Ebay postage costs

head_honcho

I find the postage costs for many ebay items are so dear, I understand that it's necessary for the sellers but for example I have just seen something selling for 6euro with a postage cost of 18euro!

Toast4532

What is the item? Are they using Anpost, courier, anpost registered etc?

Registered post and courier post are quite expensive, so it might explain the high post cost.

I myself will only send via registered or courier, as some items are cheaper to send via courier, than they are with anpost.

Nody

head_honcho wrote: »

I find the postage costs for many ebay items are so dear, I understand that it's necessary for the sellers but for example I have just seen something selling for 6euro with a postage cost of 18euro!

Because the seller don't pay a percentage of the postage as they do for the price itself and hence can sell the item cheaper to you by not paying Ebay.

rubadub

Just to explain that with example figures

rubadub wrote: »

ebay get a % of the selling price, they do NOT get a cut of the postage

Seller A & Seller B. They both buy an item for €100. They want to make €50 profit on the sale. Postage of the item costs €50. Ebay take around 4% of the sale value

Seller A lists his item as buyitnow for 1cent, postage €200. This means he will make €50 profit (and the 1cent of which ebay take 4%).

Seller B lists his item with the real postage €50, now to still get his €50 profit he has to charge €156.25. Ebay take 4% of his 156.25 leaving him with €150.

So for sellers working on the same margin you can see how the ones charging high postage can afford to offer you an item at a lower cost. I have seen the same seller with 2 auctions for the same product, one with high post the other with low, which were working on this principle.

So if you want the pay the extra €6.25 to ebay so you feel you are not being ripped off, then go right ahead.

rubadub wrote: »

If I was to make any presumptions about high postage costs it would be that it is to circumvent ebay fees and in effect set a reserve price, which benefits the buyer and the seller, you are just taking a little profit away from the middleman (ebay).

I often buy from high postage sellers, they are usually the cheapest. On ebay.com & .co.uk you can sort your items by the combined postage & selling price. Bizarrely this feature is still not on ebay.ie even though its the value most people want to know.

A Dub in Glasgo

Sell price is not always proportianate to P&P price. One reason is outlined above and is a way of circumventing ebay fees. The other is that the item might be bloody heavy and bulky and is therefore expensive to send.

Have you ever tried sending parcels and packages and seen the real cost of P&P?

A Dub in Glasgo

rubadub wrote: »

I often buy from high postage sellers, they are usually the cheapest. On ebay.com & .co.uk you can sort your items by the combined postage & selling price. Bizarrely this feature is still not on ebay.ie even though its the value most people want to know.

My main concern about this tactic as a buyer is that if something went wrong with the sale eg I wanted to return the item, what refund would be due? Under the distance selling regs, the seller does not have to refund the initial postage charge.

As a seller, I would be wary of being reported by someone for not complying with their policy and if the item went missing during transit, the compensation from the courier or postage service will be the sell price of the item. You also might get much lower DSR's on the P&P cost feedback which will impact on your selling

Of course, the buyer & seller can use the law of averages and still be up

head_honcho

Cheers for all the replies. The items are small items of clothing like scarves and light tops, not large bulky items, that's why I could not understand the high postage costs!

TralalaJr

Even with what Rubadub said in mind, I've found that UK sellers (of DVDs anyway) take the michael time and time again with postage costs. If you go to the Royal Mail site and get a price for sending a DVD overseas with a weight no greater than say 150grams it'll cost <£3. I see UK sellers put the correct UK postage cost down but anything outside UK and they're just plucking numbers out of the air.

A Dub in Glasgo

Do not forget that a seller is required to comply with Paypal's stringent P&P requirement if they want to avail of Paypal protection. That stringet requirement is to prove that an item was delivered therefore look at the prices of 'Airsure' or 'International signed for' for comparison. It is a different story if the seller charges for that service and provides a lesser service

rubadub

TralalaJr wrote: »

I see UK sellers put the correct UK postage cost down but anything outside UK and they're just plucking numbers out of the air.

I have emailed UK guys before asking what is the cheapest possible postage they can offer, economy, saying I realise there will be a delay. I am not confrontational saying "yer prices are crazy to here, you are scamming".

I once got lower postage to here than within the uk after asking, as he was sending first class within the UK.

When sending a message on ebay you can email it to yourself, then I just copy & paste the same question in the future.

NeVeR

Nody wrote: »

Because the seller don't pay a percentage of the postage as they do for the price itself and hence can sell the item cheaper to you by not paying Ebay.

I never knew this.. i use to wonder when the lads from China where selling things for $1 and charging $25-$30 shipping lol

rubadub

NeVeR wrote: »

i use to wonder when the lads from China where selling things for $1 and charging $25-$30 shipping lol

Another reason to do it is so if people search for an item and sort by lowest price first then these $1 items appear first on the list. (unless you use the sort by lowest price including postage option, if available).

runawaybishop

Nody wrote: »

Because the seller don't pay a percentage of the postage as they do for the price itself and hence can sell the item cheaper to you by not paying Ebay.

The above is correct. If the item turns out to have a problem with it then you will lose out to the tune of the postage cost. It is also against ebays T&Cs.