Stars when seller pays too much for postage

RainbowDrops

Rhymsta wrote: »

Basically, if you asked a hundred people in the street about this I reckon at least 80% of them would say that Royal Mail charge based on weight and would know nothing about pricing in proportion.

Exactly, the new sizing guidelines confuse a lot of people, and it may not be clear to some people that a bit of care with packing can save you money.

So, what are you going to do in this instance? Email the seller, mark them down, or leave 5 stars?

kalsha

Rhymsta wrote: »

Same thing at the post office .... If a seller doesn't understand the way parcels are charged for they can end up paying Royal Mail far more than they should.

Totally agree with you there.

A few weeks ago there was an elderly gentleman at the PO infront of me. From the conversation he was having with the cashier, he was posting some parcels for his son. He had 5 largish mailing bags and told the cashier that they were Tshirts. Because they were not packed very flat with all the air squeezed out and they were large bags, he was charged £2.60 each ie small parcel rate. I have posted Tshirts before and they have always been large letter rate - you just have to pack them very flat and squeeze all the air out. The cashier did tell him that next time he should cellotape the bags to make them smaller. He also had a child's coat which again was in a bulging mailing bag and cost hime £5.60 (medium parcel). I have posted an adult jacket, which I managed to fit in a small parcel size box.
Couldn't help wondering if his son would have a made a loss on postage or if he had actually charged the buyers higher amounts!
It is not just the weight but also the size matters.

Ralph-y

the history of forums (including this one) debating Ebay has changed over time .

A while back the general feeling was " neg them ..... that will teach them" sort of attitude.

These days its more of a " don't neg unless you have to" .

So when you open a debate on feed back / stars you will tend to get the current 'in trend' message.

As to the worth of Ebay's feed back system, that's already been debated many a time ........

Ralph:cool:

Rhymsta

RainbowDrops wrote: »

Exactly, the new sizing guidelines confuse a lot of people, and it may not be clear to some people that a bit of care with packing can save you money.

So, what are you going to do in this instance? Email the seller, mark them down, or leave 5 stars?

As i've said more than once in this thread I direct them to seejays postal pricing site and I don't trash stars.
This was a question to see if people would punish sellers for their ignorance of the postal pricing system. The answer seems to be an overwhelming NO.

RainbowDrops

Rhymsta wrote: »

As i've said more than once in this thread I direct them to seejays postal pricing site and I don't trash stars.

Sorry, I should read more carefully

meg00

I took my parcel to the PO near my Mum's. Was quoted £6.75 to sent item. Took it to my local PO, charged £3.70 (including signed for).
Baffling.

jetplane

I received an item yesterday which could easily have been sent large letter without squashing the life out of it but the seller had popped it into a standard bag and sent at the postage paid. Maybe if they had charged small parcel and squeezed something into large letter there may be a reason to object.

I have emailed a seller before bidding to query postage if I have thought it looked too much and I always consider p&p in my overall bid.

julie777

There is a little known fact about posting small items abroad which are under 100g.
If correspondence about the product is enclosed then the Post Office SHOULD allow you to send it at LETTER RATE.
Even some Post Office staff do not know this and I have had to fight for it at times!
I wrote to the Post Office about this as I could not find it on the websites and now I have a letter confirming this in black and white.
Hope this helps someone!:beer:

ballisticbrian

When buyers don't understand business, they fail to realise that the biggest thing you pay for is the sellers time. Not the postage, nor the cost of the item. The story should end there, because if you realise that, it makes arguments about the postage "reflecting the actual cost" break down.
That seller put their time and effort into wrapping the item how they saw fit, for you. That is why, to experienced sellers, the question seems really anal.

steveE2

julie777 wrote: »

There is a little known fact about posting small items abroad which are under 100g.
If correspondence about the product is enclosed then the Post Office SHOULD allow you to send it at LETTER RATE.
Even some Post Office staff do not know this and I have had to fight for it at times!
I wrote to the Post Office about this as I could not find it on the websites and now I have a letter confirming this in black and white.
Hope this helps someone!:beer:

Don't forget RM now enforce maximum letter size of 5mm thickness on international letters