I frequently list items for £5 - £10. If costs are added to the start price, this can affect anyone searching for items on lowest cost price. (The enforced 'Buyer Protection Fee is already adding a HUGE percentage to, say, a £5 item as it's 4 % PLUS up to 75p - it's been 72p or 73p on my auctions I have had running since it was introduced, adding a total of around 18% extra on my £5 item and around 12% on a £10 item!!!!)
I used to add about 40-50 pence over the direct postage cost to cover extra packaging costs, which covered most of the costs involved (and, by the way, I do try and recycle packaging if possible to keep costs down, but I can't recycle packing tape or printed packing slips / postage labels).
Driving to the P.O. costs about 40-50 pence in fuel alone.
If I were selling items for, say, £100, a few pence for packaging materials (or the 'up to 75p' on the buyers protection) would be fairly insignificant.
My main complaint is that eBay have taken any control away from sellers.
Why can they not allow the addition of reasonable packaging costs or, perhaps add, say, 10% of the postage price up to a maximum of £1
I've been with eBay for nearly 20 years - it used to be fun.
Now we have, Buyers Protection Fees, enforced postage options and eBay hold any money you might get for up to 3 months before releasing it to your bank account unless you specifically request it.
If I were being cynical, I would suggest eBay are trying to get rid of private sellers altogether.
PLEASE eBay, ease up on the draconian rules and put the fun back.
