Do you refund postage if you have overestimated?

[Polgara2]

am still very new to eBay selling so bear with me! How much difference do you think is acceptable before you would refund the buyer? I just copied the postal charges from similar items when I listed, but it has cost me £2 less.
Thank you

Yes for £2 less I definitely would!

If it is a tiny difference I wouldn't bother, say under 50p.

DH is doing lots of ebaying ATM and is getting lots of feedback specifically praising the fact he's honest about postage refunds, so it's worth it IMO.

Yes please do.

I just had a dispute with a seller who overcharged me by £3!!!

She sent me the item in the same packaging she received it in. (clothing that didn't fit when bought online) so no packing costs.

she said to me that I only paid cheap for the item that had cost her £25!! WTAF???

You can't make a loss up by overcharging postage!!

And breathe. Can you tell I'm still annoyed about it

Right, yes that's coming across loud and clear Tea .

OK so the general consensus is I should refund - that's fine.

Also just out of curiosity, how much do you allow for packaging on top of the actual posting price?

I would allow all genuine costs. So cost of the envelope, petrol to the post office, pay and display parking to do my post... staff cost or my time cost. the cost is for shipping AND handling.

Yes I refund, even if it is only 50p more than I had estimated on the postage.

Yes but am just not sure how to gauge the amount for those things?

Ok so next question is - how do I actually refund said postage? (Sorry to be dumb but I can't see where to do it ).

If take some packing tape and a separate envelope to he Post Office with me and if I have over estimated the postage by more then 50p I put the balance in the envelope with a note on it and tuck it inside the package, i then message the buyer to let them know.
I usually state this on my item description too.

Yes, I have done in the past. Think you just gp into where all your sales are listed and its one of the actions in the pop up menu

I always refund if someone buys multiple items as ebay does not always work out the correct costs.

Open the paypal transaction and there is an option to refund near the bottom. Once selected, you can choose 'partial refund', enter the amount you want to return, and add a note of explanation. This way you'll also get a little bit of your Paypal fee refunded.

there's honest and being a sucker.

the price of the packing, time taken to post etc should all be put into the costs

well, I have been charged six pounds over what it says on the package - surely even taking into account the price of petrol and envelopes these days....

£6 over on what total though? It might not be a lot if the postage was £30 or something, compared to say £8!

I refund if more than £1 over the stamp value. Most of the time I recycle packaging so very few costs there, just parcel tape.

do what flouncy says

partial refund " hi a small refund for postage as cost less than i thought kind regards Polgara"

£6 over is always too much even if £30 it is still overcharging by 20%

reasonable packing charges

30-50p unbreakable stuff in mailing bag or small box
50p-£1 small breakanble stuff that requires bubblewrap/ shredded paper etc
upto £2 very large breakable items like a teaset
only more if requires specialist packing like antiques

only a business can charge for time/ staff costs etc
if private seller it covers packaging materials
fuel is only relevant if you make a special trip and do no other business while out ie not part of weekly shop/ school run etc

buyers generally want a partial refund not 1st class instread of second

I tend to set my postage costs at just over 50p higher than Royal mail says it's going to be, and refund any more into paypal. So, most items go for £1.96, I charge £2.50, £2.48 is £3. This covers packaging and bus fares.

It's going to be a killer when the new postage costs come in, no-ones going to buy anymore.

I notice ebay have already adjusted max postal rates in some caegoris the only winners are people sending packets of 250-750g as all going to be £2.20 second class
also large letter rates have not gone up as much as some others so if can compress items of fit in A4 size and about 25mm 1" thick will be ok, worth sitting on those t shirts!

I've just paid £2.75 p&p for a childs jacket that another seller was charging £4 p&p for the same item. I emailed and asked what type of packaging I was getting for that price (well she did offer contact for any questions) and she took the huff telling me that she had to include her costs to the PO,like the rest of us fly there
I think greedy sellers spoils ebay.
Actual cost on packet was £2.32

most people do not make a special trip to PO they go on way to school run when visiting bank as they do shopping etc. and most people are not just taking 1 parcel as most people list a group of things together so probably posting 4+ parcels

most high postage especially in clothing is so they make money out of postage in case it sells for 99p for clothing i think anything more than 50p more than postage is a rip off, in reality its fee avoidance

for childrens clothes i just tend to avoid the expensive postage 1st clas recorded on items worth £2 and postage of £3-4 just silly when most if folded flat could go in large letter envelope for under £2

No, and I wouldn't expect a seller to do it if I were the buyer.

As the buyer I have agreed to pay a certain amount in order to receive a particular item. If you happen to make more or less profit that doesn't matter to me.

Well, I've just had a feedback from a buyer who has brought my pp rating down to 4.73 from 4.80. Cost of posting o this item? £1.33. Actual postage charged? £1.50. Does this buyer begrudge the extra 17p for sellotape and labels that she has to mark me down?

Seriously though. Postage and packaging to me means stamp plus packaging materials which I allow up to 50p for as I mostly use recycled packaging. The listing fee, final fee and paypal fee should go towards the price of item. Hence why I never start my listings at 99p.

I normally add around 50p to the postage cost to cover packaging/trip to the PO, but sometimes I have overestimated, or the item fits into Large Letter. In that case, I either upgrade the postage to 1st class, or I give a refund. It doesn't happen often, because I weigh and cost everything upfront.

I did charge someone £6 the other day, and I had clearly done my sums wrong, because the item cost £6.30 to post.

ivana packing does indeed include bubblewrap etc some account of fuel or bus fare to PO

you ca not charge for your time unless business seller anyone charging for time is running a business and as such should be paying tax on what they get for their time

the packing charge can not include listing fee paypal fees or final value fee whether business or not, this is called fee avoidance and can lead to you being banned by ebay; allowance for listing fee etc should be in price of item not packing fees

DSR ask " how reasonable was the postage charge ?" sorry for boogie as her package charge was reasonable

most people look at postal charge so while they may not bid you may well get less for your item

postage and packing means just that the postal fee plus mailing bag bubble wrap etc

unless something is very fragile and needs a lot of packing 50p is about right personally I do check and will not leave 5 stars unless packing fee is right. I also take a dim view of being charged £1 extra for "signed for" for low value items as of no benefit to me the customer

packing materials are quite cheap mailing bags about 8p or a flat pack box about 15p bubble wrap roughly 23p per metre, so 30cm would be 9p 1metre parcel tape 2p 1 address label about 0.4p cost = 10-30p

I sell as a business and low postal charges are important and I do not use signed for unless sending somewhere like china/ india or its above £30 ish
out of over 650 transactions only 5 gone missing 3 of which turned up back here as either addressee gone away ( ie wrong address at paypal) or not collected only 2 genuinely gone missing that is less than 1%

true with ebay unless signed for if buyer says did not arrive it did not but in big picture it is better to keep costs down as people then spend more on your item

It is postage AND packing so you have to allow for your packing costs (though generally I just recycle packaging that I receive so just parcel tape really). To be honest, they know exactly what the P+P charges are when they purchase the item so if you refund, then you are a nice seller but tbh I wouldn't bother unless over by a big margin.

yes they do know but they assume you have weighed it accurately so if you are charging £4 postage and packing it will be £3.15 postage so if it arrives with label saying postage was £2.16 they feel ripped off