Royal Mail Postage Costs and Amazon
Amazon pays the seller £2.80 for second class postage on books in the UK. This issue was raised on the forum in July 2016. The Royal Mail has now had two twice price rises in standard second class postage without Amazon increasing the amount it returns to sellers. Do you agree that Amazon is frustratingly behind the times and outdated in this regard?
10 replies
Seller_hC0hNVDuILaKO
No, since the postage contribution is just that, a contribution.
Different sellers will have different rates that they are able to negotiate and ship at.
You have two options.
1: Upgrade to a Pro account and set your own shipping costs to reflect what YOU pay
2: Stay on the Individual account and increase your book prices to cover the difference that you need.
Seller_DROodOAYHftnc
Actually, as a seller you do not get the full £2.80 that the customer pays, at least you didn’t used to, it was less, but guess that may have changed, like everything else !
I doubt Amazon will ever increase the amount they charge the customer because if you are a Pro seller you can set your own shipping/postage charges.
Seller_YSVJTvJFHSin4
No because you can vary your postage charges if you want to on a Pro Account. This change by Amazon effectively solved the problem you identify. In fact, we did not vary our postage rates and kept them at £2.80, reckoning that book-buyers had got used to it and would not like higher postage rates, and that it averaged out as pretty fair, given that many books are despatched for much less than that (especially if you have a franking machine or an RM business account). It must be rather annoying for a buyer when they see “Used from 1p” and then click and see a £5.98 postage charge attached to a slim Penguin penny paperback.
Seller_Rds42gzScDQFa
The £2.80 is a postal credit given by Amazon. If you feel the credit is not enough you should increase the cost of the item to cover the postal charge you pay or change to a pro account where you can set your own postal charge. I have a pro seller account and offer free postage on most items as many children’s books weigh less that 250 gms meaning they cost £1.32 to post. When I had a free seller account I had many messages from disgruntled customers who felt they had been ripped off by being charged £2.80 when the post paid was £1.26 or even less when the book was under 100 gms.
