eBays price-cap on p&p charges for high-value items.

Not only are books heavy, and frequently exceed the new maximum p&p charges allowable by eBay, sometimes thay are also valuable. To send a normal- sized book, weighing around 800g packed, with a value of £150, costs a minimum of £6.40, without any charge at all for packaging. eBay's maximum allowable charge for this is £4.50. For £4.50 you cannot get an item over a certain weight/value tracked, rendering Paypal's guarantee of compensation invalid. eBay's advice? Either list under bulky items (!), absorb the extra cost yourself, or give the buyer the option of buying without insurance. A further alternative is to add the extra cost onto your starting price.

• Listing a perfectly ordinary, 6 x 4" book as a bulky item is inaccurate, confusing to bidders and frankly ridiculous.
  
• I regularly make no charge for packaging, to keep p&p costs as attractive as possible. Therefore I am already absorbing part of the cost, and see no reason to be forced to absorb more.
• If a buyer, to save £2, opts to have a valuable item sent to them without insurance or tracking, and it gets lost in the post, the seller is responsible. I am not going to risk having to repay a large sum for non-arrival of uninsured goods.
• Adding the extra cost to your starting / final price makes your item look less attractive to bidders, and also increases the amount that eBay claw back through their fees. The seller loses out again. Nonetheless, this is what I have been forced to do.

This problem doesn't just apply to selling books, although because of their weight they are particularly likely to fall foul of the new price-cap, but any high-value item. We are not profiteering by charging the correct postage, and high-value items need to be exempted from these one-size-fits -all charge.

Sellers who are having this problem please - contact eBay by phone, email or both. Tell them we need an exemption. Thanks for listening,
williambiggles