Won Item, Paid for it, Postage Cost is incorrect

[4bytes]

On Tuesday 10th of August I made a bid on a scale model vehicle that is located in the United Kingdom. I only made the bid with two hours left on the listing and with myself being the only bidder I won the auction & paid right away (as I always do). For what it is the Postage cost to Australia came out somewhat cheap so I thought I'd be getting a good deal here on the postage. The item would be shipped without going through the GSP (according to Ebay). I'd still be paying the small import cost (I think it is 10% off the top of my head) which is fine, no problems with that. The winning price was 60 Pounds which when you convert all of this to Australian Dollar at this time of writing this post, it comes close around to $135 – $140 AUD.

I got a message just this Wednesday (11th August) from the seller saying they've never shipped to Australia and will have to check the costs. I sent them a message just saying "Thank you for getting in touch with me, Please let me know what the available options are for postage and I'll look into it". I understand that when you've won something on Ebay it is a done & done deal and you can't just go canceling.

After I sent that message the seller responded again not soon after and just told me again it will be shipping from the UK and they'll be in touch with me again ASAP. It was only Wednesday at the time I received this message.

Tonight (14th August) Seller has messaged me again saying they've been quoted between £15 and £18 and are asking me to pay the additional cost of the item and they will post it ASAP, proof of postage will be sent to me (whether that is before or after I pay the postage I don't know), I'm not seeing any buttons to pay additional cost because probably I've already paid for the item?

As I've never really dealt with this situation before on Ebay what should I do? do I go through and pay the new shipping cost (remember I already paid for the shipping cost when I won the auction originally) and if that is the case how do I exactly pay for it? What are my options or what should I do to ensure I don't muddle up anything for both of us?

A bit lost here as I've never encounted this issue before and the few times I've purchased internationally postage costs have been correct & never an issue.

[digital*ghost]

They sound like they might be a bit of a newb seller, or at least as far as shipping internationally is concerned.

Technically, you do not have to pay additional shipping costs so would be within your rights to refuse the request, but at the same time you can't enforce the sale for the original price + shipping either, as the seller can cancel a transaction at any time. 

I tend to cut newby sellers a bit of slack and can be willing to pay the extra if they are reasonable, then hope they makes some changes so they get it right next time. If they are an experienced seller, with a good bit of history for international sales, I'm a little less inclined to pay extra (but in that case, you have to be prepared for the seller to just cancel.

If you are willing to pay extra costs, the only way it can really be done is either a new listing on eBay for the exact amount, or a direct payment to them through Paypal, in which case you would need a direct invoice from them, or at least a PayPal email address to send the funds too.

Alternatively, they could cancel this transaction, list it as a buy it now item for the same price and correct postage amount. 

[4ewesonly]

Sounds like a good plan., what’s been suggested.

I got caught out once  when I was a newbie, sending a parcel to W.A. From Newcastle.NSW.

I miscalculated postage and was going to cost me nearly another $20 to post. I asked buyer if they would pay half of extra cost but they declined and told me this will be a lesson for me to  learn and remember to make sure I’ve put correct postage on everything I sell in future….that was over 15 years ago…..

[sugar249]

Insist on it being delivered at the purchased price,  don't let them or the forum talk you into paying just one extra dime.

If they cancel, so be it.

If they continue to insist, then you cancel, or give them a red dot on their feedback.   No accuses, ne exceptions.

[shoppingbag*]

I refuse to pay more than the advertised postage cost. It is the Seller's responsibility to get this correct in the listing. If they do not, then they should bear the cost of their mistake. As a Seller myself this is what I would do.  I would NEVER ask the buyer to pay more.  I think they have a cheek to even ask. There is one very experienced Seller on eBay who asks for three times the quoted postage cost after payment is made, and she knows full well what she is doing, seeing as she sells the same things on Etsy for $45 postage, which is ridiculous for the size of the item. They are obviously averting eBay fees which would not be charged on the extra postage which would have to be paid outside of eBay, and maybe could get you into trouble also. I always flatly refuse to go along with this sort of thing, but it is entirely up to you.

[digital*ghost]

I agree that you shouldn't let "the forum" talk you into anything, but let's be real here, "the forum" isn't a thing, it's a group of individual people with different opinions and they're sharing them in response to a question that's been asked. I see no reason why someone should be talked into anything, including refusing to pay extra and leaving a negative - the choice is 100% the OP's. 

The whole site is full of different people, with different levels of experience and knowledge, and different levels of understanding on what to do and how to get things right 100% of the time. You can either be empathetic in situations where you feel it's warranted, or not. For newby sellers in particular, you can either be a part of the story where someone learned something in a positive way and improved their knowledge base & practices, or you can disregard them entirely because you want yours, and instead be part of the story that perpetuates the buyer vs seller mentality unnecessarily... in my opinion. (This happens with buyers, too - so many times I've had buyers come out of the gate swinging, assuming the worst, threatening negatives etc etc etc, because they've had some experiences where they started to feel sellers weren't on their side and then they think this attitude is necessary - responding with empathy does wonders for the situation and everyone's stress levels). 

The reason I will sometimes pay extra is because I don't expect perfection / no mistakes, 100% of the time, particularly from people who use eBay infrequently. If they are long-term, experienced sellers then it's a different story, they should know better and there's a higher chance the "mistake" was made intentionally. 

OP, assess the situation on its own merits, and do what you feel is best for yourself in this situation. 

[sugar249]

But it's because of people saying ok they are a newbie, let them get away with it,   that they think ok, it worked once lets do it again.

Fine you pay the extra,  but don't encourage them,   because then everyone will try it on.

[digital*ghost]

It doesn't have to be a matter of "letting them get away with it"  or reading the riot act levying every resource you have to (what I am interpreting as the intention) teach them a lesson, (again, language here, re "get away with it" presumes it was intentional in some way, and that they'll continue to do the same thing, or at least rest on their laurels and not research postage costs properly in the future - we have no idea if it was intentional or an honest mistake.

Lessons can be taught in a variety of ways, you can actually just be like: look, I understand mistakes happen and that postage is going to be higher than indicated on the listing, but I'm really not happy that you're asking me to pay more than what I was given to understand the total cost would be. I don't feel like this is fair to me, because I budgeted for a certain amount, and this makes the price less affordable to me.

The third option, not mentioned yet, is compromise - i.e. if you sent a message like the above example to a seller, and you were so inclined, you could offer to pay half of the extra as a compromise. There's all sorts of ways to deal with situations like this, but the best way tends to be the one where both walk away happy. In saying that, if someone really has an issue with paying extra, of course they can refuse and feel happiest about that decision, but getting to one's ideal outcome doesn't have to be a choice between saying how high when someone else says jump or coming at them full tilt and brow-beating them.  

I've used this in the past, admittedly the seller in question is a long-time supplier, and a very large wholesaler so the relationship dynamic is very different and they definitely should have known better, but I bought a couple of items in large quantities, received them, and then about a month later they contacted me to tell me postage was nearly USD $300 more than what they charged and could I pay the difference. 

Needless to say, I went through a few stages before responding - disbelief, then anger, then denial (as in, I've got the items already, no way am I paying that)... Then I researched what they were saying, and I could see very clearly they were telling the truth. I negotiated it down and paid some of it, and made it very clear this needs to never happen again. And it hasn't, in fact because I was willing to listen and compromise instead of outright refuse etc, I can tell you I get treated a lot better than some of their other clients, value that is worth a lot more than the extra I paid, lol. If I need to contact them with a problem now, they go above and beyond. 

[springyzone]

I think the answer to this comes down to how much you want that model vehicle and if the additional postage cost would push the price up over what is reasonable.

By rights, no seller should be asking for more after a sale. This person presumably allowed postage to Australia so probably should have had something in their ad to say the postage rate was eg UK/Europe only and anyone else, please check first.

It does sound as if it could be a slightly inexperienced seller, as digital ghost said, or one not used to international sales.

You can refuse to pay any more, in which case the seller will probably cancel the sale.

Or you could pay over more, but like you, I would be a bit uncertain how to go about it and whether my money would be safe if I did.

I used to sell and occasionally we did underestimate postage. We always just posted it at what we had quoted. But those were usually sales within Australia and we were just talking a few dollars. If you're looking at an 18 pound difference, that is a fair bit and rather than lose that much, I think most sellers would be likely to cancel the sale. So keep that in mind.

To me, from what you have told us, the seller sounds genuine & they have made a mistake. They have been quick to get back to you with messages & I think if you do pay the extra, they will post off the model no worries.

As a buyer I would be a bit annoyed that they made the mistake and were asking you to make up every cent difference. You'd think they could absorb some of it and  say they would pay part of the extra to make up for their mistake. I don't know how much you paid for postage originally and how much extra you would need to pay to bring it up to the 15-18 pound mark.

If you do decide to pay the extra, say to the seller you are a bit disappointed and they should take more care next time to get postage rates right in their ads.

But really, it is your call whether you pay the extra or not. You say the postage you paid was somewhat cheap so it does sound very much as if the seller genuinely underquoted.

[sugar249]

LOL.  dont think I used any of these words "" or reading the riot act levying every resource you have to (what I am interpreting as the intention) teach them a lesson''   But thats fine,  you interpret it to suit your self.

All I am saying is the buyer has purchased at the price the seller offered it,  they should not pay a cent more, simple end of story,  no meeting half way.   If you don't know how to use the selling platform,  get off.

I have made mistakes on here,  offered  what I thought was a 10% discount through send an offer,  but this account was set up to default to value offers,  so instead of offering a 10% discount on a $100 item,  I offered it for $10.     They purchased it within seconds,   I didnt go crawling and grovelling to them for a better price,  that was my offer I sold it to them, I went on with my day with a smile because I did the right thing.

Maybe some of us have ethics,