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Handling fee / paypal fees/

LegoWeLoveLegoWeLove
in Everything Else Vote Up2Vote Down
Hi guys just wanted to ask if BO can add the option to add a handling fee and packaging costs - like BL - to cover packaging and time spent processing orders - and to cover paypal fees ? Theres people on here who chare like 0.88p for 2nd class LL and I cant see how they cover there costs at that price - I don't want to make my shipping so expensive but if you spend 3 hrs packaging things up then at min wage one should be getting around £8 an hr - just saying!

Comments

  • 18 Comments sorted by Votes Date Added
  • HoddieHoddie
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    Business costs should be factored into your pricing, not added at the end. It's also illegal to pass on PayPal fees in the UK.
  • LegoWeLoveLegoWeLove
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    business costs no doubt include them and if that is so how come BL offer the option to add a payment transaction fee onto shipping either when paying via paypal or stripe
  • HoddieHoddie
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    Payment transaction fees are legal in many countries. But the UK is one country where they aren't.

    BL's way of doing things allows some sellers to openly flout local laws. But that doesn't mean we should allow them to do the same here.

    In a way, BL allows an uneven playing field where disreputable sellers are able to secure additional sales by breaking laws and/or manipulating the listings pages.

    That is much, much harder to do on BO.
  • White Horse BricksWhite Horse Bricks
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    Hoddie, I'm pretty certain that's not the case. You certainly can't charge more for PayPal than other payment methods, and I'm pretty sure PayPal charges are against their UK TOS.
  • leopard37leopard37
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    I believe it is how you phrase it. If you charge a handling fee to everyone, no a percentage based on their order it is perfectly legal. However if you are charging different amounts for different payment methods, that is illegal in certain locations. I do believe that you two are agreeing with each other.

    Tyson.
  • HoddieHoddie
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    @White Horse Bricks - you're agreeing with me :) Guess you mis-read what I posted.
  • White Horse BricksWhite Horse Bricks
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    Oops, looks like it :#
  • BrickologistBrickologist
    edited May 2020 Vote Up0Vote Down
    The key thing here is don't expect to be making even minimum wage unless you are going to go all-out and treat this as a real serious business - even then you will need significant economies of scale and time to get things established. I am 100% certain I make less than minimum wage selling Lego when I factor in all of my time, but since it's only a side activity for me that's fine.

    Edit to add: I mostly sell used sets and parts, which is much more time-consuming than buying and selling new (gotta clean, sanitise, sort, etc.) - so YMMV depending on your approach.
  • pippyblockspippyblocks
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    Rather than tag on extra fees I would recomend pricing your parts accordingly and not try to be 'too' cheap and also up the postage charges to include the actual postage fee and the cost of the materials. Customers don't like loads of add on's, they just want a simply transparrent cost upfront. It'll make your life easier too.
  • CalibrickCalibrick
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    I personally agree with @pippyblocks (that's how we do business, too), but there's no right or wrong way - just whatever works for the seller!
  • White Horse BricksWhite Horse Bricks
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    Same for me. I add a small amount to the postage to cover envelopes bags etc. On tiny orders where I'm not using much packaging it helps to cover the Paypal costs that I wouldn't otherwise be able to absorb in the parts.
  • WESTIEKaTHWESTIEKaTH
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    Yep and me, add on a small amount onto postage fees to cover everything. Customer knows what the price is no extra or hidden charges.
  • brickadoonbrickadoon
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    And me :)
  • Geert MiddelmanGeert Middelman
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    Somewhere in between here. On orders over 10 dollars I eat the packaging, peanuts, envelop, post office runs (and since last month:gloves) costs. Margins are good enough to do that. On orders under 10 dollars, I've padded the shipping costs by 1.50 usd to cover for packaging, peanuts, envelops and a bit for the effort of taking care of an 0.01 usd order. Never had a complaint, people figure out pretty quickly to pad their order with common parts to reach that 10 dollar.
  • LegoWeLoveLegoWeLove
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    thanks everyone
  • LegoWeLoveLegoWeLove
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    I cant find the page on bl where you can alter the additional fees as Im not sure what I have set but would like to make sure its legal ! Anyone point me in the right direction?
  • CalibrickCalibrick
    edited July 2020 Vote Up0Vote Down
    I don't think there is an order fee option for entry in BO, unless I'm super unobservant... I've never found one in my store settings at least (which I'm fine with due to aforementioned shipping and part pricing)... you can email brickowl.com and ask to verify, though. :-)
  • Geert MiddelmanGeert Middelman
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    You'll have to set two shipping options, one, slightly more expensive, up to the amount you want the fee to be added to, and one 'normal' one without additional fees from that amount up to infinity. There is no such thing as order fee, or additional costs, it's simply padded shipping costs if the order is below a certain amount.
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