Ebay Postage Confusion

gwynfil

Hi

I bought a product on ebay and paid the seller for the goods and £2.70 postage. They sent it royal mail tracked using ebay labels. It showed being tracked and then all of a sudden I was asked for an extra £3.50 postage by Royal Mail. I paid it, because I wanted the goods and thought it was seller error, thatI could recoup. However, it seems they paid the correct postage and somewhere between Royal Mail and Ebay I have been charged extra. I contacted ebay and they are refusing any help to refund the extra postage. Ebay made the contract with royal mail and procurred the postage labels with them, so I am unable to get any money back from Royal Mail. It seems a new system is in place in ebay for postage and as a buyer I may end up not receving goods or paying extra, if ebay and their chosen postal courier are not in agreement on the costs ebay paid. This seems to be a whole new thing where the buyer is liable for postage failures. Looking on the web, i notice ebay and royal mail have been at loggerheads and I seem to be paying for it.

Why should I pay extra for incorrect postage procurement used by ebay? Where are my consumer rights? 

MattMattMattUK

gwynfil said:

Hi

I bought a product on ebay and paid the seller for the goods and £2.70 postage. They sent it royal mail tracked using ebay labels. It showed being tracked and then all of a sudden I was asked for an extra £3.50 postage by Royal Mail. I paid it, because I wanted the goods and thought it was seller error, thatI could recoup. However, it seems they paid the correct postage and somewhere between Royal Mail and Ebay I have been charged extra. I contacted ebay and they are refusing any help to refund the extra postage. Ebay made the contract with royal mail and procurred the postage labels with them, so I am unable to get any money back from Royal Mail. It seems a new system is in place in ebay for postage and as a buyer I may end up not receving goods or paying extra, if ebay and their chosen postal courier are not in agreement on the costs ebay paid. This seems to be a whole new thing where the buyer is liable for postage failures. Looking on the web, i notice ebay and royal mail have been at loggerheads and I seem to be paying for it.

It happens because sellers put incorrect weights and/or dimensions for the package into eBay, which means the postage is incorrect. That then generates a surcharge from Royal Mail which has ro be paid.

gwynfil said:

Why should I pay extra for incorrect postage procurement used by ebay? 

The error was the fault of the seller.

gwynfil said:

Where are my consumer rights? 

Just raise it via the ebay system, they will ask for proof then credit your account and charge the seller, no need to get wound up about it.

gwynfil

Thanks. I did that already. I have all the details and data and they did nothing for me. The chat to a real representative kept me waiting for ages and said they have moved it on to a higher level, only for me to get an email with a completed stance on it and did I want help with anything else, but it was a no reply email. I would have to start the process up again.

born_again

What has seller said?

caprikid1

This is a pure seller issue unfortunately.

Ebay defaults the postage based on what the seller listed it as, they need to make sure they have the correct weight and dimensions and not rely on Ebay.

Most likely it was overweight or far to big for the postage paid, you need to get the seller to pay this , it is the sellers fault.

gwynfil

The seller did not make any mistake with the postage. It is ebay's procurement with royal mail that was the issue. Royal mail refused the new system. It is all over the media if you look. Thanks for replying though. 

se2020

It might not be the sellers fault at all.
They could have previously listed an item without putting the weight/dimensions in as they know it was a 'medium parcel' and added the postage charge accordingly. 

Now ebay are using AI to go through these listings and swap them over to 'simple delivery'
The AI calculates the postage charge.

Unfortunately,  it's not very intelligent,  it thinks a comic is a large letter (fair enough) but if you have a complete collection of comics from 1985-2000 and list them as one listing it still thinks it is a large letter.
Even if the seller types "these comics weigh 17kg in total" the AI does not pick it up.

The seller has no idea when they print the label as the label does not have the weight or the parcel size on it.

What it does have is "marketplace seller" so Royal mail are supposed to deliver it regardless. I guess they then bill ebay then ebay bill the seller. 

I think the 'fee to pay' is done by the local delivery office so maybe not every delivery office has had the system update yet?
Or maybe royal mail are getting fed up of the underpaid items as I have heard a few complaints about this happening now...

soolin

gwynfil said:

The seller did not make any mistake with the postage. It is ebay's procurement with royal mail that was the issue. Royal mail refused the new system. It is all over the media if you look. Thanks for replying though. 

Royal Mail have signed up to the new agreement- it has not been refused by them. Ebay couldn't possibly have gone ahead with their new contracts without both RM and Evri signing up.

vacheron

£2.70 royal mail is probably a tracked 48 large letter or 2nd class signed for letter. 

An extra £3.50 charge brings the total to £6.20 which is closer to a tracked 48 medium parcel (quite a jump in size and weight TBH). 

Looks like the seller has hugely underetimated the size of the parcel or, as above, eBays annoying new "simple delivery" system which hides all the detail to make things "easier" has messed it up and the seller hasn't noticed? 

gwynfil

Royal mail have refused the format ebay is using, it is all over the internet. 

soolin

gwynfil said:

Royal mail have refused the format ebay is using, it is all over the internet. 

No it isn't all over the internet.

Royal Mail have signed up to the new agreement- it has not been refused by them. Ebay couldn't possibly have gone ahead with their new contracts without both RM and Evri signing up.