Seller emailed me After paid and posted demanding extra 37 for postage cost?????

[livingthelife2012]

Hi,

I recently bid on and won 4 used m&m dispensers. I won the auction for $89 and it had a flat postage price in the listing as $22. NOTHING anywhere on the listing saying the postage varied, or asking to contact or wait for invoice nothing saying that as not the real postage price.

So, as i always do, i paid instantly. She never contacted me after i paid to say that postage was not correct, or postage could be different from that stated in listing.

I have heard nothing from the seller then or in the time prior to them sending the item.

Tonight i received an email saying they posted it and the postage price was wrong. It came to 59.70 in total and she is demanding the extra 37.70 be put into her account today.

I understand nobody likes to be out for postage. And If she contacted me PRIOR to posting and said there was. Listing error for the postage, it was 37 more. Gave me an opting to find a cheaper courier or ask if i still wanted it when postage was so high since the flat rate $22 postage quote was her error..but to post it and then demand nearly 40 extra afterwards?

Is that right? And do i have to pay it?

I am not out to do the wrong thing, or intentionally cause anyone a loss but i think its a little but unfair.

[2106greencat · Accepted solution]

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@fixnwear wrote:

Hello OP,

very unfortunate thing to happen!

But you say you don't wish to do anything wrong and shortchange anyone - so don't.

Just pay the difference, as ultimately, no matter who did what the fact remains that your postage is going to be $37 dearer.

Can't believe the advice given to you - to do nothing, as that would definitely constitute a gain at someone else's expence.

Just because this is Ebay. Not a good enough reason to not pay correct postage for your item - if indeed that is correct postage.

I'm guessing it probably is as the seller took the trouble to notify you once they've found out.

Not that $37 is much money at all - but if the seller is poor and can't afford it they just will not be able to send it to you.

I don't think it would sit with me right to receive something knowing full well I didn't pay enough to get it - and whose fault it was to start with wouldn't make me feel better one bit!

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DO NOT PAY THE DIFFERENCE

You purchased at a price (including postage) that you agreed to.

If the item does not arrive open INR and escalate to a claim as soon as the system allows.

As you said, the seller did NOT advise you of this prior to (supposedly) sending, to give you an opportunity to decline, even if they had, they would still be in breach of eBay protocol as you can NOT charge more postage than is listed.

It is up to a seller to research and know the postage costs before they list, not after.

Fixnwear - a seller or buyer on eBay needs to know how things work, there are any number of sites a seller can go to for advice, main one being the AP site, they could have found out correct postage on line in 30 seconds, no excuse for sellers (or buyers) who do not do thier research - sorry.

[fixnwear]

greencat - I love your motto

If you are not living on the edge..........you are taking up too much room

To me that means literarly, living an adventure, fast life, always just one step ahead from the law, making split decisions, living each day as it comes... that sort of thing.

How you even manage to toe the line and implement all the Eabys rules to a tee is admirable!

I'm sure all of you know Ebay's rules for postage much better than me.

I was only thinking of real life and what happens when you get misquoted on something.

Usually nothing at all happens unles you pay more!

Regular occurence in automotive industry

Also, happens all the time with removalists

In the retail stores, they have a choice not to sell something if there was a stuff up with delivery quote and customer is refusing to budge - they will refund the deposit or any money originally paid - and that's the end of the matter.

So this must be a rule only for Ebay - seller's fault, no matter what.

But my opinion doesn't really matter here, I wasn't the one asking weather to pay extra or not - nor would I ever need anyone's input on that as paying extra is a matter of concience, not someone's rules. That decision would be made quite easily all by myself.

I have lost count of how many times did we pay book seller's extra postage after the parcel arrived with totally inadequate postage, and a very cheap price of a book to start with. Not one of them asked us to, we just wanted to - as there was no way that a book that weighed like a bag of cement would have costed $6.30 to post!

And there was even less way that we would have allowed some poor book seller to be short of quite a few dollars (no matter how ignorant he/she is of the true postage and stuffing up in the listing) on our account. Ebay's rules on postage didn't even come into it.

[audistarelectronics]

I recently sold an item that I had listed with postage at $40  to any location within Aus, well as it would happen, the winner was in W.A

which meant the parcel postage blew out to almost $60. I copped the difference on the chin because that's how it is, simple, and this seller will have to do the same also. And this was before the May postage rises as well, so my advice is to be very careful quoting postage now, as it is going through the roof.

[2106greencat]

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@fixnwear wrote:

greencat - I love your motto

If you are not living on the edge..........you are taking up too much room

To me that means literarly, living an adventure, fast life, always just one step ahead from the law, making split decisions, living each day as it comes... that sort of thing.

How you even manage to toe the line and implement all the Eabys rules to a tee is admirable!

I'm sure all of you know Ebay's rules for postage much better than me.

I was only thinking of real life and what happens when you get misquoted on something.

Usually nothing at all happens unles you pay more!

Regular occurence in automotive industry

Also, happens all the time with removalists

In the retail stores, they have a choice not to sell something if there was a stuff up with delivery quote and customer is refusing to budge - they will refund the deposit or any money originally paid - and that's the end of the matter.

So this must be a rule only for Ebay - seller's fault, no matter what.

But my opinion doesn't really matter here, I wasn't the one asking weather to pay extra or not - nor would I ever need anyone's input on that as paying extra is a matter of concience, not someone's rules. That decision would be made quite easily all by myself.

I have lost count of how many times did we pay book seller's extra postage after the parcel arrived with totally inadequate postage, and a very cheap price of a book to start with. Not one of them asked us to, we just wanted to - as there was no way that a book that weighed like a bag of cement would have costed $6.30 to post!

And there was even less way that we would have allowed some poor book seller to be short of quite a few dollars (no matter how ignorant he/she is of the true postage and stuffing up in the listing) on our account. Ebay's rules on postage didn't even come into it.

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How you even manage to toe the line and implement all the Eabys rules to a tee is admirable!

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I don't - I gave up selling here a while ago and went BM, but that doesn't mean I don't know HOW to "eBay" sell and HOW to figure postage and shipping charges.

You can blah on all you like, fact is, seller made a mistake, buyer does not (and should not)  have to pay for that mistake.

Site Map - bottom of every page - sellers / buyers - need to read up on how eBay works. Simple.

Or, come here, as many do, and ask for advice - BEFORE they start - have a troll through the boards and see how many members do not have a clue on how this all works and see the buyers losing money and sellers not knowing how to set an auction so they don't lose out.

I am not knocking them, we all had to start somewhere, but in business if you want to make a living (or God Forbid - a profit) do your research, don't just think you can FIX it later, because eBay is pretty unforgiving - you can't always FIX it later - so LEARN it first.

[davewil1964]

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@fixnwear wrote:

greencat - I love your motto

If you are not living on the edge..........you are taking up too much room

To me that means literarly, living an adventure, fast life, always just one step ahead from the law, making split decisions, living each day as it comes... that sort of thing.

How you even manage to toe the line and implement all the Eabys rules to a tee is admirable!

I'm sure all of you know Ebay's rules for postage much better than me.

I was only thinking of real life and what happens when you get misquoted on something.

Usually nothing at all happens unles you pay more!

Regular occurence in automotive industry

Also, happens all the time with removalists

In the retail stores, they have a choice not to sell something if there was a stuff up with delivery quote and customer is refusing to budge - they will refund the deposit or any money originally paid - and that's the end of the matter.

So this must be a rule only for Ebay - seller's fault, no matter what.

But my opinion doesn't really matter here, I wasn't the one asking weather to pay extra or not - nor would I ever need anyone's input on that as paying extra is a matter of concience, not someone's rules. That decision would be made quite easily all by myself.

I have lost count of how many times did we pay book seller's extra postage after the parcel arrived with totally inadequate postage, and a very cheap price of a book to start with. Not one of them asked us to, we just wanted to - as there was no way that a book that weighed like a bag of cement would have costed $6.30 to post!

And there was even less way that we would have allowed some poor book seller to be short of quite a few dollars (no matter how ignorant he/she is of the true postage and stuffing up in the listing) on our account. Ebay's rules on postage didn't even come into it.

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And that is why they sell stuff. Because they do undercharge. Thus appearing higher on P+P - lowest searches. Maybe even BM. If they have many buyers who then reimburse, they are way in front of those sellers who actually bother to work out how a particular book can be sent, and at what price. And pay the proper FVF.

[2106greencat]

and what dave said......that I didn't even consider.

Bottom line - a good seller will accept the price listed and postage cost quoted.

THE END

[livingthelife2012]

I think you are missing the point.you make it sound like its an issue about my morals. YOU would never leave anyone out of pocket. It wouldn't even be a question for you. Thats all very fine and noble, BUT..

What about them, making an error and instead of being polite or giving ME. An option to find it cheaper THEY take it upon themselves to ship at at a an inflated $37! And then not apologise or explain nicely, email me to say i should not have paid so quick?

Then to send new invoices on paypal like i haven't paid my bill?

So morals about sticking someone a bill that is not rightfully theirs only goes one way with you? The ONLY way i can give them the 37.70 that is being requested is to take it out of the money i was saving to send my child on school camp.

Does that sound fair to you? Does it sound fair that i have to try and find that money for their error when they weren
T even polite enough to email me first, to explain, or to hive me a choice?

Yes people make errors, they made an error and they are human. The issues wasn't even that they made the error. It is their handling of it after ward. ..Their refusal to email me BEFORE posting to see if i could or would pay the extra postage or if i wanted to find another postal method or cancel.

I never expected them to be out of pocket for my item. It was They who expect me to be out of pocket for something they did, and before contacting me like a polite, civilised person does.

I have also paid extra postage before. But they didnt conduct themselves in the way this seller did.

You would never dream of allowing them to be out of pocket? Well, i would never dream of behaving in a manner that this seller has.

All they had to do was email me before they posted it and give me a say in the outcome. They gave me no say in the outcome. So i am very limited on how i can deal with this.

As a matter of conscious i will be sleeping just fine in this case. This isn't about ebays rules. They handled this terribly with no communication and i don't see why i should be out of pocket when they didn't even have the decency to communicate prior to sending, it,

[digital*ghost]

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@fixnwear wrote:

In the retail stores, they have a choice not to sell something if there was a stuff up with delivery quote and customer is refusing to budge.

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I don't know all the rules for services, but I do know a non-grocery retail store (i.e. where the Scanning Code of Practice is not applicable) they have one of two choices in similar circumstances - withdraw the item from sale, or honour the quoted / advertised price. There's no middle ground (although I know sometimes these things can be independently negotiated), but technically, they can not provide the item regardless then ask for more than the advertised / shelf price, so in that case a customer is well within their rights to refuse to budge, while the store is within their rights to simply withdraw the item from sale. 

[chameleon54]

Still gets back to the fact that it was not your fault or error. The seller made the mistake in postage cost, they have to suck it up and send the item. Wether people like it or not, that is ebay policy that we all buy and sell under. I know I have made a few errors in postage quotes ( $28.00 on an overseas parcel recently ) When it happens as a seller, I just cop it sweet, send the item and get over it. Basically its not your problem.

[babylonfuture]

audistarelectronics - you would be best to make use of calculated postage.