Buyer sent me stamps instead of money for postage!

steviebabes

I agree, the whole point of selling online is reduced overheads. You are not paying rent or rates for a retail outlet. The postage should be the price of the stamp and packaging materials only. Your time to post, bank and travel to and from these places comes out of your profit. If the item sold for less than you expected then you should have started it at the price you wanted or sell as a buy now. If it wont sell at that price it's not a viable business. As for them sending stamps, it was a bit presumptuous of them but as others have said it could be a hint that your postage charge was a bit high.

FloFlo

geri1965 wrote: »

What "handling charges"? You can't charge people for your time.

From ebay:



Sellers may charge reasonable postage & packaging charges to cover the costs of posting, packaging, and handling the items they are selling.

This a perfect example of buyers not understanding the basics of ebay.

TSFE!!!!!!!

Brooker_Dave

steviebabes wrote: »

I agree, the whole point of selling online is reduced overheads. You are not paying rent or rates for a retail outlet. The postage should be the price of the stamp and packaging materials only.

You have to factor in your time as well, plus any cost of physically getting to the post office, there's no point working for nothing, and the taxman will expect you to make a profit on shipping.

steviebabes

Yes you have to make a profit on the whole transaction so this includes your time and travel expenses. Most mail order companies charge very low P & P. They must have done the research and found that buyers are put off by high shipping costs. If you are a business you can claim travel and parking costs against your tax liability but the time comes out of your profit as your wage.

geri1965_2

FloFlo wrote: »

From ebay:



Sellers may charge reasonable postage & packaging charges to cover the costs of posting, packaging, and handling the items they are selling.

This a perfect example of buyers not understanding the basics of ebay.

TSFE!!!!!!!

In that case neither did the seller, as clearly he didn't charge enough.

Nex0

geri1965 wrote: »

In that case neither did the seller, as clearly he didn't charge enough.

Considering they haven't said what they actually sold how would you know that?

honeypop

Nex0 wrote: »

Considering they haven't said what they actually sold how would you know that?

Yes they did it was some coins.

Luvmyfreebies

Yes it's a bit cheeky but honestly guys is it worth all this fuss? I would post as normal and keep/use the stamps - just as good a currency IMHO!!

Road_Hog

Brooker_Dave wrote: »

Plenty of people get stamps from work to pay for low value stuff.

Really? Are you saying that when you get your wage slip it is full of stamps?

That must make life difficult for you? Where you not annoyed that your employer had decided to stop paying you by BACS?

I'm off to Tescos to buy some stuff, do you think they'll take stamps as payment?

Road_Hog

Brooker_Dave wrote: »

You have to factor in your time as well, plus any cost of physically getting to the post office, there's no point working for nothing, and the taxman will expect you to make a profit on shipping.

That has nothing to do with it. The seller decides which is the most cost effective way to accpet payment not the buyer, even if it is more expensive, that is the seller's decision.

If you think it is okay for the buyer to send an alternative payment that was not listed, then I think it is fine for the seller to send completely different goods to those advertised in the auction.