How to handle this?

earthmother

I bought a video on a BIN on 13th - nothing amazing, just a kids film, hence the price of 15p plus £1.40 postage (paid by paypal).

The postmarks say it wasn't posted until 21st, and I got carded yesterday for short postage. Whilst admittedly the seller put more postage on than I'd paid (4 1st class stamps - £1.56 to be precise), it was still short, and I've just had to pay a further £1.29 at the post office to receive it.

I know some will say it's still not an excessive price overall, but the point is that the seller should have checked their postage prices and I'm a little miffed by the fact I've just had to pay what is a relatively high additional sum, and for something that was late, and just stuffed in a manilla envelope with no padding, at that. It's not like this is a newbie - they've been registered 4 years and have over 1000 feedback (99.4%).

Trouble is, I also know they have already made a loss, and I'm soft, and I don't quite know how to word an email etc.

Any thoughts?

colony

haha, has anyone noticed the irony that this thread is about the seller charging TOO LITTLE postage.

Ahahahaaa

NotQuiteNorbert

Maybe just send a wee message to the seller but word it so that it comes across like you're just letting them know for their information? See what they say then. Don't know how else I'd approach it to be honest with you.

lumpy_bum

theyve already paid you at least a penny to take it away when it left them, i really wouldnt complain lol

NotQuiteNorbert

jackiebkr2 wrote: »

Is it worth your time to deal with this.? Sometimes we have to just accept someone made a mistake and get on with it. I think your time is more valuable than getting involved in emails etc.

On the other hand though, surely it's beneficial for the seller to know that they've made a mistake? That way, in future they can avoid making the same mistake again with other buyers who may not be quite as forgiving.

soolin

What profit the seller made is completely immaterial here. Buyer bought something and paid the invoice and has now had to pay an additional 29p postage plus £1 handling fee at PO.

I would email the seller, stay polite but explain you are now £1.29 out of pocket. If I were the seller (and I suspect most other sellers here would do the same) I would immediately refund the buyer the £1.29. If I had already taken a loss on an item another £1.29 won't hurt me much more and buyer satisfaction is the key to future sales.

My advice would be the same if the seller had sold the video for 3p or £30, it is not the buyers fault that the seller has used insufficent postage.

earthmother

Thanks for all your replies.

I think I shall go with soolins suggestion - I know I'd rather know if I made a mistake like that, than find out for the first time when my feedback appeared.

cat04

Just a thought, but as the seller obviously didn't have the package weighed at the PO when posting maybe they haven't made a loss after all. If you're a Mystery Shopper with a MS company who does PO jobs, or you're signed up to that Royal Mail testing thingy (can't remember what it's called exactly!) you can get stamps for free therefore whatever the seller charges for postage is pure profit.

Might not even be the case here, just my over-active imaginiation!

Forgot to say, I'd rather know too if I hadn't put enough postage on an item and I'd be most grateful to the buyer for politely pointing it out :-)

earthmother

Just a quick update - I thought I should check the film before emailing the seller just in case there was an issue there, and I'm glad I did - it's not the Disney film I bought, but a cheap live-action version of the same story in a Disney case.

I'm waiting for the sellers response as we speak.

soolin

That puts an entirely different light on the matter. I think a slightly stronger email would be called for and as a buyer I would now be expecting a full refund plus a refund of the extra payment paid.

earthmother

Final update in case anyone's interested - apparently the seller was selling on behalf of someone else, who sent the package out themselves, so she hadn't seen it to check. Was very apologetic, and I've received a full refund (including the extra costs).