Ebay advice needed ASAP - negative feedback left very unfairly

NotQuiteNorbert

mrcow wrote: »

No - actually it was a 500% mark up.

So even huger than you thought

Thanks, thought my maths was dodgy! I knew it was that big but couldn't get around the numbers in my head.. Fixed my post now.

MsCrow

I don't understand OP, you had a repeat customer so, someone who was happy with your items before, and you do something so cynical as knock a pound off postage, a POUND

Returning customers should always be valued and lets also be realistic here, baby clothes cost peanuts to send and you were charging £3-4?!?

Perhaps the buyer shouldn't have trusted you so much and should have asked a question about combined postage. At least then she would have discovered how greedy you were about to be. Neg deserved I think.

kathjaydave

Hi
I always use the Royal Mail to get a round about price. Once I have posted an item I will always check what I charged and ALWAYS refund the buyer (I usually charge between 20p - 70p for packaging) if need be.
With combined postage, I usually say to the buyer that they can either pay each invoice and I will refund any over payment or I can just post and they can pay postage after (depends on what they bought)

custardy

flipper_2010 wrote: »

Seems a bit of a waste though......

cant have it both ways
if the seller is combining them then they are saving on packaging and postage
if they are not passing the bulk onto the buyer then the buyer can expect the postage they have paid for

GregtheHammer

Sorry Op, I am afraid I would have negged you as well, overcharging a repeat customer is not a good sales plan.

jaz_2

cyberbob wrote: »

Sometime people will buy thinking the P&P costs are reasonable (not knowing the weight of the item) but when they see a huge markup think its a little unfair

Exactly, the perfect response to the usual "you knew the P&P costs, so if you didn't like it why did you bid" red herring.

Negative feedback is entirely justified in this case IMO.

flipper_2010

custardy wrote: »

cant have it both ways
if the seller is combining them then they are saving on packaging and postage
if they are not passing the bulk onto the buyer then the buyer can expect the postage they have paid for

I'm not agreeing that no discount should be offered, I always take about a £1 off or so for combined. But I just don't think a few negs are really deserved when they knew what they were paying before it ended.

soolin

flipper_2010 wrote: »

I'm not agreeing that no discount should be offered, I always take about a £1 off or so for combined. But I just don't think a few negs are really deserved when they knew what they were paying before it ended.

They knew what they were paying, however an overseas bidder can't surely know the ins and outs and costs of UK postage so they probably had to believe the seller was likely to be fair. Once they saw the seller had not been entirely fair they represented their feelings rightly in the feedback they left.

I say again that sellers can justify excessive postage all they want on here and even if we had post after post agreeing that paying for shoe leather, taxi fares, and the minimum wage for packing was entirely justified it makes no difference. The final judge is the buyer, they are the only ones who can say whether the postage is fair or not.

You can charge whatever you want for postage, but just be prepared for the buyer to express their disproval if they feel ripped off.

cyril82

soolin wrote: »

You can charge whatever you want for postage, but just be prepared for the buyer to express their disproval if they feel ripped off.

This is where i disagree, for a buyer to pay then complain later is a bit cheeky and unfair, the postage charges are not hidden and despite their being some feeling that postage should not include any profit i think that's nonsense, you are buying from a business, if the buyer just happened to discover the sellers internal costing would they be entitled to question the amount of profit they are making and ask that they reduce that amount in the way of a refund?

My view is that questioning the postage after the purchase is o.k but demanding money back or leaving a neg simply because the seller made a profit on the total price they declared they would charge is wrong, they are a business, they are supposed to make a profit.

Your job as a buyer is to make sure you pay a good price, presumably in these cases the buyer did get a good price or else why buy in the first place?

Therefore the buyer got a good deal the seller made a profit why cause problems?

i buy off sellers who are blatantly profiting off the postage charge, but only if they are offering a suitably low sale price.

cyberbob

soolin wrote: »

.
You can charge whatever you want for postage, but just be prepared for the buyer to express their disproval if they feel ripped off.

Thats what some sellers just don't seem to get. They can go on however many forums they wish to and justify there costs, but it doesnt stop the customers (who are the ones that count) stating there displeasure at being ripped off.

This statement that people wheel out that they new what they were paying for is just plain rubbish. Most people will have an amount including P&P that they are willing to pay. If the item arrives and they realise that they have been seriously overcharged for P&P they are within there right to make there feelings known in the methods available to them.

Sellers can come here and try and justify there costs but in the long run it doesnt matter as your customers will judge you.

Successful business are successful because they keep the majority of there customers happy. That way you get repeat business. If you don't get repeat business there is finite amount of time you will survive.