Over charged on postage

[deanna0_17]

I was charged $13.00 for postage, when received item, it was stamped that it cost $6.95. The item was wrapped in plastic bag. When I contacted seller she said she was happy to refund difference, however charge me $1.00 for postage bag. When I questioned her about this she said the bag cost her .85 cents.
Should I take this further, I feel I am continuosly being ripped off.

Dee

[extra-keen]

Hi Dee,

I am a seller and I charge $1.00 for packaging and handling for most items. So I don't think you have been wripped off.

There is more to packaging and handling than just the cost of the satchell, or envelope. Items have to be kept in safe storage until sold (and that costs), the item has to find its way from the warehouse (or storage facility) to the post office. And of course it takes time to package the item too. These are all part of the costs associated with packaging and handling that sellers will usually pass on to buyers at a far lesser cost than the real cost.

So in answer to your question, I do think your seller was fantastic in refunding the overcharged postage (sometimes it is not possible to accurately judge the cost until an item is actually ready to post) and most sellers will refund excess charged, often without being prompted to do so.

[lyndal1838]

There is no way to take anything further.

You agreed to the postage charges when you bid/bought and the seller has refunded a good proportion of that. The seller is actually very good to charge you just 15 cents for handling.

Why would you feel ripped off?

[*crikey*mate*]

Whilst I do understand you feeling ripped off about the initial postage charge, your seller has offered to reduce it and charge you only $1 for postage and handling. Now to be fair, it must be a pretty awesome plastic bag to have cost 85 cents, but regardless $1 is not excessive IMO and I can see it falling within the eBay postage and handling guidelines, which I think that a few sellers may benefit from by becoming more familiar with.

In short, whilst you can certainly express your feelings about the transaction via feedback and DSR's, as far as postage cost DSR's are concerned, IMO it would simply be unethical and false to mark down the seller in this instance in any way, as they have corrected their error and charged you exactly what eBay and Australia Post dictates.

Excessive Postage and Handling Policy

a couple of quotes from that link

Sellers must charge only actual postage and actual packaging costs (or less) in order to be in compliance with this policy.

In addition to the final listing price, sellers are permitted to charge any of the following additional costs:

• Actual Postage cost: This must be limited to the actual cost (i.e. postage) for posting the item.

• Packaging cost: This must be limited to the actual cost of packaging materials used for the item, such as bubble wrap, tape, box and mailing label and must not be excessive or unnecessary.

• Handling cost: This must be limited to the reasonable costs for selecting and preparing the item for shipping and must not be excessive or unnecessary.

Note: Postage and Handling costs must not include storage costs, employee costs (except for the reasonable cost of selecting and preparing the item for shipping), business overhead expenses, or any other general business cost.

:

[*crikey*mate*]

LOL - I just got an invalid posting message because my post apparently contained prohibited HTML code - I copied the information above directly from the eBay Customer Support page LOLOLOLOL

[davewil1964]

You get that any time you paste. Just hit 'post' and it will be posted, sans alleged HTML.

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@crikey*mate wrote:

LOL - I just got an invalid posting message because my post apparently contained prohibited HTML code - I copied the information above directly from the eBay Customer Support page LOLOLOLOL

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[phorum_junkie*]

Even if they had refunded nothing six bucks packaging and handling is hardly what ebay would consider excessive. The seller is perfectly entitled to pay themslelves a 'wage' for the time it takes them to find the item, package it, find the correct address and put that on the parcel. If that takes them 10 minutes and they think they are worth $36 per hour then who are we to argue

[springyzone]

It's postage and handling.

So many buyers seem to think that the extras such as sticky tape, the travelling time to go take it to the PO etc should all be free.

Really, 15 cents 'profit' is hardly ripping you off. This seller gave you a refund on part of the postage, I think she has been really reasonable, myself. I would be giving her 5 stars all the way. I can't for the life of me understand why on earth you would want to take this further.

It could be that the initial estimate was to cover postage to anywhere in Australia, but I guess if you live more locally or in the same state, it may have come out cheaper than estimated, that is all.

[cezm]

Also .... buyers should be mindful that if a package is sent with signature on delivery that additional fee does not show up on the 'stamped' price on the package.

[beautysecretfashion]

Quite a few sellers actually "lose" money on their P&H charges. Most do not charge the time to pack or travel to Post mail or cost of fuel etc. There a lot of little hidden costs involved in actually getting a parcel to their customers - $1 really is very reasonable to be honest.

** Doesn't happen to me often for Domestic mail but sometimes  (the Seller) can get caught out on International postage. If I have actually over estimated the cost, I always refund my customers, however if I under estimated - I wear it.

At least the seller agreed to refund you which was good, some sellers will either say a flat out - No or ignore you altogether.

It is getting harder for Australian Sellers to compete with the overseas sellers as their postage costs can be a fraction of what Australian sellers have to pay - ebay is forever changing the goal posts too. Glad to know you are supporting the Aussie sellers