P&P Over charging.

[andbo1329]

Would like Ebay to make sure that sellers don't over charge for postage and packaging, especially the ones from the USA.

[red_magpie]

EBay doesn't check whether sellers are overcharging for postage. Given the variety of weight, size and value of items sold here, how could they even attempt to do this for the millions of items sold here?

It's up to the buyer to decide whether the p&p charge is reasonable. Remember that it doesn't just cover the cost of posting, it has to include the cost of time and materials to pack items properly, plus eBay and PayPal's combined fees of about 15% on the total.

Don't be too quick to make comparisons with sellers who may be charging less. Some sellers will increase the price of the item to subsidise the cost of posting, so that their items will come top of the list when buyers search by postal cost. Always consider the WHOLE cost, that is the price of the item plus p&p.

If buying from abroad, many sellers will use eBay's global shipping programme. Where this happens, eBay's agents repack and post the item abroad. The good news is that this includes everything that might be payable, including import duty and VAT. The bad news is that it can be seriously expensive, and eBay won't combine combine postage where several items are bought together.