Popular Auction Sites

Wishing to buy an item on a "buy it now" basis on a popular auction site I noticed that the alternative to an eye watering p&p was to have it on a "collect" basis from a local branch of a well known catalogue shop. Opting for the "collect" choice, and going to checkout I then found that I was being charged the original p&p as well has lumbering myself with having to go into town to collect the item. In the past I have used the "collect" facility at no charge. Is this change something that has crept in across the board?

Mick

I live in Ireland and some vendors use the eBay's (let's not beat around the bush!) Global Shipping Programme which of course is an exorbitant cost. If the item is something I particularly want, I contact the vendor explaining the situation and the cost and ask if s/he will send by Royal Mail or courier at a reduced cost.

Quite often the vendor is not aware of the huge postage cost to me. If the seller is a small concern they usually go with my request. If not,I go elsewhere or forgo the purchase.

Dave
The Emerald Isle

Was the previous time a free postage item?

I would have expected to pay the P&P whether it was delivered to my home or to Argos, lets face it the seller still has to pack it up and pay to send to one of the two addresses.

Also worth remembering it is often more convinient for some people to collect from Argos at a time that suits them rather than having to stay in all day and possibly loose income waiting for a postie or courier in which case they would not be lumbered.

Edited By JasonB on 01/03/2017 12:47:55

I always chose the Argos option if available as the P&P always seems the same and if I miss the post which usually happens, its a 5 mile round trip to the PO site as opposed to a 200 yd walk.

John

Edited By Sandgrounder on 01/03/2017 13:07:12

You need to look at the listing. I just checked an item that clearly says "free P&P collect at argos and when I go to the details page it helpfully shows me the distance to my nearest several and a Sainsbury's. I guess that (commercial) supplier has an arrangement for bulk shipping or is intending to rip me off if I buy.
In fact a commercial operation selling new stuff might be using Argos as their warehouse. If I were Argos I would offer that service as I already have a full logistics set up running so it would be good business, provided I didn't let them sell competing products, as increased footfall might lead to extra sales for me.

I think there is a different problem I have seen on a very local buyitnow where there was simply no option in checkout for not paying the combination and while I wondered what to do the sale is not complete so someone else came in and paid full.

I think the way you have to do it is ask the seller to invoice you for the revised price when they will have to confess they are grabbing the postage too.

When I last tried to use the Argos Click and Collect option when selling on ebay, I found that the Collect part was still available, but the "ebay Drop Off" at Argos wasn't. So I had to send the parcel to the Argos the buyer wanted to collect from. As I usually use couriers, I had to find the phone number of that branch, which eventually involved having an on-line "conversation" with helpers at Argos call centre as phone numbers aren't on the Argos website.

No more Click and Collect for me thank you! Royal Mail would not of course need the phone number, but it would cost twice as much (at least).

.

So far as I am aware, ebay's standard arrangement is [was?] to offer the Argos collection alternative at whatever price the P&P option might be. ... So 'free postage' also gives free 'collect from Argos'.

BUT things may be 'evolving' as sellers learn to 'work the system'.

MichaelG.

I just wanted to buy 30 items from an ebay supplier ranging in unit price from 99p through to £2.25, listed as postage cost of £3.50 each. eBay helpfully suggested adding 30x£3.50 to the overall price to cover postage which of course is stupid! I contacted the supplier and he agreed to put the lot in a single package and post it for £5, much more sensible. eBay needs to get its act together I think if it is going to be useful for multiple purchases - even Amazon manages to put multiple books in the same box if ordered at the same time.

Thanks for the replies gents. As usual "caveat emptor" applies.

Mick

As an occasional eBay seller I find that setting the shipping price can be one of the more difficult and confusing aspects when placing a listing. It is often difficult if not impossible to have eBay automatically calculate the correct amount at checkout for all combinations offered e.g local, international, signed for, express post etc.

To get around this I place a prominent notice in the text of the listing giving the actual amounts I charge along with a request to the purchasers to please wait for an invoice from me before paying so that I can ensure that they are not charged an excessive amount for postage.

In your case, instead of paying immediately I would have contacted the seller who very likely didn't realise that eBay was calculating a p&p that was not intended.

Have your tried contacting the seller to ask for a refund for the postage?

Clive

Clive....I didn't follow through with the transaction when I twigged what was happening. As I said previously, the P&P was an eyewatering one and a half times the cost of the (very small) item. I think the majority of sellers are pretty fair and although I feel that I have been stitched up once or twice, the amounts involved were small and the matter not worth pursuing other than through feedback.

Mick

Paypal charge their fee on the postage as well as the auction price.

Of course the issue of excessive p&p charges is not limited to ebay, I wanted to buy 200 2mm dowel pins yesterday, tried one site and found that at checkout p&p was £9.95 for a lightweight package about the size or a tiny jiffy bag. Because I send loads of parcels I know that the actual postage cost would not be more than about a quid so what the hell does the other £9 represent? Found another site where the pins were not only significantly cheaper but p&p was £1.50, which is realistic. Over the years I have failed to complete dozens of online transactions as the p&p only becomes visible when checkout is reached, a few companies have emailed me to ask why and on being told their p&p charges were excessive a couple have dropped it to a more acceptable level but most don't respond.

I sell lots of stuff on ebay and only ever charge the actual postage cost, if I find it is cheaper than I calculated I do a refund, which is how it should be.

Edited By Gordon Brown 1 on 02/03/2017 13:27:59

I sell a fair bit on ebay and wondered why i never got any feedback on stuff i sold via 'global shipping programme' I wonder, now, if its the shipping cost the buyer has to pay. Never gave it a thought till this forum.

A new one on me today. Amazon selling LED torches for a couple of quid, postage included.

Ok, I'll have four then. Get to check-out, Postage is now £5. Reduce quantity to three, still a fiver postage, further reduction to two and Nil postage returns.

So I ordered two. Then I ordered two more. What a way to work!

Pete

Up here in North-east Scotland (the Aberdeen postcode area) we usually get ripped off by delivery charges on stuff advertised as "free delivery." The excuse is "You are in the Highlands and Islands, which is a remote area." Apart from poor geography (we are not in the Highlands and Islands), the extra charges are just an excuse to grab money. The only people to deliver on time at no extra cost are Royal Mail, who frequently manage next-day delivery from the south of England. Recently a supplier charged me extra because of the "Highlands and Islands" excuse, and the useless courier company took 10 days to deliver the dishwasher. They only managed it then because I'd had a shouting match with the supplier. Among other things I told them I was going to charge them for a personal injury - dishpan hands. This led to a blank silence - I think they'd had a sense of humour amputation!

We never touch the Global Shipping at all, typical EB rip off! We've only had 7 postage complaints in nearly 15,000 listings!

Martin

Mike -I share your anger, we are not far away from you. I had an order on the way and was following the delivery updates. Got an email from the supplier who wanted extra fees for postage, I explained that we are not in the Highlands and anyway the parcel was due for delivery that morning. I refused to pay extra and he said he would have the parcel returned . Finally got my money back ( paypal is good for this) ,posted a bad revue, but accurate. Ebay would not publish it, so the guy might still have a top rating. Now I think that the parcel was never sent ,a false tracking was set up, and he was trying to cover himself.