Worth pursuing $5?

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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?

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.

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

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

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.

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Originally Posted by 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.

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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.

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

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Originally Posted by TheDirtyDigger

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.

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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.

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.

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Originally Posted by Pulse

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

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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 :(