Worth pursuing $5?

[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.