Am I wrong ?? Opinions please 16 June 2022 at 10:12PM in Ebay, auctions, car boot sales, post & parcels 5 replies 362 views

A_Frayed_Knot

Buyer messaged me and asked if they bought two things would I only charge one postage.   I said yes, either ask for invoice or pay and I would refund the difference.
Well, postage paid by buyer was £6.70 and cost to post was £4.35 signed for (as over £20.00)  Refunded £2.35 as the difference.  Well buyer not at all happy,thinks I am robbing her blind, wants a refund for all the items and will be requesting a return on all items, (my listing stated - no returns accepted). 
Honest opinions please - am I wrong?  I take it buyer would need to pay return postage ?  All this for £1.    

elsien

Did you confirm the exact amount you would refund - you said you’d refund the difference and on the face of it you haven’t done that. 

I don’t think it’s wrong to keep £1 for postage if you were clear on the exact postage price before the buyer agreed to buy.
But it doesn’t sound like you were. So yes you are in the wrong. And do you want a dispute for the sake of £1? 

soolin

A_Frayed_Knot said:

Buyer messaged me and asked if they bought two things would I only charge one postage.   I said yes, either ask for invoice or pay and I would refund the difference.
Well, postage paid by buyer was £6.70 and cost to post was £4.35 signed for (as over £20.00)  Refunded £2.35 as the difference.  Well buyer not at all happy,thinks I am robbing her blind, wants a refund for all the items and will be requesting a return on all items, (my listing stated - no returns accepted). 
Honest opinions please - am I wrong?  I take it buyer would need to pay return postage ?  All this for £1.    

I tend to work on the principle that I explain everything to the buyers ‘just in case’ . Only a few weeks ago I had a similar question, very low weight items and I just replied that I would combine postage but would charge extra for signed for if total went over £20. Buyer  ended up buying 3 items that pushed it well over £20 so I refunded one and a bit of the postage charged and buyer was absolutely fine.

I don’t think you did anything wrong , just perhaps poor communication as to what was actually meant and what buyer understood (and that’s a common issue with some buyers) . I’d stay polite but firm, if they want to return the items let them but if they try opening a SNAD get on the phone immediately to eBay and get a case closed and use the buzzwords ‘misuse of eBay buyers guarantee’. Let them pay for returning , block them from buying from you again as well. 

A_Frayed_Knot

elsien said:

Did you confirm the exact amount you would refund - you said you’d refund the difference and on the face of it you haven’t done that.

No amount was mentioned on both parts, they stated one postage charge, so I did refund the difference, which one the face of it - I did. 

I don’t think it’s wrong to keep £1 for postage if you were clear on the exact postage price before the buyer agreed to buy.
But it doesn’t sound like you were. So yes you are in the wrong. And do you want a dispute for the sake of £1? 

I didn't keep the £1 for myself, it was to cover the extra postage cost, but agree it was not crystal clear of the postage cost, I did not think for one minute that £1 extra was unreasonable.  

Lesson learnt,eh !!!

NBLondon

elsien said:

Did you confirm the exact amount you would refund - you said you’d refund the difference and on the face of it you haven’t done that. 

Yes they have.    Buyer paid £6.70 for postage; Actual cost of postage £4.35; Difference refunded £2.35.

What the buyer assumed was that they would only pay £3.35 which would presumably have been the postage for one item.  There's no obligation to combine postage so the buyer is overreacting.

soolin is right.

TripleH

I have in the past combined postage on items, maybe I'm lucky in that nothing I've sent like this has gone over the size / weight / value limit. Think it was we

I would also interpret that I've saved postage as yes, paid more for 1 item but paid less for 2.

I had a delivery yesterday where ordered 2 items and they arrived together in same package, as postage is included I saved nothing.