Ebay seller refunded in postage stamps!!!

EssexGirl

My inlaws bought 10 items from a seller with less than 100 feedback. Before they bid they messaged him and asked if he would combine postage and he agreed and said the first one would be the full price and the subsequent ones at half the price of the first.
They went on holiday and asked me to keep an eye on the bidding and pay him once he'd sent an invoice.
One lot of items finished 2 days before the rest so I messaged him once the first lot had been won and asked if he minded if I paid in one transaction if we won any more in the next couple of days, he was fine with this, but then said he couldn't change the postage amount on ebay, and would send the difference in stamps. Of course he hadn't mentioned this when the inlaws contacted him.

I messaged him back and told him told him how to send an invoice. I got no reply. So I tried again once the auctions had finished. Still no reply. After 3 days I had to pay as I didn't want him to slap a NPB on us and they really wanted what they'd bought.

Just had a phone call to say the items have arrived, along with 20 x 20p stamps!

Now the items they bought are reasonably good as they expected but they want to know what sort of feedback to leave.
I said a neutral, as his comms were SO bad once the items had been won but they think a neg may be in order.

Any ideas?

Crowqueen

They should use their own judgement as to how they feel they've been treated. I think I'd leave a neutral or a positive with relevant low stars if the items were OK. But it's not up to me.

Sellers can/should usually use the option to refund through Paypal, they get their fees back on a pro rata basis. I can't see that many people these days should have to use other means to refund people who paid by Paypal.

I had this a couple of years ago with some trading cards I bought and wanting a combined invoice which the seller advertised as a possibility. I got my cards but I had to pay a fortune in postage because they never sent me a proper combined invoice for their advertised "each extra item only 10p" price. I didn't leave non-positive but I certainly dinged their stars.

iieee

Oh wow, this takes me back. When I first started using ebay in 2001 people often sent payment in postage stamps, without prior arrangement. It was annoying, but commonplace.

In your situation I think it's definitely something to mention in feedback. I would rate them low on their communication & P&P charge DSRs.

Owain_Moneysaver

Well meaning but clueless. I wouldn't leave a neg as the items were (presumably) what was wanted, and the seller did combine postage and return the excess without having to be asked.

What sort of feedback does he have as a seller - he might be very new to selling things.

terra_ferma

Sounds like someone who doesn't know what they are doing. Refunding through stamps in not in their interest, as people have said they don't get their fees back, and also they have no evidence of the refund, so if a buyer opened a case they would have to refund the whole amount again.

Crowqueen

iieee wrote: »

Oh wow, this takes me back. When I first started using ebay in 2001 people often sent payment in postage stamps, without prior arrangement. It was annoying, but commonplace.

In your situation I think it's definitely something to mention in feedback. I would rate them low on their communication & P&P charge DSRs.

I used to live out in Poland - I made my purchases by dollars sent in registered envelopes for the most part, but because I was buying from stamp collectors I got a couple of requests to buy them mint Polish postage stamps to the value of what I was buying. My Polish didn't often stretch that far but it was good practice for me!

That has all changed now, though - it was even before Paypal became widely used on the UK site.