Fake free postage is NOT a problem

[sea.breeze]

Let me be clear, it's not a problem for you.

I bought a TDS meter a couple of weeks ago, $6.95 with free postage. I did see that feedback seemsed to indicate unhappy customers who paid excess postage. But that's not really a problem, it was sold with free postage and eBay today is not the eBay of 15 years ago.

I duly found a card in my letter box to collect the parcel, which in itself is unusual as normally it would be left in the box. Upon presenting at the post office I was told there's another $7.80 to pay. I did not take possessin of the parcel. And while it's not necessary I would suggest not taking possession because it's not your problem.

OK so I then wrote to the seller, who pretended not to understand me, I did not muck around I just put in a return explaining that the item was not as described namely it was described with free postage.

The replied to the Return ... not through the return messages but through the normal message system. 

Hi, We are sorry for the inconvenience brought to you. Could you please close the request for us? And can we communicate through the ebay message directly? Which can help us solve your problem quickly. Are you going to pick up your parcel or not ? If yes , we will refund extra postage $7.8 to you . if you don't want to pick up the parcel , we will full refund your payment $6.95 to you . Pls let us know , thanks .

Once a return has been opened DO NOT reply to any more messages except on the actual Return messages.

I wrote back to them telling them not to send me any more messages except through the official return message system and that I have a better idea, how about they refund me the full $6.95 cost of the item and I will collect it from the post office.

They agreed to that and asked me to close the dispute, I said when I get refunded the dispute will be closed.

IF EVERYONE DID THIS, ALL THIS **bleep** WOULD END PRETTY SPEEDILY.

[hbrih3]

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Once a return has been opened DO NOT reply to any more messages except on the actual Return messages.

I wrote back to them telling them not to send me any more messages except through the official return message system and that I have a better idea, how about they refund me the full $6.95 cost of the item and I will collect it from the post office.

They agreed to that and asked me to close the dispute, I said when I get refunded the dispute will be closed.

IF EVERYONE DID THIS, ALL THIS **bleep** WOULD END PRETTY SPEEDILY.

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I guess a better solution would be for everyone to stop buying items under $20 locally that are advertised with free delivery and only order from overseas sellers.  The issue with fake free postage only applies to small cost items as the seller would not risk underpaying postage and not having a return address on the item. 

The other problem that seems to have increased since the introduction of GST on overseas purchases is the increase of drop shipping and fake Australian item locations.  While eBay may allow this practice to continue and doesn't see anything wrong with it  ATO may have a different view and may take some action if you provide them the seller's details.

[davewil1964]

Half of my items are 'free' post and all of those are under $20.

I think I've had 6 INRs in 11 years, plus 2 (because I always put a return address on) that were allegedly underpaid. I convinced AP in both those instances that they were wrong.

Your blanket solution, like most blanket solutions, assumes a one size fits all model, which certainly isn't the case in the real world.

Every seller is different and proposing such boycotts because you had ONE bad experience is hardly a considered response.

[hbrih3]

You had 6INRs +2 alleged underpaid  in 11 years on 140 feedbacks ?  

If you pay the correct postage then the matter is black and white, there is no need to convince AP.  In fact if the discrepancy is minimal they ussually let it slide as their cost and hassle of returning the item to you is not worth it.  

With sellers that are not putting a return address on the item its basically an admission they knew they underpaid the postage. Not using a tracking number which require a return address is another clue of possible underpaid postage.

And just for the record, is not just me having ONE bad experience. The same seller has numerous negative and neutral feedbacks regarding underpaid postage. And that is not counting the feedback removed after he blackmailed buyers into removing it in exchange for a refund. Looking at a few other sellers with similar sized items and prices I noticed they also have a few feedbacks referring to underpaid postage so its not just one or two sellers. 

One thing I can be sure of when buying small cost items is that someone selling and posting from China will have the correct postage. If they happen to use economy Speedpak then the delivery time is not much different compared with items bought from the other side of Australia, and that's with sellers who actually have the item in stock and not drop shippinging it from China to avoid paying the GST.   

[davewil1964]

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@hbrih3 wrote:

You had 6INRs +2 alleged underpaid  in 11 years on 140 feedbacks ?  

If you pay the correct postage then the matter is black and white, there is no need to convince AP.  In fact if the discrepancy is minimal they ussually let it slide as their cost and hassle of returning the item to you is not worth it.  

With sellers that are not putting a return address on the item its basically an admission they knew they underpaid the postage. Not using a tracking number which require a return address is another clue of possible underpaid postage.

And just for the record, is not just me having ONE bad experience. The same seller has numerous negative and neutral feedbacks regarding underpaid postage. And that is not counting the feedback removed after he blackmailed buyers into removing it in exchange for a refund. Looking at a few other sellers with similar sized items and prices I noticed they also have a few feedbacks referring to underpaid postage so its not just one or two sellers. 

One thing I can be sure of when buying small cost items is that someone selling and posting from China will have the correct postage. If they happen to use economy Speedpak then the delivery time is not much different compared with items bought from the other side of Australia, and that's with sellers who actually have the item in stock and not drop shippinging it from China to avoid paying the GST.   

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My point is that 'free' postage for items under $20 does not equal scammer.

I have sold around 4000 items in the last 11 years. So about 2000 sent as letters, all under $20. But none of my items come from China.

So it's not one bad experience, it's one bad seller. My point remains valid, whereas yours doesn't. And if you'd checked the seller's feedback prior to purchase, you wouldn't have had the bad experience and wouldn't be proposing simplistic solutions to nonsimplistic issues.

[digital*ghost]

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@sea.breeze wrote:

Once the dispute is in because it's an item not as described, the seller's only options are to pay for return postage which ebay will force them to do in this instance, or pay for the excess postage.

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eBay don't currently force sellers to pay for return postage (it's not possible in all circumstances), if you open a return request for INAD, a refund will generally only be forthcoming if the item is actually returned by trackable means. I wanted to make this clear because your advice could see buyers opening INADs, not being able to get return postage costs or labels, and then not getting the item and / or a refund of the excess postage costs charged. 

ebay specifically account for underpaid postage in their MBG, but only if the package was refused (which means it has been RTS), which in turn requires an INR dispute - what buyers actually need to do is get verification from Aus Post that the package had insufficient postage in order to support the claim. 

Just a general note - Aus Post will often charge the recipient even if there is a return address, because the rate of paying the money is higher from recipients than it is from the senders. 

[hbrih3]

Never said they always equal a scammer but the practice of scamming buyers seems to be on the increase with domestic sellers selling new low cost Chinese made items that try to compete with sellers from China. Your sales seem to be focused on second hand books so your point is hardly relevant here since you have no competition from China. 

Also since eBay does not seem to do anything about the fake free postage issue the simplest solution is called that for good reason and is usually the best.  

And the point I made about sellers from China having correct postage remains valid.