Postage on items you're selling

Karl

Karl

Karl

Soldato
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Not so much about selling on here as selling anywhere - When you put postage on something, do you add more than it's going to cost to post it? Do you factor in petrol?

I bought something from a third party seller the other day who specified £2 for postage, and when I got it through a few days later, he'd slapped a few second class stamps on it and got shot of it for 60p!

If it was me, I wouldn't have the nerve to charge that much for it and then pick the cheapest option!

Am I in the wrong here?
 
packaging costs?
Anyway, unless you specifiy a particular method of shipping I dont see the problem. By simply doing it in the least expensive manner you would leave yourself at risk if the item is not/is claimed not to be received.
 
Surely if you're worried about that, you're putting postage insurance on each item which'd justify the £2?
 
You're winging about 2 pounds!

When they charge 20 and it costs 7... that annoys me because the carboard and bubble wrap maybe costs 3 pounds & they should only charge ~ 10 pounds

2 pounds is perfectly reasonable imo
 
"Post and packaging" I allow for
Postage
Packaging
Associated costs (parking etc).

Some people also charge a bit for their time.
 
yeah, it does annoy me, but only if it's really extracting the urine - not going to get upset about a quid. as Gilly said, not to mention driving to post it and the time it takes. £2 is pretty fair I'd say
 
I don't really care how much postage is really.

As long as the total cost of what I'm buying factoring in the cost of postage is the cheapest available then who cares?
 
I send 90% of items I sell on EBay via Special Delivery.
I know that in the majority of cases it will go for the £4.20 rate, however I usually charge £5 - £5.50 for delivery.
As far as I'm concerned it's post AND packaging.

Everyone knows the rate of delivery before they make a purchase - so you have to decide how fair you feel it is.
I do get annoyed when I'm told the method of delivery will be Special Delivery or Recorded, you are charged for this and then it arrives via standard post.
However at the end of the day people who do that do so at their own risk because if an item goes missing and it's via a non trackable service a dispute is 99% going to be in favour of the buyer.

The people who charge silly amounts of delivery to get aroudn EBay fees are the worst.
EBay claim they are cracking down on those - I've reported a few that are obviously taking the....
 
stoofa said:
I do get annoyed when I'm told the method of delivery will be Special Delivery or Recorded, you are charged for this and then it arrives via standard post.
However at the end of the day people who do that do so at their own risk because if an item goes missing and it's via a non trackable service a dispute is 99% going to be in favour of the buyer.
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I hate that too. If it happens to me I make the seller sweat it out for a couple of weeks before telling them that it finally arrived in the hope that they stop doing this.
 
How long do you think it took him to package the item, write the address, go to the post office, buy the stamps, post the item and return home? Not to mention packaging costs as well. The extra pound for his time is perfectly justified imo.
 
Karl said:
I bought something from a third party seller the other day who specified £2 for postage, and when I got it through a few days later, he'd slapped a few second class stamps on it and got shot of it for 60p!
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PACKAGING...

people forget this even a basic small jiffy bag costs 50p.
A big box with bubble wrap can run into £. I generally underestimate shipping costs :(. It's surprising how much things cost.
 
Having sold 30+ items on such sites I can say that charging a little more is easily justified when you have to factor in bubble wrap, envelopes, boxes, invoices and labels, plus the time taken to wait in the post office to post it. I don't mind paying something like £3 for an item that may only cost £1 in postage as long as the item hasn't been damaged from postage because the seller didn't pack it correctly.

What I don't agree with is when the sellers charge something like £10 to post something like a memory card or CD/DVD and it takes a week to arrive. When I use the popular auction site I sort by cost ascendingly then factor in the postage to the total cost. An example is when I bought some air dusters recently, there were loads listed for £9.99 with 0.99 postage but there were also some listed at £4.99 with £2.99 postage which is a better deal despite the higher postage costs.
 
I also don't mind when the item costs £0.01p and the postage £20. If your dumb enough to bid to the full price thats your fault. It's obvious they are doing it to get around ebay fees and they are expecting the item to sell for like 10p.
 
Usel said:
I don't really care how much postage is really.

As long as the total cost of what I'm buying factoring in the cost of postage is the cheapest available then who cares?
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totally agree

i always bump up postage more then it will cost, if its too much for someone, dont bid!
 
I wish people would actually post something properly. I.e. A PC part I bought was packaged in its retail box covered in parcel tape. If I then sell it on later down the line I would have to sell it as unboxed. :/ Plus he overcharged on postage costs £6 when it cost £3.
 
Trifid said:
I wish people would actually post something properly. I.e. A PC part I bought was packaged in its retail box covered in parcel tape. If I then sell it on later down the line I would have to sell it as unboxed. :/ Plus he overcharged on postage costs £6 when it cost £3.
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No you don't you can sell it as boxed. Just *** boxed wont be in perfect condition.

And the trouble is you don't know how much it's going to cost untill you got there. I charge £10 once and state rm special delivery. They wanted £30 so I sent it parcel force 48. which still cost £15 just for postage. Luckily they didn't complain.
 
AcidHell2 said:
PACKAGING...

people forget this even a basic small jiffy bag costs 50p.
A big box with bubble wrap can run into £. I generally underestimate shipping costs :(. It's surprising how much things cost.
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It came in a standard pre-used jiffy bag he seems to have received something in before. Pretend he had it new though. 0.50 + 0.60 = 1.10.

He said Postage:
Royal Mail 1st Class Standard

Actual Postage:
Royal Mail 2nd Class Standard.

The value to me seems irrelevant. Do you reckon he added on the kilojoules of energy required from his cereal to get to the post office?
 
I always bubblewrap boxes that I post if it's a retail box as I know they they get battered up a lot in the post. A lot of my items are posted in recycled packing, I buy a lot of stuff online and end up with lots of padded envelopes so I might as well re-use them, it helps the environment and saves on my costs.
 
RobH said:
I always bubblewrap boxes that I post if it's a retail box as I know they they get battered up a lot in the post. A lot of my items are posted in recycled packing, I buy a lot of stuff online and end up with lots of padded envelopes so I might as well re-use them, it helps the environment and saves on my costs.
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Didn't save on mine, did it. :p :D
 
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