ280172565161QQihZ018QQcategoryZ4713QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem"]evilbay streamer of impending postage doom[/url][/quote]

He even states that he'll use Royal Mail 2nd class standard parcels. It will cost him a whole £10.84 to post that bass to UK addresses.

J.

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[quote name='grosa' post='88687' date='Nov 14 2007, 10:14 PM']sorry but 50 quid postage??
not like its heavy or big for that matter
bollocks

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Warwick-Rockbass-Streamer-2-pick-up_W0QQitemZ280172565161QQihZ018QQcategoryZ4713QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem"]evilbay streamer of impending postage doom[/url][/quote]

He knows he'll get s*d all for the bass so he's trying to cream it back in charges, unfortunately it appears to have backfired :)

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Yeah, it really bugs the hell out of me and I have on occasions not bid on something I wanted as I didn't want to be their postage victim. OK so it's like cutting my nose off to spite my face but it just bugs me.

I am sure that embedded deep in the ebay rule book that they state excessive postal charges are not accepteded. Obviously they are are not getting as much commission on a sale as postage is seen as a non chargable item, so it's in their interests to stop it.

Anyway, report the feckers to ebay, there is a vague chance they'll get their wrists smacked. Revenge is mine!!! :)

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[quote name='warwickhunt' post='88784' date='Nov 15 2007, 08:17 AM']He knows he'll get s*d all for the bass so he's trying to cream it back in charges, unfortunately it appears to have backfired :)[/quote]

He is apparently happy with cash on collection. This might turn out to be a cheap deal for someone near Slough. How much is a used streamer worth, and WTF is 'solid carolina' when it's at home?

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I think this one is an example of an "oh, it's big, postage'll cost loads" Ebayer - very inexperienced (4 feedback since 2005) & definitely never sold a bass before. He won't understand why his Streamer only sells for £60 and won't bother again.

Actually, just looked at the item details again & postage is now amended to £15! Presumably because he's had bids he can't alter his actual listing. If he's got any sense, he'll cancel the auction & re-list.

In the meantime, anyone want a Streamer for about £75 delivered? :)

J.

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I don't understand why you all think there is a problem! As long as you know up front how much the postage is, you just factor that into the cost when you bid. The incentive surely is for the seller is to reduce his costs, so low bid, high postage makes complete sense to me. And, after all, you don't have to bid.

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