Solve the argument please !!! free postage or not

[bjs]

Hi Guys

Just wondering what you guys think of the free postage and should we give it or not .

Let me explain

Me and my partner are arguing over the free postage or not .

For a business selling items as buy it now what would you advise

the postage costs of my items are mostly £3.65 so i think just charge for example £29.95 with free postage

they think no sell for £26.95 and charge £3.00.

the reason for that is that it looks a lot cheaper than our competitor as they sell for £30 also with free postage but i think a lot of people myself included dont like to pay for postage . but i think more from a business sense than a consumer sense .

just wondering what other members thoughts are .

[bruceuk]

I offer free postage .
Stops them moaning about carriage charges and if your competitors are not offering free its another reason to buy from you .
Downside is you pay ebay fees on the postage doing it this way .
So good and bad points really and if you have to refund you have no choice but to refund carriage as well .
So in an ideal world carriage should be seperate but from a sales point of view not always doable.

[bjs]

i noticed that you save some money when it comes to adding the postage charge when ebay take there fee .

mostly all competitors do offer free postage and thats why mt partner thought go cheaper and add the postage as i would then look like i am £2 or £3 less than them .

you make good points tho but i know a lot of woman that dont even know if they pay postage or not on items they just look at price .

Also i must say i dont understand why free postage was ever given in the first place . its not free postage its included in the price and with what royal mail charge these days i think it has to be made aware that we get ripped of in this country for posting any item . customers dont realise the costings involved in selling items online

just my thoughts .

[derbydave]

free postage looks better as people will think they're getting something for free (which they're not). you'll save a few pence on ebay fees if you charge people P&P, but that doesn't stop PP taking their cut.

[bjs]

very true dave .

do you think people really care about postage or just see a price and realise its cheaper and buy from them . it a matter of opinions i know and everyone says free postage is better but for example if you see 2 listing like this

buy it now £26.95 postage £3.00
OR
buy it now £29.95 free postage

i always think the £26.95 stands out cause it looks like a big saving .

[rsot]

If you can make decent profit with free postage - go for it

[mcmx]

^^^ rsot that's not quite what's going on if you read the post. They're not actually giving it for "free".



Anyway, I say offer it for "free". If you do, by default you get a 5 star DSR for shipping charges when they go to leave feedback. And like that other guy just said, they think they're getting something for free when they aren't.

Personally, I don't care about the cost of shipping. If you have a competitor, and I'm a buyer, I'm going to buy from the seller with the lowest TOTAL price.

[club1010]

Free postage is what buyers are generally looking for so if anyone offers free postage then there's every probability that they will sell a little more.

[slim jim]

Why not setup your auctions both ways?

[NoneOther]

Originally Posted by bjs

Hi Guys

Just wondering what you guys think of the free postage and should we give it or not .

Let me explain

Me and my partner are arguing over the free postage or not .

For a business selling items as buy it now what would you advise

the postage costs of my items are mostly £3.65 so i think just charge for example £29.95 with free postage

they think no sell for £26.95 and charge £3.00.

the reason for that is that it looks a lot cheaper than our competitor as they sell for £30 also with free postage but i think a lot of people myself included dont like to pay for postage . but i think more from a business sense than a consumer sense .

just wondering what other members thoughts are .

In 10 years on e/b I have never offered free P&P

I charge a reasonable amount that is not over the odds and very rarely do I ever get lows DSR's for postal charges.

In the main a buyers perception of good service is as an overall experience not one isolated aspect of the transaction.

The key is getting the stuff to them quickly and safely, not whether they are getting something free or not.

They all know they are paying for the postage cost somewhere in the deal.

[bjs]

Thats what i think mcmx but again not everyone thinks this way and i know that .

i dont want to comlicate things too much slim jim but good point .

cant do that just now due to selling limits anyway . i would rather just stick to the one format for all listings .

its just killer for uk postage at £3.65 for most of my items . seems to be the free postage is the better offer as thats what everyone is saying .

this will cause another cause im right and they are wrong lol

[bruceuk]

If you open an account with royal mail and send 20 - 30 items a day it can be done for under £3.00 each on a signed for basis .
check website for business customers .
It gives you the option to do 2 - 3 day signed for service which is the one i use as cheaper .
And as your doing free delivery as long as you tell them its a 2 to 3 day service your fine.
Then you can also give them the option to pay extra fee for quicker service and make a little profit on that fee as it doesnt cost much more to you.

[bjs]

i will maybe look at doing that in the future bruce when my limits are lifted and im up and running a bit more .

will start another thread nearer the time to see what the options are for postage .

i just think royal mail rip us off and the customers we sell to really dont appreciate the aspects of free postage and how much it costs when it comes to shipping a small parcel .

[arpichelago]

Offer free postage. AND have a better price than your competitor. Only way to do it.

[Declined]

I always offered free postage, but the postage was always blended with the price

[ripcitytix]

I am a huge fan of hiding postage cost it the value of the item, some buyers are attracted to the free shipping method.

[DoubleA]

the postage costs of my items are mostly £3.65 so i think just charge for example £29.95 with free postage

FREE SHIPPING, Gets The Buyers

[dallasreed]

Do the free postage, include the cost in the item price. There is really no such thing as free postage, someone has to pay it

[Gamefreak]

FREE postage, you supposedly get better search ranking if you do and 1 guarantee 5 star DSR.

[imjustme]

It's a double edged sword. Offering free shipping will obviously make the items more expensive. If you sell for $30 and your competitor for $25 (with $5 shipping), he might sell more even though yours is ranked higher. Though after he might get unpaid items because people are 'surprised' by the shipping fees.

I charge about $2-3 for shipping and sometimes get people complaining that they have to pay for shipping. What do they think? The post office let's me send free of charge or what?

If you charge for shipping and buyers want a discount on combined shipping, you still end up paying eBay fees for the full shipping amount, so you might lose money there.

[bjs]

a lot of good points from people and i think the argument is solved . be cheaper and have free postsage if possible .

an to imjustme . i know customers think everyone should offer free postage beacuse all the big companies now do it and they really dont understand the costs involved .

[slim jim]

As a buyer i might buy something listed with free shipping because if I need to return something I do not have to argue about getting my original shipping charges back