Free postage to be scrapped in the near future
by Chris Dawson
At Small Business 2.0 this morning Richard Kanareck, Communications Director from eBay has just talked about what’s happening on eBay in the near future and it’s free postage.
Richard said that buyers love free postage, but it’s a pain point for many sellers as it squeezes their margins. He hinted that although currently free postage is mandatory in many categories that this is about to be reviewed.
So the end of compulsory free post is probably just a couple of weeks away. In all likelihood eBay will want to continue to keep postage prices down and so will still give a boost in search for products with free post. It’s also likely that postage caps will be expanded in categories which currently are free post.
Is removing compulsory free post good for your business? Will you continue to offer free post? Will you add postage back to listings that you were forced to offer with free postage?
97 Responses on "Free postage to be scrapped in the near future"
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Selling with free postage has been good for me and I will continue to offer free post.
Del.
Flat rate postage per order has proved the best model for me as it encourages multiple purchases.
every story tells a tale
we used to auction quite an amount of books on ebay starting them @ 99p and with actual postage buyers got a bargain and we got a profit
until ebay started to dictate the free postage thing
we just do not bother with books at all now
I would question eBay’s logic that buyers like so called free P&P, everyone knows that on most low price items it has to be incorporated in the price somewhere. Buyers prefer to see what they’re paying for P&P and can use their choice of DSR rating to leave a seller based on facts, that’s the message I’m seeing time after time on various forums and message board on and off eBay. As for being able to leave a P&P DSR on free P&P items, that’s plain daft in anyone’s book. Sellers not being able to easily offer postage discounts with the current system is another bugbear for some buyers too.
As for the argument that there was too many postage rip off’s that was a poor excuse, postage caps was one of eBay’s better ideas and knocked it on the head in one easy change. Free P&P or not should be a commercial decision each seller makes, not mandatory.
Forcing free P&P in some categories has created a nightmare number of people trying to get around it in one way or another, listing in other categories, listing as freight, notes in listings to add P&P, etc. the shear number I suspect has overwhelmed customer services by all accounts.
It’s impossible without any detail to say if this latest proposed backtrack move is a good or a bad thing, no doubt they’ll be a sting in the tail, but I strongly believe that choice of paid or free P&P should be each sellers choice.
I don’t buy anything that states free postage. It has only been hidden in the price of the item, and therefore makes it impossible to make a decision based on actual costs.
I can’t imagine how this will work in categories such as antiques and collectibles. There is no uniform product weight.
What a very strange view to take.
ditto
Doesn’t seem that strange to me, I see their POV
I worry, I really do!
I, too, avoid like the plague items advertised with ‘free postage’ for those aforementioned reasons (ie, built in costs). It’s obviously much more attractive, and potentially attracts more multiple purchases, to have a flat rate.
Anyone with half a brain *knows* that the cost of ‘free postage’ is built into the price of an item and it therefore follows that they are probably paying over the odds if they buy two or more items from the same ‘free postage’ vendor.
Frankly, I worry about those who apparently run successful businesses who can’t see that.
The buyer from hell. ‘Free’ shipping makes it difficult for him to decide if the seller is making a penny or two on the S & H or (Gasp!)has marked up the item and is making a profit.
Agree with Henrietta – my purchasing decisions are based on the price I’m happy to pay, not my perception (or guess) of what profit the seller has made.
Sue Bailey said: “My purchasing decisions are based on the price I’m happy to pay, not my perception”…You are in the minority, unfortunately.
Most of the buyers I have talked to are up in arms about this. They WANT to know how much you, the seller, is paying. AND yes, it’s because you might be getting more!
It’s human nature to want to pay the least amount. With today’s economy, it is getting worse, too.
In my opinion, I think it should be left up to the seller. After all, it’s our business, we PAY eBay to sell on there.
Maybe the US market is different but our experience of buyers on eBay and the web in general has been as Sue describes.
So long as the price the buyer has to pay is clear, the buyer couldn’t care less how much profit the seller is making, it simply isn’t part of the thought process when making a purchase.
If the price is high, the buyer will look somewhere else. Not because they think the seller is making loads of money but because they simply want to spend less.
I’m with Sue on this one. If you’re happy to pay the price advertised (item and postage cost) then end of story. Nobody moans about companies like Amazon making a small profit out of the postage so why moan about eBay sellers doing it ?
As for the whole free P&P debate I still think it was one of the most incredibly stupid rules that they introduced on eBay UK, why didn’t they just copy the other eBay sites and have postage capping ? I’ll tell you why: GREED. This has nothing to do with offering buyers a better deal, it’s all about ripping more money out of the seller(s).
Exactly Sue, total price, delivered.
As a buyer I don’t care how the seller structures it, the bottom line is what it costs me.
Somehow I don’t think I am unique.
I’m the same way. However there really are people out there that are offended if the seller makes money.
http://forums.ebay.com/db2/topic/Feedback/Buyer-Thinks-My/510178277
In the end the seller was able to talk to the buyer down once it was revealed that half of that perceived profit went to eBay in fees.
You make too many assumptions, my dear.
I don’t give a fig about how much profit a seller is making. I am a seller myself and run my own business. Why should I begrude someone their livelihood?
I *do* care about the best deal for me – and that is not a free shipping one in regards to multiple purchases.
Does that make me a buyer from hell? You have a weird idea of hell….
its ebays business and to ebays advantage if we list and sell things
would be nice if they took some of the hit and carried some of the loss,
no listing fees at all for free postage might encourage us a little
dont mind if FVFs are loaded or the same as then at least we have sold something
I will post the same here as I have posted elsewhere because only ebay gained with free postage Its the BUYERS that are paying through the nose under this new rule We sold DVDs @ £4.99 plus £1.20 P&P if a buyer purchased a second one we added 25p P&P and so forth So if a buyer purchased 5 DVDs they paid a total of £27.15 Under ebays new policy We would have been forced to list and charge £6.20 for the first DVD and as there is no postal discount with this new policy 5 would cost £31 You do the maths whose losing The buyer Whose gaining Ebay and we are gaining £3.85 which we never wanted in the first place We were quite happy giving postal discounts Also Any body buying 10 DVDs had free 48hr tracked DHL postage. It cost a total of £49.99 for 10 DVDs now it would cost buyers a massive £62 thats not BETTER for either the seller or the buyer but if you think other wise please explain to me why it is We like many other sellers have now moved over to Amazon or started our own web sites We will not be going back to eBay whatever they do. ebay sucks
Sellers such as yourself who were hit first by the free P&P understand the problem more clearly. A lot of eBay sellers have higher margins and can absorb free P&P and the likes of you and me can argue until hell freezes over they will still claim it’s a good thing. Simply because they are not unduly affected by it.
Well, it has always been an illusion in many of the categories. I sell in the Computer Bags and Accessories Category and when the “free” postage was introduced the prices simply went up to cover the cost of the postage and the extra FVF amount that this entailed. End result for me was exactly the same coming in from any given item. I am sure this is not really what Ebay wanted but the fact of the matter is that delivery actually does cost money.
Personally, I will be keeping the “free” aspect on a lot of things, if there is a boost in the search. I have not seen a drop in sales since the prices went up to include the postage so I don’t forsee too many issues keeping it after it is no mandatory.
I used to sell laptop bags on eBay at £4.99 plus £4.99 postage and they sold slowly and surely. Bet I wouldn’t shift any at £9.99 with free P&P
Still got a blinkin’ great pile of them sitting here, going to have to think of how to sell them on somehow, I’m not prepared to be eBaying them.
Frankly I will be ecstatic if they scrap free postage. The biggest thing from this that Ebay should learn and which I can guarantee they will not is that they should not take their customers for granted, when will they learn that most buyers are sellers and when you lose one you lose both. Has Ebay ever in their their history said Sorry for anything (other than for technical problems) People should be sacked for what they did to the media categories particularly books and vinyl.
I like many was sceptical of their results this week and I believe them even less now
Well – I was originally against free postage. I sell books. I tried it from August as I knew it was coming and didn’t have any real problems with it until it became compulsory. The problem has been lack of enforcement of the policy – which has massively damaged the sellers who conformed . It is also a nightmare to give discounts for multi-buys – and these have more or less stopped. (used to be about 1 in 5 sales).
If they stop it or go back to capped I will probably stop too. Not because it doesn’t work but for 2 good reasons. 1 is that I won’t be paying triple the fees compared to non-free postage. (my fees tripled – due to the weight of books etc – the postage is often more than the item price).
The second reason is that with postage in a second box I will be able to offer discounts again.
However – I maintain that if ebay had truly adjusted the fees – and offered a proper discount system – that there would be little to choose between the 2. I don’t think customers care one way or the other.
Customers do care about being overcharged on postage – not about paying the going rate and seeing it stated clearly.
The only low DSR star I ever got was on the postage cost on a FREEPOST item. I was furious ebay caused this!! Freepost also makes combined order discounts impossible, which has reduced my business.
I charge the exact stamp price, I want buyers to see this
Hallelujah if this is true. My turnover has plummeted with the enforcement of “Free P&P”. It has had a major detrimental effect on multiple purchases (a discount is no longer available which was a major selling point) & international sales have plummeted because the prices look more expensive with the incorporated “Free P&P”.
It could be the best rule change that Ebay has ever done!
I sometimeswonder if I am on the same planet as ebay when they insist on free postage
on Books that are in general the
highest postage cost, the lowest profit,and one of the lowest values per item, of any category on ebay
I sell with free postage by choice but ebay sales are going down the pan for me whatever I do, so will be packing up the shop and moving on.
Its always baffled me that according to eBay Free P & P is what the buyers want, so why do they allow the ‘Premier’ Outlets to charge?
Simple answer for me is the Outlets said no way and eBay have now (assuming they do) decided to bin the Free P & P in order to get the likes HMV etc on the onboard.
Not a fan of free postage for our fancy dress costumes.
Happy to do free P & P on the accessories.
But
with so many customers hoping to fit into a costume eventhough the description is as accurate as we can make it we find that a fair number still want to return for a refund.
So if free post is offered, i have to refund 100% of money paid eventhough it cost me an average of £2 to send. But, if i charge £3 p and p plus item fee and the buyer wants to send back then i only have to refund the buying price and not the p and p, thus still making £1 to cover hassle of trigger happy customer.
Also, if free post was compulsary for all costumes i think we would get a lot more customers wanting to return, either due to buying the wrong size or seeing us a free fancy dress hire company. ie, wear it for the party and return next day due to ‘not being quite what i expected’
If free post was compulsary we would change our stock as it would be sooo much hastle to carry on selling this item.
Always gets me, when a customer leaves feedback saying, ‘great item and free post as well!
are they that daft?…
…then i only have to refund the buying price and not the p and p
What do you mean, are you saying that you don’t refund the P&P that the customer has paid if they return the goods to you?
hmmmm isn’t that illegal and against the law?
Hmmm, yes it is against the law, however if you have a disclaimer on your website stating that these are your terms you are not.
I’m gonna need a big box of popcorn for this one…
Have a read:
http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/general/oft698.pdf
You have to refund the original postage to get the item to the buyer. You do not have to refund the *return* postage so long as your T&Cs at the time of purchase state that the buyer is responsible for returns costs for items returned under the DSRs.
I like the idea of the buyer seeing only the price they are going to pay. But this stops us giving discounts for multiple purchases.
Before you could put the stamp price 61p + paypal and packaging into the postage. Then give free postage for the next item. So they only have to pay the paypal fees and postage and packaging once. Now we can no longer do that.
I’d like to keep the single price, but have the option of giving buyers discounts if they buy more than one item.
ouch…. have i got it wrong?
if a buyer buys a costume and it does not fit then i should also refund postage fees????
let us know if i am wrong… but as it is.. unless the item is faulty we only refund the buying price…
Getting it wrong is ok…However, many sellers both on and off eBay seem to go out of their way to scr3w the customer.
This isn’t really the place to go through the Distance selling regs, so Google “distance selling regulations” and you’ll be able to see what is required etc.
Free postage has nothing to do with what the buyers want! Ebay have found a way to charge fees on the postage amount. When it was called Postage they were not allowed to charge on it, a quick change of name to free postage and GreedBay has even more money per sale.
BINGO Here is the one and only reason this has been done. THANK you for seeing thru the deception,YOU are probably too smart for eBay and will one day be charged extra for using their service.I am sure they are trying to justify the surcharge as we speak.
bit condescending a reply but thanks anyway.
Sorry if it came across that way but…
If you are in business then as a minimum you need to know your legal obligations BEFORE you start selling. Should we also assume that you don’t have product liability insurance, employers liability insurance…Do you have your business address on your website, do you pay tax, VAT etc, “oops, did I get it wrong” simply won’t cut it in the business world.
Many businesses on here spend a lot of money making sure that we comply with the various pieces of legislation so that our customers, employess and ourselves are protected. Then, everyday almost a new seller appears calling themselves a business but without having the first idea of what’s involved.
It’s all well and good buying loads of stock and selling it on but that’s the easy part of running a business.
Sorry for the rant and it’s certainly not personal, it’s just eBay and ecommerce in general gets a bad name from these so called businesses which effects us all.
we pay tax ,vat, have insurance etc etc cos we have to, not because we want to,
and if we could avoid it, we would
the twitter user ebay_insider , mentioned that ebay would be rolling back free postage on media items a few weeks back.
megadiscountlastyearsbooksbananza.com will be listing 60 trillion titles once they have managed to sort out this free postage anoyance
If it gets rid of the Chinese, HK and all other sellers listing for 99p (Free) and sticking stupid postage costs on, then I’m all for it, I will continue free postage…
Daj
Just on my way back from Small Business 2.0, left Chris, Sue and others in the pub.
A couple of other “Nuggets“ that were muted by eBay were}
Ebay clothing is having a lot of investment thrown at it and will be having a bit of an overhaul.
TRS will be expanding to allow more sellers to qualify.
And one that wasn’t announced but was answered by eBay to a direct question is that eBay forums will cease in their current form in the next couple of months.
Lee
All I ask for is this: Don’t require free shipping but still give me advantages to offering it if I decide I want to offer it.
Is that so hard?
HI this Person is Winding You all Up I have Been Told They Are Not Stoping Free Postage In Media But Going to add another Catorgy On E-Bay with Free Postage So April Fools has Come Earley
Your grammar, spelling and capitalisation all suggest that you may have had a drink. Nothing wrong with that, I have done likewise.
I will wait for the definitive eBay announcement before doing anything at all.
And all I really ask is for eBay to come up with solutions and procedures that are practicable, fair, consistent and long life.
Keep it simples!!!!
Or is still at school. Or at least meant to be at school!
Pot calling the kettle black ? I wouldn’t criticise someone’s English and then use “simples”.
Some of us picked up on Pinky’s post and the URL the name linked to (which wasn’t even done correctly) before it was removed to know they’re nothing more than a wind up merchant.
Yessss! Let the market decided what is best for them
If they really want free postage and they are convinced it helps their numbers (cause they don’t know MY numbers and can’t speak for me.) then THEY should subsidize free postage for SMALL sellers…(and let the big sellers fend for themselves for a change. )
As a buyer I like to see the full price that I’m going to pay clearly displayed. I don’t mind if that’s P&P inclusive or two numbers added together for display purposes.
As a seller I have all sorts of views about inclusive P&P; it’s an incredible pain given that we sell on behalf of other people, and handle large items.
However, the most thing is that presenting my items in a clear way to buyers encourages transparent sales. Other buyers might prefer different things.
I’m constrained by how eBay presents the information (think freight etc) but I can choose inclusive P&P. In some categories I’ve enough data to know whether this is a economically sensible option.
Sadly couldn’t get to London for SB 2.0.
A question for those who did make it, and have interests in cross border trade, what news please of eBay International?
I must admit that I didn’t understand Richard Kanareck to mean that “Free Postage” was to be scraped from what he actually said in his talk at SB 2.0. I was imagining that it was more likely be some kind of fees credit – however tamebay do seem to be good at having the inside story so I imagine that it is going to happen.
Personally If ebay change the policy I think it will be of benefit to those who do offer free postage as not only will you get a bump in search but you will also be differentiated from other sellers. Total price is what really matters but I do agree with Richard in that (most) buyers love “free postage”.
Anything with FREE POST either is losing the seller money or has postage built in.
If the seller is losing money then it is not good for the seller.
If the postage is built in, it is bad for the buyer who then pays double (or more) postage for MULTIPLE ITEM orders (at least if the seller offers combined shipping once they double check actual postage)
FREE POST can work, but should be an OPTION chosen by the seller and not simply forced upon the seller because it is not always a good option
Just be careful for what you wish for.
When was the last time ebay made any policy change to benefit anyone except themselves? There will obviously be a sting in the tail such as increased FVF to cover the revenue loss, or replacing it with capped postage across more categories.
I’d like to see more effort put into a shopping cart function that will allow sellers to offer postal or loyalty discounts for combined purchases.
Well if anyone will seek to make more money out of something it will be Ebay, but the common consensus is that this has cost them a fortune, so by putting it back to the way it was before they already increase their revenue.
Yes they have no real form for reversing a decision, but then again they have never made such a catastrophic decision before
What you have to remember is that eBay may not want your money. It has culled various categories and sellers of certain product types…to focus on other areas.
Does eBay want 1000’s of book sellers, maybe not. Does it want 1000’s of individual sellers of media, maybe not.
The bigger sellers in these categories should be able to offer a wider choice at better prices, which is good for eBay and good for buyers. However, the big sellers are finding it harder than they thought to keep up with the buyers demands. IMO
Ebay could easily add ‘discounted additional items’ P&P to FREE P&P catagories.
This would be fairer to the buyers & still show ‘An all in price’.
MY only wish is for eBay to stop moving the goal posts for sellers all the time.
For people who think they are paying over the odds for free postage.
Have you considered turning it on its head. ie the seller is taking the hit for the postage but as hopefully the buyer might buy more than one item, the actual postage cost per item is reduced and so the hit to the seller is reduced.
In any event, if buyers can not work out the actual price they are paying ie cost + postage, cf cost + 0 postage, what hope is there for any seller?
I’ve just written a very lengthy note to eBay lambasting their free P&P policy. I am, like the vast majority of people who use this site, a private individual who is selling personal items for personal gain, and this new policy prices me out of doing such a thing. How is a person who does not run a business on her supposed to make any kind of profit. Many things are put up to make a loss any way just to either generate interest or just to get rid of them!
eBay has lost its soul, and now seems only to cater for big business or those who can afford the P&P, the insertion fees, the final cost fees etc…
The poople made eBay popular and successful, and now the people are being priced out of using it!
I’ve just written a very lengthy note to eBay lambasting their free P&P policy. I am, like the vast majority of people who use this site, a private individual who is selling personal items for personal gain, and this new policy prices me out of doing such a thing. How is a person who does not run a business on here supposed to make any kind of profit? I never once overcharged a buyer, using the Post Office’s own website to quote prices. Many things are put up to make a loss any way just to either generate interest or just to get rid of them!
eBay has lost its soul, and now seems only to cater for big business or those who can afford the P&P, the insertion fees, the final cost fees etc…
The people made eBay popular and successful, and now the people are being priced out of using it!
Once upon a time I used to sell hundreds of music CDs on Ebay. I used to charge 99p P&P and start the auctions at the same price. By doing this I was guaranteeing that even if the CD sold for the start price I would at least cover the listing cost/selling cost/Paypal/postage/packaging and time to do the listing and posting.
As soon as free P&P started Ebay this policy instantly killed my business and I stopped listing. Even if they go back to “allowing” sellers to charge for P&P, I’ve moved on to pastures new and won’t be returning. They weren’t loyal to me so why should I be to them?
The people “running” Ebay are idiots and are only making money for Ebay because there is no real competition. As soon as anyone like Google get involved (and SURELY it must only be a matter of time?!?!) they will be dead in the water within a year. And I will be the first to cheer as loudly as I can…
It was an aggressive heavy handed and overbearing, control freak of a decision to force sellers to offer free shipping. It made many sellers especially in DVD categories to quit altogether.
If I am offering free shipping but hiding it in the price that is dishonest. Shipping is not free.
Free shipping is a real hassle for people selling fashion or Gen X stuff. There are people out there that wish to borrow stuff, play with it and then return it. Why go into a shop and embarrass yours self when you can do it through eBay. If the seller is less than polite he risked being negged….and we’re not allowed to neg them back!
Not only fashion but ANYTHING that once opened (seals broken etc)cannot be resold easily. This is always a problem but when the consumer can have that sent to them free it exemplifies the problem.
People are far less likely to get in touch about combined purchases. If the shipping if supposed to be free why would they bother. The problem here is that if they want 5 items I can end up paying 5 PayPal fees.
On the plus side it put my prices more inline with my HK/Chinese competitors. They where selling items for 1p with 5 – 10 GBP shipping. If I even tried that I would be booted but they where shipping internationally. Try telling eBay that goods can be posted from HK to UK cheaper than UK to UK. Its getting impossible to compete with sellers that don’t have to pay VAT but that’s another discussion. Gift my foot!
Yes buyers prefer free shipping but they are intelligent enough to do the math’s. Especially as eBay shows this in the search results.
Its good that eBay will cancel this Forced free shipping. They obviously acknowledge that they have excluded sellers from categories with smaller margins that simply cannot offer free shipping.
At the end of the day the decision to force free shipping was likely motivated by the sellers fees being applied to the total amount and not just the cost of the items. In addition it will cut out the HK and Chinese sellers offering impossibly low sale prices with very high postage.
Now that I spent 2 days changing all my adverts to free shipping I will not go back.
I think that 6 monts ago free post was relevant, as other marketplaces (namely play) were offer this as standard. The more you look into this, the more you realise that most websites now charge postage on most goods as a standard option – Amazon, retail shops, tesco etc.
I think that free post is a powerful option to have, but it should be for a basic service, and should be capped at £3-£4. Then have a premium next day service as the paid option.
I personally offer free post as a standard option, and offer 2 upgrades: 1st class recorded (£1.00 extra); 24 hr courier (£3.95). Both these prices are below my cost price, and so offers customers great value for money.
eBay need to add “Royal Mail Tracked” as a dropdown option for postal services. This is a mainstream postal service, but I cant promote it, and have to instead display it as 2nd class recorded.
and again dont agree
postage options should be by cost,&speed & security
not by company;
standard £****
& to sign for£*****
& estimated delivery time
should be the only options
in fact even the security bit does not really count these days
because its only sellers that need to worry about the security of their sales ,as buyers just need to fart and paypal coughs up and refunds payment
ooo this is bad news.
I will no longer be able to claim my free postage stamps / padded envelopes / tape / transport cartons / petrol money / shoe leather / etc etc etc from Ebay anymore. It saved me a fortune. !!..hang on a minute..that was a daydream (prances round the field smelling wild flowers)
For ebay to say “tag it onto your start price” was lame in the extreme, and they know it.
Forced Free P & P was a DISASTER. Badly thought out, pathetically implemented.
Grow a pair Ebay and throw this lunacy out NOW. Some of your alienated sellers AND buyers may come back..I suspect a lot won’t. They gave up the battle
I suspect a lot of the those against the Free P&P policy looked upon the P&P they used to charge as another profit earner, rather than as a cost of sale – which means if you only ever charged P&P at cost or even subsidised, then it doesn’t matter to a buyer either way they paid the same, price + P&P = new price with inc P&P.
Where the new price with inc P&P takes you above the competition price, and you have to reduce your P&P (ie. profit) then I can see why you don’t like it, whereas those that can maintain profit levels and offer free P&P seem to be not complaining
I list on 7 media selling sites . Ebay is the only venue we don’t list our best stock on as we are not prepared to pay up front listing fees.
Therefore ebay earns £30 or £40 a month in FVFs from us while our good stuff sells on the likes of Amazon & Biblio where their cut of our sales is in the £100s of pounds a month.
Until ebay make media listings free thats how its going to stay,until then we will only list our media rubbish on ebay until things change.
When it comes to postage we list our media items under Postage / courier if we had to list our media rubbish on ebay with free postage we would have to kick the site into touch altogether, as it would not be financially viable for us to list there.
This is where it is silly;
SAME ITEM
SAME SELLER
DIFFERENT CATAGORY
with ‘FREE’ P&P;
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Deluxe-Rect-Metal-Office-Desk-Cable-Tidy-Outlet-Grommet_W0QQitemZ370247477064QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Computing_NetworkingTools_Accessories_SM?hash=item5634782748
withOUT ‘FREE’ P&P;
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Deluxe-Rect-Metal-Office-Desk-Cable-Tidy-Outlet-Grommet_W0QQitemZ220468674368QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_BOI_Office_Equipment_Supplies_Office_Furniture_ET?hash=item3354f4ff40
JOE BLOGG PUBLIC ARE NOT STUPID
FREE is not FREE
Joe Blogg isn’t stupid
Its all about terminolgy.
If “Free P&P” was replaced with “Shipping Included” would there be such a furore.
JMHO
Lee
Its all about terminolgy
Not at all its about the numbers adding up, its the same reason we dont sell on play or priceminister.
Terminology dosent pay the bills
Identical items=Policy breach
Choice listings=Policy breach
Website URL in shop logo=Policy breach
Website URL in product description=Policy breach
Bigpoppa
YES.
YES.
YES.
& YES.
eBays’ response ‘COULDN’T CARE LESS’
This is very common. I’ve seen it a lot on eBay. For years.
Interesting thing about those listings is that they have exactly the same postage cost to the United States. So for me the “free” post one is far more expensive.
we list the identical items freepost and a price plus postage both equal the same amount guess what we sell more of the item not free post,we pay a packer full time our postage includes this and vat, i think a lot of customers think we send 10 items a week and pack while we are cooking the tea,sorry you can not have that volume and give them a good price on their item
Any idea when the next raft of changes will be announced please.
I remember them saying it would be twice a year but cannot remember which months.
Many thanks.
I think it’s today or tomorrow. There might only be 2 but each one gets dragged out for 6 months, so basically we all have another year of continuing misery to look forward to.
Just checked Rosie, announcement today, town hall meeting set up for tomorrow to discuss..dunno for sure if that is just .com though.
I believe that’s just .com – there’s normally a separate .co.uk announcement the following day.
Tooomoorrrrrowwww…. you’re only a daaay a…waayyyyy…
(disclaimer: I don’t actually know for a fact)
Many thanks Sue and Whirly.
If you are on twitter Rosie, follow @ebayinkblog Richard will be tweeting announcements etc.
The USA announcements are at the link below.
http://pages.ebay.com/sellerinformation/news/OverviewJan2010.html
Good, i am pleased its going.
Sometime ago a guy on here said he could offer free postage without losing any money or upping postage.
Susan quizzed him i remember.
Though we spent 8k on postage for the 08-09 tax year and we are a small business.
We always combine postage though i think thats what really annoys my buyers (or thats what they tell me)?
Sorry i meant upping item cost
I think the person of which you speak (who Sue quizzed) was Bigpoppa. I think he said something about free shipping being a business expense.
Yes, that was I…We spend around 26k a year on postage…We look at it no differently than advertising. Without either we wouldn’t have a business.
What is your business?