Buyers now have to pay Australia Post for insufficent postage paid by seller

[idss1]

Warning to buyers.
I bought an item from a Australian seller.
The seller had not paid the correct postage, I had to pay the postage to Australia Post, before I could collect my item.

[lyndal1838]

That has been the case for as long as I can remember....well over 20 years.

However, if there is a return address on the parcel AP will bill the sender and not the receiver.

You can always ask the seller to reimburse you for the amount you had to pay.

Just for interest.....how much postage was on the parcel and what did the seller charge you?

[enigmabear]

Same, I have'nt had to for a long time but I got quite a few (from different places) about 10 years ago where I had to pay extra before I could collect them 

[idss1]

It used to be that Australia Post charged the seller, it did have the sellers address on the back. It was $2.50 additional postage for a item I paid $18.50 for.
I contacted the seller, who asked for my bank details to deposit the $2.50. I have told the seller, I do not give my bank details to strangers, and requested it be returned as a partial refund. 

[kopenhagen5 · Accepted solution]

That's the easiest.

Seller logs into PayPal and hits the refund button then on the next page they can specify the amount of refund.

[brerrabbit585]

A lot of post offices don't do any processing of letters (as in date stamping them) so that may be why you had to pay and not the seller.

[gumleaf_goodies]

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@idss1 wrote:

It used to be that Australia Post charged the seller, it did have the sellers address on the back. It was $2.50 additional postage for a item I paid $18.50 for.
I contacted the seller, who asked for my bank details to deposit the $2.50. I have told the seller, I do not give my bank details to strangers, and requested it be returned as a partial refund. 

There is no harm in giving your bank details. Many sellers (including me) have these details readily available on an invoice. 

[idss1]

There is risk in giving out your bank details, if they are phishing or a hacker. They have your name, address, email and phone number from ebay. If you are on social media, they may get further information including your birthdate, pets names etc. I have multiple friends whose accounts have been compromised after giving their bank details, one for over $30,000. This is why we use Paypal, or have a different account with limited funds, if we use a bank account for payment.  Your information could also end up on a database, being sold to unscrupulous people.

[4green2000]

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@idss1 wrote:

There is risk in giving out your bank details, if they are phishing or a hacker. They have your name, address, email and phone number from ebay. If you are on social media, they may get further information including your birthdate, pets names etc. I have multiple friends whose accounts have been compromised after giving their bank details, one for over $30,000. This is why we use Paypal, or have a different account with limited funds, if we use a bank account for payment.  Your information could also end up on a database, being sold to unscrupulous people.

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i have been giving out my bank details (name,bsb and acc number) for the last 30 years with approx 15-20 transactions per month..never ever had one single problem like you stated. maybe your friends need to change banks.

[eol-products]

You do realise most large companies give an account number you can use to deposit payments. I would reccomend opening a seperate account for this also.