ebay buyer is questioning postage price after i have sent the item, help!

Stryder

I suspect part of this is the problem with Ebay constantly raising their commission - 10% is really quite high! So people put the extra on to packaging.

As far as what is reasonable to charge - you get your best feedback if you are 100% (i.e. envelope+stamp) However, I think its 100% fair to put an extra 50p -£3 depending upon how much of a hassle it was to package and get to the post office (time is money). Also, if you are able to find an alternative comparable service (i.e. delivered by hand if local) and charge at full price. No one is losing out.

But to overcharge by £8 on the postage which cost a few pounds is against the ebay policies (and I have complained about a number of these) and is clearly an attempt to avoid full charges (unless accidental).

In the OP, it is a mistake, and the problem is that the purchase was made and then refund asked for. The OP may have got the same price IF the postage was less by selling at a higher price, its uncertain. if you had not posted item you could validly cancel the sale, refund the money and resell. So what can you do?
1) You may still get negative feedback but you could explain the mistake and seem reasonable.
2) You can refund the right amount of money (Full amount - (true costs + £2 time and trouble) [you may still get negative feedback)
3) Allow him to complain and you will probably receive negative feedback.

Either way - accept you have made a mistake and probably deserve negative or neutral feedback. There is nothing you can do about that. If you have made a mistake its up to you to correct it or deal with the flak. If Marks and Spencer overcharged you for something wouldnt you a) want refund, and b) want to complain.

As for "blackmailing" there are two ways of seeing it. a) if its a cynical attempt to blackmail then yes it is wrong. but if it was something the buyer noticed after, he is in his rights to complain/leave negative feedback. Offering a chance to resolve the matter amicably is the right thing to do. So its a hard call to say if its blackmail or not. I am not sure what happens but as per the letter of the law, seller at fault (and has admitted it). The seller accidently or not received benefit from his mistake which was not deserved.

As a seller, I am careful to make P&P reasonable whilst giving me a small amount for my hassle. I often use used envelopes/packaging but make sure they are 100% secure and I have never had a package go missing, and generally receive positive feedback (100% with 4.8/5 for postage and packing). The fact is, people expect you to add a little on the P&P, but just don't take the p1ss! My personal opinion is in this case I would offer a £5 or £6 refund and suffer the loss as my personal mistake.

However, maybe someone should tell BID-TV these rules when they charge £8 for a TV and a small watch to be delivered equally.

Stryder

Please note - when you sell an item there is a P&P cost calculator on the ebay selling form, so its hard to make a massive mistake unless you weigh it. However, if you are selling a bulky item by post - that is your responsibility.

colony

pnq06 wrote: »

I don't know what the item was that the OP sold but I can say that it has happened to me before when buying a pair of boots- as the buyer I wasn't to know what they weighed so therefore wouldn't know until they arrived if the postage costs were accurate enough
Needless to say that the £7 that I was charged turned out to be £2.90 on the package- The black bag they also came in can't of cost £4 and in their own admission 'they could post quickly as the PO was just across the road'
So yes I did agree to pay the cost at the time but for that cost I would of expected a postal service that would of cost approx that or a part refund!

After all, I sell for a bit of extra cash when I need it and very rarely charge more than an extra 20p for packaging and yet my stars for p&p are 4.8 so surely if my 20p is extortionate then an £8 overcharge is?!?!?

Ps After a polite email I was offered a refund of £4 and pos FB left reflecting this...

Really though, unless you were the only bidder, it is likely that if the postage had been lower, the selling price would have been higher, and you would have ended up paying roughly the same amount.

The only winner would be eBay.

And we all know how I feel about that.

I don't think you should refund anything OP. She should have thought of it before she bought the item!

soolin

It is all immaterial anyway, one neg , low stars for p and p and a small seller is not likely to be selling much ever again anyway. The way the ebay system is set up sellers only penalise themselvesby avoiding fees by loading p and p.

Also don't forget if item gets lost in the post it is again only the seller that loses here. Buyer gets their full payment back including all the p and p, seller gets only item cost back plus actual p and p paid from a RM claim.

StaffsSW

I'm still convinced that this is just another windup thread.

It is half term after all....

cyril82

TurkishDelight wrote: »

Yeah, funny how "ebay policy" seems so great when it's on your side innit Cyril? :rolleyes: It's all the other policies that are facist obviously In this case personally I would say the seller is in the wrong- if it is a item that is easy to misjudge the weight, then maybe the buyer estimated what it would cost as well and then understandably peed off when it cost a fraction of the price.

Not the first time i have been jumped all over on this board by you and the gang is it Turkish for expressing my zero tolerance view on feeback blackmail and all other scammers.

Why don't you see if you can get the board name changed to "Ebay scams advice" and i'll leave you and the rest of scams advice team to it, untill then i'll keep posting my view, scammers are scum.

StaffsSW

As long as nobody mistakes your opinion for proven fact, then I'm sure we'll get used to the comedy value.

prowla

jammiev wrote: »

i charged £12 postage and it cost me £3, is that excessive?
packaging cost me 5p

Yes - you were taking the p***!
P&P/S&H is supposed to be reasonable, and charging 4x the actual amount has to be far from that.
Perhaps your buyer thought you were using an expensive courier or guaranteed insured delivery or something, and then received the item with a £3 stamp on it and realised they'd been diddled.

Money_maker

Seller is an absolute disgrace for such rip off postage.

However, buyer is the fool for paying it. Should be no dispute, buyer agreed to pay this extortionate amount.

Shame on both of you.

Hezzawithkids

I bought a junior tennis racket off ebay and was charged £6 P&P. When the parcel arrived the cost was £1.50. I queried the postage and the seller told me in no uncertain terms that it was fair given the packaging (some recycled brown paper), her time & effort, etc etc. I still miffed but as this was in the old days of feedback I didn't want to neg her cos then we'd have got into tit-for-tat neg-ging. Most sellers attitudes are "tough - shouldn't have bid then should you?".