eBay sellers 'making money off postage'

[Polos]

Hi,

I recently won 2 dresses from the same ebay seller and I went to pay yesterday to find the postage is over £12 (from personal experience of posting similar items it should be no more than £6 Royal Mail first class) so I sent her a message asking if she could double check the postage as it seemed very high for the items. Well I had a reply today saying the reason it's so high is because she wants to make a bit of money off the postage as she didn't want too sell the dresses for too little (not sure why she started them at 99p then!), I don't know what to say back to her as I refuse to pay that much postage, I'm not made of money hence why I'm buying my clothes off ebay! Any ideas what I can say back to her?

 

[Boxers]

Presumably when you bid on the items you knew the postage that would be charged? When i bid i take it into account and for instance would tell myself that I am getting the dress for £6.99, rather than 99p and £6 for postage.

I think you will just have to 'suck it up'

 

[AmieeT]

Was the postage not advertised when you bid? If not then you may have a case, but if it was then the bid was a contract- having said that, they can't force you to pay.

Ax

 

[Fides]

eBay states sellers aren't allowed to inflate the price via postage. If they are totally uncooperative just report them to ebay for breaching T&Cs

 

[*hic*]

If you want the goods then you the pay the postage that was advertised on the auction page. If you want to stop the seller making money on the postage then report her to ebay.

 

[AmieeT]

I just searched, and was just about to say what Fides has said
It's against our rules to have unreasonable postage costs in a listing, or to provide unclear or misleading postage information. Learn more about our selling practices policy.

Sellers are allowed to:

Charge the actual postage cost.
Include the cost of packaging materials, insurance, and delivery.
Include delivery confirmation or extra services in the handling cost.
Sellers aren't allowed to:

Charge more than the maximum postage cost in categories with a postage limit.
Charge a separate fee for insurance.
Charge for business related fees such as employee wages or mileage costs.
Include contradictory or confusing postage prices in their listing.

 

[PorkChop]

Whilst I think it was wrong of the seller to state that she wanted to make some money out of the postage, as someone who occasionally sells on ebay, do take into account the packaging and the cost of getting it to the post office.

 

[AmieeT]

Whilst I think it was wrong of the seller to state that she wanted to make some money out of the postage, as someone who occasionally sells on ebay, do take into account the packaging and the cost of getting it to the post office.

That is allowed (I took my previous comment from eBay).

I do think £12 is excessive for two dresses. I doubt they'll cost more than a fiver to send, and they'll probably be in a bag not a box.

Ax

 

[Ashley Stewart]

Report the seller to ebay for making a profit from postage and packaging fees and the sale will be cancelled.

In the future I suggest checking the packaging and postage charges before you bid on an item, all auctions now have postage and packaging charges listed on the main listings page.

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

Its not just postage, if one was to factor in packaging and time then it might easily come to about £10.00-£12.00, as others said, you have to watch out, there are some items are outrageous prices, like £350.00 for a £35.00 mobile, I assume they hope some poor soul won't notice.
But I am surprised vendor admitted they wanted to profit from postage, I would have thought they would defend their position.

 

[Polos]

I'll admit that I didnt look this time at the price of postage so that's a mistake on my part. But the fact that the seller admitted she knew it was too high and is doing it to get more money is the annoying thing. I would still like the dresses but am I likely to loose them if I make a case?

 

[WandaMare]

Personally I wouldn't report her. She probably shouldn't have charged so much but if it stated that cost on the listing then at least she was being honest. Like someone else said, you have to look at the price plus the postage on ebay and make your decision based on both of them. I would email her and say that you are going to pay but you are a bit disappointed that the postage is so much. She might offer to reduce it rather than get any bad feedback.

 

[smellsofhorse]

By bidding you have agreed to buy and entered a contract.

Did you not check the price before?

Making money off of postage is wrong though and you can report it.
You could also try to cancel the purchase, go through customer support for this.

 

[Goldenstar]

I have learnt to be careful of this money making wheeze on eBay .
I always check the postage now .

 

[Polos]

I think I might just send her a message and say that I am dissapointed she has overinflated the postage and that this goes against ebays terms and conditions and that I'm I'd rather pay the correct postage amount

 

[mynutmeg]

Having recently sold some clothes on ebay I paid, including packaging (a whole 85p) £3.50 per item for first class delivery

 

[smellsofhorse]

I'll admit that I didnt look this time at the price of postage so that's a mistake on my part. But the fact that the seller admitted she knew it was too high and is doing it to get more money is the annoying thing. I would still like the dresses but am I likely to loose them if I make a case?

It could go either way.
Seller might reduce postage and you get the dresses, or yes you could loose them.

You could just thinks of the price as s whole and that you are getting two dresses, are they worth this cost?
If so paid it and be more careful bidding next time.
You could still email and say you are disappointed, they may reduce price.

 

[FreshandMinty]

she shouldn’t have admitted to doing it to make money and as such, if you send a copy of her message to ebay i suspect you will be reimbursed some of the postage.However.. I always charge slightly over for postage. Say i know the item will be a medium parcel and £6.50 to post (or whatever it costs) I would list postage as £7. After all, its postage & packaging and I have to drive to the post office to send it too. As others have said, P&P is always clearly listed so if you don’t like it, don’t bid.

 

[Fjord]

Remember as well that eBay now charge sellers fees based on the total invoice price, so she will also be getting charged on postage too. Plus PayPal charges, so it is understandable that the costs need to be made up somewhere, otherwise you can actually end up selling at a loss. £12 is a bit steep but if it was on the original advert I can't see that there's much you can do.

 

[RaposadeGengibre]

Well, if you won 2 dresses from the same seller and she didnt state anywhere about combine postage discount I really cant see the case. If I fancy couple of bits from same seller, I normally send a message asking if she/he does discounts unless postage is miniscule.
Nowadays sellers pay insertion fees (she may skipped this one on 99p starting bid), final fee, fee on postage (!), fee to paypal.... so I cant blame her trying to scrape a quid or two.

 

[Tiddlypom]

I'd put it down to experience, suck it up and pay her.

I won a Micklem bridle recently, the p&p was £12 (double that of other Micklems). It must have put others off bidding, because the overall cost inc p&p was still a lot less than than similar bridles were going for. I had factored in the postage before I decided on my maximum bid.

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

The problem seems to be that there are a lot of options as regards postage: and as an e-bay seller I've been in the position where I've been given an on-line quote by either a courier, or Royal Fail/Parcelfarce, and then when you take the parcel to the post office, they give you a different price!!!

I usually say in the item description that IF there is an difference between the price quoted for the postage, and the actual price on the day, I'll just bung the change in an envelope along with the item - that should hopefully let the seller know that you're genuine!

Suggest perhaps that this is what happened with the OP??? i.e. a genuine mistake/miscalculation rather than something deliberate.

 

[Tern]

This was not on eBay it was on facebook but i bought a tweed jacket - needed it posted and asked lady how much postage was - she said that she imaged it would be about £8/£9 - Sent an extra £10 for postage got jacket and turned out to be £2 i just though what scum. -.-

 

[Jesstickle]

You knew what it was going to be before you bid. So tough really.

I sold dresses recently. Ebay now predicts how much it is likely to be from your description and that amount is what Ebay will have come up with. She could have changed it, as could I, but I didn't bother. It is almost certainly the suggested price from Ebay themselves so I think you have not a lot of chance of chasing her up about it.

Royal Mail are blimming expensive now, postage also covers packaging and petrol to drive to the PO.

 

[Fides]

Royal Mail are blimming expensive now, postage also covers packaging and petrol to drive to the PO.

Ebay state you can charge for packaging but not petrol or 'wages'

 

[Jesstickle]

Ebay state you can charge for packaging but not petrol or 'wages'

Ebay will also have suggested the postage amount OP has queried. Go and type in a description of dress. Their predicted postage will be £5.60 or something like that. I literally did this two weeks ago. I really don't see that OP has much choice but to get on with it. Petrol is part of packaging costs to me. It is what it costs me to send the damn thing so it is part of the cost of packing and posting. You can split hairs all you like.

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

This was not on eBay it was on facebook but i bought a tweed jacket - needed it posted and asked lady how much postage was - she said that she imaged it would be about £8/£9 - Sent an extra £10 for postage got jacket and turned out to be £2 i just though what scum. -.-

£2.00 for posting a jacket that can't be right.......... I find my average is about £8.00 and the PO big envelopes are a £1.00 each

 

[Fides]

Ebay will also have suggested the postage amount OP has queried. Go and type in a description of dress. Their predicted postage will be £5.60 or something like that. I literally did this two weeks ago. I really don't see that OP has much choice but to get on with it. Petrol is part of packaging costs to me. It is what it costs me to send the damn thing so it is part of the cost of packing and posting. You can split hairs all you like.

It's not splitting hairs - it's the ebay T&Cs.

 

[Jesstickle]

I can't see anywhere in the T&Cs that says no petrol. There is shipping cost mentioned which is the money to Royal Fail and handling cost. I would argue strongly that fuel is a handling cost.

 

[EmmaB]

I've sold some clothes on ebay and usually charge about £4 postage. It normally costs me £2.10 to post, but I have to buy bags and tape, and then get charges from ebay. So really I dont think she's going to be making much money off it, it's up to the buyer to pay attention, I don't know if ebay would side with you on a case if you admit that you didn't check postage before bidding, it's a contract after all.