Seller asking for more money towards postage?

martinsmoneysaver1984

Hi all

Wonder if you can offer advice please. I purchased a bundle of clothes on buy it now on 28th June 2012 with postage 2nd class recorded £4.75. After I completed the purchase, seller messaged me to say she had lost one of the tops but would replace with something else. As the bundle was fairly reasonably priced and there were other things I was interested in I accepted.

By 4th July items had not been marked as dispatched so I contacted seller to confirm they had been sent on 5th July got an email apologising saying they had been unwell but would be sent next day. Had not arrived by 9th July so I emailed checking everything was ok and they were then marked as dispatched.

Got an email this morning saying postage had been £12! But they had included the "lost top" and asking whether I could please give 5* feedback and very nicely asking whether I would consider paying some more towards postage but understanding if I didn't want to.

Items have not yet arrived but I imagine they should do within the next few days. I am more than happy to contribute towards postage as the seller outlined that with postage and fees they have not actually made very much on the sale. However, I do not feel they deserve 5*, they have been very slow and if I hadn't been asking questions, I am it sure whether things would have been sent by now.

Am I being unreasonable? As a buyer I do take into account other users feedback and feel it would be misleading to leave 5* in this case.

Thank you for reading through this long post of you made I this far!

Crowqueen

If they had worked everything out, kept things tidy and accessible, and posted promptly...then and only then should they get 5*s! Some people are incredibly cheeky when dealing with people who have paid them money! I bet they wouldn't complain to their boss or the people who pay any benefits they might get!

Please don't pay them any more. By doing so you're only encouraging them to do this to someone else, meanwhile avoiding eBay fees. They should always start at a price on which they can make money and post the items out, and the way they have behaved strikes me of undeserving of any more of your money. I've only broken even on my selling yesterday with the sale of a £20 item - but I am in no way looking to have a whip round amongst my poor buyers to subsidise any extra eBay listing fees I might incur when I make mistakes such as forgetting I have things scheduled etc!

Oliver14

Personally if the items arrive (and that's a big if) I would not contribute to the postage. If they were to lazy to work it out before they listed it's not my problem. You bought the items at the price listed not some variable amount.

As for FB no one tells me what FB and stars to give that's your experience of the sale so I would leave whatever you think is appropriate (IMO it wouldn't be the best)

GregtheHammer

I would not be contributing anything extra to the postage and after lack of comms & time waiting I doubt my feedback left would be that hot either!

soolin

I agree with the other comments and would not be contributing more for postage.

As for stars, even the cheekiest of sellers could not honestly expect anything better than a 2 or 3 for despatch surely?

antoniarose_2

I definitely would not give 5 stars, as this implies they were prompt with postage and communication was good etc.

Also, I wouldn't contribute towards postage. It is up to the seller to correctly calculate postage before making the listing - in the past i've sold items and lost the odd £1 or so on postage for miscalculating, but that was my own mistake and therefore I took the hit.

martinsmoneysaver1984

Thank you all for your replies, I did not think about them doing this regularly in order to avoid fees and felt bad that they had been perhaps a little naive. I have decided to wait for the items to arrive and then let them know I have decided not to pay more towards postage. I will not be leaving them 5*'s as I do not believe they deserve them. Once again, thank you for taking the time to read and reply.

theonlywayisup

I think the only way to learn on ebay, is the hard way.

No extra money, stars as you see fit.

That way, they won't be so quick to do it again.

kazwookie

For £12 in postage, it must be a weighty parcel! What weight is it going to be? 'if' it arrives, it will be interesting to hear what actual postage is.

No don't pay any extra, I've miscaculated in the past and had to take it on the chin.

theonlywayisup

The seller has not only mucked up but also doesn't seem to be able to work out a cheap and effective postal service. £12 buys you a lot of courier!

starrybee

theonlywayisup wrote: »

The seller has not only mucked up but also doesn't seem to be able to work out a cheap and effective postal service. £12 buys you a lot of courier!

Yeah...if they used RM then £12 would mean it must have been up to 6kg...Collect Plus would have been almost half the cost at 6.99, I'm sure many others are the same...some sellers really need to learn how to google