Would I be wrong in thinking this was just the correct ebay etiquette as a seller that this is the norm?
I mean I always combine postage to make it cheaper- I even refund the difference if I have overquoted by mistake.
I feel is nothing to be gained from not combining- only more postage fees and potentially losing sales and future customers.
I had a weird / rude response from a seller I just won 2 kids jackets with and have had a slightly strange response to my request of cheaper combined postage...
the seller said "Hi I’m not going to the post office till Friday. I had my postage bags all organised ready to go with postage prices aid out on Ebay listings. That is until you assumed I would combine postage. I never said in my listings I would combine postage. However I can get that looked at on Friday. Have a good day"
Usually I would ask beforehand but I only spotted the auction in its last hour so I thought I wouldnt gat a response in time anyway.
I guess my real question is why wouldnt you send cheaper combined postage if you could? Am I missing something that I dont know about?
@digital*ghost wrote: Why are there people in this thread implying a buyer should make a seller prove delivery to ebay with two tracking numbers, after having received a package with both of their purchases?
A) they won't necessarily need two tracking numbers, B) its already been established the seller isn't obliged to combine / reduce postage, and C) encouraging fraudelent behaviour, to what? teach a seller a lesson? is pretty disturbing.
Digi, of all the things that are disturbing in this world, repaying a dishonest eBay seller with several days of uncertainty is not one of them.
A) Perhaps a seller won't, but if they're stupid enough to say something's already packed up, charge for a second lot of postage, and then combine with the first item anyway, I dare say the subtleties of eBay's resolution process are beyond them, and an INR dispute could easily be followed to its conclusion.
B) Other than the OPs question, I don't think anyone here has stated or implied that a seller might be under any obligation to combine or reduce postage.
C) There's nothing fraudulent about enquiring on the whereabouts of a second parcel that has been paid for. As for teaching a dishonest seller a lesson, one could only hope a lesson was learned, and best case scenario, they might conclude that selling on eBay was not for them.
If you're somehow advocating that dishonest postage practices from a seller should somehow be tolerated, well, that would be disappointing, especially coming from you, digi.
For any concerned an injustice might have taken place, the seller in question was able to keep all payments originally received, even that part made for a postage service that was never actually provided.
I say it is disturbing because the consequences of posting such things on a public forum can be far greater than the - what I personally consider to be - petty revenge factor in this one particular scenario, which it seems to be initially advocating.
But even if that were not an issue, I am always disappointed when I see these kinds of posts - how can we advocate for mutual respect of buyers and sellers, if we in turn advocate for lying, decpetive behaviour just to make a seller (whose actions we don't agree with) "sweat", or whatever the purpose will be. A lying seller is not the same as a seller who has said 'no' to combined postage, and the items aren't even going to be posted until Friday, so on what basis is the advice here? None of use would have a clue if this seller is lying - all they have said so far is that I have the postage stuff, need to check on combined rates on Friday.
Sorry, but there is nothing that can justify including that in the posts, in my eyes.
I say it is disturbing because the consequences of posting such things on a public forum can be far greater than the - what I personally consider to be - petty revenge factor in this one particular scenario, which it seems to be initially advocating.
But even if that were not an issue, I am always disappointed when I see these kinds of posts - how can we advocate for mutual respect of buyers and sellers, if we in turn advocate for lying, decpetive behaviour just to make a seller (whose actions we don't agree with) "sweat", or whatever the purpose will be. A lying seller is not the same as a seller who has said 'no' to combined postage, and the items aren't even going to be posted until Friday, so on what basis is the advice here? None of use would have a clue if this seller is lying - all they have said so far is that I have the postage stuff, need to check on combined rates on Friday.
Sorry, but there is nothing that can justify including that in the posts, in my eyes.
I don't think there's anything deceptive about using eBay's dispute process to enquire about a parcel that was paid for but never delivered. The seller would have no reason to "sweat" if they'd acted honestly and provided the services they'd charged for - they were caught out lying, and knew it.
Anyway, no one here has said the OP's seller is lying or that the situation is the same. I simply shared an experience I had regarding combined postage.
Yes, such as when a seller specifically states two purchases will be sent seperately and require seperate postage fees.
No.
There is only one situation in which a seller will need to provide more than one tracking number (at least for official resolution purposes).
I don't mean to frustrate by being deliberately coy, but I'm not spelling it out in this thread. The information is free for all, in the policy pages, anyway.
First off, I don't think it is unreasonable for a buyer to politely enquire if combined postage is possible, even after a sale.
Although if they can't, the buyer should also accept that.
When I first read your post, it very much sounded to me as if maybe the seller already had prepaid bags there, ready to go when the items sold. I don't get any sense the seller was planning on sending both together, even after your sale.
But it also sounds as if the items were not yet sealed in the bags, as otherwise the seller could not look into it on Friday.
I think the seller does sound a little disgruntled and if it is a private seller, the reason is because they are going to be left with one, maybe two spare pre paid bags.
They are just letting you know that you're asking for a concession that wasn't implied in the listing and putting them out by having to make a separate trip to the PO to check. I'm not sure why they couldn't do that online but they may not be sure what the 2 jackets will actually fit into, postage wise.
You can't blame the seller for not being thrilled but at the same time, the seller is looking into it so you may in fact be sent a cheaper postage quote tomorrow.
I dont think the seller was ever intending to post them together and I was accepting Tazzieterror's solution for " I think there's no harm in politely asking, but if your seller doesn't want to do it for whatever reason, you just need to accept it." which I agree with.
The seller messaged me last night saying 'they were at the post office then and there did I want both jackets or just one?'
and I replied with 'how much would postage be for both together?" but I never got a response.
There does seem to be some lag time on the ebay messaging system being very slow so maybe they didn't get the message in time.
and to springyzone yes the seller did sound a little disgruntled and put out and yes they could have checked online with the post calculator- maybe they are very inexperienced ebayer and dont know how to do this- I dont know.
The online calculator may be able to check weights but it can't tell you how small you can fold something like a jacket. If they're bulky, two may not fit in the same satchel and they may have to go to a larger size.
If they went to the PO to check, and if the issue was mainly size, what was the point of going to the PO if they didn't take the jackets with them so they could give you an informed answer? It sounds like they're pretty inexperienced.
