Paying Double for Postage

[karecoope-95]

A buyer bought two of my items without requesting a combined invoice and has paid too much postage. I will refund him the excess but can you claim back the Ebay fees and if so, how? Any advice appreciated.

[davewil1964]

You will need to ring eBay.

Apparently a torturous process. I hope it's worth it.

I refund less extra eBay fees and Paypal fees (if they made multiple payments). I haven't had a complaint yet.

[egglesdtp · Accepted solution]

I find it too much hassle to try and get ebay to refund the excess postage, as it happens so often. I refund the buyer MINUS the fees I paid on that extra postage, and the extra paid on the second Paypal transaction (usually 30 cents). Some sellers will suggest that if the buyer didn't ask about combined postage either before or after purchase, they would post the two items separately.

I type too slowly - dave has replied before me.

[karecoope-95]

Thank you both - I will try your suggestions. Goodnight!

[chameleon54]

Do you actually have to phone ebay to reclaim the fees ? When I do a refund of say $10 , it shows something like $9.09 coming from my account and 91 cents from ebay. ( approximate figures only for the example ). 

[phorum_junkie*]

If they make two payments then I treat them individually and send two parcels just as if it was two different buyers.

I also state in my listings that discounts for combined postage are only available if paid for on a single invoice.

[brerrabbit585]

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@chameleon54 wrote:

Do you actually have to phone ebay to reclaim the fees ? When I do a refund of say $10 , it shows something like $9.09 coming from my account and 91 cents from ebay. ( approximate figures only for the example ). 

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The 91c is coming from paypal, not ebay.  Paypal always refund the paypal fees on the portion that you refund, ie. if you refund $10 and your fees are 2.6% (as they are for anyone who doesn't apply to pay merchant fees for higher volumes) then paypal will refund 26c from their coffers and the rest from your account, so that you only pay fees on the amount you keep.  The only exception to this is that if you refund the full amount they keep the 30c surcharge.

[davewil1964]

eBay do not credit their fees, even though the refund shows against the item.

So you still get hit with up to $1.09 in FVF for a $10 refund.

Which is the bit I don't refund to my buyers.