Seller totally overcharged me on postage - would you leave a negative feedback?

[VoodooKitten]

I bought 4 items of children's clothes from the same seller - she charged me £9 for combined postage.

The items arrived this morning, they smell of ciggie smoke and the postage actually cost her £4.

The smell is no big deal, I would wash the clothes anyway, but I'm pissed off about being overcharged for postage.

Would you leave a neg feedback for this?

neiljmuk if it's still a good deal I would pay, then hammer the feedback, because that's completely unreasonable. Any buyer has a fair expectation of postage costs being representative of actual costs. Any seller knows that, because the stars are there for that reason. If you don't pay, then s/he can get your feedback removed, so I would warn people. You may also be in trouble if those non-payments are counted individually, too, as most sellers restrict their items to people with a good payment history. Perhaps if it's a bad bargain in this situation you can phone up Ebay cust support and see what they advise? They may feel the postage is so grossly unreasonable that your feedback should stand/you shouldn't get the NPB strikes.

I'm a frequent seller, btw. I refund people anything rounded up to the nearest pound, because they don't know how heavy something is to post. They are trusting you to be honest. This is markedly dishonest, as you were anticipating a sensible cost. It's also a way of avoiding Ebay fees, as Paypal charge 3% on everything, but Ebay only charge on item cost. And listings below 99p have no insertion fee, either. Call them and see what they advise?

I don't think paying £26 postage could ever be a good deal though could it?

If you go to pay does it let you amend the invoice?

Fergoose each item was 5 pence. Therefore in total it's £2.27 or so per item, including postage. I don't know how nice they are but for baby clothes, even on Ebay, that's usually a bargain. The issue is that they should have been far more of a bargain, the seller listed wrongly and is now bludgeoning the buyer to recover costs. If 12 separate people had bid on these items the seller wouldn't be making a profit, so it's unreasonable to try to claw that back now at buyer expense.

Erm yes i know the seller is ripping the buyer off.

I'm aware of that Fergoose, I've read the thread. I'm just explaining that the items may still be a bargain, contrary to your assertion (and thus possibly worth buying if that's the only way to avoid 12 NPB strikes/feedback removal) before stressing that I don't think that makes the ripping off okay.

Guys, so glad the feedback is unanimous in my favour! Thank you for your input. I've put myself in a position now where I can't particularly back down and if my ebay account gets butchered its only a casual buyers account. Still a shame though to have to start over with a fresh account. Would the 12 strikes say on for ever do you think?

If I've refused to make payment and she takes it to eBay, will I get an ultimatum from ebay before getting stuck as it were for non payment? I might do it with an attempt to preserve feedback and the lot but I'm not emailing her again before any further intervention and letting her win the moral argument! 12 1 stars for postage costs are going to do some right damage though, thats all I'm thinking :) - I'd rather teach her a lesson than be 26 quid up with a new account tbh... Thanks again for all the feedback and assistance.

eBay will send payment reminders and then 4 days later once cases are closed you would get 12 unpaid strikes

You could ask the seller to cancel the transactions and first leave appropriate feedback and stars before agreeing to the cancellation.

When you bought it you agreed to pay that much.

Trills, I agreed to pay combined postage that was not pre defined, based on their assertion that they would do this. At the least, my argument is a moral one, and at most, one that raises questions over the sellers conduct with respect to reasonable postage, and avoidance of ebay fees!

fergoose, the bids were won 10 days ago so not sure when ebay will send reminders but it takes this plank I bought from 7 days to reply to me so this could drag but think I'll pay eventually and then smash the lot up on her account (and report her etc etc)..

Well if the seller doesn't open an unpaid case against you it won't happen at all - hopefully they won't do it.

If they don't do it will the whole transaction time out at any point? (Last question lol)

Yes - they only have 32 days to open an unpaid case then the option will disappear :)

Ha, nice one. Strategy nicely mapped out now without be having to backtrack on my stance thus far. The items would be useful and so its turning into a win win now. Thanks for your help.

you aren't going to pay the £26 are you?!

Not totally made my mind up yet. I really shouldn't I know, but I'm thinking that I'd rather pay that than lose my account as 12 strikes would presumably leave it in tatters. If I can leave feedback then I've heard that 12 1 stars against postage would get her into bother too. Got a strange feeling she may let the transaction time out though. I'll keep pushing for a reduction in P&P or mutual cancellation in the mean time though.

If you pay it in full, and then immediately log into paypal and file a not received claim, then escalate asap - as long as you don't sign for a parcel arriving, Paypal will refund you all of your money and the seller will be unable to open unpaid cases against you, but you still will be able to leave 12 feedbacks for her.

If you are able to amend the invoice to say £4 postage then the seller still will not be able to open cases either.

but if she sends parcel force a signature will not be necessary

I would argue if 12 buyers had bought items at 2.50 postage they would have cost 2.20 to post and she was happy with 30p per item for packing , she sends all in one packet at cost of max £8.80 standard parcels upto 4kg or £6 with courier and signature, 12 items 30p profit is £3.60 extra so 8.80 +3.60 is 12.40 at that price she is making exactly the same on postage as she would have if 12 separate sales

re previous point when agreeing postage she was agreeing to pay 2.50 for 2.20 parcel entirely reasonable from seller that said she combined postage it is reasoanble then to assume as she is happy with small markup that if you buy several items they would also be small mark up , it is unreasonable to assume that costs rise expotentially the more you buy

or tell her you don't want combined postage after all and pay the original (full) price for everything - BUT insist she posts everything separately. You'll still not get a discount but she won't be profiteering from the combined postage either. I'd be tempted to report fee avoidance/profiteering too.