Buyer abroad won't pay postage

[alltoomuchrightnow]

Having made losses in the past (i.e. items not turning up.. or buyers 'claiming' they hadn't turned up, and eBay refunding them and then me not being able to claim as I had not posted Signed For,) I now state in listing that I will only sent International Signed For.
I put this clearly in my listings but don't always put the price. (as my average bidder is from UK..where of course postage price is stated.. so I don't take it to post office to get weighed etc till after if international buyer wins ( i can't be faffing around just in case i get outside uk bids, post office is miles away)…this has always worked fine… they win the item, I get back to them re the correct postage.. and they pay. By doing it at PO instead of my own guestimate, it means I charge the exact amount. I feel this is fair.. I don't include packaging etc. Never had a problem with this)
So, german guy wins, i take item to post office, it's exactly £10. I send invoice with postage of £10 added on and pay for the packaging myself.

He is refusing to pay saying it's too much. He says he has brought similar and paid £3.95 for postage from abroad. He won't disclose which country. He says it's regular post and he will take it at his risk. But it's not is it??!! Since when did eBay rule that buyer was responsible for delivery?! `if claims it's lost they will refund him in full and then i won't have a trackable receipt. He says he wants to take the risk
Ebay is not a hobby/pocket money for me
I'm out of work and it's all i have
I can't afford these losses
If i refuse and he begrudgingly pays up I could risk bad feedback? He is being really unco operative and sending stroppy messages.
I can't just send 'second chance' to next person can I? not when this guy wants to pay
but, he just wants to pay less..his messages are saying 'i will pay you £3.95'
No you won't, matey! (it would cost more than that anyway, unsigned)
Sick of being dictated to!
What would you do/

[TheProsAndConsOfHitchhiking]

I would send a message saying all international items are posted as signed for as stated clearly in the listing and ask him if he still wants it. If he does he will pay, if not he will not and you can open an unpaid item case within 5 days. Ebay will not allow a neg to stay if he gives you one for postage costs as they will look at the listing and messages between the 2 parties.

[alltoomuchrightnow]

can they access his messages to me? or do i have to pass them on

[alltoomuchrightnow]

i would understand gripe if excess postage but I'm not making a penny the postage is £10 and i have to use a lot of packaging! so petrol and packaging costs are all mine and it's two trips to post office.. one for the quote one for actual mailing… it's not my fault postage is £10 and item won is only £7.50! that's what happens (can happen) if buy from abroad. I've had to suck up postage charges myself… i.e. customs fees etc… it's risk you take..i won some cowboy boots for about a tenner years ago and it cost me £30-£40 to get them here, they were still worth it.. i knew the risk

[LavenderGreen14]

just file an unpaid item case and block bidders from abroad in future - you have to actually block them if you don't want them to bid.

And you can't charge for petrol anyway.

[TheProsAndConsOfHitchhiking]

Yes they can access messages without you having to pass them on.

[alltoomuchrightnow]

i didn't want to charge for petrol but it bugs me he is quibbling this when i am charging the exact amount quoted from post office when most sellers would add on a bit extra for packaging
Can i just send second chance offer to next person or do i need to hear from ebay first
he may well pay up but I'm wary of getting a neg and then having to hassle ebay to try and remove it

[alltoomuchrightnow]

I'm being fair, right?
I did state in the listing , only sent abroad by ISF
I didn't say how much that would be, as at that stage I didn't know and was not asked
Until the last minute, my bidders were all UK anyway

[TheProsAndConsOfHitchhiking]

You can always cancel the transaction under 'the buyer disagrees with terms of sale' or something like that. can't remember what it is called. Just go to up aid item/cancel transaction and it will give you options as to why you want to cancel.

[TheProsAndConsOfHitchhiking]

Yes you are being fair :)

[alltoomuchrightnow]

UPDATE
He has paid me in full
So if worst comes to worst and he neg's me, I can appeal this?
Let's just hope he also read rest of listing.. that item has a split in it lol; (i described in detail)- don't want him kicking off over damaged item! makes me think if he didn't read re postage then he didn't read full description hmmm… at least i included lots of photos from all angles inc damage
wish me luck!

[LavenderGreen14]

yes he can still neg

[RedBlanket]

You haven't done anything wrong, and he's trying it on a bit. BUT I think you need to be up front about the cost of postage in the listing. Use some household scales to get the weight and guess from there. Look at simialr items and see how much they charge.

[alltoomuchrightnow]

been getting snippy nitpicking messages from him! re other things concerning item

[LavenderGreen14]

will be best to refund instead - otherwise he will just send it back and make you refund later.

[BuggedByJake]

Why don't you send items standard post but get proof of postage. That way you can claim if the item gets lost in the post without having to charge buyers fir signed for postage.

[alltoomuchrightnow]

this has happened before and then eBay ask me for tracking number and there isnt one with proof of postage.. it's not enough, and then they immediately go in favour of buyer as i can't provide evidence

[BuggedByJake]

You claim from royal mail not eBay. Just ask for proof of posting & keep hold of it until buyer leaves feedback.

[alltoomuchrightnow]

ok i wasn't sure ( i know i claim from RM, yes).. i really thought i could not claim from RM if sent abroad, unless was Signed For. I thought proof of postage would not be sufficient

[LavenderGreen14]

you need online proof of delivery for ebay/paypal.

[nickstmoritz]

Lavender can I ask, do you send all items signed for? I do for more high value items but regular postage for most (with proof of post certs). Do you find that sending everything tracked dings your P&P DSRs or do people seem happy to pay signed for P&P (or do you only use courier?) just interested.

OP cost of overseas P&P is pretty high and you will find that buyers might be bothered so say in listings that P&P will be at least £10 or whatever it usually costs. Your buyer will most likely mark you down for postage.

[PinkPepper]

Have you taken the original uk postage off? I send things abroad fairly often, it's about £9 in UK and £15 to Europe so I'd charge £6 extra on listing, if that makes sense. He must have paid what p&p you had in listing already?

[alltoomuchrightnow]

no he'd not paid anything…. i was waiting to give him the exact postage price as thought that was fair… didn't want to under or over charge…
It would be v unfair if he does mark me down for postage
Of course it's going to be higher for signed for overseas
`I can't take risk of sending for less after losing so much in the past

[TheTerribleBaroness]

From the point of view of an overseas buyer - you're being totally fair. :)

People like him really piss me off because I'm forever having to ask sellers to accept my bid, get family to bid for me, or arrange items I've bid on to be posted to MIL in the UK.

I count myself lucky if sellers are happy to post abroad, I know it's more hassle for them, and I expect to pay extra postage. If I don't want too, I use a Dutch website instead.

[nickstmoritz]

I send abroad happily & touch wood without too many problems plus I only send signed for on more expensive items. However after reading about it on here I do have an exclusion list for certain countries that other people have said are less reliable for deliveries.

[alltoomuchrightnow]

am i being daft.. i cannot seem to find the exclusion list and i just looked when listed something new. I remember ticking off certain countries before .. how do i block non UK ?