Do you think I am being fair?

mrcol1000

I have a policy of anything that I start for more than a fiver I will only send by trackable mail. I put the cost of this on the listing. So I sold an item which for £15 and I had put mail price of trackable mail. So someone outside UK has brought this item and the postage charge for international signed for has automatically been applied. They have sent me a couple of e-mails demanding (and not in a nice or polite way) I charge them for standard airmail. I have told them that it has to be sent by trackable post and the cost was there when they bidded. But now they are saying its unfair as I have a similar item which I have listed the postage as standard airmail. But this item with the standard airmail is much more modern and virtually worthless. While the orginal item is an antique and to be honest worth more than it sold for.
I have opened a not paid dispute and they have a few days to respond (they have been e-mailing me direct rather than via the dispute).
So do you think I am being unfair? The postage was clearly displayed and they didn't have to bid. Had the buyer been a bit more friendlier about it or even e-mailed me before bidding to see if I can send it airmail I maybe would have considered it.

cyberbob

It was listed in your auction. So they should accept that. Its there for your own protection so dont cave. Only contact them via the dispute. You can always copy and paste there emails into the dispute to respond to it. So there is a paypal record.


I must admit that anyhting under £39 i do not send tracked. Any problems I use Proof of posting to claim if there are any problems.

It comes down to though it was in your listing it was within ebay rules so they agreed to that postage cost.

soolin

As long as the full cost was shown before bidding the buyer can't insist on any change now. You are perfectly entitled to opt for whatever postage method you want and if buyers don't like it they can buy elsewhere.

It won't stop them leaving a neg of course, but they would be foolish to refuse to pay as you can get them with an NPB then.

Personally I would send a polite but firm email explaining that the postage costs as per the invoice and auction are XX and this includes the tracked supplement for the benefit of both of you (actually just your benefit but always make sure buyers think you do it for them). Then leave it at that and if after 7 days they haven't paid just open an NPB.

Very few people use tracked overseas as it is usually not worth the extra as it still doesn't protect against a paypal chargeback if it only tracks in the UK, but by bidding the buyer has agreed to your total costs and should not be assuming that he can negotiate now.

tajna

I have had an item sold to someone outside UK without them asking how much would it be to send before the item finished. After they won it they've asked how much would it be to send it and I've quoted them postage costs which were high as I wanted it signed for to ensure no problems with delivery. To which they replied they never paid that much and all sellers charge them only £3-£4 for postage. Anyway after few emails of them arguing and demanding cheaper p&p, I've raised NPB and got my fees back.

piratefairy

i agree with you, i only ever sent international items by trackable mail, and now i dont send abroad at all due to too many problems in the past. i usedto get hassle from people wanting to pay less for postage. but if the price was listed on the listing, they knew in advance what the costs would be, and legally agreed to be bound by those terms by placing a bid!

soolin

Currently around 35% of my items go overseas, Australia is a very big market for me. I only sell overseas though if my goods are less than £39 , I never use tracking either here or overseas and I currently lose around 1:500 items which I don't think is too bad. However that is my business model and everyone should do what suits them best.

mrcol1000

If someone signs for something then its much harder for them to say its not arrived. Its not so bad if its staying in UK as its only about 70p extra but internationally its something like £3.50. Some countries I don't mind sending stuff by normal Airmail but some countries anything of value I want to send trackable. The country that this item should go to is pretty safe and I am not bothered about sending it Airmail it was just the buyers e-mails. They were so rude and aggroant. I am going to stick to my guns and give them an unpaid strike as they obviously won't go through the dispute process.

soolin

The problem is though with International signed for is that a signature is not guaranteed. RM say this about it:

http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/content3?mediaId=22700573&catId=400035

All items are tracked until they leave the UK – and in some cases on arrival in the destination country. Check the progress of your item online until it reaches the destination country’s postal service as a registered item.

Also don't forget it also has only £39 of cover as does standard airmail.