Postage costs on auctions ??

[buffykins]

Happy New Year all !!
Just been browsing getting ready to start listing a few new items and noticed that there's a lot of auctions running with the postage costs real low. I'm wondering whether people have just left postage as it was before we had all this large letter and packet prices we now got in the UK. Some must be posting at a loss surely, I posted an item a couple of days ago (yay I got sales) stated 1.70 for postage for large letter and got charged 2.70 at PO. My fault, I cover the extra as I should have checked, but sometimes I swear blind the woman at the PO is ripping me off The item was only small and fitted through my make shift large letter template.
So my question after a short breath is - Have you updated your postage to cover the large letter/packet fiasco or do you just let your auctions run and cover the extra even if the auction price and postage stated in the auction won't even cover the packet cost? Just curious to see who's staying with their postage and don't charge extra even if it means they're giving their stuff away and who updates so that they are actually charging packet rate for items that are clearly too big for large letter now.
Oh and sorry if you're thinking 'mind you're own business, I'm happy how my items are' just curiosity is getting to me because if I try and sell similar items obviously I can't compete with someone charging 80p, for postage where I will be putting £2.70 or £2.20.
Ta for listening
Jayne

[johnwash1]

.. large letter and got charged 2.70 at PO. My fault, I cover the extra as I should have checked, but sometimes I swear blind the woman at the PO is ripping me off The item was only small and fitted through my make shift large letter template.

At our local PO they have a device near the counter so I can recheck my package fits large letter. I then point this out, if it fits. I think if I didn't they'd probably just charge the other higher rate.

UK postage rates are now extortionate. I was amazed on hol in France this year to find it was cheaper to send something from France to England than if I were sending it locally in England. Perhaps I should have taken my Xmas cards across the Channel!

[billsstamps]

I got my own size checker, it saves the post office hassle.

If I had 200 550 gram books to post to UK, it would be cheaper for me to fly from London to Shanghai to post them.

Unfortunately, they would take up to four weeks longer to arrive!

[cornishmaid1961]

I wade through all my postage and change it after the usual rise in April which takes forever !

I got caught out at the post office the other day though as I took something which was very light and ordinary letter size to be posted overseas but they wouldn't let it go as a letter just because I had put it in a little jiffy bag instead of an envelope. I had to pay small packet rate which left me well out of pocket ... grrrrr !

[FirstGreenIsGold]

Canada Post changes and increases rates every January. I revise my listings as best that I can.

I've run into problems with some of the clerks there with issues on whether I can send something letter instead of packet.

Also, if my scale says 99 grams I had better charge the up to 200 gram rate because the post office scale will say 101 grams, which hits the next tier. I've been caught on that before.

Plus, when I send a comic or a craft pattern or a sheet of stamps, I want to make sure that they have sufficient cardboard in the envelope so that hopefully the item won't be mangled by the time it reaches its destination. Cardboard adds to the weight so an envelope will often be over 100 grams.

The other issue is making sure that the fees are all covered and there is something to pay for the stationery used as well.

Yes, it all adds up. When I look at some sellers' listings I think that they must be losing money regularly. They can't be covering their costs.

[kazeran]

I tend to leave my postage rates alone until they finish my ten repeat listing cycle, then I update them. It saves me from spending hours of my life toiling through listings when the prices go up. Lets face it we are hardly going to have a run on our stuff here on ebid. So I take my time. I am so happy if I make a sale here I don't care if I loose 50p on the postage.

[abyorkie]

Where I have several similar items eg stamps,FDC's,old documents, maps etc I use the bulk edit option to put a flat rate P&P for both local and overseas.
In my notices I have put that if the actual P&P is less than that charged at the auction I refund the difference if over 35p. It would take forever to keep updating individual items.

I too get caught out at the PO (and still do)so i reckon it is easier to give a refund. When multiple items are bought it is easier to apply discounts as I would weigh all the items before sending the invoice. There is always something you forget tho!

Happy New Year
Cheers Alan
Please have a look at my shops, you may find something you like!!
http://abyorkies-old-manuscripts-ancestry.ebid.net
http://archibald-thorburns-birds-prints.ebid.net
http://abyorkies-stamps-cigarette-cards.ebid.net
http://antique-prints.ebid.net
http://collectables-and-everything-else.ebid.net

[suesjools]

Where I have several similar items eg stamps,FDC's,old documents, maps etc I use the bulk edit option to put a flat rate P&P for both local and overseas.
In my notices I have put that if the actual P&P is less than that charged at the auction I refund the difference if over 35p. It would take forever to keep updating individual items.

I too get caught out at the PO (and still do)so i reckon it is easier to give a refund. When multiple items are bought it is easier to apply discounts as I would weigh all the items before sending the invoice. There is always something you forget tho!

Happy New Year
Cheers Alan
Please have a look at my shops, you may find something you like!!
http://abyorkies-old-manuscripts-ancestry.ebid.net
http://archibald-thorburns-birds-prints.ebid.net
http://abyorkies-stamps-cigarette-cards.ebid.net
http://antique-prints.ebid.net
http://collectables-and-everything-else.ebid.net

I also use flat rate and bulk edit to change shipping costs as necessary. I also refund larger shipping differnces, (had a Canadian customer buy something recently and the postage was $4 cheaper than overseas, didn't realize that was the case, so I refunded the difference). Agreed you can't catch everything, but I try to keep my shipping costs as close to the USPS rates as possible.

Best wishes for many sales to all,

[Gothicina]

Didn't they change it so it's possible to filter by & change postage using bulk edit now?
As far as I remember if you use overseas postage you need to filter using that, because using domestic UK
will mess up some of the overseas as they don't all correspond

I've used the type/weight as part of my SKU's so filter by that & change the prices via bulk edit, I did it a fair while ago, so probably have more weights than are currently needed.