James Ray & The Longfolk Postage Rip-off

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hallucienate
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clicky
£2.99 Royal Mail 1st Class Standard
FREE Collection in Person
£5.50 Royal Mail Special Delivery
£6.95 Royal Mail Airmail
I want to get the disk but refuse to be ripped off with those postage costs.
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markfiend
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I know for a fact that sending a CD from the UK to South Africa doesn't cost anywhere near three quid. :| IIRC it was about a pound for Airmail.
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hallucienate
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markfiend wrote:I know for a fact that sending a CD from the UK to South Africa doesn't cost anywhere near three quid. :| IIRC it was about a pound for Airmail.
Yup, but it's the same price to send it to SA as to Europe :eek:
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hallucienate
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and the first three prices listed are for the UK.
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Quiff Boy
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so who's anna24420?
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hallucienate
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Quiff Boy wrote:so who's anna24420?
Dunno, but Speedy D posted the link on Dominion...
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Scardwel
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Not a rip-off IMHO, just a way of getting around the Ebay "final value" fee.
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markfiend
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Then they shouldn't put it in as P&P. I wish e-Bayers would be honest about postage costs and just stick on a slightly higher starting price / buy it now price to make up the difference.

I'm with Lucien on this. It's a blatant rip-off.
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warbs
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markfiend wrote:Then they shouldn't put it in as P&P. I wish e-Bayers would be honest about postage costs
Surely postage costs would be P, not P&P ?
markfiend wrote:and just stick on a slightly higher starting price / buy it now price to make up the difference.

I'm with Lucien on this. It's a blatant rip-off.
Perhaps the seller

1. doesn't live next door to a post office
2. uses suitable/specialist packaging
3. has a job, making visiting a post office awkward.

It says quite clearly that collection is free, if the buyers time is worthless as you seem to think the sellers is, then they'll have no problem making the journey to collect it :)

Chris

PS. I've no connection with the seller.
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Obviousman
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warbs wrote:Perhaps the seller

1. doesn't live next door to a post office
2. uses suitable/specialist packaging
3. has a job, making visiting a post office awkward.

It says quite clearly that collection is free, if the buyers time is worthless as you seem to think the sellers is, then they'll have no problem making the journey to collect it :)

Chris

PS. I've no connection with the seller.
Come on, all of us do an effort every other day to trade and weed. We send out stuff across the planet in solid packaging which costs us money but we don't bother.
If you don't have the time to put stuff on the mail, you just inform the buyer...

Of course that sell is not done in a weeding or trading community, but I think it just has to be general courtesy to be honest about what you pay, most people would not mind too much as long as the seller would tell correct prices.
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warbs
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Obviousman wrote: Come on, all of us do an effort every other day to trade and weed.
<snip>
Of course that sell is not done in a weeding or trading community
<snip>
I think that's the point. Items aren't auctioned because the seller want's to spread joy, they want to make money. This takes time and time is a commodity with value.

No matter how much Ebay Corporation attempts to condition us that it's a community, it's not. :)

Chris
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eastmidswhizzkid
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warbs wrote:Surely postage costs would be P, not P&P ?
P&P stands for postage and packing -same difference.
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Obviousman
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warbs wrote:
Obviousman wrote: Come on, all of us do an effort every other day to trade and weed.
<snip>
Of course that sell is not done in a weeding or trading community
<snip>
I think that's the point. Items aren't auctioned because the seller want's to spread joy, they want to make money. This takes time and time is a commodity with value.

No matter how much Ebay Corporation attempts to condition us that it's a community, it's not. :)

Chris
Very true...

Still I think it's plain stupid... If you've only got the slightest bit of commercial instict you might consider people rather get honest prices instead of triple postage costs
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warbs
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eastmidswhizzkid wrote:
warbs wrote:Surely postage costs would be P, not P&P ?
P&P stands for postage and packing -same difference.
Postage AND Packing.

The point I'm trying to make is that packing implies a cost additional to the postage. This additional cost covers materials and time, it's not just the cost of the stamps.

Let me break it down:
The advert quotes 2.99 P&P.
A packed CD is going to cost about £1 in postage.
That leaves about £2 to cover packing.
Let's say the materials cost 50p.

That leaves £1.50 to cover the time to pack it and the time & mechanics to get it in the post.

Using £5 per hour minimum wage, £1.50 gives you about 20 minutes to achieve this.

If it takes you 5 minutes to pack it, that leaves around 5 minutes to get to a post office, 5 minutes to queue and pay, and then 5 minutes to get home again.

I just don't see £2.99 is excessive for all of this. In fact on reflection it seems like a bargain!

Chris
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Obviousman
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Numbercruncher :lol:

But as stated before, the rates are the same to South Africa as to the European Union, whereas there is most probably (not completely familiar with the rates on the island) quite a difference in prices right?

It's not the UK postage, above all it's the abroad postage :wink:
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smiscandlon
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A CD (with jewel case) in a decent padded envelope weighs a maximum of about 150g.

Airmail Small Packet rate on that weight from UK to (for example) South Africa is £1.94.

If he's charging £6.95 for Airmail P&P that must be some mighty pretty packaging.
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Quiff Boy wrote:so who's anna24420?
at a guess, backing vocals :wink:

hope the postage issue gets sorted, because it's a great bit of work and deserves to get listened to
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Andrew S
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The UK/Worldwide price difference is taking the p*ss somewhat and I don't see the need for it. But the CD itself it bloody good and definitely worth more than 99p. Perhaps they could have attracted more bids had the starting price had been a bit higher and the P8P more acceptable to overseas bidders.
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hallucienate
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Andrew S wrote:Perhaps they could have attracted more bids had the starting price had been a bit higher and the P8P more acceptable to overseas bidders.
Bingo!

Anyway, it looks like I sorted out a copy (autographed too :) ) via one of the excellent members of this lovely forum. 8)
Last edited by hallucienate on 27 Oct 2005, 07:54, edited 1 time in total.
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Ozpat
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hallucienate wrote:
Andrew S wrote:Perhaps they could have attracted more bids had the starting price had been a bit higher and the P8P more acceptable to overseas bidders.
Bingo!

Anyway, it looks like I sorted out a copy (autographed too :) ) via one of excellent members of this lovely forum. 8)
Lucky you!!!
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markfiend
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Andrew S wrote:Perhaps they could have attracted more bids had the starting price had been a bit higher and the P8P more acceptable to overseas bidders.
Indeed. That's what I was trying to say.
warbs wrote:Perhaps the seller

1. doesn't live next door to a post office
2. uses suitable/specialist packaging
3. has a job, making visiting a post office awkward.

It says quite clearly that collection is free, if the buyers time is worthless as you seem to think the sellers is, then they'll have no problem making the journey to collect it
Very nice. No need to be patronising. The point I was trying to make is that it would make more commercial sense (in my opinion) for postage and packing rates to be honest.

If a seller wants compensation for their time, they should increase the amount for which they sell an item, rather than artificially inflating the P&P charges.
The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.
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MrChris
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[/quote] The point I was trying to make is that it would make more commercial sense (in my opinion) for postage and packing rates to be honest.

If a seller wants compensation for their time, they should increase the amount for which they sell an item, rather than artificially inflating the P&P charges.[/quote]

It would be nice if that were true, but 'commercial sense' might just as well inform us that there's a quick buck to be had from eejits who don't check the p&p prices, and that these aforementioned eejits probably outweigh those who will refuse to buy on principle. I'm not just casting random aspersions here - it took me a while to get used to checking p&p prices, and it's only rarely I've rejected a buy on that basis... In a world of corner shops 'commercial sense' demands honesty and good service. In the world of Ebay, 'commercial sense' is premised on the idea that there's another eejit around every corner :|
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markfiend
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Aye, see your point there. And it's not just on eBay where there's big bucks to be made from people not reading the small print. :|
The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.
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Norman Hunter
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And I thought my topics dragged on... :roll:
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ruffers
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Item price + p&p is the total price I pay. I don't care if it's 90% postage, it's the total that counts.

It's not about anyone getting compensation for their time or trying to rip people off on postage or any of that, it's about if a buyer is prepared to pay that total or not. Simple really.
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