Real Life MMD: Should I refund the postage cost?

Former_MSE_Lee

Should I refund the postage cost?

I sold an item on eBay and charged £5 P&P. The buyer's address was just 2 miles from me, so I jumped in the car and delivered it in person. I then received an email from the buyer asking for a postage refund. I pointed out he'd had a better service & the cost to me had been the same (petrol). He disagreed and left bad feedback that he had been 'ripped off' on postage. Should I refund him?

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MrsWassire

What car do you drive that costs you £5 for a 4-mile round trip? That's about 1 mile per litre! Assuming your car is not as inefficient is that then yes I think you're being cheeky and should refund £3 of it.

ironlady2022

I don't think you should. Negative feedback can't be taken away even if you do right? I think buyer is trying it on. Is he a regular ebayer? What's his feedback like? Seems unreasonable to me.

flashg67

MrsWassire wrote: »

What car do you drive that costs you £5 for a 4-mile round trip? That's about 1 mile per litre! Assuming your car is not as inefficient is that then yes I think you're being cheeky and should refund £3 of it.

What about time spent delivering and presumably getting the item more quickly?

Perhaps an email first asking if personal delivery was Ok first might have helped, but if they're mean enough to leave bad feedback (was it a neg tho?) without giving the OP a chance then, depending on my overall feedback, I'd probably not refund.

ironlady2022

Yes agree with flashg67 in that you should have checked personal delivery was ok. Regarding how much it has cost you, I don't think this is the point. Some ebayers charge more for postage (so they can set a lower starting figure) and its not dependant on how much they actually spend.

hermum

I bought something & the seller emailed to say they were coming to my town a couple of days later & they would deliver it to me at a certain time if I was going to be in. To get to where he was going meant driving past my front door. I was happy with the price I paid & wouldn't have expected any discount on the postage.
It was better than RM as he gave me an approximate time that he would deliver.

teeb

It's never mentioned what the item is. If it's bulky or fragile, then envelopes / boxing / tape / bubble wrap and so on could easily mount up to at least a couple of pounds.

As for the postage costs, it's true that you didn't have to pay Royal Mail, but it's also true that the buyer got his package much faster than he would reasonably be expecting.

If I were in the seller's shoes, I would probably refund a pound or two and put an explanatory note in the feedback, setting out my reasoning.

gettiton

i think you should have done a partial refund as dropping it off was cheaper and fast all round! but now you have the neg why bother... all is done!

MrsWassire

Probably took less time to deliver it than to stand in a post office queue... I was going by what the MMD says - that the seller told the buyer it had cost him the same amount (petrol) when this is clearly not the case! And that may be why the buyer is miffed?

secretshopper75

I've previously sold on ebay and delivered it in person after charging postage, the buyer was very happy to receive it so quickly and posted positive feedback.

rcherryuk

No, You delivered the package exactly as promised.

He paid the price quoted, let it go, some people are never happy!

Rob