E bay postage rate query

Spartanninja

I'm starting to sell a few dvd's and mobile accessories on eBay and am trying to figure out a correct p&p rate to charge customers.
I have checked postage charges with An post and it costs 5.25 euros to send via registered post and 2.20 euros to send via standard post leading me to ask the following questions :

1. How do other sellers from Ireland afford to offer free p&p with items ?
2. How important is it to send items worth on average 6-9 euros via registered post ?
3. What would people view as a reasonable p&p charge for a standard dvd weighing 100g

Obviously starting out i would hate to be seen as trying to scam my customers so if anybody with some experience in the area could shed some light on the problem it would be greatly appreciated.

Max Power1

I sell the odd cd and dvd on ebay.

You have to weigh up the pros and cons. To offer free P&P in Ireland is damn near impossible unless you have a large turnover or are selling at a loss to build feedback.

Its simple really, you weigh up the odds of spending 5.25 on registered post every time versus having to refund every buyer that claims INR on ebay or paypal (if you dont have registered post the buyer normally gets refunded). Swings and roundabouts imo.

Reasonable P&P varies. Someone reported me for charging €7 p&p on a DVD to the UK, for example. I told the ebay rep that it cost me almost 6 euro to send it with tracking and the complaint was dismissed. Buyers should look at the total cost (P&P + item cost) and not just the item cost. After all, theres no voluntary courier companies!

rubadub

Spartanninja wrote: »

[*]How do other sellers from Ireland afford to offer free p&p with items ?

When most people I know look to buy something they want to get it the cheapest they can from a site/person/shop they can trust. So P&P cost to me is really a moot point, I want to know what it will cost me to get the item in total. So if a there are 2 auctions with the same DVD that I can get in xtravision for €15 I might say I am willing to pay €10. So I would bid €10 in the auction with "free" postage, and would bid €4 as my max in an auction with postage of €6.

Having a postage price listed is sort of like having a reserve price, some bidders realise there is no such thing as free postage, others like this "free" marketing technique (I know many people who really are convinced they are getting a good deal in pizza companies who ALWAYS have a half price/BOGOF offer). So having "free postage" could lead to attracting more bidders who might get caught up in bidding wars. Of course you run the risk of just one bidder.

Quoting an unusually high postage price would actually attract a bidder like me.

rubadub wrote: »

Personally I seek out people charging outrageously high postage, its 2 fingers to ebay/paypal.

If you postage really is €5 on an item, and you quote €105 all you have done is cover yourself on postage, and in effect created an opening bid of €100. i.e. if somebody bids €1 they really bid €101.

This cuts out paypals profits. When you sell on ebay you have to pay ebay a percentage of the selling price, BUT THIS DOES NOT INCLUDE POSTAGE.

So say ebay take 4% of the selling price. So in my example above if I quoted €5 to cover myself, I would have to have an opening bid of €104.17 to make the same profit, since ebay will take ~4% of that €104.17 reducing it to €100. So if I "mask" it in the postage they get nothing. So I and more importantly (and often not realised) THE BUYER both benefit.

This is why I search for high postage, I know that if there are 2 sellers buying from the same supplier and working on the same margin then the high postage one can offer it cheaper. In fact I have often found the same seller doing this with mulitple buyitnow auctions, he sells the same stuff on 2 auctions and the higher postage one is cheaper.

Spartanninja

thanks for the quick reply guys !
Might start out posting my goods standard post at first just to test the waters and save a few euros.

@rubadub - great advice regarding the higher postage lower selling price, never even realized ebay have no cut in the postage, obviously !!. will definitely consider that in the future.

also, in your experience do you find many scammers claiming non reciept of goods to be a regular thing as eBay and PayPal policy's seem to be stacked against the sellers in these cases ?

thanks again.

allthedoyles

Paypal policy is stacked against the seller -

In my experience , around 10 % will claim different reasons - in our case eg :

1. Item not received
2. item opened and destroyed
3. item scratched
4. item caused damage to other materials

As an eBay seller it is crucial that you always receive positive feedback , and ensure that you fully explain the item you are selling .

Explain in item description that you are starting auction at an attractive starting price and explain that the shipping rates are based on our Irish postage costs which include recorded delivery / tracking

Always communicate with the buyer in a friendly way and work things out together to ensure that feedback is always positive

the groutch

a mod of the Online Buying & Auctions forum encouraging people to defraud ebay?

oh the irony!

rubadub

Just letting people know what goes on & why, and ebay police it themselves so if people are doing it they should be stopping them and have only themselves to blame, its not like its a proper scam, no doubt ebay still get a nice bit of cash even if people do this. The P&P price should include packing and handling, so can legitimately be a lot higher than just the stamps.

If you do pay for an item with huge postage costs it might cause issues if there is a problem. e.g. if it was faulty the seller might refund only the price paid and not the high postage.

There are maximums set out, but it would vary depending which site you go to, e.g. .com .co.uk

http://pages.ebay.ie/help/sell/maximumPP_FAQ.html#DSR

Gamesnash.ie: Pat

Spartanninja wrote: »

I have checked postage charges with An post and it costs 5.25 euros to send via registered post and 2.20 euros

That assumes you are sending a packet and that the DVD, packaging and packing slip etc weighs less than 100g which is a pretty big stretch. You'd be looking at €2.70 for a packet over 100g.

That said though packing a single DVD in a Size C/D padded envelope weighing less than 250g should be accepted as a large envelope at a cost of €1.35 to Ireland.

allthedoyles

Gamesnash.ie: Pat wrote: »

That said though packing a single DVD in a Size C/D padded envelope weighing less than 250g should be accepted as a large envelope at a cost of €1.35 to Ireland.

This is true , - however if the buyer denies he received the DVD , he will be refunded by Paypal .

So to send a large envelope less than 250g ( Ireland ) to include tracking will cost € 5.75