Buyer beware free post

[pippasafe]

Buyers need to know when they are buying an item with 'FREE POST'  .We are being taken for idiots we know the post is added onto the item .

How we are getting ripped off by the seller for instance a seller is adding the postage to the item price that will cover post to most Aust areas ok it may take $16 plus dollars to post eg if you are in Vic to mail to WA but what happens if you are a buyer in the same state post is a lot lot cheaper  with free post this cannot be adjusted we just have to swallow it or only buy items if the seller is offering to charge the post calculated to your area .

For this reason myself and friends will only but items with post seperate no more free post for us .It is such a rort both for the seller and ebay to make more profit  

[annies_fancy_dress]

W e sellers don't like free post anyomre than buyers do.

It screws up invoicing if there is a mutiple item purchase and such.

It is over seas sellers that caused it with their 99c purchase then like $200 postage.

Buyer beware?????

It's not the sellers fault, ebay penalises sellers by giving free post items better search visibility.

[*crikey*mate*]

How do you know how much profit the seller is making and what proportion of the total amount will be sopent on postage and packaging? Many sellers use flat rate postage and packaging so it costs the same tonpost next door as it does across the country. In fact I would say that a lot of the sellers who do offer free postage only do this on the oproducts that they can control and include in flat rate shipping.

Seller A may have bought one of an item and paid $20 for it, seller 2 may be selling off an unwanted gift which cost them nothing and seller 3 may have bought 100 of something and received a much cheaper price than seller A or they may have bought some reduced stock which had been marked down.

Seller A may have a different level store to level B or used promotional listings when another hasn't, each affecting what FVF the seller will be charged when an item sells.

"no more free post for us" - now is no different to "then" well except that eBay are now getting a bit more profit, but the seller may not be.

[*crikey*mate*]

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@annies_fancy_dress wrote:

W e sellers don't like free post anyomre than buyers do.

It screws up invoicing if there is a mutiple item purchase and such.

It is over seas sellers that caused it with their 99c purchase then like $200 postage.

Buyer beware?????

It's not the sellers fault, ebay penalises sellers by giving free post items better search visibility.

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I d9on't look at it as eBay "punishing" thiose that don't provide "free post". I look at it as eBay providing incentive and reward for those sellers who do the extra work (and at times, risks), involved with offering free post.

I LOVE "Free Post" - BUT I only use it for items that meet certain criteria - where it is unlikely a buyer will buy more than 1 of something from me at a time, when the item suits flat rate packaging (I specifically choose stock that fits this, or where something is cheap to replace and can be posted as a large letter.(so again the price is predictable or cheap enough to absorb)

If the customer does buy enough items with the free post component from me to make the delivery charge excessive or worthwhile me going through the motions of refunding postage, then I will do it and happily absorb the usually minimal extra FVF cost as it is easier for me to prepare and post 5 things to one person than those same 5 things to 5 different people.(generally)

(even if postage came in at an extra $40 - if I sold $300 woth of stock to get that kind of post variance, we are really only talking about $4ish)

[curraone]

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@pippasafe wrote:

Buyers need to know when they are buying an item with 'FREE POST'  .We are being taken for idiots we know the post is added onto the item .

How we are getting ripped off by the seller for instance a seller is adding the postage to the item price that will cover post to most Aust areas ok it may take $16 plus dollars to post eg if you are in Vic to mail to WA but what happens if you are a buyer in the same state post is a lot lot cheaper  with free post this cannot be adjusted we just have to swallow it or only buy items if the seller is offering to charge the post calculated to your area .

For this reason myself and friends will only but items with post seperate no more free post for us .It is such a rort both for the seller and ebay to make more profit  

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Don't blame the sellers - they are trying to adjust to the new ebay policy that charges sellers fees on postage as well:   in fact, ebay tells us buyers  "love free postage"

"We wouldn’t be doing our job in helping you understand what motivates customers and drives sales if we didn’t tell you that buyers do love free postage. Not because they think it’s free, they understand it’s probably been built into the cost of an item, but because they don’t need to consider what other costs there might be" quoted from ebay response 28 March

Most sellers think this idea is very bad.   In fact, why don't you write to ebay and tell them what you have posted here?

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[robinsonmarineparts]

I'd say you need to do some reading!

We sellers are not exactly thrilled by this 'FREE POST', nearly all my items are cheaper with 'FREE POST' than with seperate post, i help by subsiding  the shipping costs.

I and most of us use flate rate satchels, so no matter where in Australia it go, it's the same price for all.

So please tell me why you think that we buyer take sellers for/as idiots?

We certainly do noy think that way, we treasure our buyers and give as much help as possible.

[bsal6160]

Maybe a solution would be for ebay to have the price shown with something like includes $XXX postage. The postage rate would be set by the seller. Example

Item WIDGET1 Starting Price $40.00 (includes $6.50 postage)

[ajarnjenny]

Holy bleep Crikey, you just did my head in with seller A buys something, seller B, gets something and seller A does something and seller B does something else........................................................................................Jeez

[*crikey*mate*]

As long as you know Who"s on first and What's on second

[downeyas]

For the record, I am one seller that does NOT factor postage into the price of my items.

If I only sell 1 pkt of seeds, after my costs - packaging postage etc - I make exactly nothing, zilch, nil, not 1 red cent. I do however make money on bulk orders, sort of what you lose on the swings you gain on the roundabout.

I offer free postage because I can and because I honestly believe that everyone has the right to be able to grow what I sell without any fear of being poisoned by the so called 'safe plentiful food' that is sold these days