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.

[tazzieterror]

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@davewil1964 wrote:

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@maltapso wrote:

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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.

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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?

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Absolutely it can be warranted.  I've had a few occasions where a listing has specified and charged for a large satchel as the shipping method, then I've purchased and received the item via a small satchel.

In that situaion I'll email the seller and ask why the item was shipped using a cheaper service than was paid for, and it's rare that a seller won't offer to refund at least some of the differnece. Often it seems the discrepency is due to "large satchel" being the default option selected when the listing is created by a seller not paying close attention to the postal options; only sometimes has it been obvious to me a seller is simply trying to pad out their margins a little more.

And yes, Dave, while I generally agree that "Total price + postage equals total cost", that postal charge needs to reflect the cost of the method and materials actually used to send it.  Sure, it's reasonable for a seller to expect the buyer to pay that 'price + postage' total cost; it's also reasonable for a buyer to expect a seller's advertised postage charges to align with eBay's 'Selling practices policy' and directly reflect the costs involved rather than be inflated to provide additional profit.

[davewil1964]

I charge flat rates for postage.

When the new satchel regime came in eBay kindly converted all my 500g satchels to medium. I am not going through several thousand listings, one by one, to change them. My preice is for small satchels and that's what they get.

In my case, I set my prices relative to what the opposition is charging. Total price. If postage is less, item price is more. Total is the same.

[tazzieterror]

I avoid the issue altogether and just list everything with free shipping.

[davewil1964]

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@tazzieterror wrote:
I avoid the issue altogether and just list everything with free shipping.

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Makes combining impossible.

[brerrabbit585]

For some things it's possible to offer a discount when they buy more than one items, the discount being equal to the amount of overpaid postage. You could apply a certain discount to large books that you know two will post for the same price, but your small books would be a problem, whether they sell with other small books or with a larger one.

I'm so glad ALL my items are letterpost because my capped postage works beautifully for me.

[tazzieterror]

No it doesn't.

[davewil1964]

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@tazzieterror wrote:
No it doesn't.

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I'll rephrase. It makes combining at the best cost for the buyer impossible. As brer said, there are too many variables with what I sell to set up postage rules. Which wouldn't work with 'free' postage anyway.

[chameleon54]

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@tazzieterror wrote:

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@davewil1964 wrote:

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@maltapso wrote:

...

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?

---

Absolutely it can be warranted.  I've had a few occasions where a listing has specified and charged for a large satchel as the shipping method, then I've purchased and received the item via a small satchel.

In that situaion I'll email the seller and ask why the item was shipped using a cheaper service than was paid for, and it's rare that a seller won't offer to refund at least some of the differnece. Often it seems the discrepency is due to "large satchel" being the default option selected when the listing is created by a seller not paying close attention to the postal options;

Sure it happens. A seller could have a big stack of similar items to list, but one is slightly different in size or weight to the others. This can push it up or down the postage cost ladder, but is accounted for when the seller sets the price of the item. ie. sellers use price, plus postage cost in assessing an items value. If postage cost is high, the item price is often adjusted down to give a reasonable total price.

Plus I have never had a buyer contact me and offer to pay more when I have made a mistake and underquoted the postage cost.....

only sometimes has it been obvious to me a seller is simply trying to pad out their margins a little more.

And yes, Dave, while I generally agree that "Total price + postage equals total cost", that postal charge needs to reflect the cost of the method and materials actually used to send it.  Sure, it's reasonable for a seller to expect the buyer to pay that 'price + postage' total cost; it's also reasonable for a buyer to expect a seller's advertised postage charges to align with eBay's 'Selling practices policy' and directly reflect the costs involved rather than be inflated to provide additional profit.

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[brerrabbit585]

I've sent extra in the past when I've received things and discovered the postage cost a lot more than I paid the seller for it, especially when the seller is overseas and went to extra trouble to work out the postage for me in the first place. It was mostly on items of fairly low value when a postage loss would have meant they did a lot of work for me and basically gave the items away.

[*tippy*toes*]

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@brerrabbit585 wrote:
I've sent extra in the past when I've received things and discovered the postage cost a lot more than I paid the seller for it, especially when the seller is overseas and went to extra trouble to work out the postage for me in the first place. It was mostly on items of fairly low value when a postage loss would have meant they did a lot of work for me and basically gave the items away.

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I did that once too. By the time fees and everything were taken out, they hadn't only given the item away, they had actually lost a fair bit of money. So, I sent some extra, so they'd at least break even, with a few extra bucks for their effort. Didn't even get so much as a thank you, despite me sending a message explaining what I was doing, and why. 

Mr Tippy won an item at auction last night for 1c with $8.95 postage. If it was a new seller I'd have told him to send some extra, but it was an experienced seller, with over 1,000 feedback for selling. Too bad, so sad. They have been around long enough to know how things work. It will be interesting now to see if they actually send it.