Over charged on postage

[belindabargainhunter]

I am someone who use to think that people shouldn't complain about postage once they buy an item as they know how much they are charging.
The problem is sometimes I think the sellers are trying it on.
I purchased a dress and postage was $18 ok I thought because its mostly lace I expected it box and well packed.
It came scrunched in a eBay 500g parcel with no so much as a shopping bag to stop the lace from sticking to the seal.
So I emailed the seller who said that they were going to express it until they found out it would fit into the 500g parcel. Is it to much for me to expect them to refund the difference.
Normally I would not fuss but its a big difference for little care taken.

[belindabargainhunter]

eBay stars ask how reasonable are postage costs so I judge according to the cost charged for postage and if it matches with the cost involved in posting my items plus other costs like packing materials etc.
for the sellers and James if we over look sellers like this if we give 5 stars for postage costs. These sellers save on eBay fees and can then offer lower prices. So for people like yourself who charge very reasonable postage and your costs need to be covered in the item price and you pay more fees, I don't think it's fair.

[zelly888]

Every buyer knows that there is no such thing as free postage,so the buyer knows that the seller has in fact incorporated the cost of postage into the selling price and as a buyer I do hope that the seller has only put in the price that the postage would cost but realistically a buyer can't know for sure.And as a seller that gives free postage knows that they will get charged FVFs on the total of the sale price so they will in fact add that little or alot extra as a buyer will not know what that amount actually is/was.

[zelly888]

There are no star ratings for free postage

[jameshouseofstyle]

belinda,  our charges are whatever the Click and Send is - so that's easy and straight forward.

I was mainly talking about this notion of free postage that Ebay is trying to get everyone to offer - and rewards those who offer it.

That is just fine for everyone - except for customers as they will invariably end up paying more (thinking they are getting free postage).

And if they feel ripped of in any way with anything to do with postage they will not have the ability to leave the bad stars as there aren't any for free postage.

You yourself would have been just as disgusted with the way your item was packed, but you sytill wouldn't have known what part was the postage if there was a  free postage in the listing. Of course, you saw 500gr. satchel - but there would have been no way of knowing if that was the exact portion of the full final price you paid - and as digital said - it really wouldn't have mattered anyway as you (or any other customer) would have known the full total price and paid it.

Cheers, xx

[digital*ghost]

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@zelly888 wrote:

Every buyer knows that there is no such thing as free postage,so the buyer knows that the seller has in fact incorporated the cost of postage into the selling price and as a buyer I do hope that the seller has only put in the price that the postage would cost but realistically a buyer can't know for sure.

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Yes, they can know for sure. If postage can only be subtracted from the total once, it can only be added to the total once. 

To me, what you're essentially saying is that a seller will have a normal asking price for an item, but if they list it with free postage, you can't trust that they're still only charging their normal price, rather, they could be inflating the total price even more because only having one total = better opportunity for higher profit because a buyer isn't told straight up what is being calculated as the postage component of the total.... But you're missing the fact that a "normal price" with post listed separately is calculated to do the same thing as the postage included price does - accounts for all costs and makes X profit after they've been covered.

[davewil1964]

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@digital*ghost wrote:

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@zelly888 wrote:

Every buyer knows that there is no such thing as free postage,so the buyer knows that the seller has in fact incorporated the cost of postage into the selling price and as a buyer I do hope that the seller has only put in the price that the postage would cost but realistically a buyer can't know for sure.

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Yes, they can know for sure. If postage can only be subtracted from the total once, it can only be added to the total once. 

To me, what you're essentially saying is that a seller will have a normal asking price for an item, but if they list it with free postage, you can't trust that they're still only charging their normal price, rather, they could be inflating the total price even more because only having one total = better opportunity for higher profit because a buyer isn't told straight up what is being calculated as the postage component of the total.... But you're missing the fact that a "normal price" with post listed separately is calculated to do the same thing as the postage included price does - accounts for all costs and makes X profit after they've been covered.

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Or, more to the point (unless the item is unique), position it where the seller feels it can sell, price-wise.

I don't add x% or x$ profit into my price calculations. I look at what others are selling the same item for and price at a point where hopefully it will sell. And never lowest, as I'm not interested in racing to the bottom.

[*crikey*mate*]

When you purchase goods from a B&M platform the cost of transporting those goods, through all stages of the supply chain, including packaging and handling etc is included in the overall price of the goods that the customer "sees".

One of the things that this means is that when a buyer pays by credit card or eftpos, the seller is also charged a fee on the "postage/transport/handling" costs.

Additionally, the seller is also payng somebody to actually process the transaction, not just the receipt, storage and display of the item etc.

So really, I don't see what the big deal is about eBay encouraging the "free post" (although the term is deceptive) AND charging overall fees on the postage price. I think this is done in other countries, maybe we're just not used to it here in Oz.

Maybe somebody could point out what it is that I'm missing?

[*crikey*mate*]

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@zelly888 wrote:

There are no star ratings for free postage

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sure there is, it's an automatic 5 stars

[lyndal1838]

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@zelly888 wrote:

There are no star ratings for free postage

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Free postage is an automatic 5 star rating which is why sellers are advised to offer free postage to improve their postage stars.  It is definitely NOT a nil rating.

[digital*ghost]

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@davewil1964 wrote:

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Or, more to the point (unless the item is unique), position it where the seller feels it can sell, price-wise.

I don't add x% or x$ profit into my price calculations. I look at what others are selling the same item for and price at a point where hopefully it will sell. And never lowest, as I'm not interested in racing to the bottom.

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But your pricing will still include a profit component, and regardless of which way the math is initially done, it boils down to profit = amount above costs, which is the key to the point I'm trying to make.