Paypal claim made because postage too expensive

[buttonlily]

I normally send my sales via click and send, but in this case, the item, although less than 500gm, was too big for the bag, so I could have sent it in a 3kg bag, but felt that this would be quite expensive, as I normally charge $13.  Also the click and send bags may not have offered as much protection as the box I did send it in.  I charged $10 for postage and the parcel actually cost $6.95 to post.  The buyer has now lodged a complaint through Paypal saying that she received an item that was significantly not as described and is claiming $3.05 to be refunded to her (the difference between the cost of postage and what she was charged).  Because of this claim, my Paypal account was blocked, which after 3 phone calls to them, I've now had unblocked. With click and send, everything is done online and my post box is half a block up the road.  In this case, I had to find a suitable box, seal it all up, get to the post office by car, wait in the queue etc.  On top of this the buyer didn't pay straight away and after my second email to her she responded saying she was having trouble with Paypal.  I offered to wait until she'd sorted out her Paypal issues, so long as she kept me up to date.  Long story, I know, but I feel the buyer is being unreasonable and I was hoping someone might have some advice as to how I can deal with this.

[digital*ghost]

You can respond to the dispute, but if escalated to a claim it will almost certainly close in your favor straight away - PayPal do not entertain claims for partial refunds and/or for differences in postage costs, and even if by some strange chance the claim for "not as described" is successful, the only thing that will happen is that the buyer will have to send the item back by trackable post to get a full refund.

Your buyer's claim is, IMHO, ridiculous. 

[kustomizer99]

Their claim should be against Australia Post -- talk about highway robbery!

[kustomizer99]

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@digital*ghost wrote:

PayPal do not entertain claims for partial refunds

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They do, I was recently successful in such a claim myself. I did have to involve the Financial Ombudsman, however.

[digital*ghost]

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@kustomizer99 wrote:

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@digital*ghost wrote:

PayPal do not entertain claims for partial refunds

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They do, I was recently successful in such a claim myself. I did have to involve the Financial Ombudsman, however.

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Sounds to me like they didn't entertain it, if you have to involve the BFSO to force it for whatever reason. There is no provision in the Buyer Protection policy for partial refunds; if you get a discretionary payment (in whole or in part of the original payment), chances are PayPal funded it (not the seller) to avoid the costs a BFSO investigation incurs, which happens whether their original decision was correct and/or according to their policies or not.

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

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@buttonlily wrote:

 The buyer has now lodged a complaint through Paypal saying that she received an item that was significantly not as described and is claiming $3.05 to be refunded to her (the difference between the cost of postage and what she was charged).  

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are they stating that their claim is because of the postage discrepancy, or, are they claiming that a $3.05 partial refund would make the price they paid more appropriate for the item?  I would hardly think a $3.05 difference in item value would be successful grounds for a Significantly Not As Described claim.

I think that some buyers are clueless when it comes to postage.  They don't understand that postage costs do not just include the 'stamp value' and there is packaging etc involved.  Also, they have no idea about realistic delivery times and that delivery time is not controlled by the seller and that the seller only controls the time taken to post once payment clears.

I think that your buyer will take out any frustration through feedback and DSRs if they do not get an outcome that is satisfactory to them.  What you have to ask yourself is, "Is it worth $3.05 just to keep a clueless buyer happy or will I stand my ground?".  If you did save some money on postage by posting in a different way to what you thought you would need to then maybe a $3.05 refund is not such a bad idea.

[kustomizer99]

Yes, Paypal funded tha partial refund, not the seller. Either way they were prepared to do it when called on it.

[kustomizer99]

I had a buyer complain that postage I charged them was $3 more than the actual stamp value. I told them that $2.95 was the cost of the Sign on Delivery service, then they were all apologetic.

[ggearstore]

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@buttonlily wrote:

described and is claiming $3.05 to be refunded to her (the difference between the cost of postage and what she was charged).  

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Your not going to have any issues with the claim, just explain the buyer it's a handling cost epecialy if you have to travel to the post office to post the item $3.05 does not go far.

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

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@ggearstore wrote:

Your not going to have any issues with the claim, just explain the buyer it's a handling cost epecialy if you have to travel to the post office to post the item $3.05 does not go far.

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I agree.  However, buttonlily, if it is the Barbie doll that the buyer bought then I would change the words "postage quoted is for Australia only . . . " to "postage and handling quoted is for Australia only . . . " in any future listings that you have.

The reason for this, is that under the Postage and payments tab there is a heading for Postage and Handling, and this is where you had the charge of $10 listed.  Many eBay buyers do not even realise that there is a Postage and payments tab on every listing, so they would not see that heading, let alone realise that the $10 was for Postage and Handling.

Putting it in your description as a 'postage and handling' cost helps prevent buyer misconception regarding what they are paying for, and strengthens your case when the buyer only looks at the stamp cost as you can refer to your description where it mentions 'postage and handling' and not just postage.

You could politely message the buyer and direct them to the Postage and payments tab and point out that the $10 was clearly shown for postage and handling, not that I think that any buyer who looks only at stamp value would be swayed.