Real Life MMD: Should I refund the postage cost?

huangward

Anja wrote: »

How much do you value your ebay account? Negative feedback doesn't look good! Refund.
We always refund if a buyer buys 2 items from us and by bundling together the postage comes to less than we advertised. I makes the customer feel good.

Wow! I usually end up paying two separate delivery charges and then find the seller has bundled the goods together and saved a lot of money - still I would not leave negative feedback for this (is this dumb?)

Sailoress

No, you shouldn't refund the postage cost. The buyer paid £5 to have the item delivered so as long as you delivered it in the time specified on your listing and in good condition, the buyer got what he paid for.

Sailoress

huangward wrote: »

Wow! I usually end up paying two separate delivery charges and then find the seller has bundled the goods together and saved a lot of money - still I would not leave negative feedback for this (is this dumb?)

I always contact the seller before I pay if I've bought more than one item to see if they'll knock down the postage charge.

paulswife

I have found this is a failsafe way to gage what type of ebayer they are.it may make you feel better!!!!

porto_bello

Several years ago, I sold an item to a buyer just 15 minutes walk from where I worked. I walked the item around at lunchtime, as agreed and the buyer was delighted!

A couple of days later, I then received an email from the buyer, saying that since I delivered the item by hand in person, they felt they shouldn't have to pay postage.

Fair enough, I replied, offering to return, pick up the item, take it to the nearby post office - and post it to them! ...I didn't hear any more ... mind you, that was in the days when sellers could leave negative feedback.

dabbit

I had an opposite sort of thing happen to me. I sold an item but over charged the postage, so emailed the buyer and offered a refund. He replied that he didn't want the refund, because he had agreed to pay that amount of postage. So as the buyer got his item there is absolutely NO need for a refund in part or other. As he wasn't too far why didn't he ask if he could pick it up instead of paying the postage, prior to bidding? Definitely NO refund IMO!

mallymal

Buyer paid to have the item delivered to him. Whether it's post office, courier, carrier pidgeon, mate with a va,n or your time/effort & petrol is irrelevant. You gave a good service and the parcel was taken right to him.

By default ebay lists your location.... if i see somehting local on ebay I always ask I can collect for free (thereby using my own time/effort/petrol). Most sellers agree to this, so the buyer could have offered to collect, in which case I assume you would have just charged the item purchase price.

Just a tip for future, If i'm selling I often add the line "can deliver locally for extra chrage by arrangment". Then the price of this "going the extra mile" can be agreed up front.

Mumsie

Communication, communication, communication. You cannot ever assume that your buyer wanted you to deliver, rather than post. However, I would have agreed an amount for, and before, delivery (if personal delivery was okay). However, what fantastic service. It got to them safely and didn't get lost or damaged and probably got to them much quicker. I think £5 was reasonable for such personal service, taking into consideration the time, wear and tear on your car etc. but in future, consider that not everyone wants an ebayer turning up with their goods.

in-need_of_money

I would refund only the amount after calculating what you spent on petrol, that way its fair. However, would the postage and packing have really been more? If so, he had a bargain!:D, if not, then its fair to refund the difference and then ask him politely to change his feedback.
:beer:

charis18uk

Sounds to me like the buyer didn't give the seller a chance to actually rectify the problem before leaving negative feedback. TBH if this was me and I had been challenged I would prob have given a partial refund after costs of fuel and any packaging were deducted.

HOWEVER, if I had been the buyer, I doubt I would have asked for a refund and would have been happy with the service and receiving the item sooner.