ebay seller wanting more money for post

theonlywayisup

skitler wrote: »

I bet you don't work for the post office then.:rotfl:

They aren't errors, they are intentional.

cattie

Flyonthewall wrote: »

but why bother telling the buyer it costs more if you're not expecting extra? Why would the buyer care, it makes no difference to them.

I did say in my reply that I have always hoped buyers would hope to reimburse me at least partly for excess postage I've paid when I tell them it cost more.

As I'm selling a lot of similar items at the moment & getting quite a few repeat buyers, I don't want buyers thinking something along the lines of that last week for instance, I was quoting p&p at £1.90, (which turned out to be an undercharge) & now I've decided to charge £2.60 (the correct cost) for something very similar in size & weight.

Whenever I have overcharged on p&p due to miscalculating, I always refund buyers as I don't believe in making a profit on postage costs. So by the same token, if I'm letting buyers know they overpaid p&p & I'm making a refund, I see nothing wrong in letting them know I undercharged p&p. They have the choice to either act on it or not. But at least they know that they were not ripped off over the postage cost.

ERICS_MUM

I confess to being a soft touch on EBay so I won't give you my EBay user name in case you test me !

Soon after the postage costs rocketed (2012, 2013 ?) I bought something and when it arrived I saw that the postage on the parcel was more than I'd paid. The item cost less than the postage shortfall therefore the poor seller actually lost money on the whole transaction. I paid him the shortfall, still felt I'd got a good deal on the item. He didn't ask me for it, it just felt right to do it.

I over calculated postage on a few items that I listed at the same time (must have been a menopause moment). I refunded the diff. Fair and square.

I'm not a goody two shoes by the way. I don't expect this sort of treatment myself and I haven't been disappointed so far !

Flyonthewall

cattie wrote: »

I did say in my reply that I have always hoped buyers would hope to reimburse me at least partly for excess postage I've paid when I tell them it cost more.

As I'm selling a lot of similar items at the moment & getting quite a few repeat buyers, I don't want buyers thinking something along the lines of that last week for instance, I was quoting p&p at £1.90, (which turned out to be an undercharge) & now I've decided to charge £2.60 (the correct cost) for something very similar in size & weight.

Whenever I have overcharged on p&p due to miscalculating, I always refund buyers as I don't believe in making a profit on postage costs. So by the same token, if I'm letting buyers know they overpaid p&p & I'm making a refund, I see nothing wrong in letting them know I undercharged p&p. They have the choice to either act on it or not. But at least they know that they were not ripped off over the postage cost.

It's good that you refund when you overcharge. Fishing for extra money because of your own mistake doesn't give a good impression though and I imagine the buyer who ignored your message thought the same.

If I bought an item and then went to buy another from the same seller and the postage had changed I wouldn't assume they were now overcharging. Sellers do sometimes change postage prices and there are various reasons for it.

I'd still buy from the same seller even if the postage was more assuming the seller was good and it was a price I was willing to pay. I wouldn't think much of it. However, I'd think twice before buying again from a seller fishing for more money regardless of the rest of the transaction. Afterall, you may have put the postage costs up but what's to say you won't still ask/hint for more?

BargainJunky

I would never ask a buyer for additional postage if I got it wrong. I also have on occasion refunded the difference if I overcharged - my post office have a habit of letting a lot of items go through as large letter when I think they should be a small packet.

Last year I bought a childs toy on BIN for £5.00 plus £4.00 postage unfortunately this was before the small packet size/weight changed and the seller was charged £8.00 postage! If they had split it into two parcels they would have got away with £5.20. I felt guilty as the toy was a bargain and I offered to send them a book of stamps to try and make up some of the difference - they thanked me and asked that I drop a couple of pounds in the next charity box I saw so I happily complied.

skitler

theonlywayisup wrote: »

They aren't errors, they are intentional.

so you do work for the post office then.:rotfl:

tizerbelle

As a buyer not a seller on ebay, I have to say that when I buy/bid on an item I incorporate the postage costs into the total price of the item so in OP's example the item wouldn't have cost 99p plus delivery but £4.19 in total.

If I'm not prepared to pay £4.19 I don't buy it. If I buy it, I don't care whether the seller has over / under priced postage.

If they over-priced I don't expect a refund of the difference - to me postage is shipping and handling and who am I to say I shouldn't pay for the packaging, time taken to get to the post office etc. I've agreed an inclusive price and I'm happy to pay it.

If they under-priced and charged me less than it actually cost - then sorry but tough, seller's problem and I would be livid with any seller that emailed whether they were asking for extra money or just telling me what a good samaritan they had been by taking the extra cost on the chin, hint, hint.

Stoke

I think that overcharging for postage as a way of making money is wrong. However I am of the view that it's the sellers responsibility to charge the correct amount of postage and that swings both ways.

King_Nothing

tizerbelle wrote: »

As a buyer not a seller on ebay, I have to say that when I buy/bid on an item I incorporate the postage costs into the total price of the item so in OP's example the item wouldn't have cost 99p plus delivery but £4.19 in total.

If I'm not prepared to pay £4.19 I don't buy it. If I buy it, I don't care whether the seller has over / under priced postage.

If they over-priced I don't expect a refund of the difference - to me postage is shipping and handling and who am I to say I shouldn't pay for the packaging, time taken to get to the post office etc. I've agreed an inclusive price and I'm happy to pay it.

If they under-priced and charged me less than it actually cost - then sorry but tough, seller's problem and I would be livid with any seller that emailed whether they were asking for extra money or just telling me what a good samaritan they had been by taking the extra cost on the chin, hint, hint.

That's exactly how I feel. I've only sold a small amount of things on ebay, and the postage has either been under priced, or free, to draw people in to buy my items over other peoples, I didn't care if the underpriced items "lost me money". But if I was to sell some more stuff I'd probabley stick it as free postage, as most things I sell are BIN's, so I just incorporate postage into the overall cost.

Too many threads on here popping up from jokers saying that something they agreed to buy at a set price, has turned up and the postage actually cost 10p less than what they paid. I just can't be arsed for it.

When I buy something I look at the overall price to get it from A (theirs) to B (mine), and if I don't agree with it, I don't buy, the price is the price.

eyelinerprincess

Ive refunded in the past if something's cost less (sneaked into one bracket by a couple of mm at the most) but have also sucked it up if I've got it wrong. Once had a seller post a book to me with NO postage. No reply either when I pointed out I had to pay for postage again.