Ebay - charging per mile for delivery, do you charge for journey in both directions?

Sorry if this is not the right forum.....but I'm sure you'll have an opinion

I'm selling a fireplace on Ebay and offered to deliver 'locally' for =A31 per mile. Before the auction ends somebody has asked if I would deliver to her address which is 15 miles away according to AA website so I thought I would charge =A315 , however a colleague has said I should charge =A330 as the full journey will be 30 miles.

Any thoughts?

Reply to
jgkgolf
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In message , snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com writes

crosspost to uk.people.consumers.ebay added

why?

I think that would piss any buyer off most royally. Most people would interpret GBP1/mile the way you did initially and suddenly doubling it would be seen as profiteering.

Reply to
Si

I'd suggest that it depends on the value of the fireplace.

If it is a 1000GBP fireplace then I reckon 30 quid to deliver it is fair enough. After all, if there is an accident on the way, the seller carries the loss..as it probably won't be covered by any insurance at that point.

If it is a 100GBP fireplace, then 15GBP is fair enough.. It is still more per mile than the maximum that is allowed before it becomes taxable.

Reply to
Palindrome

"Taxable" in the sense of recovering mileage costs from your employer. Though if you can demonstrate that your fuel / maintenance / insurance costs are significantly more than the standard figures used by HMRC then you can use higher figures (with their agreement).

In this situation they are paying not just for your petrol / maintenance / wear and tear (on the 15 mile journey!!), but also your time and inconvenience in doing the trip too.

Matt

Reply to
matthew.larkin

The message

from snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com contains these words:

£15 total. What you do on the return journey is your business but no concern of hers. You might even be carrying a return load as far as she's concerned. Besides, £30 would be a trifle unreasonable for such local delivery.
Reply to
Appin

I'd ask for £15 in this instance. You obviously think it's a fair price, and double that would presumably be excessive.

In any future auction it would be wise to make it clear that the cost is for a one-way journey, so that you don't put off buyers who might think like your colleague.

Reply to
Mike Barnes

I'd disagree. I've delivered - although cheaper than £1 per mile - and no one has ever argued with the round trip calculation.

Reply to
Fran

I think the general understanding of such statements (which are fairly common) is just the distance between supply and delivery points.

As such, since you said £1 per mile, it would be best to stick to the common interpretatoion and charge £15. You can always up the rate in future if you feel it's not enough.

Reply to
Bob Eager

I reckon 50p a mile FULL TRIP is a fair crack frankly, for a private sale.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

You will get a better rating from the buyer for £15, which is what I am sure she would expect, and you were happy with that before talking to your, frankly profiteering, friend, so stick with it. If you think you should charge for the round trip in future, make that clear in your advert.

Colin Bignell

Reply to
nightjar

??? If they were selling it as part of their trade, they would pay tax on the profit they made in that year, with that particular sale being part of it. The £15 would go onto sales along with the £100 for the fireplace, and 30 miles would go down as an expense at whatever rate they think they can get away with. If they are just selling some old fireplace they don't want any more they wouldn't pay any tax on it at all, even if they charged £100 a mile to deliver it.

Reply to
Spacker

If most people are so stupid, then the logical thing to do would be to quote £2 per mile

Reply to
Spacker

I'm selling a fireplace on Ebay and offered to deliver 'locally' for £1 per mile. Before the auction ends somebody has asked if I would deliver to her address which is 15 miles away according to AA website so I thought I would charge £15 , however a colleague has said I should charge £30 as the full journey will be 30 miles.

Any thoughts?

You must have very little integrity to even consider this scam. You are not delivering anything on the return journey.

mark

Reply to
mark

snipped-for-privacy@d70g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...

But the sole reason for the journey - BOTH directions - is the delivery. So why not charge for it?

£1/mile seems a bit steep - but if that's what it said before she rang you, she's obviously happy enough with that rate.
Reply to
PCPaul

Same here. I charge 60p/mile, each way. So 10 miles away is £12.

Reply to
The Older Gentleman

Sorry, badly expressed on my part. I was only trying to suggest that about 50p a mile is roughly what is normally thought of as "actual cost" rates for a non-commercial trip. Obviously it isn't an "actual cost" rate for a business, which would also have to pay a salary to the driver, etc. For a business, even 1GBP per mile for a single delivery, is arguably too low.

50p a mile, on a non-commercial basis, seems fair enough to me. It's about the rate that charities pay volunteers using their own vehicles on charity business. However, when travelling on charity business, any and all relevant equipment in the vehicle is insured by the charity - whether it is their stuff or not.

In this case, it sounds like the fireplace will be carried at the driver's risk. In which case, the driver should really insure it, if it is valuable. And the purchaser should pay the insurance costs. 15GBP sounds reasonable to me for that. If the driver self-insures and keeps the 15GBP as a "premium", that sounds fair enough to me, too..

Reply to
Palindrome

That really is garbage. Likely, the entire journey is undetaken for the sole purpose of delivering the fireplace. IF the seller had other business, he MAY choose to suggest he'll only charge half rate.

I know a guy who chauffeurs for a living and he's delighted if he can arrange a return passenger because it's effectively double money.

Reply to
Andy Cap

Cite from the HMR&C website please.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

HMRC have abolished this option.

How does that stop the money being taxable. Surely this is exactly what 'income' is, money paid to you for your time.

tim

Reply to
tim (not at home)

At £5 per gallon for fuel, your £15 buys you 3 gallons. At say, 25mpg, you get 75 miles worth of fuel for a 30 mile round trip. Now, if you're a business and you want to charge for your time or whatever, fair enough. If however, you're just a private individual who would be doing nothing special with your time if you weren't delivering the fireplace, £15 is more than adequate - £30 is a rip-off.

John

Reply to
John

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