Simple delivery packaging costs

[daveinbirkenhead]

I can't figure out how to factor in the packaging costs on simple delivery.  I'm selling vinyl records and the packaging costs £1 per item I sell. That's a fixed cost can't reduce. I can't 'add it to the sale price' because I don't list under buy it now (mostly because I have no idea what price to put and prefer an auction to let the market decide the price) . I can't buy packaging in large bulk as I'm NOT a business seller and simply don't have the funds plus they cost more cos i pay vat like a regular customer .  I can't ship my items in fresh air but I can't factor in the of packaging into my postage costs. This is ridiculous! Some of my items sell for 99p but as I'm taking a loss of £1 on the packaging I'm literally PAYING my buyer 1p to take it off my hands! Plus all the other costs like a printer, ink, labels and my time. I'm a private seller and can't write off these as business expenses. Do you expect us to post the items without labels or packaging? Plus I do not want to use evri I haven't got time to get to a parcel shop  (also i want my items to be actually delivered) I want my items to be collected  from my home by royal mail, but there's no way to do this using 'simple' delivery. And I need to specify tracked 48 otherwise you're sitting on my money for 2 weeks until I can prove an item wad delivered. How on earth am I supposed to deal with making a loss on every item I sell?!

[tressygirl]

When you state...'you're sitting on my money.....'  you are not talking to eBay here but to members like yourself.

There's nothing to stop you adding that £1 to your auction starting price to cover packaging costs,  that's what other sellers are doing.

  Auctions should start at the lowest amount you are happy to receive so if your packaging costs  £1 per item, if they are all vinyls,  it will be a standard price , just add £1 to the starting price of the auction then you will not make a loss.

@daveinbirkenhead 

[jonatjonatjonat]

You can’t factor it in with Simple Delivery so your starting price for an auction would need to include any packaging costs. You could even set up Simple Delivery so you pay the shipping costs as well and factor the whole delivery in an set it as free delivery (with a starting auction price to include shipping, packaging, everything.

You can turn off Evri here and you can select collection if using Royal Mail.

[akemp1]

Ebay's 20% stupid delivery saving claim includes sellers no longer being able to charge for packaging or the transport to the dropoff site so you just have to suck it up or increase your item prices.

[papso22]

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@akemp1 wrote:

Ebay's 20% stupid delivery saving claim includes sellers no longer being able to charge for packaging or the transport to the dropoff site so you just have to suck it up or increase your item prices.

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I am sure many sellers have always included packaging etc in the item  price.  Pre SD I did that, as well as an element for fees when charged, and then just charged the 'stamp price' for postage.

Sellers can still do that, it's just that 'stamp price' is now eBay’s SD price.

Not all sellers have to change this aspect of their pricing model as a result of SD, so SD can't for be blamed for everything. 

[akemp1]

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@papso22 wrote:

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Not all sellers have to change this aspect of their pricing model as a result of SD, so you cant blame SD for everything. 

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I'm just pointing out that it's disingenuous of ebay to suggest to sellers that SD is 20% cheaper when part of their comparison method is them subtlety transferring costs onto some sellers in the process.

Agree it will only affect some sellers as like you I always preferred to charge my costs in the item price so the postage my buyers saw was the RM price.

[daveinbirkenhead]

How can I factor the cost of packaging into the item's price when I don't know what the price will be until after it sells?! I can't contact the buyer and say please add £1 to the amount before paying me. There's no way to cover this cost unless you list all your items for a fixed price which isn't feasible when I want to list a few items a week at a time not all in one go. 

[daveinbirkenhead]

There's no option to choose collection it just says 'royal mail' - i can't even specify what service i want to use. If a customer chooses evri I'll cancel the order before i entrust them to deliver something otherwise I'll be waiting sn age before being paid.

So after working a 13 hour night shift in my job I then wait up until 9am and have to drive around my neighbourhood looking for a parcel drop off point somewhere thats open before going to bed?  There's no way I can do it. And dropping off at a post office costs more than collection direct by royal mail so that's another extra cost I'd have to absorb every time.

[9150simon]

As a couple of other posters have indicated, you will need to add your packaging costs to your starting price.  For example:-  if you previously started your auction at 99p, you need to start now at 1.99, which includes your packaging cost.

It may put some buyers off for a while but it will settle eventually as every seller will have to do the same.

[papso22]

See the first response you received.  Surely the packing cost doesn't change regardless of the final auction selling price?

[daveinbirkenhead]

Ebays recommended starting price for every single auction I list is 99p. Why would they do that unless they thought a higher starting price wouldn't sell? 

[tressygirl]

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@daveinbirkenhead wrote:

How can I factor the cost of packaging into the item's price when I don't know what the price will be until after it sells?! I can't contact the buyer and say please add £1 to the amount before paying me. There's no way to cover this cost unless you list all your items for a fixed price which isn't feasible when I want to list a few items a week at a time not all in one go. 

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I think you may have missed my reply a little further up this thread.

In case you missed it:

There's nothing to stop you adding that £1 to your auction starting price to cover packaging costs,  that's what other sellers are doing.

  Auctions should start at the lowest amount you are happy to receive so if your packaging costs  £1 per item, if they are all vinyls,  it will be a standard price , just add £1 to the starting price of the auction then you will not make a loss.

We all will agree, that no one likes the recent changes with Buyer Protection Fee and / or Simple Delivery,  but it's here to stay.   There are some workarounds for some aspects,  we have to find those, and work with them, to work for us.

@daveinbirkenhead 

[9150simon]

Ebay have some ridiculous starting price recommendations, they work off average selling prices, ignore them and put in what suits you.

[papso22]

It's actually completely misleading to say it's 20% cheaper without identifying the comparator.   And given that sellers were free to charge pretty much what they wanted, without a fixed comparator I would say the comparison should not have been done at all and certainly not portrayed as a positive for buyers.

Even if it was a comparison between Ebay's previous suggested postal rate and SD prices, that still doesn't make it valid.

[akemp1]

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@papso22 wrote:

Even if it was a comparison between Ebay's previous suggested postal rate and SD prices, that still doesn't make it valid.

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They said that the comparison was based on what buyers actually paid during a previous period for postage which of course is not comparable as it might have included label/packaging/transport costs so very misleading as normal.

When dealing with ebay it's best to assume you are under attack these days.

[tressygirl]

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@daveinbirkenhead wrote:

Ebays recommended starting price for every single auction I list is 99p. Why would they do that unless they thought a higher starting price wouldn't sell? 

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Noooo, never use that 99p as a ball park figure to start ANY auction.

Think about this logically ,  whatever eBay ' recommend ' as a starting price , they don't have a crystal ball to guarantee it will reach a higher price,  so an outcome could mean one bid , and it sells for 99p.

The golden rule for auctions is to always list it for the lowest amount you are happy to receive,  it cannot sell for less.  Then, if you only receive one bid,  which often happens, you will not be disappointed.

As your original question is asking how to add that packaging cost, as said, just add that £1 to your lowest accepted starting price.

@daveinbirkenhead 

[jckl1957]

Lots of useful answers here.

Hopefully, I can summarise and even add a bit more information.

As advised, add £1 to your starting price.  You choose the price you start your auctions at, not Ebay.

You can have your items collected,  You can choose to use Royal Mail only and arrange a collection.  The postie won't be able to provide labels but it doesn't seem as if that is what you are looking for.

'Collection is available for items sent through Simple Delivery with Royal Mail labels only. You can book a collection on the Royal Mail - opens in new window or tab website after you create your Simple Delivery label.'

From the link below - have a read,

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/selling/posting-items/setting-postage-options/simple-delivery?id=5575

Items sent using SD are always tracked so you will receive your money 48 hours after tracking shows delivery.  You won't have to deal with claims for items 'lost in the post' or damaged in transit; Ebay will handle such claims.

[jckl1957]

See the post from @jonatjonatjonat  where there is a link to deselect Evri and only use RM.

[a45heaven]

so SD can't for be blamed for everything. 

Possibly correct but it can be blamed for a lot of ill considered factors - but what are the advantages of SD to Sellers, and also to Buyers ?

[daveinbirkenhead]

I still can't see how to arrange a collection. So a customer pays, hopefully not for evri, then I print the label.

Then what? I've got a parcel I can't post because I can't get to a drop off point and nobody knows I've got it to come and get it from me. I used to be able to specify a collection date when purchasing a label but the buyer is now purchasing the label, not me.

So do I have to contact the buyer before they pay and tell them  1. Please specify collection when purchasing the label 2. Tell them all the days I'll be home 3. Get them to tell me when the collection has been arranged for, because the contract for delivery isn't with me like it used to be, now I'm just sticking someone else's label on a parcel and I have literally zero control over the process. What happens if they pick a collection day when I'm not home?