Laptop sold at Auction. Buyer refused to pay insurance.

[indianrainbow]

My son just sold his laptop using my account for $355 at an absolute bargan price.  In the description my son stated that the buyer had to pay for shipping costs and insurance. His exact words " You must pay the Australia post fees if you wanted it posted, also must be registered and insured email me for Quote. Prefer Pick Up "

The buyer has now paid via Paypal for the laptop $355 and freight charges $22.65 for freight with tracking. Total $377.65 

I sent him a message that he needs to pay for the insurance as well an extra $14.55 and now he refuses as he is saying we should have quoted the amount before auction end.  His reply is as follows:

Thanks for your message, the specific amount of shipping and tracking is $22.65 which i have paid already.
I have not seen the $14.55 for the insurance, and also you should add it to the amount before the auction ended in the postage fee.
I will not pay anymore for postage and tracking, as i paid $22.65 postage fee accordingly. Please send it to me ASAP.

I'm not sure how to handle this situation without it turning sour..Any advice...thanks guys! 

[tstore]

The listing says postage $8.95. It is only $13 more that he didn't pay. I think you have not put the model number correctly as it is incomplete so possibly why it fetched a lower price. Most people would be looking to buy a touch screen laptop these days. Prices have fallen quite a lot over the last 12 hours for non touch screen laptops.

[tstore]

You do mention in the add to await invoice and put postage as 'freight' so no postage amount showed up rather than $8.95 as there is a bit of inconsistency. Try calling eBay and see what their view is. If they leave negative feedback you may be able to dispute for removal if the feedback mentions anything related to postage.

[tstore]

Or refund in full and send mutual cancelation request. If buyer declines and or leaves a neg I would call eBay and point to them that the ad advises the buyer needs to await for a quote on shipping and also ask for them to read correspondence where he explicitely says he has paid $22 when he actually hadn't. Feedback can also be removed because he is demanding something which was not offered in the original listing as he has not paid the full amount as per your requirements.

[thecatspjs]

If the laptop is under 5kg $22.65 would cover a signifiant proportion of post cost if you used a prepaid 5kg satchel (with laptop boxed) signature on delivery ($2.95) and extra cover to $400 ($6.00) even it is was being sent from one side of Australia to the other.

[digital*ghost]

I understand that your listing had the line:

You must pay the Australia post fees if you wanted it posted, also must be registered and insured email me for Quote

But your buyer is also technically correct, in that they are not obliged to pay more than what is quoted for postage if it is quoted in the Postage & Payments section. eBay has policies about these things as to quote one price for P&H then not honour it and charge another (higher) amount is considered misleading, as well as search manipulation.  I am not saying you were intentionally misleading or attempting to manipulate search results, just that these policies are in place to help prevent people from intentionally doing it. The buyer may have seen that line, but understandably seems to have also assumed that the quote was accurate and emailing for one wasn't necessary.

I can see that you've used calculated postage, and for future reference, if you want to include insurance costs in the total charged to the buyer, you need to add it as a separate charge by using the Handling option, that way the buyer is shown the full amount on the listing without needing to wait for a quote. 

If at all possible, I would take cat's advice and use a 5kg satchel with SOD & insurance, without asking for additional payment from the buyer.

[indianrainbow]

Thanks guys for the advice. Yes I must admit that the $8.95 even had me confused, but that is what was showing when my son finished posting the listing, witht the weight and dimensions. It was not something he entered himself. I assumed it was showing a local delivery charge and didn't really question it any further. The item weighs 2.8kg and has been placed in an Australia Post Postal Box that measures 44 x 32 x 15cm I'm not sure if it will fit in a 5kg Satchel, I will check in the morning as I'm not sure of the measurements of one of those satchels and the box with the laptop is at work.

The buyer is in WA Bull Creek 6149 and i am in Braeside 3195 I went to Aust.Post website and when I punched in the details I got $37.40 in total.

Nothing to do directly with this auction, but I have also had other issues with postage on ebay over the last couple of months. A couple of items I have placed for sale (Not Auction) the postage has been incorrect. If was only .20c her or there I wouldn't mind, but at times it has been anything up to $10.00 out (ie; over and above what the buyer has paid.) The ones that have been out a couple of dollars I have been wearing them, but a few have really hurt the pocket, with out of pocket losses. The information entered both in weight and meaurements were correct, but once I took them down to te post office the pricing was way out. has anyone else had this issue? Does anyone know how often ebay updates the Australian postal Charges. It was actually because of this issue that my son decided to get anyone interested to ask for a quote,as we have been out of pocket quite a few times lately.

[coast_golf]

A laptop that size will fit easily into a BX4 box and will be eligible for a flat rate via Click and Send. Including the box it will cost you around $18. This is sufficient for Paypal seller protection. Is insurance really necessary? All you are doing is insuring it against damage in transit and AP are notoriously reluctant to pay up unless the package was nuclear bomb proof. Pack it well obviously but $18 will see you covered. Just as a precaution take a note of the serial number just in case the old switcheroo trick is pulled on you. Very, very unlikely of course but it is good practice anyway.

[indianrainbow]

Just found dimensions online satchel is 510 x435 for

1. The box doesn't fit . I would need to cut the box down

2. It costs more than just posting it as it is. Satchel is $23.60, plus $2.95 for SOD plus Insurance $6.00 Total $37.55 The orginal postal cost in the box as is, is $37.40

[coast_golf]

Do you need to send the original box? Personally I wouldn't bother, it will be cheaper and will probably be more secure if you packaged it yourself in an AP box. Laptop boxes are pretty flimsy things if you are sending them by themselves, normally they are strapped to a pallet in a bulk lot so it doesn't matter so much.