Would it be daft to approach seller

soolin

Belenus said:

soolin said:

Another parcel came this morning, £3.35 postage showing on label , I paid £2.50 postage and 99p for the item. 

Could the seller be using his/her employers postage?

That’s a possibility I suppose, perhaps some business do still send staff to the post office with parcels and don’t check how many were sent. It just seems odd that I’ve found several different sellers in whichI imagine is quite a limited scenario. 

TripleH

I have made a couple of errors on postage in my time, this meant I very nearly didn't make anything on the sale.

I think reaching out makes sense but only offer advice if asked. I admit I use ebay mainly to avoid having to chuck something.

FFHillbilly

I constantly tell acquaintances how to sell properly on eBay whenever the topic arises in conversation(and also tell them I definitely didn't sell efficiently for the first 15 years...)
But I don't think I'd bother telling a stranger on eBay.
having said that, a kind stranger  on eBay pointed out what I was selling was not what I thought it was, and it was undervalued. one correctly titled it sold in hours which tells me it was still listed too cheap at £50 but still a lot better than the £10 I originally had it up for

tightauldgit

I think a lot of those low ball bargains are just people listing at 99p and being caught out by only one person bidding. It's happened to me in the past more than once. 

Also if you're not careful and just follow Ebay's postage recommendations they can also underestimate the amount that should be charged. Then when you rock up to the post office you realise you've lost money. 

in_my_wellies

I'm always surprised at how many of my friends ask me if it's easy to use ebay. They either find it difficult or don't trust it. 

I started by selling MILs oddments after she died - 20 years ago. The type of things that charity shops don't want (lot of used Tupperware for example) but sells well on ebay

Then I researched and sold my late husbands huge hobby collection and around 300 books but one completely different item I remember I put on 7 day auction for £100 because he had always said 'it's a good one'. That was the limit of my research. I was super pleased that I got a bid straight away.

Then views and more views - about 350 views!! Then one kind person linked me to a specialist website where I was the proud winner of 'Idiot listing of the week award' A special award for people listing an item with obviously no clue as to its value. He said I would never get bids up to a fair value so I removed it. (Before ebay rules changed) I eventually sold it for £3000 in its original condition, I kept in contact with the buyer who renovated it and sold it for nearly £8000. 

Happy ending thanks to a kind person

ballisticbrian

Having thought about this some more, I decided it's like telling someone their flies are open. It's really useful information, but rarely received well.

vacheron

Belenus said:

soolin said:

Another parcel came this morning, £3.35 postage showing on label , I paid £2.50 postage and 99p for the item. 

Could the seller be using his/her employers postage?

I might take this opportunity to clear my concience and state that i had used the franking machine at my old employers office a fair few times many years ago for posting out my perosnal eBay stuff. 

vacheron

soolin said:

Another parcel came this morning, £3.35 postage showing on label , I paid £2.50 postage and 99p for the item. 

Sounds like they might have been caught out with the recent sneaky jump in the royal mail Tracked 48 promo price which has just jumped from around £2.75 to 3.35? 

I've left my postage prices at the lower price as most of my stuff sells in the £20-£100 range anyway, but if I had anything at 99p, I'd be keeping an eye on postage prices like a hawk! 

soolin

vacheron said:

soolin said:

Another parcel came this morning, £3.35 postage showing on label , I paid £2.50 postage and 99p for the item. 

Sounds like they might have been caught out with the recent sneaky jump in the royal mail Tracked 48 promo price which has just jumped from around £2.75 to 3.35? 

I've left my postage prices at the lower price as most of my stuff sells in the £20-£100 range anyway, but if I had anything at 99p, I'd be keeping an eye on postage prices like a hawk! 

It went from £2.95 to £3.35 but online. My label was printed at the PO and a small parcel over the counter has been £3.35 since the last price rise. 

Norman_Castle

From memory I've occasionally contacted private sellers about mistakes that might make a sale problematic for them but I wouldn't contact anyone about postage rates or end times unless it benefited me. I'm happy to share what I've learnt while selling with friends but wouldn't have the time or interest in habitually helping strangers in this way. There's enough advice online about ebay selling and if sellers cant help themselves why should you cover their mistakes? Sorry if that sounds harsh but they're not your responsibility.