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eBay

If you buy or sell items on eBay, you will find tips and advice on this forum.

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Original poster

Over-charged on combined postage.

26 replies

mogs0 · 28/09/2011 08:24

I won 5 items from the same seller. One was free postage and the postage for the remaining should have been £17. I had asked before the end of the auctions if the seller would combine postage and, yes, that was fine.

Seller sent an invoice stating an amount wHich I felt was fair - based on the cost of the postage for the items individually and not knowing what each item would weigh.

Parcel arrived today and I paid almost £3 over the actual postage cost and it was packed in recycled packaging.

Would I be unreasonable to email asking for a partial postage refund? If so, how do I ask politely? I'm crap at tactfulness!

OP posts:

fergoose · 28/09/2011 08:39

just ask them to refund the difference - but I bet you get a shirty response from the seller. I find so many are very defensive about their postage charges - and will waffle on about cost of petrol and sellotape. And include the old chestnut ' if you don't like it you shouldn't have bid, charges were clear on auction' etc.

You can of course mark the postage stars appropriately .

Original poster

mogs0 · 28/09/2011 09:08

Hmm, I'm not sure what to do now. Part of me thinks that the price I paid was a lot less than buying each item individually so just let it go but I probably wouldn't have bid as much if i was paying individually. I know if it was me, I'd have refunded the difference, possibly rounding it down to the nearest £.

I had originally requested collect+ but seller didn't want to use them because of not being covered under paypal rules if anything happened to the parcel.

OP posts:

Original poster

mogs0 · 28/09/2011 09:11

'Hi, I received my eBay items this morning, thanks. I'm really pleased with them all. I noticed the postage was quite a bit lower than I paid, will you be refunding the difference?
Kind regards,

How does that sound?

OP posts:

fergoose · 28/09/2011 10:08

yes that's fine

the seller could have let you collect and pay cash not paypal

Original poster

mogs0 · 28/09/2011 10:24

Sorry, I meant I asked to use the courier Collect+.

OP posts:

Original poster

mogs0 · 28/09/2011 21:49

Seller refunded half the difference.

OP posts:

sarahtigh · 29/09/2011 09:56

it is reasonable for the seller to charge a bit for postage i think 20-30p if just plastic bag, 50p if box and £1 if ibnvolves lots of bubble wrap etc, that it is recycled packaging is a bit irrelevant but £3 difference is too much unless it was china teaset as that would take several metres of bubble wrap,
collect + is tracked and signed for at other end why would itr be a problem, though I would not use collect+ deliver to a shop just home address, it is only cheapest between 2-5kg if more than 5kg other coueriers are cheaper

Original poster

mogs0 · 29/09/2011 14:42

Why would recycled packaging be irrelevant when it comes to charging for it? I'm not trying to be snippy, I'm genuinely interested because, as I see it, recycled packaging hasn't cost the seller anything.

I think maybe the seller was looking at the deliver to a shop option.

OP posts:

fergoose · 29/09/2011 15:58

Yes I don't understand why it is irrelevant. I only charge stamp cost as I use recycled packaging. Nothing worse than sellers who overcharge on postage.

Original poster

mogs0 · 29/09/2011 16:05

Me too. Infact, because I buy such a large quantity of posting bags they cost very little each so I don't charge for packaging at all whether it's new or recycled - but I do accept that I have very little business sense and am never going to make a million .

OP posts:

fergoose · 29/09/2011 17:07

well I agree with you Mogs, I'm not going to make a million either, but I don't like ripping people off. Karma and all that :) And my pet hate is sellers who make extra on postage, feels very dishonest somehow.

kellestar · 29/09/2011 19:33

it's almost rude isn't it when they charge you an amount you think is reasonable and then it arrives wrapped in a mcdonalds paper bag and a 2nd class large letter stamp with the item rammed in. T-shirt for a 9m old and I payed £2 for postage. Would have at least expected a small jiffy bag or a mail bag. I've used a very similar message to you to ask if there would be a partial refund. No response so far.

I too also buy mail bags in bulk, I mainly sell books so find them a good secure option. If I have overcharged for postage I'll often bump them up to first or refund the difference of postage + 20p for packing and paypal costs. If I have undercharged then that's my own daft fault, though that hasn't happened for a while, once you get used to it. :)

I've just one two items on eBay and the individual postage costs were £1.50 each 2nd class recorded, asked what combined postage costs would be on winning, expecting either the same or slightly lower, she's come back with £4.80 standard parcels. Have made a comment as I think that's just darn rude.

It's also been months since I had an e-mail off anyone confirming dispatch, or even a note in my parcel to tell me thank you. Mainly receive no correspondance at all, so feel it unfair to provide feedback when they don't provide any. I always send confirmation when I've posted something, confirming what service was used, if I bumped them up to 1st or will refund. Also put a handwritten note in the parcel thanking them for their business and to let me know if they have any problems.

It's not just me thinking people are taking the mickey lately, it's almost enough to put me off. Except I have loads of books to sell... and buy :)

OP sorry to hijack your post, very pleased you managed to get 1/2 the excess costs back, it may not seem like much, but it all adds up if you are overcharged a few times.

sarahtigh · 30/09/2011 20:34

it depends what you are selling; bulk buy large mailing bags are about 10p each on ebay, I mostly recycle cardboard boxes but have to buy a lot of bubble wrap and sell quite a few breakables the cheapest bubblewrap bought in 50 metres rolls works out at 23.5p per metre if you are selling a few items it does not matter but if you sell on ebay as small business;

if you get your costs wrong you will soon not have a business and if a business packing takes time as well as raw materials you only pay 3.4% to paypal on P&P but 10% extra to ebay on selling price so as long as P&P is not excessive and a £3 overcharge was very excessive it makes economic sense to charge for something that costs £3.15 to post to charge £3.50 for P& P and £3 for the item than to charge £6.50 with free P&P

pleased you got some refund back though,

kellestar, I just tick box saying mark as dispatched which would send you an automatic email... however if you buy your postage on ebay it sends this when you buy postage so if you then don't post for a couple of days buyer thinks it left when you paid postage not when you posted it

Some do take the mickey thuogh i won about 7 separate items of clothing for DD t shirts and dresses and tights not coats and she sent me invoice with total postage of various £2.50 added to together to make £17.50 I asked for reduction as at most it would cost £4.41 ( upto 2kg) parcels and she said no as i had won them for 99p or just over ..... in the end sale was cancelled as no way was I paying that for a few dresses but she was really open that she only reduced postage for combining if sold for more than 99p and some of them were just tesco I mean who is going to pay 99p for tesco t shirt and 2.50 postage when new ones are £6 for 3?

MOSagain · 05/10/2011 12:20

I'm quite new to ebay and a little bit miffed about postage costs. Bought three (lightweight) tops which cost 2.50, 2.85 and 2.99 to post and they turned up this morning and all three only cost 92p postage (small jiffy bags and a grey plastic bag). Would you say anything?

fergoose · 05/10/2011 12:22

yes I would - I presume you didn't receive a combined invoice and paid for them all separately, if so they should have all been dispatched separately in individual parcels.

MOSagain · 05/10/2011 12:26

sorry, should have been more clear, from three separate sellers. Clearly they are very light and didn't cost much to post as all three were 92p. I appreciate that there is an element of work and brown paper involved but think that was a bit much

fergoose · 05/10/2011 12:31

ok - well yes it does seem a big mark up and many sellers seem to cash in on the postage in this way which is wrong and greedy - you could email but I doubt any will refund to be honest.

VivaLeBeaver · 05/10/2011 12:54

It doesn't bother me. You can see the postage costs before you bit, therefore when you bid you're paying an overall price for the item that you think is reasonable.

Non eBay, big national companies do this, many charge £4 or £5 for delivery when item may be just a lightweight top. I think they're worse than ebayers to be honest.

MOSagain · 05/10/2011 12:59

I suppose because I'm new to it I had no idea how much things would cost to post so will be more wary now and won't bid on things with over inflated postage costs.
A bit annoying as DH and I have sold quite a few things in the last week and of course I let DH list. He was adamant he knew what postage would cost as apparently there were guidelines. Yeah, right, every single item ended up costing more than we charged for P & P and in total we are out of pocket by around 15 pounds oh well, lesson learnt!

fergoose · 05/10/2011 13:14

Have you got kitchen scales - I use them and Royal Mail site to calculate the postage costs when I list items.

I agree about checking seller postage costs, I am very wary now and won't bid if items have expensive postage costs on them.

MOSagain · 05/10/2011 14:27

DH got a leaflet from Post office this morning with information on postage prices and I have a good scales. Unfortunately because we were new to it we weren't sure what we were doing and the way he listed it (quick sale?) wouldn't let you put more than 1.25 postage. Have learnt from our mistakes though now!

AyesToTheRight · 05/10/2011 14:35

I bought several books from an ebay seller a couple of months ago. Asked before bidding if she would combine postage if I bought more than one. She said she would and if there were any difference she would refund it to me afterwards.

She sent them (in two packages rather than 6 which the books would have been if bought separately). Total postage was about £7.50 and I was charged nearly £12. I politely asked if I could have the refund as agreed before I purchased.

She said no and that I needed to take into account her petrol to the post office etc (I did look on the royal mail website and found her nearest post office was very near her house) and that I shouldn't have bid if I wasn't happy with postage costs etc. I was frustrated as I asked before and she said she would refund the difference but hey, that's ebay.

fergoose · 05/10/2011 14:48

Ayes I hope you left appropriate feedback - I think that seller ripped you off to be honest.

Whippet · 05/10/2011 15:07

Hmm - I have a slightly different view to this I'm afraid, as there has always been a tendency to use a higher postage cost on eBay as a means of 'clawing away' some of the fees from eBay itself. Your eBay fees are based on the final sale price, not the bid price + P&P, so many sellers add an extra £1 - £2 on postage, as this will not be used to calculate fees.
It's just one of those 'known' ways of doing business on eBay I feel?

I always look at the bid price + P&P and see if I feel the 'total' price is reasonable, and then not get hung up on the actual postage cost vs. the stated cost. I think it's a bit petty/churlish to go back and say "it only cost X to post - you owe me Y"
I'm pretty sure there are some guidelines for adding extra for time/petrol/packaging etc anyway?

(Of course it's not fair to agree a combined postage amount, but then charge more)

VivaLeBeaver · 05/10/2011 15:43

I bid on some earrings this week, postage was £1.50 and earrings were 50p. I didn't look at the envelope to see how much postage cost but can't imagine it was much more than then price of a first class stamp. Doesn't bother me at all, the overall price was fine.

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