Combined Postage

terra_ferma

rerd wrote: »

Well I originally asked this to solicit opinions on what the thoughts were on people asking for postage refunds with the implied threat of Ebay feedback, but wasn't expecting my honesty to be called into question.

The buyer wasn't punished for purchasing multiple items, they got multiple items, 5 other people who bought multiple items that day all had postage combined, three of them asked and 2 I did as payment had not been received.

As you say they are not entitled to it and I was always taught it was polite to ask, rather than expect

60 auctions isn't too much they were all dealt with and posted the day after the auction completed, however it would have been practially impossible for me to have invoiced the ammended amount given the less than 2 minutes between the end and the payment being received.

I'm not questioning your honesty myself, but that's what the buyer would do. (with all we hear on ebay, failing to refund a few pence is hardly a major scam...:))
ebay is a tough place, and both sides, buyers and sellers are very suspicious of each other, which makes simple things like this turn into a serious issue.

It's not unusual for a buyer to pay without asking for a combined invoice, but they will probably expect a refund later. They will think you have saved quite a bit of money on postage, and may not be aware that it will cost you more in fees if they have paid separately.

Chocmonster7

I've just refunded £1 to a buyer as I managed to package their multiple items in a way that it went large letter rather then parcel. I didn't have to as I'd already given them a discount for buying 3 items but I felt it was fair.

Edit:- Don't know if I should have bothered, she paid for 2nd class as quoted in the listings. Items were posted Monday and I've just had a "where are my things?" email quoting that she "paid £3 and expected next day delivery". :wall:

hermum

If people don't sell on ebay themselves they don't know how the fee system works, until I started selling I didn't know that each payment had a Paypal fee.
You could have refunded all the payments & sent one combined invoice with reduced postage costs, saving yourself the grief & some paypal costs.
Maybe it would be a good idea to put on your listings that you do combine p&p but to please wait for an invoice to be sent on multiple purchases before paying.