I really tried to buy from here :(

There was something specific i was after this morning, so i thought i would try and buy from here to support the site, but was just not possible.

The thing i wanted was small and light (about 32g per pack), on searching, i found what i wanted, but the equivalent of 3 packs was just over £5.50 + over £3.50 postage (item is in the UK, same as me)

The exact same item, on amazon, was £12.99 for 12 packs with free prime postage (ok, a little unfair), the same from the ebid seller would have been £34.50 as there was an additional charge of £3 per each extra item, so faced with nearly triple the cost, what else can i do?

This isn't a massively fair equivalent i know, as who is going to compete with Amazon here, but i am always willing to spend a 'little' more to support small sellers where i can.

This hasn't been an isolated incident, i was also looking at a book the other day, £2.00 for the book (a small paperback), but over £5 for postage, again in the UK. I sent an almost 2kg bible out a couple of weeks back and i charged £4.50 against a £3.99 cost

Both of those put me off buying here, i ended up buying from other sites, so i got to wondering how many sales are lost, but more importantly, how many people wouldn't return to buy after seeing pricing like that.

Now, of course, every user charges what they feel is fair and they have their own reasons, i am not having a go at anyone, just pointing out how it made me feel as a customer, but interested to hear the other point of view.

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Originally Posted by Angelicas_Aromatics

There was something specific i was after this morning, so i thought i would try and buy from here to support the site, but was just not possible.

The thing i wanted was small and light (about 32g per pack), on searching, i found what i wanted, but the equivalent of 3 packs was just over £5.50 + over £3.50 postage (item is in the UK, same as me)

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I agree, I do not understand why there should be inflated P&P. It is immediately obvious and gives the impression the seller is profit-taking, or else grossly inefficient. You don't need to recoup excessive selling charges in P&P. like some other sites

Looks to me that the postage is probaby 'Signed For' and they forgot to tick the box for free postage on additional amounts of the same item.

These days, not only if you want to stand a chance of delivery, but also protect yourself from unreasonable buyers, you need tracked postage.

Blame the couriers for the high postage costs not the hard pressed sellers.

Hi Angelica,

I would definitely queried the £3 charge for extra packs, especially if you wanted to buy a dozen! My first thought is, was this a badly worded ad.? From a seller not expecting anyone to buy more than one or two extras and intending it to mean one additional £3 for the extras?

I can think of a (possibly) good reason for the £5+ postage for the "small paperback book". I have a rare 45 rpm vinyl disc I wanted to list and searched to buy one Record Mailer. I couldn't find anyone selling one mailer and the smallest pack was extortionately priced, to recoup even some of the cost would have made the record expensive when compared with specialist sellers who would buy mailers in packs of hundreds. Looking in the Post Office for a card backed "Do Not Bend" envelope, 1 cost over £2 several years ago, and the stamp would cost about £3. So I can understand the £5 postage charge.

Generally postage charges are something of a vexed question IMO. Obay insists that buyers love "Free Postage" and will increase sales, but when I tried it over there my sales came to an abrupt halt and only re-started when I started showing the stamp price again. I think because, like I do, the stamp price gives the buyer an indication of how well the (in my case, glass item) will be packaged. A bowl in a Small Parcel perhaps indicating very little padding and best avoided.

On obay I've found buyers seem to prefer to see the exact RM stamp price but will mark down DSR ratings for adding on any "packaging" cost. So that's what I put on my ads.

On Ebid I've tried to be a bit more imaginative. I use re-used boxes and bubble-wrap which means my only cost is packing tape. For buyers looking for a saving I quote RM 2nd class Small or Medium Parcel, but round down the stamp price.
Currently I'm charging £3 or £5 for standard sized parcels, because I've found buyers seem to like Round Numbers. So what would once have been a bowl @ £13.95 + £3.49 P&P is now £15 + £3 P&P. It seems to work for me!!

As you say everyone should charge what they think is fair and reasonable. Buyers don't seem to like excessive postage, especially for "packaging" or extra items like your £3 for each extra pack and I'd recommend sellers try a bit of flexibility and imagination where possible depending on what type of items they're selling.

I would ask questions if they can do better on shipping or question the extra shipping charge per piece.

I was looking at the USA side the sellers that use Calculated shipping and it seems that eBid uses the Retail Rates.
One of the items I found was a 12 ounce package that used calculated shipping and it came up as $6.76, but commercial rate was $5.15. That is a big difference and then they also put handling charge on top of that $6.76 charge.

For me (USA) I don't use the calculated shipping for "First Class Mail/ Ground Advantage" since eBid picks up the Retail prices and I don't feel that I should pocket the discount because I buy shipping labels online.

It's a little extra time during Postal Rate change, but I manually put in commercial rates and it makes my listing more tempting because of the shipping is lower.

If anybody knows me well enough (I've been on eBid forever) I would ask the question to the buyer letting them know the prices elsewhere and if they could match that price then I would consider purchasing.

Hi Jan!
Great to hear from you again. Hope all is well with you (((xxx))) hugs
Yes, I do agree, that is exactly what I would do. Can't lose anything by asking!

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Originally Posted by Tropical_Trish

Hi Jan!
Great to hear from you again. Hope all is well with you (((xxx))) hugs
Yes, I do agree, that is exactly what I would do. Can't lose anything by asking!

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Awe thank you Trish. All is well in my life. Just keeping myself busy. Hope things are OK at your end :D

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Originally Posted by JanetB

If anybody knows me well enough (I've been on eBid forever) I would ask the question to the buyer letting them know the prices elsewhere and if they could match that price then I would consider purchasing.

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I take the point and it is an option, but as a buyer i then have to decide whether to wait for a potential 'no' (or a possible yes) or just go with a lower price that i know is certain. Given that somewhere around 40-50% (some figures show as high as 80%, some as low as 36%, pretty mixed bag) of online purchases are impulsive (i stand to be corrected on that one), the chances are that a lot of people just won't bother and if the first impression is a bad one, the likelihood of them bothering to look again is very low as well.