Excessive postage Query

Contains_Mild_Peril

A common pitfall: it's so easy to misjudge that tiny fraction that makes the difference between a packet and a large letter, and Royal Mail charge about 3 times as much for a light >25mm thick package as a <25mm one. It's a particular problem for the charity shop where I work because any refunds have to go through our financial office so it's not quick or straightforward for us to refund an accidental P&P overcharge.

pimento

southerndave wrote: »

If anyone thinks they have been 'ripped off' on postage costs, a simple test is to pack the thing back up, take it to the post office and ask how much to send it....this will at least give you an actual price that the postage alone cost the seller.

Or look at the stamp on the envelope.

chancesare_2

pimento wrote: »

Or look at the stamp on the envelope.

No prices on my parcels....

noelphobic

southerndave wrote: »

In case above with the phone case sent in a jiffy bag - despite that likely weighing a few grams, if it was a bit to thick in the packet, this would have incurred a minimum £2 1st class posting charge. Now add on the cost of the envelope and the time of the gu to pack it, write and take it to the post office and post it, and not forgetting the selling fees both for eBay and Amazon and PayPal little chunk off it as well, is a £3 postage cost really that unreasonable?

I often take a hit on postage, i.e. it COSTS me to send things, but so long as the profit in the item covers this, I don't mind. Even so sending things at a loss, is still incurring me lower DSR for postage! This is the insane result of leaving postage to what each party considers reasonable, IMO.

Ideally, it would be better for sellers to be able to just pop the item in the post and the buyer can pay the post office the other end - at least then the complaints about sky high fees would land on the desk of those responsible for them!!:rotfl:

I think the profit should come from the asking price of the item, not the real costs of post and packing.

I did email the seller and said that I thought the p and p charges were excessive, although I did say that I knew this was clearly stated and I should have looked more closely before going ahead with the purchase. They replied and offered to either give me a full refund if I sent the product back (including the p and p they charged me, but not whatever it would cost me to send it back, which is fair enough.) I suppose that way I would know for sure what the actual p and p charges were, minus the cost of the jiffy bag as I would have reused the one it came in. Alternatively they offered me a partial refund of 50p. They said they had to charge the p and p that they did because of Amazon rules, which I don't really understand. I can only think that it is a case of setting the selling price low in order to come up high on the list when someone searches for a particular item.

I did think their response was very reasonable and won't be sending the item back. However, I have not changed my mind and think the p and p charge should reflect the true cost of p and p and the selling price should be what is used to cover the cost of producing the item, selling fees and making a profit.

mimi1234

CouponWoman wrote: »

There is a way to check what dsrs have been left.

Please do tell how this can be done.

OP, you should have a moan for the excess postage. I've made mistakes in the past such as posting normal instead of recorded and as soon as I have realised, I have given the buyer a refund to which they normally reply "It's no bother, it's only a couple of pence".

StaffsSW

mimi1234 wrote: »

Please do tell how this can be done.

OP, you should have a moan for the excess postage. I've made mistakes in the past such as posting normal instead of recorded and as soon as I have realised, I have given the buyer a refund to which they normally reply "It's no bother, it's only a couple of pence".

Run a series of reports from the seller dashboard by item number, with each report one day different from the last report. It is easy to cross reference the low scores with feedback this way.

Customer Support do not like being told about this though when you ring up to query why a positive feedback has been left but the buyer has stiffed the stars - and they do not like being told it is a breach of their own feedback policy for buyers to do this.

techspec

pimento wrote: »

Can sellers see what stars you give them? I thought it was anonymous.

We can - but unless it starts affecting your account - its not worth the hassle.