Ebay shipping from uk is ridiculous

Sellers adding that bit extra to make some extra money. I do not buy from people who do this.

correct me if I am wrong, but don't they do it so they have to pay less commission on the ad itself? It is a bit annoying but it just means you have to include delivery cost into every purchase because it is usually substantial. My last ebay purchase cost 140 euros, 50 of which was the postage. But overall 140 delivered was a good price.

price is made up of item price + P&P. Seller pays fees on item price but not postage. Hence a lot of them bump up the price of postage. Its against ebay rules to do this (see here)

however ebay don't care about buyers, its sellers who pay the fees so they always take their side. Some of the responses you get from their customer service are comical. I have often contacted them about P&P rip offs or sellers refusing to leave feedback til I leave it for them (a lot will leave you undeserved negatives of you leave deserved negatives for sellers). They don't care, despite the fact it makes their feedback system worthless.

jor el wrote: »

Also, since postage costs are always shown on the auction, I don't see how anyone can crib about it after an auction ends.

I bought an item on ebay about a year ago. Was charged £13 P&P. When it arrived the postage cost was 11.98 (printed on the item). Thats grand, very reasonable P&P charges IMO as as you say packing etc has to be considered.

Not long after I bought another item from a different seller. No Postage to Ireland quoted. Mailed the seller and he told me he'd check the cost in his local post office. Mailed me back that postage was £12. I had priced the item in argos among other places and saw the package was about the same size as the item mentioned above so I paid. When I received it the postage cost printed on it was less than £5 (was lighter I assume). This is a blatant rip off IMO (he lied in his e-mail, said he'd checked the cost in his post office), and I left neutral feedback accordingly. Complained to ebay, am still awaiting a reply (this was last august).

Despite the fact the seller broke ebay rules they couldn't care less.

jor el wrote: »

I wouldn't hold my breath on a reply either, and if you do it'll probably be a half arsed, pseudo-generic reply, with little or nothing to do with the question/complaint you had.

probably, I did once get a reply to a complaint about the feedback system, they might as well not have bothered

Ebay set up the star system now and you can slate anyone who has overchagred you there.

The lower the star rating the more fees they'll pay to ebay so they'll soon cop on and see its counterproductive especially when it's 40% off total monthly fees if there star rating is 4.6 and above on all stars!

jor el wrote: »

Remember that P&P is Postage and Packing. The cost is not just the stamps on the envelope, but the cost for someone to put the item in the envelope, the cost of the envelope and the bringing it to the post office. As such, it's nearly impossible to say that postage costs are over the top since you will never know how much the packing cost is.

Also, since postage costs are always shown on the auction, I don't see how anyone can crib about it after an auction ends.

I agree, but also believe there's a bit of room for a few extra euros here and there. I know someone selling laptops and make half the profit on the delivery costs...:rolleyes:

Theres no harm in people making a few extra quid on ebay ,some people go to a lot of trouble packing stuff and posting it on time.

It's impossible to justify some of the postage charges though ,one seller charges 10 and another charges 20

jor el wrote: »

Remember that P&P is Postage and Packing. The cost is not just the stamps on the envelope, but the cost for someone to put the item in the envelope, the cost of the envelope and the bringing it to the post office. As such, it's nearly impossible to say that postage costs are over the top since you will never know how much the packing cost is.

Also, since postage costs are always shown on the auction, I don't see how anyone can crib about it after an auction ends.

Yeah but have you ever compared some of these seller's UK P&P prices and then compared them to their rates for sending to Ireland?
I've often seen something like a game/DVD P&P go from £2 for UK up to £5+....has the cost to get to the post office and the cost of the jiffybag suddenly doubled because the package has to go on a plane?

It's grand to say just leave it, buy somewhere else etc, but in the cases of rarer items where there may be only a few or one for sale, the option isn't there and just because you happen to live outside the UK you're going to get ripped off.

It's understandable if the item is heavy...courier costs are high and it needs to come by courier...but this charging for 1st class or registered and sticking it in a used jiffybag with a 2nd class stamp is bullsh*t.
I've threatened sellers with negative feedback and eBay complaints unless they refund some of the overcharge in some cases and it's worked...evn if it's only for a quid or two.

Wertz wrote: »

but this charging for 1st class or registered and sticking it in a used jiffybag with a 2nd class stamp is bullsh*t.

That's something I hate too. That and paying for registered post and then the seller uses standard. I don't mind over-paying for postage if I get it cheaper overall, but over-paying for one thing and getting getting something way less is something I don't tolerate.

I've found many US sellers that ship internationally are in fact cheaper for their shipping rate than their UKL counterparts on similar items...