Worth pursuing $5?

[Burn]

I recently won an auction on e-bay and the postage was quoted at $17, registered.

Now this was from Mackay to Innisfail. An 8 hour or so drive. Seemed a bit much plus I was okay with it not going registered.

So I questioned the seller and this was the response I got.


this is a large item and i will be lucky to get it posted for that much. it probably weighs close to a kilo.

sorry bro but the postage as you will find when you recieve it is probably close to cost.


I didn't think it'd be a kilo but as it turns out it was. That being said, I accepted it and paid for it.

The next day I got another email.


a few bad apples have forced me to send 90% of things registered and just want you to know.... isn't a reflection on you personaly. the total postage was just under $12 so im glad it wasn't going to WA.

Again, understandable over the registered post thing. But postage came to just under $12 ... and absoloutely no mention of a refund.

Got the package today, searched high and low, no money there!

So is it worth chasing this guy for $5 or should I just settle for neutral feedback on E-Bay?

[jaydisc]

While I personally charge cost for postage with an eBay sale, it's certainly not mandatory.

I think if you went ahead and bought the item after being told up front that it was going to cost you $17, I think you should live with it. But, on the other hand, there's nothing wrong with asking.

One time, I bought some goods from Trendclick and asked that he ship them Priority instead of First Class (I wanted tracking). He gave me a tracking number which never registered at USPS. After the item arrived, I saw the charge was quite less than the extra Priority fees I agreed to. I brought this to his attention and he refunded the difference without argument.

[blackie]

last time a person over charged me for shipping they refunded it straight back :D

[roller]

are you mad?!!! Go get yer money back! If not, send me a free $5

[Lint]

You should ask for your $5 before giving neutral feedback on ebay. Theres no harm in it and it will at least give the seller a chance to redeem themselves.

[TheDirtyDigger]

You should ask for your $5 before giving neutral feedback on ebay. Theres no harm in it and it will at least give the seller a chance to redeem themselves.

Unless he reports you to ebay for feedback extortion and your account gets suspended. Personally I nearly always charge less than what postage costs me because I figure it will bring more bidders in and help my rating but if the auction stated $17 postage at the start then you knew what you were in for and should just factor this into the total cost of the item.

[Eruntalon]

There's way too many problems being caused through ebay these days...

[Lint]

Unless he reports you to ebay for feedback extortion and your account gets suspended. Personally I nearly always charge less than what postage costs me because I figure it will bring more bidders in and help my rating but if the auction stated $17 postage at the start then you knew what you were in for and should just factor this into the total cost of the item.

Is it really still extortion? The agreed contract would have been $17 for registered post and it HAS been paid.

Besides which Burn still has, albeit completely different, grounds for leaving neutral feedback because the postage wasn't registered as it should have been.

[Pulse]

It doesn't sound like he tried to scam you on purpose.
If you wanna pursue it on principle, chase it up but if that was me, I wouldn't bother - it's only $5.

[dirge]

I wouldn't bother - it's only $5.

Yeah but when you're spending $700 on Darkwings, $5 is hardly worth a second thought :p

Burn, I think you probably will run into trouble with the fact you agreed to pay it. There's also the fact he could clain cost of packing materials etc. Morally, I actually agree with you, but I don't think you'll get anywhere :(

[Krayt]

Americans oftne try and add extra..... but it's allowable under ebay as they are postage AND handeling fees.... so if you don't agree, they won't do anything as it might have cost for the box and tape etc etc

[Burn]

Besides which Burn still has, albeit completely different, grounds for leaving neutral feedback because the postage wasn't registered as it should have been.

No no. It was still registered. It just came out cheaper than what he expected.


Burn, I think you probably will run into trouble with the fact you agreed to pay it. There's also the fact he could clain cost of packing materials etc. Morally, I actually agree with you, but I don't think you'll get anywhere :(

I agreed because he showed no intention of budging from the quote given. It's not like he said "i'll pop down the post office tomorrow and find out for sure", it was "that's the cost, not really open for discussion".

As for the cost of packing materials ... box was recycled.

And yeah, I doubt i'll get anywhere and it's probably not even worth me trying to chase it up.

Thanks guys! Plenty to think over.

[griffin]

From a seller's perspective, if you are selling a few things on ebay (as I have done in the past), you can spend a good few hours packaging up all the stuff and getting it ready for posting, so you can see why some state 'postage and handling/packaging' in listings. I'd give a refund if my postage estimate was out by $5, if it was someone I knew, but really, that would be the figure I'd draw the line at. If it had been $4-something, I'd say don't bother about it, but at $5... you could ask, but me personally, I'd just let it go if I thought the total cost was still within my budget for that item. It'd really come down to how much you actually spent on the item before the shipping fee, and if $5 is rather negligable or significant to that amount, or the combined amount.
It can also be difficult to refund that amount back to you, as the package would have been sealed up before he went to the post office to get the postage amount for it. And if he was willing to refund the amount back through Paypal, you would lose some of it through paypal fees, making the final amount you get back even more insignificant.
The only way you could really benefit from it is if you were likely to ever buy anything from him again, and it could be used as credit. But it sounds like a one-off purchase.

[jacksplatt11]

Just let it go I think, what's $5 in the scheme of things..

I spose it's nearly a Zinger combo, but eh

[jgon2098]

If you threaten to leave -ve feedback. They might refund you the money.

Sellers that tries to profit on shipping always boil my blood, its just plain unnecessary.

However with that said. If we go all-out picky, they do pay for the packaging and possibly fuel if they live far from a post office. Time spent packing should not be rewarded.

[MV75]

Too much apathy leads to this being the common ripoff scam that it currently is.

You as a seller should take your costs of time of packaging (you pay yourself to package stuff?), and the effort of getting it to the post office into your selling price of the item. These are services that are mandatory if you even want to sell an item. It's the whole crux of using Ebay. You're getting paid to do this with the profit you make on the actual sale.

However, it is acceptable to add any costs of packaging. That does not include recycled packaging, only new packaging that you have to buy, boxes, stickytape, etc.

[1orion2many]

I have paid extra on postage before but as stated earlier, I factored that in as part of the price of the item, I wouldn't worry as long as the item showed up. Better that than paying the exact postage and not getting the item;).

[i_amtrunks]

I think Dirge was on the money.

Morally, yes, you should get the $5 back, overcharging on postage is not on.

But since the stated postage cost was $17 , and with all the hassle and problems it could case, it's probably just not worth the effort for $5, it it were $10 or more, it'd be a different story.