Changing cost of p&p after accepting payment?

Carlo_Gambino

Hi all,

I recently bought something from Amazon Marketplace and paid for the item and p&p via the Amazon checkout. Next day when I checked on my account page I see that the item has been "Dispatched"and I also receive an email stating same. The following day I receive and email from the seller telling me that Amazon had not allowed sufficent enough costs with regards p&p and that a further £10 would be required in order for the item to be shipped to me.
After contacting Amazon they said that this is acceptable and that sellers are allowed to revise p&p costs.

I live in N.Ireland but anything posted via Royal Mail to anywhere in the UK is all charged at the same rate surely?

Can anyone offer me any advice on the matter? I thought that after paying for an item that both I and the company entered into a contract to see the order fulfilled?

I originally paid £6.12 for p&p via Amazon and now the seller is looking £14.99 so a difference of £9.87 to send a BLU-RAY player to N.Ireland.

Thanks in advance

deanos

If they are using a courier then they do charge more to NI

How are they sending it ?

Carlo_Gambino

deanos wrote: »

If they are using a courier then they do charge more to NI

How are they sending it ?

Not sure deanos. But you would imagine that would have all been worked out at the checkout. Usually when a marketplace seller charges more to post here it is stated on the last page of teh checkout or the order won't go through properly.

Though on the email they sent it said the item was despatched and the courier was HDL (I assume they mean DHL) but there is no tracking number so I don't know whether the item was shipped and the email regarding the cost was sent too late or the despatch email was sent prematurily.

Laz123

I use Amazon a lot and I'd be very miffed if they did this to me. I'm with you on this and they shouldn't be allowed to change the delivery cost after going through the entire purchasing process. Any proper seller should have put in place all their charges to begin with.

I don't know the legal remifications but I think it's worth pursuing.

soolin

Carlo_Gambino wrote: »

Not sure deanos. But you would imagine that would have all been worked out at the checkout. Usually when a marketplace seller charges more to post here it is stated on the last page of teh checkout or the order won't go through properly.

Though on the email they sent it said the item was despatched and the courier was HDL (I assume they mean DHL) but there is no tracking number so I don't know whether the item was shipped and the email regarding the cost was sent too late or the despatch email was sent prematurily.

HDL stands for home delivery network.

They cannot force you to pay more and market place selllers face a strike on their seller metrics if they have too many cancelled orders so maybe call their bluff. Tell them you will not pay more and if they want to cancel then go ahead. Unless they are talking oodles more money I would think they would send it anyway.

Remember as well that they are required to ship in 2 working days, so if shipping gets very delayed complain to Amazon.

redped

This is one of the reasons why I rarely use Amazon Marketplace - even when sellers clearly state they use Royal Mail (not the case with the OP, I know) they still sometimes insist it costs more to send something to NI. What they really mean is that they are ignorant about geography, as they view NI as being "over there somewhere, we have to charge extra for it".

Kite2010

NI is part of the UK, it's not your fault the seller is trying to use a cheaper courier which ends up more expensive that Royal Mail.

Carlo_Gambino

Thanks for the responses folks. Pretty strange set of circumstances alright especially with Amazon saying that sellers are allowed to change p&p basically at a whim. Will update this later today if and when I find out anymore.

Hintza

Perhaps Amazon have changed it but when I was selling on Amazon I moaned that I could not charge more to the islands and NI. This was only a problem when I had to use a courier but normally I would try and use Royal Mail. Amazon basically told me I had to set a postal charge that covered the whole of the UK.

But there were a few times that cost me a small fortune and god help you as a seller if the product has a fault and you have to replace it and pay return courier charges.

Also a problem when you advertise 24 hour delivery, you just can't get that via RM at a cost effective price for heavier items. The you NI buyer would moan they didn't receive it the next day.

The plus point is the buyers in NI are fairly pragmatic and work wih you.

soolin

Carlo_Gambino wrote: »

Thanks for the responses folks. Pretty strange set of circumstances alright especially with Amazon saying that sellers are allowed to change p&p basically at a whim. Will update this later today if and when I find out anymore.

Customer service staff are often not as well trained in their own rules as we users would like.

If you refuse to pay, as per my earlier post, they can't make you pay more.

Carlo_Gambino

soolin wrote: »

Customer service staff are often not as well trained in their own rules as we users would like.

If you refuse to pay, as per my earlier post, they can't make you pay more.

But then surely the seller could refuse to post the item and insist you take a refund?