To pay extra postage on ebay?

[bobstersmum]

Just looking for some opinions really. I won an item on ebay yesterday and the seller messaged me to say she would post as soon as possible due to the snow, she seemed nice and friendly and has good feedback. However she has sent me another message this morning to say she's just posted the item this morning and it cost far more to post than she had accounted for. She has put a photo of the receipt. For reference she charged £5 postage and it actually cost £13.95 as it had to go with parcelforce rather than royal mail. She is asking for the extra postage. I do feel bad but I also think she could have sent it with my hermes or similar and it wouldn't have been much more than she charged. She has still made a profit. What do I do? I was thinking to wait until the item arrives and make sure it is as described etc and then offer to pay the extra. In the past I have undercharged for postage and have never asked for any extra I have just accepted that it was my mistake. Just looking for the general opinion in this situation.

It's tough tbh. She should have checked before she listed it. Ive Took parcels back from the P.O. when I've realised how much and used hermes instead,

She should have checked with you before she sent it really.

It's quite a difference

It must be pretty big to send with PF

Don't pay the extra she should have worked out the postage before she listed it.

Wait until it arrives. Tbf the receipt could be for another parcel. If she insists refer her to ebay. Am sure their guidance is for the seller to check postage before listing.

That's not your problem, unfortunately.

Agree wit pp, it's something she should have checked, it's so easy to look up costs!

(I won something for about £1+free postage which then cost them £5 to post, they didn't say a word)

No way would I pay the extra, she would have checked with you first or chosen another delivery method. Why should you take the hit? Would you have bought it if you had known postage was going to be that high? I sell a lot of things on eBay and do a bit of research before deciding on the p&p costs, if it costs more that would be my fault.

Thanks, the item is a bundle of clothes for my dd, money is quite tight at the moment so can do without paying out any more but I do feel bad. It didn't look like a huge bundle of clothes either but I suppose some are heavier than others and depends how she's packed it. I think I will decide when it arrives.

Durham, no I wouldn't have bought that particular bundle if the postage had been so high, I had a particular budget and it would have been too much.

It would have to be a massive bundle of clothes to cost that much to post!

I’ve sold lots on eBay (including bundles of clothes!) and if I’ve ever misjudged the postage I see it as my mistake and don’t say anything to the buyer.

Don’t pay anymore. As a seller some choose not to charge postage at all in order to encourage more bidders and hopefully bump up price. I’ve charged £5 postage knowing full well it will cost me £8+ and have deliberately chosen to take the hit in the hope it will encourage more bidders. If she had quoted an accurate postage bidders could have decided the overall amount they were prepared to bid. Don’t be sucked in. eBay is very straightforward in this respect. You should not pay for her ‘mistake’ she can learn from it.

Don't feel bad. If she was going to pass the extra cost on to you, she should have asked you first, not just assumed you'd pay the extra. This is no different to her charging you £9 more than they bid for the item, it's just not on and eBay will side with you.

Just say no, the item is only worth whatever you've actually paid in total to you. You understand why she is asking but you would never have bid for it.

As you said, using myhermes or weighing & measuring the item would have avoided this. She contracted to charge you a stated rate for postage and she needs to honour that.

I've made a couple of mistakes with postage costs before. They were on me. I wouldn't dream of asking the seller to pay extra.

I had something similar. Seller initially sent message saying she couldn’t get to PO then the next day said the postage was too high and just refunded me without consulting me. I wasn’t happy and she gave me bad feedback! I re-bought the item from someone else and on the package it was the same postage the original seller had charged, so she could have sent it for the postage I paid.

i suspect it weighed more than 2kg she should have taken it home or gone to myhermes collect plus UPS instead
UPS only charge 7.79 for upto 10kg and value of £60

No, I’ve had this happen to me as a seller, just underestimated the size and it cost me twice as much to post as I’d put on the listing. But that’s my responsibility and I wouldn’t have dreamt of asking the buyer to cover the cost - it’s just tough luck!

I've made losses on postage before and it would never even occur to me to ask the buyer for extra. How cheeky! It's the seller's responsibility.

In fact I once charged someone £3 for postage that ended up costing me £5, and I was still marked down for postage as it was apparently too high, even though I undercharged by £2! You just can't please some people.

Nowadays I sell everything with "free" postage and increase the price of the item instead.

As a seller you have to just accept it. I did once offer someone extra postage but they never took me up on it.

I was not impressed though with the one that packed badly, so then postage was undercharged and I had to pay the difference plus the £1 fee. They were very unwilling to reimburse me.(and in fact didn't)

I’m a private seller and if I’ve cocked it up I wouldn’t dream of asking for extra. In her position I would have used Hermes or similar and explained why.

I sell on eBay and some you win, some you lose! I've had times when the PO post it as a large letter so I make a bit, others I've had to fork out the extra. I absolutely would not dream of asking for the additional cost because of my own fuck up.

Refer them back to Ebay. The item has been posted now so that's the sellers tough shit as far as I'm concerned. They should have checked with you prior to posting the item!

Nope she’ll have to suck it up, one of those things I’m afraid.
I sold a sky lander set the other year and totally underestimated it, charged £4 and it actually cost me nearer £14 to post, that was a silly mistake but my fault not the buyers.
Sometimes if I can be bothered I will bring home parcels if the height is too tall or the weight above the limit, split in two/smaller parcels then resend.