Seller underpaid postage.

mossstitchmama

Hi

Bought an item on eBay which had free postage.

My postman has delivered me a card today which says that I have a parcel but that the sender has underpaid the postage and I have to pay £2 to get it.

I'm pretty sure that this is my "free postage" eBay purchase. If it is, what is the best way to recover the money from the seller without offending them too much? I've bought from them before and I'm likely to want to use them again.

I've paid and it should be redelivered on Friday.

theonlywayisup

If you want it you will have to pay. Keep your receipt and when you know for sure which seller it is, drop them a message and explain that you had to pay. Add the receipt and see what happens. Most sellers will be mortified and if the correct postage was paid at the time of posting they will be able to reclaim the payment.

lindens

sounds like the difference between the cost of a large letter and a small parcel. sounds like they thought it was a large letter and the postman thought it was a small parcel.

theonlywayisup

lindens wrote: »

sounds like the difference between the cost of a large letter and a small parcel. sounds like they thought it was a large letter and the postman thought it was a small parcel.

It doesn't work like that. There are set fees.

Letters/Large Letters – no postage paid - £2 flat fee
Letters/Large Letters - insufficient postage paid - £1.50 flat fee
Small Parcel - underpaid/no postage paid - £3 flat fee
Medium Parcel - underpaid/no postage paid - £1.50 plus incremental postage rounded to the nearest 10 pence

mrcol1000

Once you know what parcel it is, I'd contact the buyer to see what they say. I have had this happen to me several times. I have sent a photo of the parcel to the buyer showing the underpayment sticker with the fee requested. All the buyers have apologised and either refunded me the fee I had to pay and in one case, refunded the total I paid for the item.

mossstitchmama

Well the parcel has turned up. It's something I ordered in January 2015 which went missing. The seller replaced them and for some reason they have turned up more than a year later.

molerat

theonlywayisup wrote: »

It doesn't work like that. There are set fees.

That is what confused me a while back - no longer the difference + £1.

theonlywayisup

mossstitchmama wrote: »

Well the parcel has turned up. It's something I ordered in January 2015 which went missing. The seller replaced them and for some reason they have turned up more than a year later.

Really? Over a year ago?

Even if it was this January (which I suspect is what you meant) it goes to show that you need to be in possession of all the information before you go to a seller!

campdave

theonlywayisup wrote: »

Really? Over a year ago?

Even if it was this January (which I suspect is what you meant) it goes to show that you need to be in possession of all the information before you go to a seller!

Given they mention it was more than a year, I suspect the poster knows exactly what they meant.

helcat26

mossstitchmama wrote: »

Well the parcel has turned up. It's something I ordered in January 2015 which went missing. The seller replaced them and for some reason they have turned up more than a year later.

Considering how long it took to get delivery it is somewhat cheeky asking you to pay a fee!

theonlywayisup

Perils of viewing on a phone....thank you Dave for the point back....I can see that now on a bigger screen!