Am I being a ***t?

[naughtyjedi]

I won an auction of three items. Just three figures, not in the best condition, but okay for what I need them for. The seller combined the postage and worked out I needed to pay £6.50.. Do you think I have a point that even if he sent them in a massive parcel that became a medium parcel for RM purposes, it still wouldn't get near that figure...

A seller recently tried it on and I bullied him into charging me cost + a bit of packaging material.. but he was trying to get £9 for a solitary figure, quoting how he'd bought these really nice boxes. ****ing spoon of a bloke...

Maybe I'm becoming like one of those odious bores who don's my white flap cap, and waves a sign outside council buildings "No more post overcharging".. "down with this sort of thing"

Really winds me up,. grrrr

 

[sparkysx]

Well 2nd class recorded is £3.90, paypal take 3.4% of that and the packaging costs money (even if it's a second hand jiffy bag, he paid for it at some point, or will have to replace it) as well as printed label if he uses one, then how far is it to his post office.

Not taking his side, just trying to guess what it actually costs?

 

[Richard_H]

I wouldn't grumble about £6.50 for 3 figures. £9 for one is ridiculous.

 

[Section 8]

£6.50 is a on the high side. I always ask how much combined postage is before the listing as ended as some only knock 50p per figure off which is bullshit. In most cases it costs the same to post 3 figures as it does 1. (Except maybe 20p's worth of bubble wrap n sellotape)

It could be home collected, signed for, tracked and insured by Hermes for £4, but not everyone knows this.

Perhaps ask nicely for a small refund of postage difference and see what he says.

If in future you get charged ridiculous postage costs, you could tell them you will organise for it to be collected by courier if they will box it up. That way you only pay them for a box and some bubble wrap and can choose the courier yourself.

 

[Mr-shifter]

At the risk of sounding controversial and provoking a bit of debate, I always thought the postage costs were there in black and white, so if you thought the price of the item plus postage was too much, don't buy it.

I used to get pissed off with people who would win my auctions, then start asking for discounts on the P and P. Didn't have a problem combing postage for people who took the time to contact me before hand to ask if I would combine postage, but for someone to bid on something that had a price, and a p and p price and then saying I'm not happy with the total price anymore is bullshit. Its an auction, your not buying a turkish carpet.

People who put high P and P on these days are not really achieving anything. I could see the point when ebay didn't put fees on p and p, but now all they are doing is upping their starting price, and possibly irritating people into not bidding.

What would be better would be one price, and a specified postage method. Simple then, either you buy or you don't.

People who put " I will combine postage" and then knock 10p of the final price however, are another story.

 

[PGowdy]

People always seem to forget that 3, 4, 5, 6 even 10 figures can be posted in a large padded envelope and therefore recorded postage is much less than a small/medium package.
You wouldn't catch me paying no £6 postage for a couple figures. **** off.
Some guy recently charged me £5 to post about 8 Lego figures. I told him that sounded too much but he ignored me. Then package arrived 2nd class, recorded, £2.40. He got negged.

 

[itfciain]

£6.50 is too much for three figures even if they aren't the ones that fit through the large letter slot. However,it isn't a massive amount over and probably not worth getting that worried about. Don't forget eBay take 10% of that postage cost + paypay take 4% - with that and the cost of materials he won't be making huge sums

 

[darthsatan]

This stuff takes time to do.
Time is money.
If you're going to b&w about an extra 50p or £1 on your postal fee you should consider whether spending your disposable income on 30 year old toys is a sensible preoccupation!
:twisted:

 

[PGowdy]

This stuff takes time to do.
Time is money.
If you're going to b&w about an extra 50p or £1 on your postal fee you should consider whether spending your disposable income on 30 year old toys is a sensible preoccupation!
:twisted:

I'm not sure i understand the point being made here?
But the first part: You're not allowed to charge for your time in your postal charges. It is both against the ebay and a nonsense as it just doesn't cost any money unless you literally take the day off work to post an envelope in a post box. So i don't buy into that. No one does.
Also, with regards to being ripped off (intentionally, not by mistake) whether it be for 50p, 2 quid or a 100, one has the right to feel aggrieved and to not stand for it and make sure something is said and/or done. There are principles at play. Important ones that define us as people. What would infuriate me more is people not bitching about it and just bending over and taking it that to me would be far more pathetic.

 

[darthsatan]

Well envelopes cost. Pens cost. tape costs.
Complaining about a tiny bit extra when the price is there for you to see before bidding is kind of pathetic. If you don't like it, find another seller.
The buyer is never under any obligation and the overheads are higher than the number on the mail label.
If somebody makes an extra £1 I really don't care because they are already being shafted for far more by both ebay and Paypal anyway.

 

[PGowdy]

Well envelopes cost. Pens cost. tape costs.
Complaining about a tiny bit extra when the price is there for you to see before bidding is kind of pathetic. If you don't like it, find another seller.
The buyer is never under any obligation and the overheads are higher than the number on the mail label.

Yes, that's all considered in "postal costs". We're not just talking about the price of the postage itself. Everyone here understands the (very small) extra cost of an envelope and whatever else might need to be used. We're talking about intentional significant overcharging on postage for the sole per pose of making a profit from it. I.e. taking more from the seller that it is not yours to take.
And more often than not (as in my case stated above) you don't know you've been ripped off until your package arrives and you've been charged more than double to cost of postage.
Expensive pens?

 

[Grant_C]

Pens? Cellotape? Overheads? :lol:

Give people what you would expect in return.

The best packaged item for the lowest price.

 

[PGowdy]

Pens? Cellotape? Overheads? :lol:

:lol: Come on dude, it works out at almost a pence per letter in ink and cellotape. This must be factored into the cost!

 

[Grant_C]

If that was true, I could afford an army of DT Kenobis :lol:

Seriously. You can use cellotape and pens again. Buy them in bulk off eBay.

 

[mr_palitoy]

As a buyer you always think the price is too much. As a seller it's too little.

Several collectors said my postage of £10 for 1pm next day for a carded figure was high, and £25 overseas was way too much.

Actual costs were:-

For small parcels under 1kg, £8.45, a couple were just over 1kg for £11.00. The one I did overseas was £20.35. Add in £3.49
for a royal mail small parcel box, tape, bubblewrap, and soft packing ployster balls/foam etc, then I was making a loss on almost
all of them.

I have a 4.5/5 star rating on ebay for postage costs, so someone wasn't happy!



Jason

 

[darthsatan]

Exactly. It's swings and roundabouts and more often than not minor losses are incurred on one side or the other.

So is it then acceptable for a seller to ask for extra £ after the sale when it transpires they are out of pocket? Or do the something-for-nothing brigade figure that this is a totally acceptable "win"?

I'm a collector who is often ashamed by attitudes I read on forums about this one way or the other. I'm a business owner that sees from the opposing perspective also.

My point of view is that as a consumer one has the power to say "No" and not enter into the contract in the first instance. The postage fees will be there to see and it is the consumer's obligation to check beforehand if there appears to be a discrepancy or walk away if they are unacceptable to them. That way the fees one might consider too high will never be encountered.

If one has the disposable income to buy such items as mere toys on an auction site, which is by it's very nature essentially a gamble, then one shouldn't bicker over pennies after the fact.

 

[PGowdy]

As a buyer you always think the price is too much. As a seller it's too little.

Agreed, tho i think we're talking about when it IS too much. No question. When all things have been taken into account and it is clear that a seller is trying to con you. Not when a seller is including including a little extra to cover costs (packaging and fees only not petrol, bus fare, nice walking shoes etc).

I usually charge less than it actually costs to post an item and sometimes people still aren't happy. Everyone expects free postage now thanks to ebay pushing this myth on everyone. So it gets tougher and tougher to budget postage. Especially with bay's thieving and paypal and missing packages and what not.
But again, we're not talking about when postage is 'expensive'.
I post several 100 items a month so i know what it costs to post things. So my gripes and/or complaints on the issue would never be uninformed or overlooking any areas of reasonable costs. I'm aware of every aspect.
I've had things shipped from abroad in the last month where the postage was close to £300. This was not a problem for me. It was the fair cost. So it's not about shipping being "expensive" it's about intentional overcharging. Nothing else.

 

[sparkysx]

If you don't like the postage cost, best not to bid at all.

If they say they combine and then do a shitty deal that's different.

 

[tiefighterboy]

One thing on combined postage. I am one of those buyers who will ask for it regardless if you did or did not state you would combine. Now...If you do not combine...I expect everything to be shipped separately or I neg U.

 

[chazb73]

We've had this debate recently.

I don't think you are being a twat at all.

I think it was Pete that raised the point in the last thread that OK £5 for one figure - it could come to that but it turns up in a shitty envelope with a 2nd class ****ing stamp on it - cost a quid or less.

This happens often with me and pisses me off - "Pen ink!!! what the ****!

Funny I have been charging exactly what it costs for ages to post and I only have a 4.7 for P&P !!! :lol: ****'s sake