contrast in 2 sellers!

[nickstmoritz]

My teenage DD bid on 2 items (she pays for them herself) a satchel bag and a cotton playsuit. P&P for bag was £6.50 P&P for playsuit was £5

Bag arrives and stamp is £3.20 so I contact and say is a P&P discount ok. Buyer says yes and refunds to make P&P actual cost. I give 5* feedback.

I contact other seller as they haven't marked as despatched yet and I paid last Fri, the item hasn't arrived yet. I use "other" to ask about the item so as not to open a case. Seller says they have posted 2nd class on Tues and it should be arriving soon. I reply that £5 seems high for 2nd class and would they consider P&P refund.

Here is reply -

"posting items is extremely costly. I also have to pay for myself to get to the post office.

I am not able to offer a refund on postage and packaging as your item was sent straight away under the delivery method listed. I would then be paying you for me to send the item and seeing as you won the item for such a reasonable price I think it's quite cheeky to even ask."

Bit different.
I do know that if you bid you should be happy with P&P. DD did not look carefully at P&P. I would have totally steered clear of this seller.

Just thought it would be interesting to share.
With the advent of defects for low DSRs it is not in a seller's interest to charge high P&P. This seller could have started item at higher price and included P&P. It is a small light item which are ideal for free P&P.

I shall await the arrival with interest (oh and I have blocked this seller too - don't want them buying any of my items!

well the seller is wrong because p&p is for postage and packing only, not for the cost of getting to the post office.

exactly!

Ok so received the item and actual postage was £1.17 when seller charged £5 Sent 2nd class large letter in a bit of brown paper, unironed.

So I would like to give low dsrs for p&p and comms. It really wasn't sent quickly either. Am I being unreasonable by feeling miffed.

I would politely request a part refund on postage for that.
I noticed postage cost 1.17 but I was charged 5, would you please refund me by 3 as this charge was excessive or similar.

Wow, cheeky. If they refuse to refund I would leave a neutral feedback and state why, also mentioning unironed item.

I refuse to bid on items I know the seller is overcharging on P&P just for their own profit.

I wouldn't rate the stars at all because A) they are a faff I don't give a toss about except when I'm selling & B) your DD agreed to the T&C at time of purchase & to quibble afterwards is bizarre, in my mind.

But she is entitled to differ; the whole point of the DSRs is to ask for opinions of the quality of experience, not supposed to be factual info at all. Ebay is out to cull sellers who lead to bad buyer experiences.

ps: remember that dispatch star is for dispatch not delivery. So check the postmark date & whether it was within the stated terms of the auction.

not unreasonable at all - and I would neut if not neg too. Nearly £4 profit on postage is not acceptable.

This is what the seller wrote when I asked about postage before so I don't think it is worth asking again now I have received item and it cost even less to post than I thought it would be!

"If you had an issue with the cost you should have addressed it before bidding or not bidded in the first place

I am on holiday and that is all I will say on the matter"

To a certain extent she is right but that doesn't mean I am happy to give high DSR scores. TBH I feel like giving her 1 and I have never done that before to anyone.

If it were me I would contact again asking for a refund of postage. If she was rude again in her reply and refused to refund the overcharge I'd leave a negative. That's her being greedy.

Lljkk stars matter quite a lot now as a seller - too many low stars can restrict selling. Saying that I think it might only be item as described and P&P that count as defects from August.

If you give a positive but mention actual vs P&P charged does this count as neg on a positive therefore can be removed or factual comment?

no it wouldn't count as a neg comment on a pos - but if you are not happy why leave a positive?

Stars of 3 or less count as defects from August, you don't need to give a 1 star to do damage.

Latest message from seller.....

If you are returning the item I will be forced to leave negative feedback as a buyer as you have not flowed the eBay rules regardless of weather it was you or your daughter who bid.

Under 18 year olds are not allowed to operate on eBay

nice.......

Sellers can't leave negative feedback!

please tell me you negged her and left low stars.

I would message back and say

1. you have failed to follow ebay rules by charging customers for petrol. P&p is for post and packaging. Nothing else. At most you should have charged £2 instead you have wrongly made a profit of £3.
2. your comment at return, this is called extortion. Again, against ebay rules.

Neg her. Leave low stars. Mention increased p&p.

I replied saying please don't message me again but she obviously won't let it lie (DD is actually 17 1/2 btw) and I am quite happy for her to bid on an item and pay for it herself. I have now explained to her about thinking about the seller & the P&P.

Here is latest rant from seller...

I think you, you're just aware now that. Your 15 year old daughter should not have been bidding as it is illegal so please don't talk to me about postage costs when your are clearly not as much of an expert as you think

it isn't illegal - she is totally wrong about that. Your daughter is allowed to bid using your account with your permission actually.

pages.ebay.com/help/reg/contextual/RegisterEnterInfo.html

and she got the wrong you're too ;)

Her extortionate postage costs are against the rules - and if she wishes you can report her to HMRC - postage to pay petrol, packing time, parking fees etc means she is operating as a business and as such needs to be registered as such with HMRC and eBay.

And her unwanted and unwelcome constant messages of harassment (despite your polite request to refrain) may also be of interest to the police.

Actually the seller is again wrong. Ebay do not allow under 18's to open an account. However, with parent consent they can use their parents account.
pages.ebay.com/jp/en-us/help/policies/identity-underage-users.html

One last email, with the above link, reminding the person that p&p is for the cost of the stamp and packaging. You await the £3 refund...

Normally I would leave it, but the seller is being an argumentative cool who knows nothing, and as a seller it is their responsibility to be aware of t&c's and not incorrectly spout them.. I would also low star and leave feedback why.

This just gets better!
Seller left ME bad feedback! On a positive, she wrote that I had demanded money back after receiving the item.

My feedback to her was "item received thanks" but with 2 star for comms 2 star for P&P and 4 star for item and time. Bloody hell! now I wish I had left a negative.

Contacted CS who removed her comment immediately and said they would let her know why it has been removed. I now have "ebay have removed this comment" on my feedback. Can I put a follow up comment under this or not or should I just forget it.

BTW I am on 2004 positive mainly as a seller, this person was on 19.

gggrrrr I am so annoyed.

no you can't leave a follow up - wish you had negged and left lower stars than that.

I am a Business Seller on eBay. This is why I always factor in the cost of P&P and add it to the sale price of the item. I then list everything as having free P&P.

£5 P&P for a £1.17 stamp is clearly excessive & cheeky. But you would be amazed at how many people query charging £2.80 to send a clothing item (jumper or the like) Second Class. £2.80 is the actual cost at the Post Office, not a penny added for packaging. Maybe your Seller has been had their patience tested by Buyers over the time & has lost their politeness! Or maybe they are just grumpy.

I would also never ask for a P&P refund if the P&P cost is clearly displayed on the listing page. You are accepting the Sellers terms when you bid. Lots of high-street shops charge £3.95, £4.95 etc. for P&P for a single item - do you ask them for a partial refund too? I don't think it's OK to overcharge, but I don't think you can change your mind about how much P&P you're willing to pay after the event either.

Me too. One of the worst & rudest sellers I have ever had. I had already left her feedback and tried to be as fair as possible but what a nightmare. I really should have negged with 1 star across the board. Sellers like this ruin ebay.

Sorry my reply was to Butterfly's comment. x posted with Santa