Anyone who sells on eBay – this one’s for you

[SuzieBishop]

So selling something on eBay and postage is set at £3.40 - buyer buys and messaged me asking if I will refund the difference of the postage as it is small and might go as a large letter so would only be £1.10.
I initially found this a bit cheeky as postage is normally set around £3.10 to £3.40-50 on most items on eBay. Yes I set it up £3.40 to make a bit of a profit.
I’ve sold a good few things and some have gone just £1.10 but no one has ever messaged me to ask for the money back. The postage is the postage and it says in your terms that there are no refunds. Is this person being cheeky? I can’t decide.
So my AIBU is should I refund it as they have the balls to ask (YABU) or say no and keep the profit (YANBU). Thanks!

Just reply and say ‘no problem, I’ll let you know how much postage and packaging come to when I send it and will refund you the rest’. Not worth the negative feedback for a couple of quid but worth making her consider that there is more than just the postage to pay for.

Expect to see your postage 'stars' reflect your view, OP. Postage charge isn't for you to make a profit, price your item to do that.

When I sell I do free p&p, cost of postage is built in and I agree with PP about that, buyers are generally happier to pay that.

I would refund if it cost less than I'd charged. For example I've sent messages to buyers saying 'your parcel breathed in at the post office so it cost less to send - here's a refund of.....' I add maybe 50p to cover my time etc but £2 is taking the piss and eBay frown on sellers trying to get extra profits from postage. Hence the eBay charge on p&p. It used to be free and people really took the piss - selling for 99p and charging £10 postage!! These days I do free postage and include all my costs including and desired profit into the starting price.

Do people really use new packaging every time?

I most certainly don't. As long as it isn't dirty, ripped or perished, who in their right mind would throw a clean, once-used Jiffy bag in the bin and then pay actual money to buy a replacement one, for the sake of 8 inches of sellotape? It's not even just the financial waste, it;s the needless environmental cost too. I've even received some items from companies without any packaging at all - if it's sturdy, weatherproof, not intended to be kept beautifully pristine and not personal/embarrassing, it makes perfect sense to just stick a pre-paid and addressed postage label on it. If you ordered a new plastic bin online, would you really need it to be put in a bag or a box for delivery purposes?

@Simplyunacceptable

eBay policy dictates that you shouldn’t seek to profiteer from postage costs, you should only charge what the postage will actually cost.

I don’t think it’s cheeky to expect not to be ripped off by postage costs.

Talking about profiteering...Funny how Ebay takes a cut off the postage as it has nothing to do with them ! I would cancel the transaction and relist the item again.Buyers like that are a pain. You ask questions and discounts before putting a bid not after! Another thing,in my world postage includes packaging ,Ebay cut on said postage,my time to post the item and finally the postage charged by Royal Mail.

Your buyer will be asked to provide feedback on shipping costs.

It's not worth the negative feedback.

Postage is postage, not profit.

I slightly undercharge on P & P fees and incorporate the 'loss' in my prices. I also use recycled packaging wherever possible because why wouldn't you? I pack well, have complimentary feedback for it and my DSRs are all at 5. I always always refund any overcharge because again - why wouldn't you? It's just a decent thing to do - pocketing a bit of excess postage is just a bit grubby.

I bought a dress for my daughter for £1.70 plus £3.10 postage - the seller messaged me to say she would refund as actually only cost £1.10 to post - I told her not to worry as I’d paid so little on the first place!

Weirdly I have found that if I set the starting bid price low and offer free postage, items tend to go for more in the end, and they are the ones where bidding wars kick off. Some people feel conned by having to pay for - having something sent to them! It's a bit of a gamble, but it usually pays off for me.

Please note that eBay don’t charge their fees straight away.
In your PayPal you will see the amount less their fees, and then later on eBay will charge you

e.g. If the item sells at £10 and you charge £3.40 postage then the buyer pays £13.40
PayPal take 46p (3.4% of £13.40, rounded)
You see £12.94
You post it at £2.50 2nd class signed for
You now have £10.44

Then eBay do the monthly statement at 10% of £13.40 £1.34 and 20p
eBay fees of £1.54 are taken
Your PayPal now has £11.40
You paid Royal Mail by contactless so have ended up with £8.90

If you drop the postage to £1.15 then the buyer can just say it’s never arrived, raise a dispute and you have no proof of delivery so they get a full refund
Fees are canceled but you are then down on the postage you have paid and no longer have your item

Always post with signed for, topped up as appropriate for the insurance and possibly full tracking depending on the item and final bid value

You don't have to go with the set cost for p&p when setting up your listing, IIRC. In this case, I think leaving the cost as the default when you know it will cost considerably less in postage is a bit cheeky.

I always include actual postage charge, packing materials & time in the amount I charge, but to go from £1.10 to £3.40 is just profiteering, and eBay says you shouldn't do that.

@SebastianTheCrab

People who say "you should work out the postage properly" in a smarmy voice get on my tits. Until you've packaged and sealed the item and taken it to the post office to weight you have no idea how much final postage cost will be. Post Office are always changing sizes and prices so it's impossible to gauge and if you get it wrong youre left severely out of pocket.

I also send everything recorded and a second class recorded parcel is £4.10 - if I actually charged £4.10 I'd only get £3.90 once eBay and PayPal have both taken their cut, so for a 99p item I'm practically paying out of pocket to send it. At that point it would be easier to donate it to charity or free cycle.

Royal Mail have a calculator. They also have a size and price list.

If you have something that fits on kitchen scales you can weigh it, measure it when packed or in the packaging if you wait until it sells and work out what it will cost to post. You can also buy postage scales if you want to.

I re-use packaging as long as it is clean so only buy tape. I use 'free' P&P and add it to the price. Only use BIN with immediate payment required, it makes life much simpler. If for any reason I list with postage I do not charge extra for tracking because it is for my benefit to know that the item has arrived and prevent a fake loss in post claim.

@liveitwell

Postage is postage.

If you wanted more money for the item you should have started the auction higher or put a reserve price.

YABU.

This. I always refund if postage is less than I/ ebay have charged.

OP the buyer was cheeky. Whilst I don't agree with your stance of profiting from postage, the cost was clearly listed so the buyer should have accepted that is how much it would cost. No one would expect to negotiate with ASOS or whatever on the postage cost, so why should they with you?

Someone (buyer) messaged me (seller) on ebay once with something along the lines of 'I see shipping cost 60p less than I was charged. When might I expect a refund?'

You said you put the postage at £3.40 to "make a bit of a profit", so really you're the one being cheeky there. It IS very annoying when people do this on eBay.

The buyer obviously knows it's not going to cost that much and it sounds like you do too so it's fair enough that they ask. They want to know why they are being asked to pay more for something than it costs. Fair enough!

At the same time, they've bought the item knowing what the postage price is stated as, so you're within your rights to ask for the full price you set.

I just avoid sellers with excessive P&P like you OP. There is always someone else selling at the same price or slightly higher with more reasonable postage or willing to absorb it. I wanted an item for £9.65 this week and postage was £3.10. There was another seller selling identical item for £9.99 postage included and another for £10.99 postage included. I would just go with the last two sellers and forget the former. I really hate excessive P&P costs.

So just back from the post office so it went as £3.10 as it didn’t fit through the wee postbox thing.

Just a thought for the future, I consider p&p costs with ebay. I will actively avoid something I think they're overcharging on the postage because it's an easy way for people to make their one look cheaper than it is. I will normally choose the one with free p&p if it's a few pence over because they're being upfront about it.
Same as I avoid fabric being sold by 1/4 or 1/2m unless it's a remnant. It makes it really hard to search for a good price with the number that do it by that, or have "sample" set at 99p.

@GreyishDays MIGHT being the important word there.
Why would I have put it at £1.10 when it has now gone at £3.10! I would of lost out in the end

*eBay policy dictates that you shouldn’t seek to profiteer from postage costs, you should only charge what the postage will actually cost.

I don’t think it’s cheeky to expect not to be ripped off by postage costs.*

^^ this.

Nothing worse then being ripped of at postage. Yuck

If you're not cheeky to seek to make a small profit from postage, then I don't think a buyer is cheeky to seek a reduction in postage. Fine for you to say no, fine for them to ask.

I usually absorb the cost of the packaging and posting into the price as a PP said, then advertise it as free postage and packing. It saves a huge amount of trouble.

They bid knowing the price, if they don't want to pay it they shouldn't have bid. So no YANBU to not refund excess postage.

Pps seem to not have realised that the buyer has suggested that the item will go as a large letter but it has bulky items on it so I would doubt very much that it will just like you've stated. The buyer doesn't get to dictate whether something will go as a letter or not. You're not profiteering from postage, you've put a reasonable amount for a small parcel. If the buyer isn't happy with that then she shouldn't have bid on the item.