eBay postage charges....where do I stand?
Discussion
So I've just bought a CPU on eBay from the UK for a reasonable price.
No postage charges were specified on the auction and the chap told me he would only charge me the actual costs. Fine I thought.
Now the tosser wants £15 for postage and packing for an item weighing (at his quote), 200g.
For small packets to Austria through airmail, the cost is £2.18, plus the cost of an envelope, 50p max. It already comes in a tray holder apparently within an anti-static bag. That's then bubble wrapped. I can't see all that (including postage), costing more than £3.
He's now demanding payment which I'm refusing to pay unless he charges a reasonable amount. (I even suggested £5 but he said that wasn't enough). Frankly stuff the CPU. He can shove it up his arse for all I care now; However I'm now worried about my rating. I've got nothing but positive feedback and this could be my first negative rating.
Any idea how I go about avoiding this? Will eBay customer support help in any way? They haven't in the past and they've taken years to reply.....
Ideas?
No postage charges were specified on the auction and the chap told me he would only charge me the actual costs. Fine I thought.
Now the tosser wants £15 for postage and packing for an item weighing (at his quote), 200g.

For small packets to Austria through airmail, the cost is £2.18, plus the cost of an envelope, 50p max. It already comes in a tray holder apparently within an anti-static bag. That's then bubble wrapped. I can't see all that (including postage), costing more than £3.
He's now demanding payment which I'm refusing to pay unless he charges a reasonable amount. (I even suggested £5 but he said that wasn't enough). Frankly stuff the CPU. He can shove it up his arse for all I care now; However I'm now worried about my rating. I've got nothing but positive feedback and this could be my first negative rating.
Any idea how I go about avoiding this? Will eBay customer support help in any way? They haven't in the past and they've taken years to reply.....
Ideas?
Edited by beanbag on Tuesday 19th May 00:24
beanbag said:
whitechief said:
Sellers can no longer leave negative feedback I believe.
So I just ignore him now or should I report him in some way to eBay and give him negative feedback of my own???i'm not totally defending this guy, but some people do not have access to a local post office, my old house didnt have one near, so i would have to drive to the town and pay postage. This usually meant about a 45 min round trip to sort out, so maybe he is taking some travel time/expenses into account, or maybe he is just taking the p**s
R1-Jay said:
i'm not totally defending this guy, but some people do not have access to a local post office, my old house didnt have one near, so i would have to drive to the town and pay postage. This usually meant about a 45 min round trip to sort out, so maybe he is taking some travel time/expenses into account, or maybe he is just taking the p**s
So you charge the seller extra because of where you live? That's laughably retarded.Simply tell him to charge a fair amount, or you'll leave negative feedback and report him to Ebay - Ebay take a dim view of excessive postage.
ETA: It's partly your fault for not checking the costs in advance though, so a neutral is probably fairer....
Edited by Neil_H on Tuesday 19th May 08:48
B16JUS said:
if someone overseas wants to bid or buys a item off me i always send recorded otherwise there is no comeback for the " ive not received it " so will cost more than £3 go on royal mail website and quote it yourself you will be shocked at how much they charge
J
I too would think that's the reason - it's £15 because it's a trackable service. He'd be mad to send it any other way particularly if the OP is using PayPal.J
I was sure they charge that much because you've usually bought the item cheaper than other people were listing..
I just bought some new shoes.. The seller was selling them for £10 cheaper than others there.. His postage was £6 more than the others, the sticker says he only spent £2.18 in postage, i'm not bothered.. I saved money, he made a little money from the postage.
I just bought some new shoes.. The seller was selling them for £10 cheaper than others there.. His postage was £6 more than the others, the sticker says he only spent £2.18 in postage, i'm not bothered.. I saved money, he made a little money from the postage.
Neil_H said:
R1-Jay said:
i'm not totally defending this guy, but some people do not have access to a local post office, my old house didnt have one near, so i would have to drive to the town and pay postage. This usually meant about a 45 min round trip to sort out, so maybe he is taking some travel time/expenses into account, or maybe he is just taking the p**s
So you charge the seller extra because of where you live? That's laughably retarded.What I do hate, and this seems to happen with computer bits all the time, is when they say it'll be send by trackable courier at £10 and then it turns up in the ordinary post without the box stuffed into an envelope at a cost of something like 65p. If I was very slightly more dishonest then I'd say it never arrived just out of spite.
Before you go throwing your toys out of the pram...check how much the trackable postage charge ACTUALLY costs!
A 200g small packet to Austria costs either £7.23 for up to £39 compensation, or £9.43 for up to £500 compensation.
£1.00 for a sturdy bubble wrap bag?
£couple of quid to cover eBay & PayPal's excessive final value fees (who doesn't bump up the postage to cover this?)
£few quid for administration and the hassle of going to the post office?
If the item is worth over £39 then he isn't really taking the piss so much after all!
Remember also, PayPal's [assuming that's how you intend to pay] T&C's state that all items MUST be sent recorded delivery.
A 200g small packet to Austria costs either £7.23 for up to £39 compensation, or £9.43 for up to £500 compensation.
£1.00 for a sturdy bubble wrap bag?
£couple of quid to cover eBay & PayPal's excessive final value fees (who doesn't bump up the postage to cover this?)
£few quid for administration and the hassle of going to the post office?
If the item is worth over £39 then he isn't really taking the piss so much after all!
Remember also, PayPal's [assuming that's how you intend to pay] T&C's state that all items MUST be sent recorded delivery.
Deva Link said:
B16JUS said:
if someone overseas wants to bid or buys a item off me i always send recorded otherwise there is no comeback for the " ive not received it " so will cost more than £3 go on royal mail website and quote it yourself you will be shocked at how much they charge
J
I too would think that's the reason - it's £15 because it's a trackable service. He'd be mad to send it any other way particularly if the OP is using PayPal.J
Whenever I sell items on eBay, I charge the actual postage fees. I've even gone as far as refunding the buyer excessive postage if it's more than a €1 extra. I'm in the business of selling items and not ripping people off.
Jonny671 said:
I was sure they charge that much because you've usually bought the item cheaper than other people were listing..
I just bought some new shoes.. The seller was selling them for £10 cheaper than others there.. His postage was £6 more than the others, the sticker says he only spent £2.18 in postage, i'm not bothered.. I saved money, he made a little money from the postage.
Don't forget that jiffy bags are expensive and the seller may just be paying themselves for the trip to the post office.I just bought some new shoes.. The seller was selling them for £10 cheaper than others there.. His postage was £6 more than the others, the sticker says he only spent £2.18 in postage, i'm not bothered.. I saved money, he made a little money from the postage.
Hyperion said:
Before you go throwing your toys out of the pram...check how much the trackable postage charge ACTUALLY costs!
A 200g small packet to Austria costs either £7.23 for up to £39 compensation, or £9.43 for up to £500 compensation.
£1.00 for a sturdy bubble wrap bag?
£couple of quid to cover eBay & PayPal's excessive final value fees (who doesn't bump up the postage to cover this?)
£few quid for administration and the hassle of going to the post office?
If the item is worth over £39 then he isn't really taking the piss so much after all!
Remember also, PayPal's [assuming that's how you intend to pay] T&C's state that all items MUST be sent recorded delivery.
Where on earth did you get that from?A 200g small packet to Austria costs either £7.23 for up to £39 compensation, or £9.43 for up to £500 compensation.
£1.00 for a sturdy bubble wrap bag?
£couple of quid to cover eBay & PayPal's excessive final value fees (who doesn't bump up the postage to cover this?)
£few quid for administration and the hassle of going to the post office?
If the item is worth over £39 then he isn't really taking the piss so much after all!
Remember also, PayPal's [assuming that's how you intend to pay] T&C's state that all items MUST be sent recorded delivery.
Plus, I'm not paying for his "hassle" to get to a post office. He should include that in his original price. Postage and packaging is precisely that. It's NOT "hassle", "administration", and P&P. FFS!
Engineer1 said:
Jonny671 said:
I was sure they charge that much because you've usually bought the item cheaper than other people were listing..
I just bought some new shoes.. The seller was selling them for £10 cheaper than others there.. His postage was £6 more than the others, the sticker says he only spent £2.18 in postage, i'm not bothered.. I saved money, he made a little money from the postage.
Don't forget that jiffy bags are expensive and the seller may just be paying themselves for the trip to the post office.I just bought some new shoes.. The seller was selling them for £10 cheaper than others there.. His postage was £6 more than the others, the sticker says he only spent £2.18 in postage, i'm not bothered.. I saved money, he made a little money from the postage.
If the postage and item cost add up to cheaper than others there, i'll buy that one.. If they don't, i'll buy a different one.
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