Scottish Sellers on eBay and Amazon

A question about : Scottish Sellers on eBay and Amazon

Thought I would raise this as I haven't seen anyone else talking about it.

Have read a lot of Yes vote literature which takes the stance that if you are outbid on an eBay auction because you won't pay a few pence more for postage for that collectable Star Wars figure than some bloke in Wolverhampton, then it's no big deal.

But nowhere can I find anything that talks about the effect of independence on internet SELLERS.

Let's say you are located in Scotland and make a reasonable living selling books on eBay and Amazon. Buyers pay whatever price you're charging plus postage. In my experience, MOST buyers are in England, Wales or Northern Ireland. This is purely statistical because of the larger populations there.

There is an admission by the Yes campaign that a privatised Scottish postal service might have to charge a few pence more. Although the reality will probably be that a few pence more will end up being the same cost as a package to Eire or France once Independence becomes a reality. This isn't doom and gloom, it's economic reality. Prices within Scotland may be less, but the rest of the UK will be overseas. It currently costs more to send a package to a town in Eire than to a town a few miles away over the border in NI, even though they're the same land mass, because Eire is overseas in political terms.

So a book that currently costs Ј2.80 to send from Edinburgh to Brighton up to 1Kg would costs either Ј3.70, Ј5.15, Ј6.60 or Ј8.05 depending on weight after Independence.

Based on this calculation, I can't see how internet sellers in Scotland can compete after independence, because buyers in the UK will always gravitate towards the cheapest postal cost. Granted, this bookseller could sell their wares just within Scotland and pay considerably less, but for antiquarian and collectable books I doubt there is enough of a specialist market in Scotland alone.

One way is to diversify. But none of the major wholesalers are based in Scotland. Courier charges which are currently Ј5 per order would be considerably higher.

Not looking for a slanging match, although I expect quite a few sarky comments along the lines of put up or get out, but can someone please explain how things are going to stack up in Mr Salmond's brave new world where we will all be better off in a land of hope and opportunity? Because I just can't see it from where I'm standing. My doormat is covered in newspapers promising that every family will be better off in an independent Scotland to the tune of Ј1400. This strikes me as flippant and patronising. Yes, some things may be cheaper. Yes, Scots will have more control. But at what cost? What the left hand gives, the right hand takes away.

YES, I understand that Royal Mail will just carry on putting up prices and may even introduce additional charges for delivering to the Highlands and Islands if Independence doesn't happen. But the alternative doesn't look too rosy either. For me, the figures just don't stack up. And that's just for posting a letter!!

Best answers:

• Shame you do not appear to believe there's been the end of the postal monopoly. As an eBay seller, I ceased using RM because of their increasing costs and the imposition of new ways to charge (adding premiums for thickness and overall size).
  Other firms, like Hermes (to name just one) don't do this, and my postal budget has shown to be 60% of what it used to me. RM will probably lose their current protected status as a Scottish Postal service takes over, however RM will still be able to offer their services, and if their price is uncompetitive it will be their fault - just as it is now.
  I thought your reasoning was genuine until you brought in Mr Salmond's brave new world. Then added these 'newspapers' supposedly promoting independence. Which papers were those? Only the Sunday Herald is pro independence, every other one - backed by southern interests - is clearly in the No camp.
  Who cares? You get to make up your own mind, but if all you are worried about are RM increasing their charges as a reason to vote No, your priorities are somewhat awry.
• I agree with you that Royal Mail is a waste of space. But as many books qualify as large letters, it can be cheaper to use Royal Mail than most of the other carriers under 500g.
  I also use Hermes for parcels over 1kg. But I notice they don't ship overseas and particularly not to Eire. So services like Hermes and Collectplus will probably not be available North of the Border after March 2016 or will have two tier pricing. Just my opinion, mind you.
  This is going to affect much more than eBay sellers, because major retailers such as Lakeland and Joe Browns also use Hermes and Scottish consumers used to paying Ј2.95 flat rate postage for internet orders will suddenly find themselves expected to pay a lot more.
  The "newspapers" littering my doormat aren't major tabloids and I'm sorry if I didn't make that clear. They are these "pseudo" free papers produced by both the Yes and the Better Together crowd and are almost universally condescending insofar as they seem to assume that everyone in Scotland lives on takeaways and is incapable of comprehending words of more than one syllable. And yes, they do have "headlines" which read "Every family in Scotland to be Ј1400 better off after Independence" "Free fish and chips with your family for ten weeks with mushy peas thrown in" et al. I'd like to see the maths which allowed them to arrive at such a very specific figure.
  The only thing that the people of Scotland seem to be united on right now is that is that the major Westminster politicians are giving too little too late. Regardless of whether you are a Yes or No voter, the sight of all the men in suits abandoning Prime Ministers Question Time to rush up here and hug babies is tragic and almost funny.