Over charged on postage

[belindabargainhunter]

I am someone who use to think that people shouldn't complain about postage once they buy an item as they know how much they are charging.
The problem is sometimes I think the sellers are trying it on.
I purchased a dress and postage was $18 ok I thought because its mostly lace I expected it box and well packed.
It came scrunched in a eBay 500g parcel with no so much as a shopping bag to stop the lace from sticking to the seal.
So I emailed the seller who said that they were going to express it until they found out it would fit into the 500g parcel. Is it to much for me to expect them to refund the difference.
Normally I would not fuss but its a big difference for little care taken.

[jameshouseofstyle]

hawker, you are 100% right in everything you said.

And you'll find that those who'll rip you off the most - and consistently are store or services that we can't live without - and they know it.

Speaking of Ebay rules - what are they exactly?

" Make as much money as you possibly can, cut costs to the company ruthlessly, maximise every which way all other fees"

Now, for the postage overcarging rule, that's a grey one (to me at least). What actually constitues overcharging - is there an ammount or percentage on that?

Who decides what is overcharging anyway?

[nicole-n-daz]

That is a good question isnt it ?

And a hard 1 to answer.

My only answer is that common sense prevails here.

[thecatspjs]

JHOS perhaps read the ebay policies regarding post and handling costs that are allowable, that all traders agree to when they wish to list on ebay.

In the end though, IMO buyers will decide and ding your stars with gusto more frequently if you are a post pirate trader and look for other sellers to give their repeat business to.

[jameshouseofstyle]

And so they should! That'll show 'em!!

Amen to that.

Like I said many times before... Only on Ebay.....customers are so good that way, most helpful, all transgressions are instantly pointed out, most reliable source of information - and always spot on.

And thanks for the tip, re the reading of the rules... sorry sweet pea, couldn't think of anything more mind numbing.

If we ever break any someone is bound to let us know quick smart - easier  and quicker that way.

[zelly888]

I charge to the exact dollar it costs to post an item,but I still get told that I have overcharged on postage so go figure.I think that some buyers expect every seller to charge less than what the postage actually costs,as there are plenty of sellers that do but you can't expect every seller to do it also.

[jameshouseofstyle]

zelly - that is human nature, some have a sense of "being done in" more than others - but there is always that suspicion & fear.

And just think of it - according to Ebay - we should all charge no postage  at all - maximising their profits, of course.

No customer would ever actually benefit from that - in fact, they may be maybe even worse of!

[jameshouseofstyle]

my computer just carcked it - half way through this!

In the case of PO, her celler (if she had free postage) could have loaded anything in the item price, OP would have bought it as she obviously liked the dress, when the item arrived she would have seen an appaling lack of packaging and a low postage price - and there would have been nothing she could have done about it!

No stars to leave, no bad mouthing about the postage in the f/back - it would have been removed, and   ultimatelly, she wouldn't have known what part was postage in the total price she paid anyway.

Then of course she (being unhappy with this situation) would start looking for another seller - only to find they are now all the same!

Free postage.

[zelly888]

They are worse off because the sellers incorporate the postage cost into their listings so then the buyer wouldn't know if they have been ripped off regarding postage cost as it was 'free postage'.

[phorum_junkie*]

I am all for sellers charging a reasonable amount for delivery services, I also believe in things being well packaged and I certainly wouldn't use recycled packaging for clothes but that aside how can it be good business practice to charge a high handling fee for sub standard packaging thus ensuring that the buyer never comes back and buys anything else from that seller.

[digital*ghost]

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@zelly888 wrote:

They are worse off because the sellers incorporate the postage cost into their listings so then the buyer wouldn't know if they have been ripped off regarding postage cost as it was 'free postage'.

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You can't be 'ripped off' on postage if it's listed as free. The complaint about excessive postage charges is that the seller is making additional profit from a separately listed service. The majority of the time, the seller isn't intending to make additional profit, they're intending to make an overall profit which is divided into two columns, which is why I don't often take issue with P&H that's a little higher than cost etc - When you break it down, if you just want to call item price column A and postage column B, a seller decides makes X profit (if indeed, they do make a profit), and some of that might come from column A and some from column B. If postage is listed as free, it's all in column A - all costs are included there, so the seller isn't thinking "postage is going to cost $5 but I'll add in $10 for postage....", they're thinking "these are all my costs, and I want to make X after they're accounted for". It works the same way when P&H is listed separately, it's just that some of the cost breakdown is more apparent.

That aside, if this dress had been listed as free post, as far as I'm concerned the poor packaging would still be a legitimate complaint.