Auction stated 12.50 postage, parcel arrived - it cost 2.36 - can I claim diff?

[mummybookworm]

Any advice please? I got a parcel today that I won on eBay. The auction indicated the postage would be £12.50 via Royal Mail Tracked parcels. It has arrived with a postage label stating postage paid was £2.36 (and wasn't tracked at all). I wouldn't have minded if the postage had cost near enough £12.50, but £2.36 is taking the piss royally! Can I officially do anything? I have emailed the seller and await their response. Thanks.

officially no - but a good seller would refund you the difference. You can report for fee avoidance but that will not get you any money back.

You can of course leave appropriate feedback and stars

Thanks Fergoose. The seller has had 2 poor negatives so I don't hold out much hope. I have a feeling my messages will be ignored!

If you thought the p&p was excessive you should have factored it in when bidding (or not bid).

P&p also covers time and hassle. If she had to make a special journey to the post office, then petrol and parking come into it too.

I agree it is a bit steep but the only reasonable recourse now that you've agreed to the charges (by paying them) is to leave one-star feedback in the "p&p reasonable?" section. Which is what it is for.

She should refuse your request.

I think it is impossible to factor in the postage when you don't know the weight of something!

This seller is greedy - plain and simple

Ruthless are you for real? I bid on the item knowing the postage was £12.50, expecting it to be posted to me as described in the auction - ie Royal Mail tracking. I was expecting the cost to be around £8/9 and would not have quibbled over the difference but £10.04 difference is taking the piss. Fergoose is right - it is pure greed.

If the seller charged for tracking, and then didn't provide tracking, surely that is some type of fraud Ruthless? It's one thing to say you should factor in postage, but it's different to pay for something you don't get!

P&P covers exactly that. It does not cover petrol, wear & tear, parking, time etc.

The seller is taking the piss big time.

Thing is, until you get it, then you don't know how much postage actually is, so I don't buy the "if you don't like the P&P price don't bid"

I have recently started quoting £5 p&p for everything, unless it's obviously going to be more, but stating in all my listings that the p&p difference will be refunded - most of my items go through at £2.20 postage so I will refund the £2.80.
No one has questioned this so far and my feedback has improved

Well I think sellers should factor in their journey to the post office; petrol; parking; time; hassle etc... when they set their prices.

Going off the postage price of £2.36 this item had to weigh less than 1kg. So even if sent Special Delivery it would have cost no more than £10 to post.

I would definitely report them and as as already been said - leave stars and feedback that shows your displeasure. Do remember though not to leave a 0 rating as they don't count against sellers.

I was surprised to be in the minority. However, I did slightly misread the op, and thought it had been sent as described. Teach me to read an op thoroughly...

Agreed, if not sent as promised then seller should refund the difference.

But in general I stand by my advice not to bid if you think the p&p seems like a lot. You can sort by "price + p&p" so even if your mental arithmetic isn't great you can see who is taking the piss.

I was surprised to be in the minority. However, I did slightly misread the op, and thought it had been sent as described. Teach me to read an op thoroughly...

Agreed, if not sent as promised then seller should refund the difference.

But in general I stand by my advice not to bid if you think the p&p seems like a lot. You can sort by "price + p&p" so even if your mental arithmetic isn't great you can see who is taking the piss.

Report it to ebay. You are not allowed to do this. Its classed as fee avoidance as they can then put a lower starting price and pay less fees.

report it. You are not meant to cover petrol, parking etc!

Yes I was going to say this sounds like fee avoidance but don't ebay factor in p&p for fees now?

Personally I would be a bit more devious here. Since it didn't arrived in a tracked format that you paid for then you could always open a case of item not received. Get the refund then surprise surprise it turns up and you pay the amount and the actual postage amount not te quoted amount.