Additional postage

[Biscuitsandtea]

Hi, I'm hoping you can give me a bit of advice. I bought a top off of eBay, and paid for it straight away on PayPal.

The seller had quoted £3.70 for second class signed for postage.

She then sent me a message saying that she had miscalculated the postage and could I send another 70 pence.

Now, when I sell stuff, if I underestimate the postage, I never go back and ask for more, I would just suck it up and bear the cost myself. If I have accidentally overcharged someone I will do a partial refund to them for the difference. So I think that really I don't 'have' to pay the extra. However, I don't really mind doing it if it makes the transaction go through - it's only 70p for goodness sake.

Anyway, I told her I'd pay but I didn't know 'how' to pay - as in I'd already paid for item on PayPal so I can't pay for it again iyswim.

She asked if I would do a direct back transfer and gave me her bank details. I tried but my bank won't let me transfer less than £1.

So I told her this and gave her my phone no. I said if she gave me her email address I could do a PayPal transfer or she could invoice me directly on PayPal.

She then came back and asked if I would go to a Barclays Bank to pay it over the counter

By this point my 'goodwill' is starting to subside? I sent her a message saying that I was happy to pay it as a gesture of goodwill but that I wasn't going to go to a bank to do it.

I'm not sure exactly what my question is - I suppose what would you do in my position?

No worries, she's just sent a message saying not to worry about the 70p.

Shame we had to go round in circles for a day over 70p but there we are. Common sense prevails in the end

they cannot ask for extra postage after the auction has ended, 70p or £7 - if they have under-estimated that is their fault and you should not pay a penny more.

No worries, she's just sent a message saying not to worry about the 70p.

Shame we had to go round in circles for a day over 70p but there we are. Common sense prevails in the end

fergoose would this apply if the buyer asked for a different method of postage than I quoted? I'm new to ebay and not sure on this! I have asked for the difference in postage from a buyer as they wanted special delivery with a tracking and I'd not quoted for that. I sent the item via their requested method, but then sent them an invoice for the difference. I haven't heard back from them yet, but now I'm wondering if I've been unreasonable! I've also credited people with postage where it's been less too. Should I not do this?

I think you can charge if they want shipped by a different method - tracked postage is for your security as a seller not theirs as a buyer btw.

Thanks! Really good to know!

you can change postage as in adding a different service like special delivery you can't change the price because you quoted thinking it was under 1kg then on arriving at PO you find it is 1.1kg then you have to suck it up

It doesn't cost £4.40 to send a top second recorded unless the top weighed over a kilo (unlikely). Was this seller joking? Expecting you to make a special trip to go to Barclays to pay 70p???

Thank God, she came to her senses. What an idiot!

Postage charges have changed v recently- if it's not a slimmish envelope it's now a parcel and costs have shot up.