ebay economics

Some years back (when Nokia 3300 phones were still around), I bought a charger for one- the kind you clip the battery into and plug the wall wart into.

It was 1p plus 99p postage. I think in those days, EBay didn?t charge sellers fees on postage.

First time I plugged it in, smoke came out.

I Emailed the seller, a replacement turned up a few days later. No fuss.

I?ve had things from China which, on investigation, cost far more to post back by Royal Mail than I paid for them - including postage from China. If you insist sellers pay return postage for faulty goods they just refund the original money as, often it is cheaper.

I had to pay me energy supplier sixty seven pence recently. The online process would not accept an amount less than one pound. By the time I wrote a check and sent it or drove (nearest bank is about ten miles) to a bank I paid the pound it was going to cost me more than thirty three pence and my account is now thirty three pence in credit. At the time I wondered if it was a limitation of the payment systems (e.g. Visa) but I think that during the height of the pandemic I paid for items costing pennies with my debit card.

Is there an online limitation for one pound?

Maybe it's really coming from China, whose government subsidises the postage.

I think it's us who are subsidising the postage. It's to do with some international postal union agreement.