The_Gent

An eBay regular, I always thought this was a way of getting things (including fishing gear etc) cheaper than you would buy in the shops.

I bought a 100m spool of Maxima for 99p. Great deal I thought. Until I noticed that the P&P was £1.50, thuis bumping it up to £2.49, and a five-day wait to get it.

I emailed the seller and asked why a single brown envelope and a second class stamp would cost £1.50. This is the reply I got.......

Dear XXXXXXXXX,

Hi
It is the total price you have to look at, I sell maxima usually for £1.99 and £1.50 postage so it is £3.50 a spool or i could do it £3.50 with free delivery. I tell my customers to look at the total price. I have to do it this way to keep my costs to a minimum so i can offer better deals on the overall price.
Thanks
XXXXXXXXXX

Ok, I still got it cheaper than my local tackle dealer, but what the hell is the point of this idiot using eBay ?

Brian G

simple answer, there is a sellers fee to be paid on both the starting price and the final selling price, there is no premium against the postage hence the high rate of postage charge.

__________________

The_Gent

And this is a non-angling post Brian ?

Tell you what mate, I have a brand new car. Yours for £5, but the shipping's £8,999

jethro

seems to me Mr G's reasonable answer to your question caused offence.

..Jethro..

jeff

Spot on Brian, our kid sells loads of stuff cheap on EBay, for pennies but his postage is high, tells me some punters don't look at the postage until they have commited to buy, to late then.

__________________
Two's company, three's
the Musketeers.

compleat tangler

i use e bay extensively for both buying and selling and find it an excellent service. of course you should note postage costs as the buyer you have to cover these but i have seen cases where people dont do their homework and end up paying more than if they popped to the local tackle shop.

__________________
the carrot bites back
ooh you are awful!!

justin case

But surely if the overall price is cheaper than you can buy elsewhere everyone is happy.

I buy lots of stuff from ebay but im alert to postage costs and check thoroughly

__________________
Life at the bottom A noobs guide (My Blog, Paul Law)

D N W

It doesn't take a genius to work out that all that matters is the overall cost. If i was buying a rod and the shop price was £100, on e-bay the postage was £20 and cost £50 overall £70 who cares what the postage really cost as long as the rod is cheaper. Doing it this way the seller is saving money with e-bay and good on him.

__________________
Steve Davies