over charged on ebay postage. can I please have some good advice?

daveyj792

Some ebay items can end up selling for just 10p or whatever when they are worth a lot more than that. Books for example. I see no problem with a seller putting a book up with £2.50 P&P when I know it costs nowhere near that to post it, even if I am the one buying it. P&P costs are displayed before you choose to bid on an item so if you have chosen to bid on it you can't very well go complaining about the price of postage afterwards.

ILW

daveyj792 wrote: »

Some ebay items can end up selling for just 10p or whatever when they are worth a lot more than that. Books for example. I see no problem with a seller putting a book up with £2.50 P&P when I know it costs nowhere near that to post it, even if I am the one buying it. P&P costs are displayed before you choose to bid on an item so if you have chosen to bid on it you can't very well go complaining about the price of postage afterwards.

Apparently you can and it can be very detrimental to the seller. This thread has been an education to me.

demystified

ILW wrote: »

Apparently you can and it can be very detrimental to the seller. This thread has been an education to me.

Indeed, its amazing how much trouble you can land up if not completely aware of whats going on with the DSR stats. I can only assume that eBay are trying to get rid of small sellers via the back door.

Mylo_The_Moggy

Strapped wrote: »

:rotfl:

Die, thread, die...

It's certainly gone round & round in circles enough times AND had over 350 comments lol. :rotfl:

ILW

demystified wrote: »

Indeed, its amazing how much trouble you can land up if not completely aware of whats going on with the DSR stats. I can only assume that eBay are trying to get rid of small sellers via the back door.

I would suspect it is as much to do with them not getting a fee from postage charges.

poet123

vacheron wrote: »

Surely the point of postage and packaging is to get the item to its destination in an undamaged condition? It appears that your items arrived undamaged otherwise I'm sure you would have mentioned it.

If the auction description stated "Items will be delivered in a presentation box with a bow and ribbon." then you can quite rightly argue that you were overcharged.

However, ebay is generally a place used by people who are happy to eschew unnecessary niceties in return getting the item they want at the lowest possible price.

Therefore to buy on ebay (and then argue at length on internet forums about a penny pinching a couple of quid back in postage) whilst at the same time "assuming" that the item will arrive in unnecessary additional packaging at the sellers expense when this is not stated anywhere in the auction seems a strangely inconsistent expectation.

If for some strange reason I expected my purchase in a box and tissue, then I would ask the seller if they included a box and tissue. If the answer was no (and it was that important to me) then I would not bid!

I'm sure a nicely lit boutique shop on the high street full of attractive assistants will include you a nice box in a shiny rigid bag with twisted hemp handles and a smile in return for a far higher price (and profit margin).

Maybe ebay should add an extra P&P&P charge for those people who expect "postage and packing and presentation" ?

You are completely missing the point of my comment. Which was that I cannot complain upfront when at that that point I do not know for sure if the stated charge is the one which will be paid. I can guess or assume that it won't but until the item arrives with a price sticker on it I don't know for sure.

I have no problem paying the corroect postage but if it is more than double, or approaching triple which has happened to me twice, then I do have a problem. I do not think it is reasonable to charge £7 for an item which costs £2.60 to post.

RFW

ILW wrote: »

I would suspect it is as much to do with them not getting a fee from postage charges.

They could just charge a fee on postage, they do in other countries, probably will here soon.

soolin

RFW wrote: »

They could just charge a fee on postage, they do in other countries, probably will here soon.

I wouldn't be at all surprised to see that rolled out on eBay.uk.

There was surprisingly little fuss when they rolled it out on eBay.com as the FVfs went down at the same time so people knew exactly where they were with fees.

vacheron

poet123 wrote: »

You are completely missing the point of my comment. Which was that I cannot complain upfront when at that that point I do not know for sure if the stated charge is the one which will be paid. I can guess or assume that it won't but until the item arrives with a price sticker on it I don't know for sure.

I have no problem paying the corroect postage but if it is more than double, or approaching triple which has happened to me twice, then I do have a problem. I do not think it is reasonable to charge £7 for an item which costs £2.60 to post.

I never said that you should complain up front. I suggested that, as the postage and packing costs are such an important issue to you, that you send the seller a simple question to confirm that the packaging will be to your satisfaction and if they would be prepared to refund you the difference if the postage sticker is cheaper BEFORE you enter into a binding contract based on your assumptions which themselves are based on no evidence whatsoever!

This way both parties will benefit. You will be sure that you will be getting the postage you believe is appropriate and have docuented evidence in your favour in the event if the postage not being as described, and the seller has the opportunity to see the kind of buyer you are and sell to a different bidder using his clearly stated charges without fuss or the risk to his seller ratings.

PS. You do realise that it is possible not to display the postage charges when you send through Royal Mail don't you? I never used to bother doing that as often I paid more than I charged, but I think I'll start now just in case!

soolin

vacheron wrote: »

I never said that you should complain up front. I suggested that, as the postage and packing costs are such an important issue to you, that you send the seller a simple question to confirm that the packaging will be to your satisfaction and if they would be prepared to refund you the difference if the postage sticker is cheaper BEFORE you enter into a binding contract based on your assumptions which themselves are based on no evidence whatsoever!

This way both parties will benefit. You will be sure that you will be getting the postage you believe is appropriate and have docuented evidence in your favour in the event if the postage not being as described, and the seller has the opportunity to see the kind of buyer you are, tell you where to get off, and sell to a different bidder using his clearly stated charges without fuss or the risk to his seller ratings.

PS. You do realise that it is possible not to display the postage charges when you send through Royal Mail don't you? I never used to bother doing that as often I paid more than I charged, but I think I'll start now just in case!

Many business accounts with RM do have the facility not to show postage costs but looking through a lot of categories I buy in the majority of businesses are showing free postage probably in readiness of the new TRS requirements. For a seller with no account only PayPal show no value unless requested, but they clearly mark the weight and level offstage, so it is not exactly hidden.

Printing directly from the Riyal Mail site does show postage costs.

I am going to post a second post rather than add more thoughts to this one.