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]

I think the issue is sellers charging for a parcel at e.g. £3.35 & sending as a large letter £1.26. I am not speaking about someone who honestly makes a mistake. Personally now I have an idea of what is sent as a large letter & parcel cost I would not buy from sellers who are doing this.

[russell.warren]

I think if someone starts their auction at £1 and round up the postage to the nearest pound I consider the two added together as the true minimum cost. sometimes you may be paying a bit more and other times a bit less. but it does take the *bleep* when a seller makes no effort to protect your items. I brought a Sega Saturn recently, 50% of the cost was p&p . when it arrived it only had a single layer of bubble wrap around it. and an address label cello taped to the front. no box .

[7640paula]

think you are missing the point-I just ordered 3 lots of pills postage £3.20 each-there is no way the post is this much, postoffice charge £5 for 20kg!

[vikkipollardanddafyddthomas]

think you are missing the point-I just ordered 3 lots of pills postage £3.20 each-there is no way the post is this much, postoffice charge £5 for 20kg!

You're replying to a comment from May 2021 and the person who made the comment hasn't been on these boards since last summer. 

[andrewlaidlaw1979]

---

@bennotbill wrote:

---

@andrewlaidlaw1979 wrote:

---

---

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.

---

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.

---

You are aware that by fixing the postage costs at X price would mean additional work & proberly higjer selling fees for ebay staff to constantly update postage prices on a yearly baisis. 

Also not everyones packaging costs are going to be the same, as not everyone is willing to set aside a room to be filled with boxes & other packaging items that the seller has saved from other places to reuse.

So the easyest route ebay went down was to apply the selling fee onto the final seling price with P&P inc., rather than setting a fixed P&P cost or having staff looking into all reports of sellers (possibly) charging too much in P&P as everyone idea of resnoble P&P will varey 

[flipsavvy]

yes. Sellers will have to pay more in weight. 
Buyers complain about this but sellers get shafted x100 more than buyers. 
Ebay Fees keep going up and postage costs, the time to go to the post office. 
Buying wrapping materials etc. 

Sellars need to minimise there losses and maximise their profits or Ebay just dies.

[fincaglenys]

Yup.  Following the Ebay supplied postage rate at £2:70, when I came to printing the label, it was £3:45.  Naughty ebay!!!

[cansiron]

How about the business sellers that stat they do not combine postage and

charge a set postage for each item.

[fmil6108]

I wouldn’t buy off them, that is just greed.
Sent from my iPad

[*knight-rider*]

That's fine, it's then up to the buyer if they wish to continue and i would also make it clear i expect each item to be posted seperately. If they didn't, i'd reflect it in the feedback, but i also wonder if it's a case of not as described, because if your charged a postage charge for a single item, it should be sent that way.

[nigel_paul_wright7557]

Just as ebay doesnt miss a trick to make money the same can be said for some sellers.

I just leave relevant feedback and move on and dont use them again.

[windowplan2]

Hi, people dont realise that ebay charges 15%  FEES on uk postage and 20% on international ..plus currency exchange handling ..also a further 30p  for every item sold so if postage to the uk costs SELLER £3.00 they actual end up paying £3.45 ..also all postal services have gone up considerably in the last year .A PARCEL OF OVER 2KGS BUT SMALL  THAT WOULD COST £4.00 A YEAR AGO IS NOW ROUGHLY £6.00 FROM ALL POSTAL SERVICES .THEREFORE WITH THE EBAY ADDITION OF CHARGING 15%  IT COSTS THE SELLER  £6.90  ALSO , VERY FEW IOTEMS ARE ACTUALLY INSURABLE IF YOU READ POSTAGE SMALL PRINT ..IF IT GET LOST OR BROKEN IT WILL NOT BE COVERED ..IF IT IS COVERED YOU HAVE TO SEND PHOTOS OF IT BEING PACKED THE FINISHED PACKING AND ALL SORT OF PROOF ..SO EFFECTIVELY MOST ITEMS THAT ARE LOST OR BROKEN ARE 100% LOSS TO SELLER ..WHICH I HAVE EXPERIENCED SEVERAL TIMES .SO DONT THINK PEOPLE ARE PROFITTING  IT WOULD OFTEN TAKE IF A SELLER GETS A TOTAL LOSS ON A £100.00 ITEM IT WOULD TAKE A LOT OF SLGHT WHAT SEEMS OVER CHARGES TO COVER THAT.EBAY IS ONLY REALLY GEARED UP TO PROTECT BIG STORES ..NOT THE MAJORITY OF SMALLER SELLERS .I HOP YOU PASS THGIS INFORMATION ON TO OTHERS .

[kath3735_wxmjn]

Why is there a problem with that as long as they state that and actually send them separate?

[kath3735_wxmjn]

They are not making money unless they charge to post separately and then send combined or are charging an outlandish amount.  I am only a private seller and i do make mistakes on guessing postage (not always as clear cut until you pack an item).  If i get it for large letter and i have charged for a small parcel then i usually refund.  Then like yesterday i completely got it wrong and it was a medium instead of a small parcel and i have to stand the extra.  Life is like that, i try to play fair but as a buyer i do not even bother what postage they put, i just buy on the whole amount that i am prepared to pay not the two things separately. 

[cro-4965]

I was delighted to see boots I want on eBay for £17 used.

But CANCELLED the purchase when I saw I would be charged £39 shipping!!

I searched for the same sort of boots; hoping maybe another seller in another location might be NOT more than twice the price of the item!

None. All showing betw £20-£40 for very lightweight pair of boots.

Can anyone explain!?

THANKS

[g4zj4mes]

Considering you get charged final value fee on postage aswell as item, dont you just see the total item cost as whatever the item plus postage comes to. Does it matter if they put an extra £2 on the postage, as long as you have taken into account the total cost you have paid for the item and postage and were happy with it at point of sale, why should buyer change it?

[moldosgifts]

Can anyone explain!?

Yes, for example my postage costs have more than double in  12 moths. Price to post 1 £3 item is just over half the item then there are fees and i have to pay for the item in the first place. I dont get them for free.

[barry.110]

Were these from a seller in the US or another seller from abroad? I know the shipping can be quite dear sending to the US and I imagine the reverse would be similar.

[beyourb3st]

I don't overcharge for postage but I do charge extra if there is more than just the stamp price, ie petrol to take parcel etc, if it is not collected from here. Also packaging might cost me if I have nothing to recycle. I dont tend to change for cellotape but I will for bubblewrap. I usually lose on postage so something had to change.