Postage and Packing (P&P) charges. : eBay Guides

Hello, thank you for reading this guide, much appreciated.

The P&P charges on eBay have long since been a point of discussion for both buyers and sellers here on eBay.

An example from one of my listings:

P&P charge £2:85, made up as follows: Actual postage £2:14, box (new) £0:24, VAT £0:35, labels/bubble wrap/invoices etc £0:03, TOTAL: £2:76p an excess of £0:09p. Within that £0:09p we have to pay our full time packer, and take the sacks to the local sorting office. Some sellers (mainly private) do not have to give the VAT man the £0:35 but may possibly pay more for their boxes/labels etc.

A buyer on first glance would presume total postage charged £2:85, actual postage £2:14, therefore profit made by seller £0:71, WHERE IN FACT THERE IS NO PROFIT ELEMENT AT ALL.

It is really difficult to gauge the exact amount of postage to add to the listing before uploading the information, as often the items vary in weight and also a buyer may purchase more than one item of different weights, therefore making the whole process more difficult to be exact.

Please check the listings carefully before you buy as all good sellers put as much information about their charges for P&P on the listing.

Any seller not listing their charges UPFRONT should be contacted by the buyer before they bid to verify the charges relevant to any purchase.

Please consider the above information before leaving either feedback or rating the DSR's (star charts) in relation to postage costs.

Thank you