topic Re: Postage and payment method in Buying

Postage and payment method

Anonymous — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 00:31:18 GMT

I have just asked for a combined postage on a few items from the same seller. The answer was that the postage price was dependant on whether or not I paid by direct deposit or Paypal!!!

Is the seller entitled to pass on their PayPal fees to me under the guise of postage?

Re: Postage and payment method

bigbrickshop — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 00:52:49 GMT

No, the seller cannot pass on PayPal fees as part of the shipping cost.

It may be that if PayPal is used your seller is including the cost of sending the items with tracking and possibly also signature on delivery. This ensures they have Seller Protection from PayPal claims of Item not Received.

Some sellers only use tracking if a buyers pays with PayPal. I don't know what that means if the item is lost in transit and the buyer has paid by bank transfer. Do they not replace or refund the buyer?

Re: Postage and payment method

Anonymous — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 00:59:43 GMT

The seller mentioned that ...

I cannot get the weight from the seller and I suspect that it would be under 500g.

Re: Postage and payment method

Anonymous — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 01:01:45 GMT

Apologies ... I forgot to say thank you ...

Re: Postage and payment method

*sparklz* — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 01:21:22 GMT

The answers here will be same as the answers in the Answer Center.

Re: Postage and payment method

Anonymous — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 01:30:22 GMT

Yep ... got that ... thanks 🙂

Re: Postage and payment method

leader-of-the-band — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 02:06:22 GMT

The answer was that the postage price was dependant on whether or not I paid by direct deposit or Paypal!!!

Is the seller entitled to pass on their PayPal fees to me under the guise of postage?

Based solely on your Opening Post, I don't think we can conclude that they are passing on their PayPal fees. They are probably offering you a discounted postage rate if you do not use PayPal. This is allowed by eBay so long as they are only offering accepted forms of payment, with Bank Deposit being an accepted form of payment.

Question 33 of the Marketplace Policy Tutorial states "Sellers cannot charge eBay buyers a surcharge (additional fee) for use of ordinary forms of payment, including acceptance of cheques, money orders, electronic transfers or credit cards. Such costs should be built into the price of the item" and "Sellers can offer a discount to the buyer for preferred forms of payment, but can not charge buyers a surcharge (additional fee) for their use of ordinary forms of payment".

http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/tutorial/marketplacetutorial/js_tutorial.html#

So, if a seller offers reduced postage costs (i.e. a discount) for Bank Deposit payment they may be okay.

Re: Postage and payment method

Anonymous — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 05:20:02 GMT

I have to admit to being a little confused. After the buyer said to me that the cost of postage depended on whether or not I paid by paypal or DD I said I fail to see what influence PP or DD would have over Australia Post. The answer I got was this: "Paypal makes us do registered & they charge fees on postage & full payment".

This is a new one on me both as a buyer and a seller so wanted to get an opinion from someone else as I had a look on PayPal and couldn't find where this was.

Re: Postage and payment method

bigbrickshop — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 05:54:24 GMT

Sellers would include an amount in the sell price of each item to cover their total PayPal fees. eBay does not allow sellers to discount the sell price of any item, only the postage, so it could be, as leader-of-the-band said, that they will offer that amount as a discount if you pay by bank deposit.

You could ask for shipping totals for both payment methods and then decide whether you're happy with either, and if not, buy elsewhere. Remember though that there is no buyer protection with bank deposit payments.

Re: Postage and payment method

Anonymous — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 06:07:02 GMT

Thanks ... I would have thought that the fees would be incorporated in the sell price.
I would never pay by direct deposit and by the same token don't include it as a seller.
It just seemed all a little strange to me and the postage price is a bit high for the item.

Re: Postage and payment method

leader-of-the-band — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 06:50:02 GMT

I would never pay by direct deposit and by the same token don't include it as a seller.
It just seemed all a little strange to me and the postage price is a bit high for the item.

considering the replies you have had from the seller I would say that they are quoting a postage price that includes registration. The reason they can offer the lower postage if you pay by direct/bank deposit is that they can send without registration.

As for paying by Bank Deposit, it depends on the amount. You can also check the sellers feedback to see if he/she has had any buyers make comment regarding postage or items not arriving.

I have used Bank Deposit for many items. I always pay the money over the counter at a bank to get a paper receipt for the deposit. If the total is low (less than $30) I can afford the risk . . . . although I am aware that others can't. I regularly use Bank Deposit when I buy from a seller I have bought from before.

Re: Postage and payment method

phorum_junkie* — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 07:16:07 GMT

While it is ill advised a seller is allowed to charge the actual cost of registration on top of the stamp cost if the buyer chooses Paypal, this was done a fair bit when having a safe payment method first came into force but as the majority of sellers refunded regardless of how a buyer paid so charged all buyers the same they soon lost too many customers.

I don't know how many things you purchased or how much postage you were going to save but I think I would uncombine the items and pay for each one separately using Paypal and if you can change the delivery address on some of them to friends and relatives so that not only does she pay an extra 30c Paypal flat rate fee on each transaction she will have to post in separate parcels.]:)

Re: Postage and payment method

*new2vintage — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 12:04:41 GMT

Don't use direct deposit and never trust a seller who wants you to.

Re: Postage and payment method

phorum_junkie* — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 15:34:40 GMT

While that is good advice there are exceptions, there are a few sellers who I have purchased from many times and I am happy to pay them by bank deposit if they prefer plus I have some regular buyers who pay by bank deposit, I actually post their items off before they even make the payments lol.