Been a while since I sold anything on there. Tried listing something. 
Apparently postage must be free?

John Smith wrote:
> Been a while since I sold anything on there. Tried listing something. 
> Apparently postage must be free? 
> 

It depends on the category, you can still charge postage on a lot of 
items. Basically it's ebay's completely half arsed way of dealing with 
people overpricing postage in the busier categories to avoid fees.

-- 
[ste]

> Basically it's ebay's completely half arsed way of dealing with 
> people overpricing postage in the busier categories to avoid fees.

It's also one of the ways eBay is ensuring private sellers don't use the 
'Free listing for £0.99p or under' deal put in place to justify their 
FVF hike to a flat 10%.

Cheers

Kevin

Conor wrote:
> In article , [ste parker] says...
>> John Smith wrote:
>>> Been a while since I sold anything on there. Tried listing something. 
>>> Apparently postage must be free? 
>>>
>> It depends on the category, you can still charge postage on a lot of 
>> items. Basically it's ebay's completely half arsed way of dealing with 
>> people overpricing postage in the busier categories to avoid fees.
> 
> Yep..confirm the above. It was notified as "improving eBay for you" a 
> few months ago. Funny how they send these "we're improving eBay for 
> you" to sellers yet the contents screw sellers over.
> 

How on earth is this screwing sellers over.
It's the sellers that caused this to happen because they so often rip 
people off with postage (yes I know buyers should view)
What's the difference anyway, total price is the only thing that is 
relevant!

[ste parker] wrote:
> John Smith wrote:
>> Been a while since I sold anything on there. Tried listing something. 
>> Apparently postage must be free?
> 
> It depends on the category, you can still charge postage on a lot of 
> items. Basically it's ebay's completely half arsed way of dealing with 
> people overpricing postage in the busier categories to avoid fees.
> 


Half arsed? How's that?
Great policy in my view

In article <Y_JBm.1270$SL1.556@newsfe04.ams2>, DCA says...

> How on earth is this screwing sellers over.

You're required to offer a tracked delivery for Paypal cover.

> It's the sellers that caused this to happen because they so often rip 
> people off with postage (yes I know buyers should view)
> What's the difference anyway, total price is the only thing that is 
> relevant!

Bollocks. I'll give you two examples:

OK, lets take a DVD which is one of the categories with free postage.

You sell a DVD for £5, which is an average price, and the buyer pays by 
Paypal.

Ebay fees:
10p listing fee.
45p final value fee

Paypal fees:
37p

So that £5 is already down to £4.08 and now you have to offer free 
postage. 

Jiffy envelope: 30p
First Class Recorded £1.65

So thanks to Ebays policy, instead of selling a DVD for £5+postage and 
ending up with about £4, you now end up with £2.13. You have in effect 
lost nearly 50% of what you ended up with from the sale price.



I'm currently selling a mobile phone. Postage is capped at £7. In order 
to have adequate insurance, it means sending it Standard Parcels which 
may get there sometime in the next week. I'd love to offer 48hr delivery 
but £7 is nowhere near sufficient. Standard Parcels is £6.66 which gives 
me 36p to cover the cost of the packing materials and petrol driving to 
the post office. 


-- 
Conor
www.notebooks-r-us.co.uk

I'm not prejudiced. I hate everybody equally.

DCA wrote:
> Conor wrote:
>> In article , [ste parker] says...
>>> John Smith wrote:
>>>> Been a while since I sold anything on there. Tried listing 
>>>> something. Apparently postage must be free?
>>> It depends on the category, you can still charge postage on a lot of 
>>> items. Basically it's ebay's completely half arsed way of dealing 
>>> with people overpricing postage in the busier categories to avoid fees.
>>
>> Yep..confirm the above. It was notified as "improving eBay for you" a 
>> few months ago. Funny how they send these "we're improving eBay for 
>> you" to sellers yet the contents screw sellers over.
>>
> 
> How on earth is this screwing sellers over.
> It's the sellers that caused this to happen because they so often rip 
> people off with postage (yes I know buyers should view)
> What's the difference anyway, total price is the only thing that is 
> relevant!

It screws /honest/ sellers, for sure.  There are items in areas which 
are either valuable or just plain heavy in comparison to the vast 
majority of the items in the area I want to list, but whereas before I 
could take that into account in the postage price now the onus is on the 
buyer to estimate postage costs into their bidding price and how are 
they to know whether item x costs two or three times more than item y to 
post or not?  And assuming ebay buyers do take at least some P&P into 
their bidding price (which I doubt actually happens that much anyway, 
given in ten years experience it seems that some buyers seem to think 
that packaging is actually free for me to obtain, got forbid I charge 
20p or so on top of the actual Royal Mail postage charge for it) then 
whatever happens ebay are taking their cut in fees on the entire amount, 
meaning less for the seller and more for ebay, which is what it's really 
all about.  They must be pissing themselves that they can use sellers 
overpricing postage as the excuse.

-- 
[ste]

DCA wrote:
> [ste parker] wrote:
>> John Smith wrote:
>>> Been a while since I sold anything on there. Tried listing something. 
>>> Apparently postage must be free?
>>
>> It depends on the category, you can still charge postage on a lot of 
>> items. Basically it's ebay's completely half arsed way of dealing with 
>> people overpricing postage in the busier categories to avoid fees.
>>
> 
> Half arsed? How's that?
> Great policy in my view

Because, rather than take into account the substantial amount of sellers 
that /don't/ take the piss on postage (and there are, or were, many - I 
never made a bid on something where I felt the P&P was overpriced but I 
still had masses of choice), they've basically just said everyone is 
taking the piss so you can all pay. To me, that's a really unfair way of 
doing it as it once again erodes the position of the casual seller, and 
to look at it from a cynical point of view it just so happens to be the 
"great solution for everyone!" that means ebay make more profit. What a 
coincidence!

-- 
[ste]

DCA wrote:
> [ste parker] wrote:
>> John Smith wrote:
>>> Been a while since I sold anything on there. Tried listing something. 
>>> Apparently postage must be free?
>>
>> It depends on the category, you can still charge postage on a lot of 
>> items. Basically it's ebay's completely half arsed way of dealing with 
>> people overpricing postage in the busier categories to avoid fees.
>>
> 
> Half arsed? How's that?
> Great policy in my view

Oh, and furthermore half arsed because because it's inconsistently 
applied both across categories /and/ across countries. The same 
categories in different countries have different rules on P&P for the 
same categories, I wouldn't be surprised if that's because the defining 
point in applying this rule is if category x is likely to pull in masses 
more profit if is applied or not.

-- 
[ste]

Conor wrote:
>
> So thanks to Ebays policy, instead of selling a DVD for £5+postage and
> ending up with about £4, you now end up with £2.13. You have in effect
> lost nearly 50% of what you ended up with from the sale price.

I'm thoroughly fed up with ebay, as it's become very expensive. Plus you've 
got the risk of charge-backs and fraud. I tend to list stuff on Loot (in 
London) and I get a very good response. Usually, the buyer comes over, 
inspects the goods and pays on the spot as well as picking them up. So, it's 
far far easier for the seller, it doesn't cost anything at all, and prices 
achieved are pretty good.

Conor wrote:
> In article <Y_JBm.1270$SL1.556@newsfe04.ams2>, DCA says...
> 
>> How on earth is this screwing sellers over.
> 
> You're required to offer a tracked delivery for Paypal cover.
> 
>> It's the sellers that caused this to happen because they so often rip 
>> people off with postage (yes I know buyers should view)
>> What's the difference anyway, total price is the only thing that is 
>> relevant!
> 
> Bollocks. I'll give you two examples:
> 
> OK, lets take a DVD which is one of the categories with free postage.
> 
> You sell a DVD for £5, which is an average price, and the buyer pays by 
> Paypal.
> 
> Ebay fees:
> 10p listing fee.
> 45p final value fee
> 
> Paypal fees:
> 37p
> 
> So that £5 is already down to £4.08 and now you have to offer free 
> postage. 
> 
> Jiffy envelope: 30p
> First Class Recorded £1.65
> 
> So thanks to Ebays policy, instead of selling a DVD for £5+postage and 
> ending up with about £4, you now end up with £2.13. You have in effect 
> lost nearly 50% of what you ended up with from the sale price.
> 
> 
> 
> I'm currently selling a mobile phone. Postage is capped at £7. In order 
> to have adequate insurance, it means sending it Standard Parcels which 
> may get there sometime in the next week. I'd love to offer 48hr delivery 
> but £7 is nowhere near sufficient. Standard Parcels is £6.66 which gives 
> me 36p to cover the cost of the packing materials and petrol driving to 
> the post office. 
> 
> 


Nope, still can't see it. If you put the £5 up, then that's it!
Now we're all honest and on a level pegging

"DCA"  wrote in message 
news:Y_JBm.1270$SL1.556@newsfe04.ams2...
> Conor wrote:
>> In article , [ste parker] says...
>>> John Smith wrote:
>>>> Been a while since I sold anything on there. Tried listing something. 
>>>> Apparently postage must be free?
>>> It depends on the category, you can still charge postage on a lot of 
>>> items. Basically it's ebay's completely half arsed way of dealing with 
>>> people overpricing postage in the busier categories to avoid fees.
>>
>> Yep..confirm the above. It was notified as "improving eBay for you" a few 
>> months ago. Funny how they send these "we're improving eBay for you" to 
>> sellers yet the contents screw sellers over.
>>
>
> How on earth is this screwing sellers over.
> It's the sellers that caused this to happen because they so often rip 
> people off with postage (yes I know buyers should view)
> What's the difference anyway, total price is the only thing that is 
> relevant!
Ebay bollox their excuse was Amazon don't charge postage on DVD's and CD
which is a crock of poo  Amazon do offer free postage over £5 on certain 
items but Amazon Merchants charge postage in addition just an excuse to get 
more money out of a low price sale. You did get people bleating about being 
ripped off on postage simple answer don't buy if you don't like it the terms 
are their for all to see and there is even a search to include postage.
DerekW

> Amazon do offer free postage over £5 on certain 
> items

Actually, Amazon changed this a couple of days ago. You now get free 
postage on everything if you select the Super Saver Delivery option. No 
£5 minimum purchase requirement anymore :-)

Cheers

Kevin

Andy Whitfield wrote:
> "DCA"  wrote in message 
> news:Y_JBm.1270$SL1.556@newsfe04.ams2...
>> Conor wrote:
>>> In article , [ste parker] says...
>>>> John Smith wrote:
>>>>> Been a while since I sold anything on there. Tried listing something. 
>>>>> Apparently postage must be free?
>>>> It depends on the category, you can still charge postage on a lot of 
>>>> items. Basically it's ebay's completely half arsed way of dealing with 
>>>> people overpricing postage in the busier categories to avoid fees.
>>> Yep..confirm the above. It was notified as "improving eBay for you" a few 
>>> months ago. Funny how they send these "we're improving eBay for you" to 
>>> sellers yet the contents screw sellers over.
>>>
>> How on earth is this screwing sellers over.
>> It's the sellers that caused this to happen because they so often rip 
>> people off with postage (yes I know buyers should view)
>> What's the difference anyway, total price is the only thing that is 
>> relevant!
> 
> I sell UPSs.
> It costs me between £40 and £110 to ship on a pallet to mainland UK 
> depending on location.
> If I ship to N.I. or an island off the UK then even more.  Up to £185
> So how do I include shipping in my selling price?
> Andy 
> 
> 

Surely the carriage cost inclusion doesn't apply to pallets like this?

DerekW wrote:
> "DCA"  wrote in message 
> news:Y_JBm.1270$SL1.556@newsfe04.ams2...
>> Conor wrote:
>>> In article , [ste parker] says...
>>>> John Smith wrote:
>>>>> Been a while since I sold anything on there. Tried listing something. 
>>>>> Apparently postage must be free?
>>>> It depends on the category, you can still charge postage on a lot of 
>>>> items. Basically it's ebay's completely half arsed way of dealing with 
>>>> people overpricing postage in the busier categories to avoid fees.
>>> Yep..confirm the above. It was notified as "improving eBay for you" a few 
>>> months ago. Funny how they send these "we're improving eBay for you" to 
>>> sellers yet the contents screw sellers over.
>>>
>> How on earth is this screwing sellers over.
>> It's the sellers that caused this to happen because they so often rip 
>> people off with postage (yes I know buyers should view)
>> What's the difference anyway, total price is the only thing that is 
>> relevant!
> Ebay bollox their excuse was Amazon don't charge postage on DVD's and CD
> which is a crock of poo  Amazon do offer free postage over £5 on certain 
> items but Amazon Merchants charge postage in addition just an excuse to get 
> more money out of a low price sale. You did get people bleating about being 
> ripped off on postage simple answer don't buy if you don't like it the terms 
> are their for all to see and there is even a search to include postage.
> DerekW
> 
> 
> 
It is exactly this attitude that caused the change in policy.
just because buyers accidentally miss the fact that the seller is 
charging an extortionate postage fee doesn't make it 'the buyers fault'
Making it included just means similar items can now be directly compared 
very easily on the search results page.
Much better FOR BUYERS! Those honest sellers who work on slim margins 
and rapid turnover will flourish.
So the fee's amount to 10-15%. That is nothing by comparison to running 
a retail outlet and the prices achieved on ebay invariably exceed 
anything on ebid/loot etc and so you are gaining more to start with.

DerekW wrote:
> "DCA"  wrote in message 
> news:Y_JBm.1270$SL1.556@newsfe04.ams2...
>> Conor wrote:
>>> In article , [ste parker] says...
>>>> John Smith wrote:
>>>>> Been a while since I sold anything on there. Tried listing something. 
>>>>> Apparently postage must be free?
>>>> It depends on the category, you can still charge postage on a lot of 
>>>> items. Basically it's ebay's completely half arsed way of dealing with 
>>>> people overpricing postage in the busier categories to avoid fees.
>>> Yep..confirm the above. It was notified as "improving eBay for you" a few 
>>> months ago. Funny how they send these "we're improving eBay for you" to 
>>> sellers yet the contents screw sellers over.
>>>
>> How on earth is this screwing sellers over.
>> It's the sellers that caused this to happen because they so often rip 
>> people off with postage (yes I know buyers should view)
>> What's the difference anyway, total price is the only thing that is 
>> relevant!
> Ebay bollox their excuse was Amazon don't charge postage on DVD's and CD
> which is a crock of poo  Amazon do offer free postage over £5 on certain 
> items but Amazon Merchants charge postage in addition just an excuse to get 
> more money out of a low price sale. You did get people bleating about being 
> ripped off on postage simple answer don't buy if you don't like it the terms 
> are their for all to see and there is even a search to include postage.
> DerekW
> 
> 
> 
And another thing: to use your expression, if sellers want to bleat 
about being had for sellers terms and conditions that are clearly laid 
out, then don't sell!

DCA wrote:

>>
> It is exactly this attitude that caused the change in policy.
> just because buyers accidentally miss the fact that the seller is
> charging an extortionate postage fee doesn't make it 'the buyers
> fault'


Well, nothing has changed. Lots of free delivery items where the only 
delivery option is 'collect from seller'. I guess they will post it, but 
you'll have to pay extra.

"DCA"  wrote in message 
news:qIgCm.5537$GY2.4947@newsfe11.ams2...
> Andy Whitfield wrote:
>> "DCA"  wrote in message 
>> news:Y_JBm.1270$SL1.556@newsfe04.ams2...
>>> Conor wrote:
>>>> In article , [ste parker] says...
>>>>> John Smith wrote:
>>>>>> Been a while since I sold anything on there. Tried listing something. 
>>>>>> Apparently postage must be free?
>>>>> It depends on the category, you can still charge postage on a lot of 
>>>>> items. Basically it's ebay's completely half arsed way of dealing with 
>>>>> people overpricing postage in the busier categories to avoid fees.
>>>> Yep..confirm the above. It was notified as "improving eBay for you" a 
>>>> few months ago. Funny how they send these "we're improving eBay for 
>>>> you" to sellers yet the contents screw sellers over.
>>>>
>>> How on earth is this screwing sellers over.
>>> It's the sellers that caused this to happen because they so often rip 
>>> people off with postage (yes I know buyers should view)
>>> What's the difference anyway, total price is the only thing that is 
>>> relevant!
>>
>> I sell UPSs.
>> It costs me between £40 and £110 to ship on a pallet to mainland UK 
>> depending on location.
>> If I ship to N.I. or an island off the UK then even more.  Up to £185
>> So how do I include shipping in my selling price?
>> Andy
>
> Surely the carriage cost inclusion doesn't apply to pallets like this?

Exactly!  I can't include shipping within the selling price.
Yet ebay only allows me to put one price for shipping to all of the UK or to 
put "freight" which tends to put bidders off as they can't see the shipping 
cost at a glance.
Andy