eBay postage costs - are they genuine?

[OzGadget]

Before I begin, apologies if this is a rehash of another person's view that has already been posted.

A couple of background things as well. I am in Australia, postage to my country is not cheap for items from the US, Europe or Asia. Also, being in Australia, sites such as Amazon do not directly ship to my country, so I am keeping this to being about eBay, which I have experience with. One last thing, any monitory values are $AUS, this is worth 90 cents to the $1US, to keep it simple, I will say it is the same.

So I begin....

I have just received a parcel from the United States containing Lego set 40079. I purchased it from eBay, received it in just over a week. The item cost me $10 to send it to Australia. Great transaction. What has become apparent (using this set as a guide) when checking eBay for this item, the postage costs for an international buyer ranged from (besides free) $10 to $65. I am aware that sellers are offering 'Priority Express Mailing" however as a potential buyer, when the cost of postage EXCEEDS the purchase price of the item, I am curious and cautious of the listing.

I am not going to paint these sellers in a bad light, I wonder why they would use a service that charges so much for delivery. What there should be is a reference to the delivery organisation so that the potential buyer can check the costings. It is understood that the seller may not have a choice of the cost of postage or even the choice of delivery organisation but it may cost them a sale if it costs more to post than to purchase. It has been a good thing that sellers are able to put up an approximate delivery timeframe and the use of tracking has been wonderful.

I have purchased a number of items from overseas via eBay and on the whole, the postage costs have been reasonable. The most I have paid would be approx $30 for a disassembled Lego 8421 set from the US. I have purchased items from Germany & The British Isles without exorbitant postage costs, these being items shipped within shoebox sized packaging.

I am wondering if other members have had concerns on the postage costs on eBay? I know as the consumer, I can shop elsewhere (BrickLink does deliver to Australia, subject to the seller), but my choices are extremely limited.

[M4x18]

Last time I checked, eBay was directing all international shipments through a service (I don't remember the name) and the total costs included the s&**** costs and customs expenses. That could be one of the reasons why shipping costs for some eBay items are specially high.

 

In my case, as a Spanish post office user, we do have extremely high prices to start with. I sent last week a 2521 to Germany with the cheapest service available and a not-so-tight box and I had to fork out 40

[Guest TabbyBoy]

Even though eBay continue to rip us off with even charging a FVF on postage (we should all sign a petition about this), I weigh/measure every item and the postage quoted in my listings is exactly what it costs at the post office.  There's nothing worse than a buyer saying that they paid more than what the stamp or label states even though most are too stupid to realise that packing materials and the extra time doesn't grow on trees.  Just another cost to threaten investing even more.

 

I now list items as "5% discount for cash on collection".

[TheDarkness]

It can all change. As you would know with our postage in Australia, it can be ludicrous how much some places charge. Some stores may get discounts due to higher volume of parcels shipped, I know with Australia Post you have to send over 1000 a year to qualify for a business account which would in turn lead to cheaper postage fees. Others are people trying to flesh out their sales with some extra cash as some people still believe it is the best way to circumvent some of ebay's fees (not that you can anymore I don't believe). 

 

Bit of a jumbled response really, but there are a few factors in play

[M4x18]

I have to take some for the team from time to time when it comes to the mail. Most of the s&**** costs of my items are 15%-25% under the actual costs. Nobody outside Spain will pay 40