Getting a bit sick of this over charged postage.

[gogetafix]

The last few months I've been buying from ebay quite frequenty. On some small items I've bought the postage has been set on the listing at £3.20 (Second Class Small Parcel). When the items arrive they have been sent as a Large Letter for £0.96p. I do know that postage includes packing as well. The latest parcel that I had arrive was just a very cheap jiffy bag. No extra bubble wrap or anything. So not a lot of cost with the packing. 20p at most.
Knowing these boards I know some my cry "Well you were happy to pay the postage price" and yes this is true I was happy to pay the postage price because I presumed it would be sent as a small parcel. The items I buy aren't that flat so I presume they would be over 2.5cms in depth. Perhaps the sellers thinks the item will have to sent as a small parcel hence the £3.20 Second Class postage price. 
When these sellers post their parcels and find out it can be sent as a Large Letter and pay for that service they pocket that difference in cost and don't bother sending their buyer a message and say it was sent as a Large Letter and not a Small Parcel so here's a small refund. These people must think their buyers are stupid. 
I also know these sellers have fees to pay but keeping the cost of postage that wasn't paid is all a bit of a con in my opinion. If it were me I'd partially refund the buyer. 

[fmil6108]

Like you I always refund if postage is less than buyer paid. Most thank me for honesty.

Reading a lot of responses here is exactly what this thread is about, as long as these sellers are allowed to do this nothing will change. Hopefully buyers will reflect this in feedback for PP.

[dundeelanejane]

eBay states sellers aren't allowed to inflate the price via postage. If they are totally uncooperative just report them to ebay for breaching T&Cs - 

[annemann-2009]

I'm struggling with it too. I don't charge for postage in the Uk. I use the Royal Mail app and I can send a 1kg item tracked, traced and signed for, with up to £100 compensation if lost or damaged, collected for free, they also being a label...for a whopping £3.71. Used to be £3.21 until recently. And that's for anything that'll fit in a small parcel.

And a box of those....boxes cost around 60p tops, each. But then again, if you buy stuff from eBay and elsewhere anyway just keep the boxes and packaging and recycle. 

im starting to see five or six quid being quoted as postage for items that would fit easily in the above. It's starting to make me not want to buy stuff now I know how relatively cheap it is to send stuff out. 

[jckl1957]

So, taking your costings of 4.31 and factoring in the Ebay charge of 12.8%, using the method you choose it would cost the seller 4.86 to send their parcel.  Do you really think a seller who charges £5 (which is what I would charge for a Second Class Signed For small parcel) and makes 14p on the deal is overcharging?  It's hardly blatant profiteering and would just about cover the cost of bubble wrap.

[bennotbill]

A lot of buyers can't seem to grasp that eBay are the ones profiteering from postage, and that most sellers just strive to cover their postage and packaging costs. Which obviously include the fees that eBay impose on their postage charge.

A charge which goes up every year when the cost of posting rises. This is on top of any of eBay's fee increases.

[obelia302]

I agree. I've just questioned that today. A seller is quoting £5 to send a pair of jeans, when I know for a fact it's £2.75 with Evri or £3.35 Royal Mail. If she drops the price of postage I will buy because I really like them. 

[kempseykate]

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@obelia302 wrote:

I agree. I've just questioned that today. A seller is quoting £5 to send a pair of jeans, when I know for a fact it's £2.75 with Evri or £3.35 Royal Mail. If she drops the price of postage I will buy because I really like them. 

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... assuming you aren't on their blocked bidder list!

[bits_n_bobs_heaven]

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@kempseykate wrote:

I tend to add sale price & postage together and not bother too much about what the actual postage cost was IF I get my item delivered safely.

However, I have in the past noted that postage is for small parcel and happily bought because it looks as if the seller is going to send my item in a box/properly packed.  I would then be miffed if it turned up like yours - not particulary because of the overcharge on P&P, but because they gave the impression they were sending packaged properly, but they only stuck it in an envelope.

That's one of my serious gripes too, as a buyer!

As a seller, I have always refunded any overpaid postage back to the buyer, if I have not offered free postage. That's my other positive gripe! It isn't my money, so I would be stealing it from the provider!

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[nickydee67]

It isn't just the UK. Europe too. A vintage watch box in Italy for £46 and the seller wants £84 postage. That's a clear ripoff but it isn't in eBay interest to police postage since they take a cut of that value too. Its only helping to tear down the trust on the platform when a bargain purchase price is negated by a clear attempt to salvage a low bidded item.

[andrewlaidlaw1979]

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@bennotbill wrote:

A lot of buyers can't seem to grasp that eBay are the ones profiteering from postage, and that most sellers just strive to cover their postage and packaging costs. Which obviously include the fees that eBay impose on their postage charge.

A charge which goes up every year when the cost of posting rises. This is on top of any of eBay's fee increases.

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The reason behind ebay taking a cut of the P&P costs are that some sellers were abusing the free listings by listing items at 99p or less and then charging stuping abouts in P&P just to get out of paying any selling fees on ebay.

Which then resulted in may discushions & arguments on ebays forum on the legality of it and all the keybord warriors claming to be a lawyer, judes, police offers, mp or has a family member or know some one who is that was supposedly in this profeshion.

Unless you know of a better way to have selling fees appyled without some less than honest person trying to get out of paying anything all the while then potenchially undercutting the competition (other sellers on ebay)

[andrewlaidlaw1979]

@nickydee67 

Out of curiosity the seller selling the vintage watch by any chance were they using ebays GSP service?

Only becasue I had someone ask me once if anything could be done about the postage due to them being outside the UK and I just let ebays GSP lot deal with the rest in shipping the item out to wherever the item is due to go if the item is getting delivered outside the UK.

[bennotbill]

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@andrewlaidlaw1979 wrote:

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The reason behind ebay taking a cut of the P&P costs are that some sellers were abusing the free listings by listing items at 99p or less and then charging stuping abouts in P&P just to get out of paying any selling fees on ebay.

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Yes there's no doubt that a few sellers were charging a silly postage to avoid eBay fees, but the vast majority were not.

eBay had a choice of fixed postage tables or lining their pockets? The rest is history.

[andy94mj]

I love how self righteous and honourable you are, ngl I've made some sales recently and it isn't until I've gone to post ive realised eBay has recommended a more costly postage fee than required. 

however yes some of this has gone towards my packaging where needed and the cost of travelling to drop off. 

 I bought something the other day paid 1st class signed for and it took 5 working days. 
also paid for next day delivery and it came over 2 weeks later. 

ebays fees are a bit much, the cost of everything is a bit much. 

the thought you'd broadcast you'd refund your buyers partial for overcharged postage is also a bit much for me to believe.

end of the day your purchase probably cost you less than in a store - was a price you agreed to pay and you've got an item you expected to receive. 

stop being a half empty negative Nigel. 

you'll continue to attract this negativity while you release these negative vibes. 

 You don't know your sellers circumstances they may have a cost involved you're unaware of or what was is too stupid to consider. 

 Good luck batting that negative lifestyle away 

join the positive side 😂😂😂

[ewanarchiebald]

You have your opinion , carry on Tossing

[gogetafix]

Hello all recent contributers to this thread/post.
I didn't realise it was still running to be honest. My original post was way back in 2021!
Postage prices have risen since then.  I still may be charged a Small Parcel price and end up with a item sent at the price of a letter or large letter with poor packaging but it's not happened recently. 
Someone mentioned the postage prices from Europe. I was looking for some postcards from France recently and some of the sellers I looked at wanted 7 Euros to post a postcard! It's getting to be near impossible to buy items I collect from the Continent if you're on a bit of budget. The items may be cheap but with the added postage it's a ridiculous. 

[fmil6108]

I really couldn’t care whether you believe I partially refund if postage if overcharged a buyer. As long as I know I was honest & not trying to squeeze more from a sale that’s good enough for me.
Talking of negative vibes….pot & kettle springs to mind.

Sent from my iPad

[annemann-2009]

Where are you getting the fiver from? I'm probably missing something. 
I think it's the seller's duty to ship properly. But also realistically. I once asked for a breakdown of postage and they included sellotape. I guess if you sell and your turn over is big then everything has to be costed. 
I can only speak from my POV. I recycle the boxes I get when I buy. Including packaging too. Again, even a medium box, 60cm one side I think, second class recorded and insured is under six quid. 
some sellers do over price their p&p. They just don't admit to it. 

[annemann-2009]

Again? Just from my experience, tending to sell a couple of things most weeks, the Royal Mail app and pick up from your home is very useful and accurate. I've had one problem in over two years of selling. And that was sorted in a week. So using the pick up service means you don't have to charge people for time, travelling and so on. Buy it all online. They bring the sticker for free, it's scanned there and then and you get updates and a signature. £3.71-5.71 all in depending on small or medium boxes. Insured up to £100. Parcelforce for anything bigger and pricier. 

[fmil6108]

I don't use the collection service but I take my parcel to PO. Like you I only post one or two items a week & would never charge buyers for my time going to PO. 

[once_loved_treasures]

I can understand if someone has advertised a particular postage service and cost, but sends it using another service (for example, charges you for 24 hour tracked but sends it second class standard), but please remember that sellers also have packaging costs and fees to pay on the postage costs too.

What is equally (or even more) frustrating is when a buyer marks you down on reasonable postage costs when they have agreed to the postage cost at purchase, and have received that service. It's really annoying to see your average score drop because someone doesn't realize just how much it can cost to send something as a medium parcel or special delivery. If I tend to send the majority of items out using royal mail 2nd class recorded. The buyer pays what I am charged from royal mail so I make no profit from it (and actually lose money due to the ebay fees and cost of packaging) yet some people choose to think that the postage charged was unreasonable. Perhaps it would be better for them to complain to the royal mail!

Sadly, so many people want items sent instantly but also want free postage