Over charged loads in postage

continualdiamond

Where do i stand in getting a refund with excessive postage charges? My finance won a top which was posted from Thailand. Winning bid £1.20, postage was £9.99. Since it was coming from overseas i saw that as ok, not knowing the exchange rate in Thailand etc or what postage cost was like for a business for them.

Well when the top arrived, the stamp said 146 BAHT, i decided to do a check online with exchange rate and it came out as £2.23. Over paid by £7.76 :rolleyes:

I contacted the seller, who quiet happily revealed he puts postage up to make money off it and keeps the bids or buy it now price low to entise people to his listing. But if he kept the postage cost to be true he wouldn't have a business. So basically the postage cost is the true price of the item and the bid price/buy it now price is the real postage cost, i guess.

I've asked for a refund in difference that i over paid in and im yet to hear anything back. Ebay forbids this surely?

Cute_'n'_Quirky

The response from the Seller will be that you agreed to the postage cost at the time of the sale.

A lot of the overseas Sellers charge very little for an item but load the postage, so do watch out for that in future.

continualdiamond

hmmmm, yes i will be checking postage costs from overseas from now on. I know ebay has an excessive postage report you can file, but you don't get a reponse from them on whether they agree or not.

I've noticed the seller has the odd feedback mentioning high postage cost.

StaffsSW

Just a thought, how much would it cost you to send a similar item from the UK to Thailand??

I guess you thought the P&P was acceptable when you placed the bid, and in all fairness, £10 to send half way around the world to me is not a huge amount, but you should have queried the postage BEFORE bidding, not afterwards when you have had time to scrutinise exchange rates.

With regards how much the overpayment is worth - have you considered the cost of the packaging materials, the time it took to pack and label the item, the time and fuel it took to get to the post office, the time the person spent waiting in a queue, the cost of listing fees, the final value fees, the paypal fees etc.

P&P is more than just the price of a stamp which a LOT of people fail to understand. If somebody does not agree with a clearly advertised P&P price then they should not have bid on the item. I'm not ashamed to admit that I have left a glowing neg for somebody who neutralled me over a £1.50 P&P rate, when the stamp cost 70p.

Learn from this, and leave the seller alone - you knew the costs BEFORE the bid was placed, you were happy with everything else on the transaction, so why complain now? If there was no postage price marked on the package (such is the case with PPI or Paypal postage labels) would you have raised the same question? I very much doubt it....

continualdiamond

For me personally i do not add charges onto my P/P. My charges reflect the cost of the packaging and price of the stamp. I don't see £7.76 as reasonable to add onto the price for all the things you mentioned. My god if i added that price onto the things id sell, id never sell a thing.

Unfortunately i won't be leaving this issue alone, if the seller had been honest and charged £9.99 for the top and £1.20 for postage (ok so a bit higher, but £1.20 was the winning bid) that would of been fine. Instead of switching it around so it looked like you got a top for a bargain.

alanobrien

This doesnt just apply to overseas. There are many people on EbayUK selling items at low prices with excessive postal charges. They do it to avoid ebay selling fees, so no matter where you buy from, check the postage cost first.

soolin

continualdiamond wrote: »

For me personally i do not add charges onto my P/P. My charges reflect the cost of the packaging and price of the stamp. I don't see £7.76 as reasonable to add onto the price for all the things you mentioned. My god if i added that price onto the things id sell, id never sell a thing.

Unfortunately i won't be leaving this issue alone, if the seller had been honest and charged £9.99 for the top and £1.20 for postage (ok so a bit higher, but £1.20 was the winning bid) that would of been fine. Instead of switching it around so it looked like you got a top for a bargain.

Unfortunately while I understand your anger there is going to be very little you can do about it unless you decide to leave a negative and risk a retaliatory one in advance. The sellers that do charge excessive postage amounts only survive because people continue to buy from them, if people refused to buy then they would have to alter their selling habits.

Apart from a neg the only other option you have is to report the seller to ebay for fee avoidance, but that won't actually help you at all with your actual problem.

StaffsSW

If there was no postage price marked on the package (such is the case with PPI or Paypal postage labels) would you have raised the same question?

mountainchrisriver

I would chase him through the world judicial system, sue him for thousands for all the grief he has put you through, then I would sue Ebay... :eek:

Seriously though... the amount of time you are going to spend getting absolutely nowhere with this will be disproportionate to the £7 you are chasing (and will never get!)... as other posters have suggested "live and learn"... don't bid for items with high postage costs!!! Simple eh... :rolleyes:

continualdiamond

Thanks for all the replies, you all have your opinions and i have mine. I guess if no postage price was marked on the package i wouldn't have anything to query, but it was, so i am. I can't change that.

£7 is £7 at end of the day, im not made of money. If i was i wouldn't be looking for bargains off ebay would i.

So i will take my chances with attempting to get the £7 back.

Like i said, we all have different opinions and we'd all do things differently. So thanks again for the posts and i will leave it at that.

Hintza

Why not get in your car drive 10 miles each way @ 50p per mile and go to the shop the next time and pay their inflated prices? Then you won't have been ripped off on P+P.

You got a Top for £11.19 I am assuming you couldn't get in this country for that price?

As it happens I lose money on P+P on most of my items via amazon. But thankfully I frank my own mail so I can't have folk moaning about what is charged.

This seller I assume advertised in £ sterling, they will have taken a hit on the currency conversion and payapal charges and will have to employ staff to pack the item, plus pay for packing material etc.


Arggggggggggghhhhhhh!!