I won three items in separate auctions from the same seller - two brio engines and a piece of level crossing. The total postage on the three items was £9.49 so I emailed asked for costs to be combined. Our email exchange is as follows and now she/he has reported me to ebay. Do you think I have done anything wrong?
Me
would it be possible to combine postage on the three items I have won from you?
Thanks
Seller
Thanks for you enquiry - but i'm afriad that I dont do this - the cost of the item/postage is as listed per item please.
Thank you.
Me
ok, well then I would like all 3 items packaged and sent separately. thanks
Seller
I am sorry to learn that you are so obviously disappointed witht the packaging and posting fees that you contracted to pay per item when you entered the bidding process.
You are welcome to come along and collect the items in person, or
If you no longer feel that the overall cost of your purchases represents value for money, then I am happy to organise with ebay that you can cancel your purchases and I will happily relist them.
In my experience as a reasonably regular internet shoppper if you order anything from Amazon that detailed individual prices for postage - you would pay all items of postage irrespective of how many parcels the order arrives in. Additionally I had several other bidders yesterday who also purchased multiple items, and apart from one arranging to collect directly, which I am quite happy with - everyone else has just accepted the postage that they have agreed to pay when bidding.
Me
I have accepted to pay the postage and I have already paid you for the postage as separate items. Equally you have listed them as separate items and therefore have contracted to send them out as such. If you pack them together and the package goes astray then I will lose all three items whereas if they are sent separately I will have more chance of receiving some of them. If I have to pay full postage on each one then I should at least have that benefit.
I do think your policy could be seen as stingy and you are the first seller I have had contact with who has not been happy to combine postage, I always combine postage on my sales. I see you are not a frequent user of ebay and maybe you will change your policy when you have been using it more often. I think people will feel it's not really in the spirit of ebay.
Anyway I will still expect to receive all 3 items separately as I have paid for them in that way.
Seller
As I said - I am happy for you to cancel your order if you feel as you do.
I dont appreciate your remarks about being stingy - and feel that you are quibbling over pence when you have got the items for a good price, and a price that you entered in full knowledge that the postage was on top.
I am not breaching any ebay policy by asking for what you signed up to.
I believe that the onus is on you to have checked my policy before you started bidding if it was that big a concern for you.
And, no, I will not be changing my policy on this - I dont need to. What you choose to do yourself is entirely up to you.
Me
I am not quibbling over price. I paid the full price yesterday and I didn't complain about it - all I am asking is for you to send the packages separately. That way if any go astray I will not have lost them all. You can't have it both ways - if you don't wish to combine postage, you can't combine packaging either.
Seller
I am sufficiently offended by your communications that I have spoken to EBay Customer services today to report your complaint and request their advice.
They have confirmed that
- I am entitled to levy a postage price per item; and
- Where an individual has bid successfully for more than 1 item that I am entitled to send the items out in one package.
I would remind you that you were the one who asked if I would reduce the postage AFTER the close of bidding AND when I completely reasonably said NO it was you who accused ME of being STINGY - when I had done no more than follow the EBAY rules and prerogatives that apply to selling.
I have asked them to review the email trail between our accounts and have told them I am not at all happy with the tactics you have used. Frankly I would be quite happy to cancel all three transactions and sell the items to a more reasonable purchaser.
On the basis of the Ebay Customer Service team advice I have therefore package all three items into one box but have upgraded the postal service offered to 1st class signed for.