Postage Stamp Chat Board & Stamp Bulletin Board Forum
 

The other day I bought a shoebox of covers on eBay -- GBP 4 + GBP 4.50 P&P.

But the vendor had to pay GBP 8.80 to send it! Guess he miscalculated.

Which got me thinking -- a lot of people sell junk lots which start (and end) at GBP 0.99 plus P&P, and these days usually all of that P&P goes to Royal Mail, its charges are so high.

So why do they bother? Good business for RM and eBay, but not for anyone else...

Steevh , Interesting point about postage costs.

For small single stamp / cover lots at 0.99p I ask 80p postage which means after fees to ebay & paypal I only get between 75-83p

(Not economic as an income but ok as a fun hobby ).

But what to do in a situation as you describe when listed item ( It may have been around previously unsold ) suddenly has to be sent overseas and the quoted postage costs turn out to be more than quoted?

I have had this happen a couple of times recently with a large flimsy item ( A sheet of stamps) which needed a firm stiffener that nudged it into a higher postage bracket . Maybe only a few pence more than charged but annoying none the less. I sent it as charged .

what to do if it is substantially more ?

1. Grin and bear it-----------honour the contract.?

2. If the buyer has not yet paid increase the charges on the invoice and hope that he has not checked what you quoted ?

3. Ask for more postage in the hope the buyer will agree?

4 Decline to send, withdraw the item as "no longer available", cancel the transaction ?

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whatever it is -------it's better than a poke in eye with a wet umbrella !

The shoebox was sent from a UK address to another UK address. So I don't know why the seller screwed up. Also he used a sticky label, not recycled stamps.

But if you make a contract, you should surely honour it. Just be more careful in future.

And also maybe not bother selling junk!

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whatever it is -------it's better than a poke in eye with a wet umbrella !

Well you bought it!

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Greg - Looking for Goulburn Australia Cancels and Grangemouth Scotland Cancels and Covers
Member of the S.T.A.M.P Club for Slightly Twisted And Mad Philatelists - Motto: "Bring back the lick!"

Some people make a good living selling low priced crud on Ebay, much to the bane of most of us who get fed up with having to sort through pages of one cent Ebay listings of stamps worth two cents each, but as they say 'One man's trash is another man's treasure'.

D.

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Visit my Website - http://WWW.DJMSTAMPS.COM for Australia & World Stamps, Collections and Accessories

Why bother?

Because something you only want $10 for may often sell for $50 if you attract a few bidders.

The postage issue you describe is just seller stupidity. They are losing money in every direction.

So you have paid 8.50 all up for something that cost him 8.80 to mail.

Now minus out the 15% eBay take and the 10% paypal take, and a bit for the sellers time, and his internet and power costs, petrol to go to the PO ... oh and then you need to consider what the stamps cost him in the first place.

He should have calculated the postage and packaging costs better. He'll either learn that, or continue to lose money on every sale.

Great business model.

Folks who lose money on shipping (and get changed PayPal fees on that loss as well) are totally clueless rank amateurs.

And they would last a month (tops) if they had to run a real business.

Rejoice in their existence. They will not be around for long.

The example I quoted wasn't the best. Someone might have bid GBP 10+ on a shoebox of covers...

But it was what got me thinking.

There are a lot of lots where the item is 99p, plus GBP 6 P&P or whatever. Clearly a lot of crap that no one but an idiot would bid on past 99p.

Of course, maybe some of these sellers are using the P&P as their money-making strategy, as they are re-cycling unfranked.

Or are there just so many idiots out there who are happy to make money for Royal Mail?

Yes!

Glen's post above made me smile, and is 100% true.

If you aren't looking to make money then it's fine, but as a seller surely they would at least want to be making a small profit?

With the PayPal, eBay and postage fees they are paying, I hope they aren't making losses like this on every lot as they will be broke soon.

Why sell junk lots? Well to get rid of them of course!


As a collector of nearly 60 years I have piles of stuff I don't want. I also have had the enormous estate of a late friend to dispose of, plus a number of smaller accumulations bought in to get me bits for my own collections.

I now need to shift stuff ----------I do not want to leave a huge mess for my widow to clear when my time runs out !

1. Delcampe simply doesn't work for me.Of 50-60 lots listed I've only managed to sell half a dozen.

2. Stampboarders haven't bought any of the items I've tried , the minimum $10 can involve a lot of scans & then needs too much "photobucket" time to be worth the effort .

3.Every month ebay allows me 100 free lots at 0.99p. The items I list are not " crap".( to quote Steevh) .
Maybe a single FDC, 100 stamps from an obscure country, a mint set cat £3, the odd duplicate or two at 20% catalogue.

To bad DJM that you "Get fed up" sifting through " low priced Crud" the " Bane " of your life .
(By the way I don't see a lot of 1cent items when I search ebay as a buyer? 99p is much more the benchmark starter on the UK site. ) Remember there are still some ordinary collectors out there.

I have a huge volume of GB Mint stamps( legit & full gum!-- not recycled) bought in or acquired at 80% of face or less and as I charge 0.80p P&p for UK items ( which costs me in effect 48p against the going 1st class rate of 60p) the paypal fee and the ebay commission are partly absorbed.

I am in profit , and every so often one of the 0.99p will take off and fly !

I do not "make a living", retired , my time costs me nothing, but ebay pays for my holidays .

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whatever it is -------it's better than a poke in eye with a wet umbrella !

Agreed, unless of course someone else pays for their postage (maybe unknowingly) - like their boss for instance!

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Modern Fiji overprints : Proper old fashioned philately
A fascinating collecting field

This is a key point. Anybody with brain enough to pour pee out of a boot should be able to get legitimate postage for well under face value, charge the correct amount for postage and packing and make a bit of extra profit.

Another point, I believe not yet mentioned is that "stuff laying around the house" is all sunk costs. It was acquired maybe 10 years ago, maybe less, maybe more. The initial cost, if any, is irrelevant. So even 99 cents (less fees) can be profit and there is less "stuff laying around the house"

If you are retired (or semi retired) it is a good way to make a bit of pocket change, as unlike somebody who needs to buy and sell to put food on the table and pay the Mortgage, the "time is money" factor does not come into the equation.

However (there is always a however) when I start selling my duplicates and my "stuff I don't collect" late next year, I will be more than tempted to just send a couple of hundred Kilo's of stuff off to Glen, and accept that I won't get anything near as much as if I were to start selling myself, either here or on eBay.

But then I don't have to do any of the work except pack it all up and ship it off in about 10 large cartons, rather than try to sell one album/stocksheet/stamp at a time. This strikes me as a good thing, not a bad thing.

Norm

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Geelong, VFA Premiers 1878, 1879, 1800, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1886, AFL Premiers 1925, 1931, 1937, 1951, 1952, 1963, 2007, 2009, 2011, .

Am I right in thinking that Ebay cap the set rates of postage for certain items in order to prevent abuse, in which case maybe the £4 odd postage is all they could ask for. I have been charged Stupid amounts, item arrives, postage cost 1/3 what I paid and is only wrapped in a single sheet of brown paper if a parcel,or envelope.

Not sure whether postage is capped or not. I'm sure I have had occasional packages costing more than £4 to send . Registered is certainly allowed in UK and costs £5 extra .

Anyway you can advise the buyer and there is the opportunity to agree to add a surcharge to an invoice . I have done this where a buyer has bought from me both on the US and UK sites in different currencies . the $ were converted to £ and we agreed a surcharge of £22!

Charging 3 times the postage cost is fraud and deserves negative feedback! ! But you should query with seller before paying in the first instance.

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whatever it is -------it's better than a poke in eye with a wet umbrella !

Any opinion on whether this is the substituted cliche? - ebay item 380457477788. I am thinking of placing a bid but need a second opinoin.Also looks faded to me.