Blue Cavern

With all the talk about over charging on shipping lately, I just wondered what your opinions are. What would a reasonable handling charge be to charge people on ebay?

Let's say the item requiers extra packing material that you had to go out and buy, would it be fair to charge that as a handleing charge or make the starting bid higher from the start? With selling some of my glasswares in the past I have charged about 50 cents on top of shipping charges to cover the bubble wrap I bought.
Seeing how people are now charging whatever they think the auction should have gone for as a handling charge, I just wondered what you smurfers thought was fair??


gerda

Hi Gerda, I would think it reasonable to add any packaging charges to the shipping costs, I tend to include the costs of a new padded envelope in the shipping charge.

I suppose it might be slightly different if you are selling expensive, fragile items that might need a lot of expensive packaging eg. special box etc. in that case it might be better to start the item at a higher start price but at least for regular smurfs, packaging shouldn't be too costly.

There is nothing worse than an item turning up in a re-used envelope or wrapped in a cereal box with a first class stamp on it (32p) and you have paid £2.50 for postage & packing.

Well as a buyer I am quite happy to pay and extra $1 or $2 to cover the packaging....when it starts getting up over $5 or so I get annoyed.....especially if its wrapped in newspaper and a recycled box.

Well as a buyer I am quite happy to pay and extra $1 or $2 to cover the packaging....when it starts getting up over $5 or so I get annoyed.....especially if its wrapped in newspaper and a recycled box.

I agree with Linda here.

I don't mind paying for packaging especially with glassware or delicate items. I am more annoyed paying 3-4 times the amount for smurf figures when they are being sent in re-used envelopes and quite often with no bubble wrap.

Personally I don't charge any handling fees as I have so many re-useable envelopes and boxes and also bubble wrap scraps that I am glad to get rid of them when I sell things. The only expense I have is sticky tape really which doesn't bother me as I make enough profit from selling that would easily cover that expense. I suppose if I didn't have spare re-useable stuff to use then I would be charging for packaging.

Dyar

I think $1 or $2 is a reasonable handling fee but anything over that should be incorporated into the starting bid - ie. ebay fees, paypal fees, etc. That shouldn't be thrown on top after the auction ends cheaper than the seller is willing to accept!