Excessive Postage Costs

[jvdv]

Just a gripe to get it off my chest ...

I will no longer bid on items where the seller is charging an excessive amount for postage - i.e $25.00 for an item that will fit in an Aust Post 500 gm satchel for which most sellers would charge around $8.50.

There, I feel better now.

[4channel]

---

@jvdv wrote:

Just a gripe to get it off my chest ...

I will no longer bid on items where the seller is charging an excessive amount for postage - i.e $25.00 for an item that will fit in an Aust Post 500 gm satchel for which most sellers would charge around $8.50.

There, I feel better now.

---

I hear you jvdv. I have had issues with sellers making extra by upping the postage. Not saying that this was your case. Bad enough for many upset folk having to deal with overseas sellers using the horrid Global Shipping. Now we have sellers charging waaaay too much on post. Believe me, I have heard some horror stories.  One day too, maybe I will share some info on a very slimey dirty trick that a Sydney seller (no name will be mentioned) did to a friend of mine. We should have called the cops but he was too timid.

Once, about 8 years ago I was going to buy a record LP from an Australian seller in NSW or Vic. There were a few other LPs that U could have been interested in.  She appeared to be young. I asked her if she combined postage and how much for each extra record. At that time, 25c to 50c would have been right. She said $4 each.  I wanted to get another 5 records from her. No way I was going to pay $20 plus on top of a less than $10 post.  No way!!!!!  so I left it.

Another incident was with a sller than I purchased an item from another state. I was charged an extra $6 on top of the postage. Well seller was new and she charged me for time to cut up paper and make the parce.  I felt sorry for her being new and gave her some pointers  where to find free packaging etc and be industrious, and we split it. She refunded me $3.

Now for something refreshing. This guy  called jerlynrecords, I think is the same seller I came accross 8 years ago. I like his style. Straight up and no bull. Cheap AirMail postage via First Class but his asttitude is cool. If the same seller, he said ... 

"I never say on my auction page, "The item you are now bidding on".

Also " I never call all black music Northern Soul" 

and his page does say

"I NEVER charge any Handling charges. Handling is something you do in the "Men's Room". 

Now from my perspective, that's the kind of seller that makes ebay a fun and cool place.

BTW: I have never bought from this guy and maybe never will if he doesn't have what I want. But this is an example of the old fun ebay scene that made people passionate about buying.

[zanadoo_56]

---

@4channel wrote:

---

@jvdv wrote:

Just a gripe to get it off my chest ...

I will no longer bid on items where the seller is charging an excessive amount for postage - i.e $25.00 for an item that will fit in an Aust Post 500 gm satchel for which most sellers would charge around $8.50.

There, I feel better now.

---

I hear you jvdv. I have had issues with sellers making extra by upping the postage. Not saying that this was your case. Bad enough for many upset folk having to deal with overseas sellers using the horrid Global Shipping. Now we have sellers charging waaaay too much on post. Believe me, I have heard some horror stories.  One day too, maybe I will share some info on a very slimey dirty trick that a Sydney seller (no name will be mentioned) did to a friend of mine. We should have called the cops but he was too timid.

Once, about 8 years ago I was going to buy a record LP from an Australian seller in NSW or Vic. There were a few other LPs that U could have been interested in.  She appeared to be young. I asked her if she combined postage and how much for each extra record. At that time, 25c to 50c would have been right. She said $4 each.  I wanted to get another 5 records from her. No way I was going to pay $20 plus on top of a less than $10 post.  No way!!!!!  so I left it.

Another incident was with a sller than I purchased an item from another state. I was charged an extra $6 on top of the postage. Well seller was new and she charged me for time to cut up paper and make the parce.  I felt sorry for her being new and gave her some pointers  where to find free packaging etc and be industrious, and we split it. She refunded me $3.

Now for something refreshing. This guy  called jerlynrecords, I think is the same seller I came accross 8 years ago. I like his style. Straight up and no bull. Cheap AirMail postage via First Class but his asttitude is cool. If the same seller, he said ... 

"I never say on my auction page, "The item you are now bidding on".

Also " I never call all black music Northern Soul" 

and his page does say

"I NEVER charge any Handling charges. Handling is something you do in the "Men's Room". 

Now from my perspective, that's the kind of seller that makes ebay a fun and cool place.

BTW: I have never bought from this guy and maybe never will if he doesn't have what I want. But this is an example of the old fun ebay scene that made people passionate about buying.

---

I too like sellers that use humour to get a message across....and I very much dislike the ones who imply (or worse) that every buyer is likely to be a thief if they don't meet the seller's unpleasant list of buying conditions or don't agree with an even longer list of how they've worked out their terrible postage costs.

My favourite message (no doubt to any potential buyer allergic to pet hair) was that all her packaging 'was done under the supervision of her Siamese cat'.  As a cat lover it made me laugh because Siamese get into everything if they get the chance.  I was more than happy to buy from her (...and there wasn't a single cat hair anywhere on my purchase).

[black*poppy]

Haha, there's been more than a few times I've won an auction and then asked the seller politely what's with the excessive post. I reckon 90% of the time it turns out to be a mistake and they've adjusted the postage accordingly.  Sometimes you can tell it might be a mistake cos their other listings have the postage at a reasonable rate. 

They probably lost out on buyers because of the excess post.

[missymoo18]

No postage is free how do you come up with free post the postage cost are incorporated into the selling price ....

[davewil1964]

That is true. As is the fact that you've dragged up a 2 year old thread to add nothing of substance

[be.be.ce.ce]

I’ve bought a few Coles minis and noticed some sellers are asking between $15 to $20 to post a tiny toy that costs $3. I’ll pass on that one.

[heihachi_73]

Some of them are too big for the letter gauge (same with the Ooshies), which pushes them past $8. Throw in Express Post and it jumps to around $12. No idea where $20 postage would come from unless it's going via England.

[ryanjamez]

Completely agree, and so do most.

[maltapso]

I'm a buyer, and I empathize with you. I also wont buy from sellers who charge too much for postage, unless the item is at a real bargain price. I've actually got into some quite unpleasant conversations with sellers about this when I have pointed out that their item can be sent for a much lower cost. I sell on another account, so I have experience with postage costs.

As someone else mentioned, some sellers might not realize they are being charged a fvf on postage too, it wasn't always like that and sellers could get out of high fvf by pricing the item low and postage high.

Because I also sell, I can see it from the other side too. Once ebay and paypal have taken their cut, you have paid a promotion fee (if you use one) you have bought a box or satchel, bought or found some kind of wrapping, gott everything sealed up securely and addressed properly, bought more printer ink, waited in the post office for 15 minutes, got stuck in traffic, spent almost an hour making the listing in the first place, fought with ebay glitches and realize you are only going to end up with $10 for all of that, it seems justified to add a bit onto postage.... or somewhere.

Or It can be difficult to know exactly how much something is going to cost to post, if you are not used to posting stuff. 

I usually add between 50c - $1. (for packaging) and I try and price my items to cover everything else.

If you buy from the US or UK you are paying extremely overpriced shipping via the GSP, that makes our postage costs overpriced by a few dollars look like a bargain. I get more annoyed at paying the exorbitant GSP fees to Pitney Bowes than to local sellers who add a bit more on to cover fees and time etc.

Sometimes a seller will admit that their postage is overpriced because they are not sure how much it's actually going to cost and they want to cover themselves, they will sometimes agree to refund the exess after the item has been posted.

[davewil1964]

---

@maltapso wrote:

I'm a buyer, and I empathize with you. I also wont buy from sellers who charge too much for postage, unless the item is at a real bargain price. I've actually got into some quite unpleasant conversations with sellers about this when I have pointed out that their item can be sent for a much lower cost. I sell on another account, so I have experience with postage costs.

As someone else mentioned, some sellers might not realize they are being charged a fvf on postage too, it wasn't always like that and sellers could get out of high fvf by pricing the item low and postage high.

Because I also sell, I can see it from the other side too. Once ebay and paypal have taken their cut, you have paid a promotion fee (if you use one) you have bought a box or satchel, bought or found some kind of wrapping, gott everything sealed up securely and addressed properly, bought more printer ink, waited in the post office for 15 minutes, got stuck in traffic, spent almost an hour making the listing in the first place, fought with ebay glitches and realize you are only going to end up with $10 for all of that, it seems justified to add a bit onto postage.... or somewhere.

Or It can be difficult to know exactly how much something is going to cost to post, if you are not used to posting stuff. 

I usually add between 50c - $1. (for packaging) and I try and price my items to cover everything else.

If you buy from the US or UK you are paying extremely overpriced shipping via the GSP, that makes our postage costs overpriced by a few dollars look like a bargain. I get more annoyed at paying the exorbitant GSP fees to Pitney Bowes than to local sellers who add a bit more on to cover fees and time etc.

Sometimes a seller will admit that their postage is overpriced because they are not sure how much it's actually going to cost and they want to cover themselves, they will sometimes agree to refund the exess after the item has been posted.

---

I wouldn't. Total price + postage equals total cost. Regardless of how the various seller costs are apportioned. Or are you saying that you consider a post-purchase discount is warranted or relevant to what you were prepared to pay?