sellers selling items for less than postage costs.

[10krissi91234]

How can sellers offer items for sale with free postage, when the item and postage cost more than the sale price?

eg. item $3.99 , free postage.

Item would cost at least $7.15 to send?

[colic2bullsgirlore]

two reasons that I can think of

1 A loss leader (also leader) is a pricing strategy where a product is sold at a price below its market cost to stimulate other sales of more profitable goods or services.

2 Chinese sellers are subject to a much lesser postage cost than australian sellers and are able to subvert the 20mm

thickness rule for large letters.

[lyndal1838]

Apart from anything else some sellers will offer items as loss leaders to encourage buyers to buy other items at the same time.

But how do you know the items will cost $7.15 to send?  Small, light items can go in an envelope for 70 cents or a large envelope for $1.40.

What sort of items are you talking about?

[aussie.grazing.boards]

Yeah, this is my pet peeve. These guys fall into several categories.

Chinese sellers with fake Aussie accounts. International postage is very cheap in China, and their items are exempt from Auspost 20mm rule once it hits our shore.

Aussie sellers who do not put a return address on their items. In many cases, the buyer has to go into the post office and pay for the underpaid item.

Sellers with horrible feedback ratings, and want a surge of sales, and positive feedback, to restore their feedback to a more acceptable figure

Sellers with an Auspost account, who are able to print their own large letter labels ($1.40 or $2.10) and stick them on items that should really be shipped in a satchel

Sellers who bulk buy postage stamps that were printed a few years ago, the face value of the stamps might be $200 but get them for $140 because the stamps might be .35 cent stamps printed in 2010. (This is mart thinking, I have no problems with this)

I'm sure there are a few other reasons that other forum members can explain.

[aussie.grazing.boards]

Oh, and another reason, which I do myself, which is, if it's a new product, sell it ultra cheap until the product is at the top of the search results, then slowly increase the price until it's at the desired retail price, again, just a sales tactic.

[joethenuts]

i think an item number would of help   to the members ,as the item size would narrow the posibilitys down  thank you.

[fixnwear]

importarama,

Sellers with horrible feedback ratings, and want a surge of sales, and positive feedback, to restore their feedback to a more acceptable figure

And that is also a good sales tactic, don't you think.

In fact from memory - that was exactly what was advised here on the boards to a seller who got some unfair negs - to sell

heaps of cheap items to increase the low percentage in F/B.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

As there is no control what so ever (except maybe swear words) on the f/back content, - always dismissed by Ebay as "buyer's impression of the sale" - so how can it even be reliable? It isn't - as the things stand - none of that is worth the paper it's written on, as the saying goes.

Horrible buyers leave horrible f/back:

1. Buyer who doesn't read the description

2. Buyer who doesn't like the colour, size

3. Buyer who wouldn't think of asking the seller where is the item (to find out it's sitting at the PO waiting for collection)

4. Buyer who lies outright in order to keep "buying" free items (here, there is amost no surprise, always tempting for heaps of people as Ebay has made it so easy for them) - like walking into the store, no staff around, and helping yourself with whatever catches your fancy. And walking out. 

5. Buyers who invent faults so they qualify for return postage, rather than just to say they have changed their mind

6. Buyers who purposefully sellect and "Buy" only items that are posted cheaply, with no tracking - so they can claim non delivery

I could keep going with this - but you all get the gist of it by now - all examples taken from these boards

No doubt at all - there are dishonest sellers around as well, but in my experience they tend to be fly by nighters, as long term sellers don't normally cheat people - they are obviously here to stay , or try to stay - if it wasn't for the bad customers!

So, no wander if some of them have to give things away, just to try to stay on an even keel with f/back percentage.

[lyndal1838]

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@aussie.grazing.boards wrote:


Sellers who bulk buy postage stamps that were printed a few years ago, the face value of the stamps might be $200 but get them for $140 because the stamps might be .35 cent stamps printed in 2010. (This is mart thinking, I have no problems with this)

---

If you buy old unused stamps for whatever price you still need to put enough stamps on the package to make up the value of today's postage.

I have a number of 5 cent stamps from years ago....I paid 5c for them and today I would have to put 14 stamps on an envelope to pay for my current postage rate.

[Anonymous]

there is another type...

Sellers who are either new(ish) / sellers who have no idea how much an item costs to post and then get a surprise when they take it to a PO.

Ive bought stuff before where they have totally miscalculated how much it costs to post

I had one guy charge $10 postage on an item that was only $10 (so i paid $20) and the postage charge on the box came in at about $23

Golden rule for sellers.. always know your postage costs before listing

[billexploited]

I Just add "free postage is included in the price" and I post on sundays