Malicious £300 eBay postal return

[marmitetoastie]

I sold an item on eBay. I paid £60 to courier it to them (I only charged them £20 in the listing).

they wanted a refund, it went to a dispute, & they were refunded.

they packed the item (a bike), i instructed the courier to pick it up.

I noticed the box was much heavier, when it arrived. I’ve just got a bill from the courier for excess weight. It’s 59 kilos MORE than on the outward journey. I’ve been charged over £300 for the return postage. EBay refuse to do anything about it, bc they can’t claim the money back.

Wow this is really shit situation for you - even without the weight issue.

but I'm guessing courier weight problem.

Definitely a mistake!!

Weigh it yourself, take photos, unpack it and see what's causing the issue. Take it from there.

Why did they want to return it?

Mistake by the courier surely? 5 point 9, rather than 59?

They'd have needed two people to unload 59K, did they?

I think you made a massive mistake in absorbing higher courier charges in the first place instead of openly declaring them, so you have to take it on the chin because it doesn't stack up now with the weights and numbers

It's obviously a mistake. I'm guessing someone was holding the bike and standing on the scale at the same time and then they forgot to deduct their own weight when calculating.

Come on then, what is it that weighs so much?

Yes of course, that would explain it

That's just nuts.

This is sadly the most likely cause but not very juicy, I’d prefer the returner to have packed out the box with gold bars or something

Did it not seem strange when they had to use a forklift to unload a bike.

So who booked the courier and paid the £300?

Call ebay and talk to someone, ask them how the bike got FATTER.

Not defending eBay in general, but according to what you say, you instructed the courier to collect an item, they did as you asked, and they are now charging you for it. How is that eBay's fault and why would they refund something that is part of a contract they have no part in? Whatever has gone wrong here, it is between you and the courier company. Nobody else is party to the contract.

They may be charging pro rata which works out more expensive than pre booking the correct weight. Like extra weight on a plane, it might cost an extra £20 prebooking an extra 5kg but if you rock up at the airport you'd probably be paying £20 a kg.
The box won't be weighed or measured by the courier before collection, it's done in the warehouse so I don't know how a courier can charge for this before collection when it wouldn't be known.

Its very heavy too heavy for me to get it in the car to take to the dump. I haven’t completely unpacked it yet, I just slid the bike out when it arrived. I’m going to go through it tomorrow & see how they’ve managed this.

Right, so what was the point in posting?

You're not even going to empty the box and see what's in it to find out if it was them filling it or the courier making an error.

Why ask for advice when you wont even do the first step of having a bloody look?

Hi
this isnot fake. Trust me I have better uses of my imagination that making up eBay disputes in my head. Here’s the invoice. It’s an oversize box, so they charge by weight x volume, not just weight.

ebay have seller protection for malicious returns hence I approached them for help. They’re not going to do anything.

Would be really helpful is advice on how to deal with this in small claims court. Like what do I describe it as? “Unreasonable postage”??

xx

Other one wasn’t v clear x

But you haven't emptied the box.

Could be malicious from the Ebay buyer. Could be an error by the courier.

Go empty the box. Then ask for advice.

Chill. I’m at work, got the invoice this am by email after I left home. No reason to look inside b4, didn’t imagine I was going to be charged £323

if it’s too frustrating to read I understand, but I’m a single parent with 3 kids, so I’m reaching out for advice. If you dint have any, that’s fine. I just don’t need berating over this, ok? I was freaking about my electric bill b4 this one landed.

It weighs a ton. It’s not an accident.

That's nuts.
Can you set a video running and then empty the box?! What the heck is in there?

Have you weighed it on a set of bathroom scales to
Check?