Would you you bid on this item with these terms and conditions?

Here are some conditions I saw in an eBay auction listing the other day . . .

“. . . .Flat rate (per listing) postage and handling for this item is $13.00.  Please do not bid if you do not agree with this price.

This P&H charge is not just the price “of the postage stamp / post mark” it is a handling charge also which covers my time, travel / petrol etc.  I don’t want to sound harsh but even with this ‘straight to the point’ information, some people still complain or ask for cheaper postage.  As I start most (if not all) of my listings at 99 cents I charge a ‘per listing flat rate P&H charge – I do not combine postage costs, so again if you do not agree with this P&H charge now, please do not bid.  I think this is as ‘extremely upfront” as I can possibly be, but I have experienced ‘some’ eBayer’s who still buy / win 2 or more items then try to negotiate postage costs after, when every one of my listings state per listing P&H clearly.  I would honestly rather be “upfront” now than both parties experiencing problems later on – Thank you for your understanding!!!

If you are paying by PayPal please wait for me to send an amended invoice as an extra $3.50 will be added for registered post – I will only send items paid by PayPal registered, as the can be tracked through the postal system.
Bank deposit is my preferred payment method and does not incur the extra $3.50 unless you require registered post but I will not be held responsible for any items lost in the post that are not registered . . . “

In the listing all these conditions above were written in large red underlined, capital letters.  It was very hard to read so I have altered the text just to make it more readable for you – and also I’ve fixed a few spelling and grammer errors for clarity.

This whole auction listing made me think of the etiquette of chat rooms and instant messengers where capital letters are classed as ‘yelling’.  This combined with the bold red text and everything underlined made it feel even more aggressive than I’m sure seller intended it to be.

Let me explain why I think these conditions are unreasonable:-

• The flat rate cost of $13.00 is excessive to start with.  To send the parcel from this auction anywhere in Australia by a 3kg ‘pre-paid’ Parcel Post Satchel would be $9.90.  These satchels are 405mm x 310mm in size and the item the seller had up for auction would most certainly have fit in it.  The $9.90 covers the cost of the the postage as well as the satchel, so there are not extra packaging materials needed at all.
• I do not believe you should charge for your “time, travel and petrol etc” as the seller states they require.  All of this SHOULD be integrated into your starting bid or ‘buy it now’ price.  Yes, I agree it is attractive to start your bidding at $0.99 as it generates interest, but DO NOT do this if you are not perfectly happy to sell the item for that price.  The eBay listing fee for an item starting at $0.99 is only $0.30, but if you start the bidding anywhere between $1.00 and $19.99 the listing fee is only $0.50, only $0.20 extra to start the bidding at the minimum price you are happy to sell for.  Also your postage costs are not allowed to ‘bump up’ your profit margin.
• They will not combine postage.  So if you purchased two similar items from them the postage would be $26.00.  A combined postage on two of the items in this auction would only be about $14.00 (a rough estimate of sizes and weights and using the Australia Post parcel calculator).  With this method they may then have had a reason to add $1 or $2 for additional packaging materials but certainly not double the already excessive costs.
• They are charging an extra $3.50 if you pay by PayPal.  Yes, there are fees involved when a buyer pays you by PayPal but the ending price of your listing would have to be quite large for PayPal to charge anywhere near $3.50.  The following eBay help page:- http://onlineauctionresources.com/go/PayPalPolicies/ outlines in the first two paragraphs that you are not to penalise, or discourage, people for using this service.
• They insist on registering the parcel if you pay by PayPal.  What a waste of time! PayPal already includes insurance for the item.  I believe you can only suggest to people to register the item as a safety precaution, you certainly can not insist on it.  And, you should not only offer it if the payment is made by PayPal, it should encompass ALL forms of payment.

Not surprisingly this seller’s DSR scores for postage costs are only 4.1.  At that rate they would never qualify for many of the financial benefits that will come if and when the Top Rated Seller program comes to Australia (currently operating in the USA).

Your buyer may want the item you are selling just enough to put up with these conditions.  But you as a seller, need to look at the bigger picture.  Whether you are selling items as a business or selling some ‘stuff’ in your house you are trying to:-
a) earn money from the sale of items.
b) build a positive eBay feedback score which is your online reputation as an eBay member.
c) if you are doing this as a business you need to keep your DSR’s as high as possible. 4.1 out of 5 is 82% satisfaction, sounds like a great score??  But it is not good at all in terms of DSR’s.

Follow the link to read more about eBay’s Postage & Handling policies:-  http://onlineauctionresources.com/go/eBayPostageAndHandlingPolicy/.

Click here for more articles about posting items you sell on eBay.

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