High Postage

[Lamu]

I saw 8 items from the same seller. Before I bid, I made sure I asked if she would combine postage. And she agreed she would. So I went ahead and bid, won 6 items. Postage comes to £17. I've asked her to amend the invoice and she's insisting I pay the postage and she'll refund the difference. I know for a fact postage won't be more than £6, if that.

Now ordinarily I'm pretty trusting but something tells me I'm being had here. I don't intend to pay until the invoice is amended.

Can she file a non payment thingy on me? And can I appeal it with eBay? Quite keen on keeping my 100% rating.

[LaurieFairyCake]

If you've got an EBay message confirming that she will refund the difference then surely you're fine

You just open a case and add the text she's put down. You're in a much stronger position than her.

Have a bit of sympathy for her position, frankly she won't know how much it is til she takes it to the post office to get weighed

[nickstmoritz]

Have a look at sellers fb. If they have a reasonable amount and it is good then they will likely want to keep you happy to maintain decent fb and stars. They should refund you the difference once items have been sent. Depends what the items are and how big or heavy - parcels can get pretty expensive especially signed for. They did offer to combine so it might be worth giving them a chance. Maybe you could suggest paying £10 P&P that would cover a medium parcel signed for and over 1kg but under 2kg. I have just sent one like that so I know what it cost and I undercharged by £3 on it. Sellers do lose out on P&P sometimes - maybe that is why your seller is being cautious.

[Lamu]

Were talking about 4 toddler tops, a cardie and a pair of tights which should be no more than £5 to post recorded.

Not much sympathy at all as I've suggested amending it to £9 which would more than cover the items. But she's refused.

I didn't think you could open a case on high postage. I've been stung in the past with sellers who agree to combine postage then only discount a nominal amount.

[Jacksonville14]

no don't pay it all - it will only cost £3 to send via Hermes (it must be under 1kg??) - she needs to send you a revised invoice. £9 is far too much for such a small amount of items! And nope, no case will give you your postage back - you are right.

[AutumnDragon]

If you pay the full postage she will get charged final value fees on the full amount - if she refunds you, she won't get the fees back, so it is in her best interests to send you a combined invoice and only get final value fees on the lower amount.

I wish all my buyers would wait for an invoice so I can combine postage first, so the reason she is holding out would worry me.

[nickstmoritz]

I agree it should be max £5 for those little items. £17 is a rip off. Message to say you would like the items and are happy to pay £5 for sending them together. I mean for heaven's sake even if they sent 6 baby things separately it would only be large letter size for each item so still no more than £1.24 per item 1st class! What a terrible seller. No wonder you are annoyed. If they won't reduce P&P ask to cancel the transaction and report them to ebay.

[CathAnderson]

I believe eBay should be able to see histoci messages so you have these to refer to if there are any issues on the promise.

[Lamu]

So after a lengthy call to eBay who pretty much shrugged and said sort it out with the seller, I contacted her again to see if she'd managed to get an accurate quote from the post office as I'd suggested yesterday. She refused to do so and insisted that I pay up first.

I've now reluctantly paid because I genuinely really wanted the items not before she was incredibly rude, called me a dishonest buyer and said she'd block and report me etc. So I have to wait and see if she's true to her word. Needless to say its one of the most bizarre transactions I've ever had. But I'm getting a tired of being ripped off. I bought 3 bodysuits for my 5 month old from a different seller and was charged £7 combined postage when the actual cost was £2.80 FFS! eBay is turning me into a loon

[Lamu]

cath as someone else said up thread. You can't open a case re. postage. So it's really all down to trust. Pretty sure ebay wouldn't do a thing about it.

[fertilityFTW]

Same happened to me. 4 small items, seller said would refund and I foolishly sent across £20. No refund. He mailed each item separately?! And insisted that's what it came to. Then changed the settings for the items to Free Postage so I couldn't even rate him poorly for the postage scam. I was so upset I can't tell you, couldn't afford that kind of loss.

[Lamu]

fertility it's been such a hassle for what should have been a fairly simple transaction. I'm fully prepared to issue multiple negative feedbacks if I don't get the postage refund she's promised.

[Jacksonville14]

6 items means you can leave 6 neg feedbacks 8 days apart - will ruin her feedback. I really hope she does refund the difference.

[fertilityFTW]

I dont know too much about ebay, but I was unable to leave feedback which pissed me off no end - because he'd changed the setting to free postage so the system refused to let me give stars on postage. Anyway, lesson learned.

[nickstmoritz]

Hope they sort out a refund if not then fb is your only come back and stars lower than 3 result in a defect for a seller. The seller is crazy to wind up her buyers like this. It is asking for trouble. I refund P&P without even being asked if it is over £1 difference and would always combine. If the seller had problems adjusting the P&P on the invoice (ebay can be glitchy in this area sometimes) then they should have made that clear and promised immediate refund of some postage as soon as you paid. Hope it gets sorted.

[nickstmoritz]

should have said 3 stars or lower result in defect not lower than 3

[19lottie82]

what a rotter, that's just greedy. I also, would not hesitate in leaving 6 x negatives and 1 star for postage costs for each item.

[glammanana]

I agree such a greedy seller as stated above but you will find e-bay will not get involved with postage costs they just shrug their shoulders no wonder the site has a lot fewer buyers as they are getting ripped off no end with postal charges.
I do free postage with all my sales so I don't have that problem,but I have bought items which should have been sent recorded and have come 2nd class standard delivery the difference being about £4,I asked the buyer why so high a charge and not 1st class and received the height of abuse and told not to dictate how to run her business,just can't win can you ?
The items bought by the OP should only cost maximum £3.98 (imo) by my hermes tracked,lets hope she is pleased with the contents as I think may be the sale from hell.OP keep us informed how you get on.

[nauticant]

I'm still a fan of this:

6 items means you can leave 6 neg feedbacks 8 days apart - will ruin her feedback. I really hope she does refund the difference.

[Lamu]

Items arrived in one piece. And she's issued a refund for the excess postage. I'm still a bit baffled. She was sure to mark it as 'free postage' to guarantee her 5 stars. I haven't yet figured out how that one works