To tell her to pay the full amount

[zippyswife]

I normally stay clear of AIBU but really can't tell if I'm in the wrong here. So here goes.

I've just sold something (an item of clothing- not heavy) on eBay. As soon as it sold I received a message from the buyer saying that the postage is too much and I can post it in a large envelope and amend the invoice.

As far as I'm concerned it's not that steep £3.95 and this was on the original listing. So it's not like I haven't been transparent.

So AIBU to tell her to forget about it then if she's unwilling to pay the stated price and just relist it.

I don't sell much on eBay for fear that it's more trouble than it's worth!

I thopught almost everything larger than a fat birthday card is £2.80 these days?

No. You have a letter (card thickness), large letter (under 25mm thick, perfectly manageable for most light terms of clothing) and a parcel (over 25mm thick)........

A large letter is between £1.20 and £1.60 depending on the weight.

Personally I would relist it I think buyer will say it never arrived and get a refund. EBay nearly always sides with buyers. People who start with a whinge do not make good customers in my experience

She probably does it every time she buys something.

Next time include postage in the starting price.

Don't send as a large letter as it won't be signed for then they will open a case to say they haven't received it and you won't have your item or the money.

YANBU

mouikey that's not true, what makes you say that? Of course you can send a large letter "signed for"

However, as a private seller, you cannot charge for time or p&p.

Run that by me again, taking into account that p&p stands for 'postage and packing', and there is very clearly a facility to set postage for private sellers, thus this current thread. An auction site that expected sellers to fund packaging costs out of their own pocket would not have got off the ground, either.

Surely what you mean is that racking up the postage costs unreasonably under the guise of travel costs is against the rules.

I quote:

When using thePostage Centre, ensure that the calculated cost isn't higher than the actual P&P cost. If so, it's considered excessive P&P and isn't allowed on eBay.

Of course I can charge for anything I like. I have items to sell, on which I wish to make a profit. As in, not be financially poorer after the item is gone. Therefore, I calculate a fair price, taking into account my costs, and I put that in the price of the item. People can choose not to bid. No-one from ebay is going to come round and say, "Oi, Tara, you're not allowed to price that at £3.99."

pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/selling-practices.html

What she means is, that unless you are a business seller you cannot charge for time, parking etc. You can charge postage and packing.

I don't think the person was unreasonable to ask, they might just wonder if you didn't understand the parcel sizes especially if it is something that you could realistically fit in an envelope. You're not unreasonable to say no, but they're not unreasonable to ask

witsender exactly.

It always makes sense to keep postage prices low for customers, especially if it can be done by not folding a t shirt an extra time.

She needs to sort out her autocorrect then, because she posted that you can't charge for p&p twice.

Tara - so in that case charge what you like and then get angry buyers trashing your stars and FB and thus you will prob lose your account.

Heavenly er, I have an ebay account and have done for yonks and no trashing has happened.

Some of that will be dumb luck, through not accidentally selling to a bellend, but it's also because the following policy isn't unreasonable:

"Of course I can charge for anything I like. I have items to sell, on which I wish to make a profit. As in, not be financially poorer after the item is gone. Therefore, I calculate a fair price, taking into account my costs, and I put that in the price of the item. People can choose not to bid."

When buyers leave feedback stars they do for postage charges. A low score of 1 or 2 out of 5, leads to a defect. Too many defects and limitations will be placed on your account and it will be eventually closed.

When buyers leave feedback stars they do for postage charges. A low score of 1 or 2 out of 5, leads to a defect. Too many defects and limitations will be placed on your account and it will be eventually closed.

I had something similar happen. It's unfair to complain about the price of postage as it's not a hidden cost. Don't want to pay it then don't bid.

not necessarily. If I am shown a postage cost then I expect the postage to cost that much apart from maybe a small buffer of 50p ish. If I'm charged £4.99 and then the parcel arrives with stamps totalling less than £2, it's perfectly fair to leave low stars.

19lottie82 Thank you for the kind explanation, but I know how feedback works.

Far easier to offer free postage and factor the cost into the starting bid. Stops buyers complaining, they think it's more of a bargain and you get 5 stars for P&P automatically.

I agree Sisters - offer free p&p, send Hermes with uploaded tracking to eBay - job done, everyone happy. And yep if I pay a fiver for postage and stamps cost £1.20 in a tatty envelope I am going to leave bad stars/fb if greedy seller doesn't refund the excess.

Update- she's paid without further quibble. I will post tomorrow 2nd class signed for plus a new envelope will be pretty much the £3.95 I have charged.

All this puts me off eBay. But I still have a couple more things I want to sell so I'll continue.

If you sit down and carefully work out your profit margin after eBay fees, PayPal fees, your time and effort, P&P, petrol to the Post Office, and then any screw-ups that happen along the way (lost deliveries etc.) that you end up paying for, on low value items, eBay is depressingly not worthwhile. The only times we've made an actual worthwhile amount of money through it is when something has attracted a freakishly high price that we never expected. Which is about twice in ten years.