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P+P rip off charges?  Nobody wants to see them and, since last autumn, <the edition> has introduced a fair share post policy which sees many freepost books and all others with subsidised domestic p+p.   But now eBay has got in on the act, and in such a clumsy fashion that it threatens to throw the good venders out with the dishwater. 

eBay's policy review means a flat £2.75 cap on domestic postage except for some 'courier' services for heavy items (which eBay promises to watch) and a £4.50 flat cap for antiquarian books some of which may be valued at several thousand pounds but which will not be able to reflect this in the shipping charge.  It is the clumsiest way of dealing with postal rip-off imaginable.

Putting a cap on postal prices for books is not the solution to rip off p+p charges.  Honest sellers will now have to think twice about selling either heavy or rare books (the latter because postage services that protect the full value of the book will fall outside the cap).

eBay has told me that venders  should absorb the shortfall, and stick the price of the book up.  But how is that playing fair to consumers?  All the vender is doing is balancing one charge against another.   But eBay would say that ... it gets a bigger slice of the selling price for absolutely no added value.  Can eBay be serious about the message it is sending? -- is it trying to kurb unfair p+p practices ... or make more profit? 

Booksellers are encouraged to go the 'courier - heavy' route, but eBay has told me they will lose international visibility.  They will not be able to include international tariffs on their listings and this will effectively rob them of international site visibility.  I can't work out if that is an eBay punishment, oversight, or plain-and-simple short-sightedness.

This entire unhappy affair can only result in bad news for reader and vender alike.  There is bound to be a loss of quality and variety of books for sale on eBay as, either venders migrate to more book-oriented venues, or they use eBay to list only b-grade paperback stock, saving their good stuff for venues that don't penalise them.  If this happens the gradual erosion of quality stock will be accompanied by a gradual erosion of book-buying customers.

eBay, if it is serious about preventing p+p rip off, should have started at the cheap end where the practice is far more prevalent.  As it is, a lot of very slim paperbacks will be flying out at a very reasonable 99 pence but with a very unreasonable £2.75 post tag.  At <the edition> books below the weight of 200g unpacked, and which fall under the domestic tarrif 'large letter', are sent out without p+p charge.  All other books are already subsidised for domestic post, including books that require higher insurance.  What a shame eBay didn't consult its honest book venders before such a clumsy and damaging policy was rolled out.

Happy Reading,

dene october