06-03-2023, 08:41 AM
I think it's only reasonable for businesses to make it clear when they are charging different rates at different times. Each one doing it likely has different costs, risks and supply chains and it's up to the buyer to check out alternatives.
When I first realised a long time ago that some TradeMe traders did it I thought it reasonable to add in the success fees cost and possibly an extra margin if they get more run around from TM buyers. I now deal directly with one supplier that I use occasionally for electronic purchases because they a have a good record and I trust them and their systems to be secure. But for others, I still use TradeMe for the convenience of having a one-stop-shop and the extra safety that TM provides for transactions. I hear complaints about TMs customer service but have never needed to use it and I find that everything I buy via TM goes smoothly and reduces the risk of having my credit card number spread more widely on the internet. So I don't mind paying a couple of extra dollars.
Another example though is years ago when I went to a conference, the accommodation booking via the conference hadn't been done and in sorting that out I realised that paying direct was cheaper. So I complained loudly to the conference organisers that they were ripping off their members in clipping the ticket like that when it was being presented as a "deal" for the members. But that's private, not business.
At the supermarket, if their staff are going to walk the aisles compiling grocery orders for people to save the customers the hour or so it would take them to do the same, I think the service should be charged for. I appreciate that one supermarket staffer can do it much more quickly and efficiently and that it reduces the congestion (and therefore covid risk) at the supermarket, but it still takes time that has to be covered somewhere in the supermarket overheads if it isn't charged for.
The idea of businesses always being greedy and on the take is largely nonsense. Of course some are, just in any negative generalisation there are some that are guilty, but most businesses are just ordinary people struggling to make a living and need to be supported when it's appropriate to do so. If buying online saves you an hour of time and the fuel it would take to drive to the shop, then fine if you can sit at home and do your shopping online. And if the supplier charges a few dollars because somewhere in their processes there is a cost incurred that I don't know about, I'm not going to get too hung up about it. At the end of the day I can choose how I want to shop each time I want to buy something.
When I first realised a long time ago that some TradeMe traders did it I thought it reasonable to add in the success fees cost and possibly an extra margin if they get more run around from TM buyers. I now deal directly with one supplier that I use occasionally for electronic purchases because they a have a good record and I trust them and their systems to be secure. But for others, I still use TradeMe for the convenience of having a one-stop-shop and the extra safety that TM provides for transactions. I hear complaints about TMs customer service but have never needed to use it and I find that everything I buy via TM goes smoothly and reduces the risk of having my credit card number spread more widely on the internet. So I don't mind paying a couple of extra dollars.
Another example though is years ago when I went to a conference, the accommodation booking via the conference hadn't been done and in sorting that out I realised that paying direct was cheaper. So I complained loudly to the conference organisers that they were ripping off their members in clipping the ticket like that when it was being presented as a "deal" for the members. But that's private, not business.
At the supermarket, if their staff are going to walk the aisles compiling grocery orders for people to save the customers the hour or so it would take them to do the same, I think the service should be charged for. I appreciate that one supermarket staffer can do it much more quickly and efficiently and that it reduces the congestion (and therefore covid risk) at the supermarket, but it still takes time that has to be covered somewhere in the supermarket overheads if it isn't charged for.
The idea of businesses always being greedy and on the take is largely nonsense. Of course some are, just in any negative generalisation there are some that are guilty, but most businesses are just ordinary people struggling to make a living and need to be supported when it's appropriate to do so. If buying online saves you an hour of time and the fuel it would take to drive to the shop, then fine if you can sit at home and do your shopping online. And if the supplier charges a few dollars because somewhere in their processes there is a cost incurred that I don't know about, I'm not going to get too hung up about it. At the end of the day I can choose how I want to shop each time I want to buy something.