Avoiding eBay fees by inflating P&P

grimelda

MoneySavingWannabe wrote:

Not once have the royal mail asked me what the actual value is of the item i'm sending. I think that says it all.

You mean when you went to claim for a lost/damaged item, or just when you're posting it? Because as I understand it, they don't need to know the value until you try to make a claim from them. Someone correct me if I am wrong; I've never had to do this myself.

MoneySavingWannabe_3

When posting sorry. I don't think an ebay or paypal invoice would be sufficient to settle a claim.

juno

grimelda wrote:

You mean when you went to claim for a lost/damaged item, or just when you're posting it? Because as I understand it, they don't need to know the value until you try to make a claim from them. Someone correct me if I am wrong; I've never had to do this myself.

I've got a claim form, and it says that for Ebay claims they want the item number, the paypal receipt and lots of other things!

grimelda

Zack, is that the buyer or the seller?

Edit: Ah, didn't read correctly. The buyer. But the seller would presumably be well out of pocket, right?

soolin

The item lost in the post scenario sums this up for me. After a bad run last year with lost parcels it infuriated me that I lost all my post and packing costs on the Royal mail claim. I don't hugely inflate my p and p as I have strong competitors and need to look good against them, but even so losing that extra was annoying. AS for those who have said that they have never had to prove losses, I *always* have, the RM either want to see my paypal invoice or my official ebay invoice both of which break down the cost to item and p and p. I have now in most cases pared down my p and p as low a I can go so I actually gain more if I start to lose parcels again.

Incidentally, all my items sell for far more on ebay than their otherwise proveable 'value' I don't sell items where I can point to a page in the Argos catalogue to prove value. On the one occasion where I sent something that was horribly heavy and didn't want to lose the p and p I sent a copy of my own end of auction e mail that gives a total cost to the buyer as proof of value. Unfortunately that item was unique and I assume the Royal mail checked ebay as my claim was refused entirely as I had 'over claimed' by adding the post and packing charges to the claim and attempted to prove that as total value.

So, either the 1p sellers need to insure themselves or they have to make a claim that could be considered fraudulent. If a seller is comfortable making fraudulent claims, and comfortable not abiding by ebay rules, what else are they comfortable with?

Soo

Midmac

MoneySavingWannabe wrote:

Midmac, unfortunately terms and conditions mean nothing to me. I want to make money and save money at the same time. If people do it by increasing postage then fair play I'm all for it. It's survival of the fittest, and if you lose sleep because someone else is saving money and you aren't then so be it. I wouldn't call it being dishonest, I would call it using your initiative because at the end of the day nice guys finish last. The only people who lose out are ebay, not the buyers, not the sellers so why are you complaining?

Ok, its up to you, im not complaining. Just saying you should be banned for breaking the T&C's.