seller charging more than cost to post items

[prudencepoodle100]

I bought a coat from a seller, whom listed postage as standard postage $11.50, coat arrived squashed into a 500 gram pre paid bag cost, $6.80 I sent her an email, and asked if the over charge of $4.70 was fair, she said yes as it was in her listing.

read her reply to me below

Hi I charged you whot i advertise if you not happy with postage you shoud not bid, or contact mi before bidding. I think you get good bargain the coat cost over $500.00. And is as new. If you not happy you ken send the coat back and I refind you the All postage.

wow

[madammuck]

I agree.  The buyer fulfilled her side of the transaction by paying and expecting her garment to arrive in a 3kg satchel AS LISTED.

If the seller had been more accomodating, or better still admitted that they had made a mistake and offered to refund the difference, then I am sure the buyer would not have left a (justifiable) negative.

Where is the "like" button?

The garment was about 700gm but was crushed in a 500g bag - as well as being badly packed, the seller commited an offence against Auspost's posting costs - yet some of you condone this? The seller did not honour her part of the sale yet the buyer is in the wrong for daring to object? Further, the buyer is now out of pocket for dry-cleaning to return the gament to the state it should have arrived in. Something very wrong with this picture. methinks.

Feedback is about the buyer's experience - if this happened to me, I would give it a neg as well. At no time did the seller address the buyers concerns to the buyers satisfaction and I can't see where the buyer was being unreasonable. A good seller would work hard at delivering a satisfactory customer experience.

As for the buyer now being on put on other seller's BBL, IMO, if you agree with the seller's action, I wouldn't want to buy from you. Some very harsh things said to the OP in this thread and quite a bit of hypocrisy as well.

[wishuponastarcelebrationsandgifts]

Perhaps the email to the seller should have clearly stated there were several issues;

- The coat arrived damaged due to the manner in which it was packed, and such damage could only be rectified by dry cleaning it at a cost of $x.

- The coat was inadvertantly packaged in a satchel that was $x less than stated in the listing.

- The buyer would like the seller to refund for the cost of dry cleaning and the difference in the price of the satchels.

I have not purchased any second hand clothing and would personally not wear anything purchased from somebody I didn't know without dry cleaning/washing it first. I don't know whether that is the exception rather than the norm, so asking for the cost of dry cleaning to be reimbursed may well be reasonable.

I agree some of the comments on the forums can appear to be a little harsh at times. We all perceive things differently. When I read your post title it suggested your issue was with a seller charging a handling charge, hence I read your post. As a seller, I have had a few buyers send me rude emails about the cost of  postage and rate me with low DSR's for postage cost when I have charged the buyer LESS than the actual cost to post the item with no handling charge, and explained in detail with a link to the AP postage calculator how it was calculated. I imagine many other sellers have been in this situation so they can get a bit hot under the collar when there is a suggestion that they are not entitled to recoup the costs to pack, process and post items.

I think it is best to avoid wording messages that do not make it clear as to exactly what you would like the seller to do to rectify the problem. Asking them if they think "it is fair to over charge" on postage is a closed question, implies they are dishonest (which they may or may not be) and does not clearly state that you want a refund. A seller may assume from your message that you would like a $4.70 refund, but your message does not state that you actually asked for a refund. If I were to send a buyer a message asking if they thought it was fair that they haven't paid for their item after 6 or 10 days I am sure they would take offence and probably leave a neg.

I take my hat off to you if you have revised your neg. Only the two parties involved in a transaction can really determine what feedback is appropriate in the circumstances after taking into account every facet of the transaction. It is unfortunate that at times it seems there is a seller versus buyer mentality, and trust is such an issue. I often read the forums and it seems that the first conclusion drawn is that a buyer or seller is being dishonest, is a scammer etc. People can and do make mistakes and can misinterpret what is said,  but I find that the worst case scenario is what is often considered to be the most likely.

I hope that despite the additional cost to have the coat dry cleaned, it is still a lovely item that was purchased at a good price and you have some lovely memories wearing it:-)