"Fee to pay" sticker - Royal Mail

[jabice]

Not quite sure where to put this!

I purchased something really small off eBay, and received it in the post today. On the front of it is a yellow sticker that says "Fee to pay £1.50. Item underpaid".

I'm a bit confused..I'm guessing that sticker is for me to pay it?? Why would I be paying it?!

There isn't a card or anything with it telling me to go online and pay it or anything.

I'm confused. Help.

That is odd.

Usually that would be on a card through your door when they kept something back because the sender hadn't paid enough postage. Then you'd go to collect, pay the shortfall (plus a bit I think), and have your item.

Putting the sticker on the item and then putting it through your door makes no sense.

(Assuming I've read this correctly re what happened.)

Usually you get a card first asking for payment via post office counters - can pay in stamps. Then that card gets returned to the depot, and you item is sent to you.
I guess that this time, one postie thought you had to pay for a thicker package, whilst another postie thought you didn’t. You got lucky!

The seller could have put insufficient postage on it, but it sounds like your postie might have let it slide.

Post is divided into letter, large letter and small parcel and to get into the first two categories, they need to be under 5 mm or 25 mm thick and the cost goes up quite a bit if the package is more than 25 mm thick.

I'd send a polite message to the seller telling them you didn't have to pay any extra but they should check what postage they're putting on as people might get annoyed and possibly leave negative feedback if they're asked for extra money to receive their item.

Definitely no card with it, so do you think I'm alright to just throw the envelope in the bin?

It's such a small item in a normal sized envelope.Never had this before hmm.

Say I just ignore the sticker - is there anything they can do? I mean it's only £1.50, and there aren't any instructions on it.

Thanks

Thanks all,
My postie is really friendly and always stops for a chat, so maybe he let me off?

Good idea about messaging the seller to prevent it happening to everyone else they send parcels on to!

They underpaid by 50p. The £1 is the fee the RM put on underpaid items

I had a letter arrive with no stamp last week that had the same sticker attached

No idea who if anyone paid the fee but it wasn't me!

Ignore, they probably decided it wasn't worth the hassle of holding it back.
They aren't going to chase you for £1.50

Perfect!

I'll throw it in the bin!

Bet with Covid they are letting this go rather than going to the sorting office to pay it.