Real Life MMD: Should I refund the postage cost?

droopsnoot

Yes, move on. You've learned the hard way that, basically, there's no pleasing some people. It's the kind of attitude that the buyer has shown that stops people doing favours for others. All of the arguments for and against are valid, but what's done is done now. Keep it in mind for your next listing - half the time you look through bad feedback on eBay and it's stuff like this.

pennypinchUK

You have done everything right. You have gone to the time and trouble to give the buyer great service. I was a full time eBay seller for 3 years and finally gave up partly because of the attitude of buyers. So many buyers have no concept of professional service. They perceive any costs that aren't directly related to the product itself are a "rip-off". Anything such as an allowance for the cost of envelopes, fuel to take items to the post office, eBay fees, Paypal fees and lord forbid it, profit, are unreasonable.

Ebay have made it worse for sellers by stopping sellers from giving feedback on buyers. This gives buyers all the power to make the most ridiculous of demands in the full knowledge that sellers live in fear of getting negative feedback.

Some customers will never be satisfied and you'll get negative feedback from them even if you promise to have their babies. When you get the negative feedback, just add a response, keeping your cool. Most buyers will soon see who is being unreasonable, and in my experience it's rarely the seller.

Gingerjar

You should not have charged him £5 postage for hand deliveryand you deserve the bad feedback. I think your behaviour is shabby and devious.

epm-84

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 if it costs £2.50 to park near the buyers address?

shellsuit

You should have cleared it with them first to see if they were happy with paying £5 for you to drop it off.

You've left yourself wide open for a chargeback and have now got negative feedback.

If I pay £5 for something to be sent 1st class recorded as per terms of the listing, that's how I expect it to be sent. If seller wants to bring the item to me, they should clear it with me first.

gary30

Lee: Absolutely NO refund. What part of 'legally binding contract' doesn't your buyer understand. He agreed to buy at a specific price, including delivery costs. How it is delivered is not his concern, the fact that he got it quickly & personally delivered, was better than could have been reasonably expected. Finally you can challenge the negative feedback by contacting Ebay, go for it & stand firm. What a muppet!

epm-84

EBL2008 wrote: »

save yourself the effort of packing up the item.

Where does it say the seller didn't pack up the item? As it wasn't agreed with the buyer before hand I'd assume it was small enough to fit through the letterbox and must have been packaged.

pineapple

Yes I think you should offer at least a partial refund. For all he knows you could have been going past anyway. In which case it qualifies as dishonest charging.

shellsuit

gary30 wrote: »

Lee: Absolutely NO refund. What part of 'legally binding contract' doesn't your buyer understand. He agreed to buy at a specific price, including delivery costs. How it is delivered is not his concern, the fact that he got it quickly & personally delivered, was better than could have been reasonably expected. Finally you can challenge the negative feedback by contacting Ebay, go for it & stand firm. What a muppet!

I'm guessing they paid for the item to be delivered in a specific way too

gary30

Absolutely NO refund warranted (full cost was agreed at the outset) and you can challenge the negative feedback, or leave him equally 'bad' comments.