Postage charges after paying on Ebay

ac085

I have purchase an item on ebay and opted for the cheapest (royal mail 2nd class) postage option.

I have paid for the item and the seller has marked it as dispatched.

However the seller has now messaged me saying that the postage was actually more. (3 times more)

They haven't actually asked me to pay anything on top, or asked me any questions at all.

But what are my rights here?
I'm guessing it would be the sellers fault for not checking the correct weight of the package and so the correct postage costs.
Therefore I'm not liable to pay anything more. But is this morally right?

(Item cost about £30...and it's clear it would have cost more than they stated for postage)

Taadaa

They can request additional postage if they like, but you are not obliged to pay it. It's their tough luck really, there is no additional obligation on you.

It might be a nice gesture to send them a little to cover it, but as the item cost £30 I'd be inclined to not bother. It's not like it was a 99p item and they are now out of pocket.

raven83

It is the sellers responsibility to work out the correct postage, if they have undercharged then that is down to them, best thing they can do it suck it up and learn from it. You should still get your item, i have had this before, i think the lady was hoping i would pay some extra but i didn't and my item did arrive.

bazzyb

ac085 wrote: »

Therefore I'm not liable to pay anything more. But is this morally right?

Yes. The seller sets the price and it's up to them to get it right. Some people offer 'free' postage, doesn't mean it is actually free to them! You pay the price shown, otherwise how would you know how much to bid?

hermum

Tough luck on the seller, it's something that most sellers have done at some point, it makes us far more careful for quite a while afterwards.
What category was it in? There's several where the p&p is capped.

verityboo

I would reply explaining that the price you paid including the postage was as much as you were prepared to pay in total, you would have bid less if a higher postage charge had been stated.

I often charge much less for postage than it costs so that I at least get something (without paying fees) and the buyer thinks they have got a good deal. I would therefore bid on something with a low postage charge and expect to get it delivered for that price

caroline78

This happened to me as a seller. I sold something for 99p and £5 international postage. Actual postage cost was £14. Didn't mention it to the buyer as it was my fault not theirs.

Crowqueen

Same here - actually cost me 31p to sell something the other day.

Luckily it was the only item I sold, so I didn't spend a whole lot of 31ps sending out items that were incorrectly priced.

Under no circumstances should you feel obliged to pay anything more. It will only encourage this person not to price her items correctly in the hope that she can do this to someone else. It's always the seller's responsibility.

I guess if you really felt bad then you could paypal her what more it cost, but I'm not really in the position to go doing this too much myself (I budget very carefully how much I can afford to spend on something) and would take a very dim view of people who went angling for it in this way.