overcharged for ebay shipping

weeder

my father bought a set of bagpipes from an irish seller on ebay, when he called them up they said that postage would be 50 euro, then a few days later he won the item and paid the full amount and later that day he got a message saying they had been sent by courier

arrived today and they had been sent by regstered anpost at a cost of only 15 euro, my father was wondering if he has any recourse on getting back the 35 euro he was overcharged by or not

jor el

No. Shipping includes handling, packaging and associated expenses. If he was happy to pay €50 delivery before he bought the item, then why should he change his mind now?

antocann

he payed for postage packaging petrol expenses ect... for the seller

and he payed for a delivery service wich he got

so answer to your question is theres no chance of gething anything back

bongi69

While adding €35 to the actual postage cost seems a little much, OP as said before you have to take into account that the seller not only pays for postage, he/she has to pay for the box, the bubblewrap, tape, getting to the post office, and the time queing at the post office.

I have dabbled a little in ebay selling in the past, and at first I just listed postage and packing as the actual An Post costs, but soon started losing money so had to adjust the cost to the buyer likewise.

AFAIK you don't really have any recourse; the charge was agreed to and subsequently paid for, so it was deemed as accepted. I know I'd be hopping at an extra €35 too, but just take it on the chin and know better next time.

dudara

Moved to Online Buying & Auctions

dudara

Colonel Sanders

Common enough on ebay, seller lists at a lower price and then jacks up the postage costs. Also pays less fees on the sale

Been caught a few times myself.

On one hand as long as you're happy with the Item cost plus any P&P you shouldn't really complain but it's still slightly under hand

super_furry

Yep, nothing to be done there. P&P costs were the main reason I stopped using eBay.

moceri

If I ever think that someone is loading the shipping charges, then I will arrange for a courier to Pick up. I have used

[URL="http:///www.parcel2ship.co.uk"]http:///www.parcel2ship.co.uk[/URL]

who will ship up to 10kg for £16.00 from UK to Ireland.

rubadub

moceri wrote: »

If I ever think that someone is loading the shipping charges, then I will arrange for a courier to Pick up.

Just so others reading this know -the seller must offer a pickup service on the auction for this to work, otherwise you are obliged to pay the postage.

P&P costs were the main reason I stopped using eBay.

I sort of ignore P&P costs, not just on ebay, but on all sites. All I am interested in is how much it will cost in total to get to my door, I never really stress over post costs I just view it as one price overall. In most cases the people charging high P&P on ebay are the cheapest overall, as they can work on the same profit margins as rival sellers yet offer the product cheaper overall as they avoid paying massive ebay fees.

I have no sympathy for ebay on this matter, they make more than enough from sellers. I also realise there are no volunteer couriers or postmen, so "free P&P" is also a misnomer and doesn't bother me much.

GFJD

rubadub wrote: »

Just so others reading this know -the seller must offer a pickup service on the auction for this to work, otherwise you are obliged to pay the postage.

I sort of ignore P&P costs, not just on ebay, but on all sites. All I am interested in is how much it will cost in total to get to my door, I never really stress over post costs I just view it as one price overall. In most cases the people charging high P&P on ebay are the cheapest overall, as they can work on the same profit margins as rival sellers yet offer the product cheaper overall as they avoid paying massive ebay fees.

I have no sympathy for ebay on this matter, they make more than enough from sellers. I also realise there are no volunteer couriers or postmen, so "free P&P" is also a misnomer and doesn't bother me much.

i buy alot on ebay and have noticed alot of companies moving to free p&p
i got a 'complete reverse osmosis replacement filter set' last week(the main big membrane and all the other ones) for 39.99...with free p&p....i was happily paying €120 for last 4 years. the company in question contacted me and explained that they have only just started on ebay and are building up their feedback etc...and all their items were at unreal prices with free delivery. I still havent got round to leaving feedback! must do it mind.

got a set of titleist balettas at serious value from a uk crowd also with free p&p for 20 scuds.

lovin ebay i am. fair play to that irish water filter crowd. great to see it.

Steppes

I recently got overcharged for shipping on eBay as well. Normally I wouldn't mind, but it's obvious the guy is making a big profit on shipping prices without transferring any of the benefits of a higher shipping cost (high quality packaging, registered post, etc.) to the consumer. I paid 7.50 shipping for a couple of trading card packs. The guy sent them in a non-padded envelope on which was clearly written the price of the postage (1.35). This is a really dodgy way to package trading cards in particular as the postman could simply bend them through the letterbox - he had written 'do not bend', but on a page INSIDE the envelope! Luckily the cards were safe; I'm guessing it would have been a different matter if they had travelled further than from Galway to Dublin. But the shipping could not have cost more than two Euro total, including the price of all of the extras. I'm wondering if I should complain. I was happy to pay the higher shipping price, yes, but I was under the impression this would mean that they'd come securely packaged in a padded envelope at the very least.

rubadub

Steppes wrote: »

This is a really dodgy way to package trading cards in particular

If I was buying something like this I would email them in advance and ask how they will ship, if they will use hard card etc. If I was to make any presumptions about high postage costs it would be that it is to circumvent ebay fees and in effect set a reserve price, which benefits the buyer and the seller, you are just taking a little profit away from the middleman (ebay).

Steppes

rubadub wrote: »

If I was buying something like this I would email them in advance and ask how they will ship, if they will use hard card etc. If I was to make any presumptions about high postage costs it would be that it is to circumvent ebay fees and in effect set a reserve price, which benefits the buyer and the seller, you are just taking a little profit away from the middleman (ebay).

Yeah, I guess I should have asked them first. It's just annoying me because a padded envelope costs less than a Euro and that's pretty much all you need to keep cards safe. :mad:

Vim Fuego

I charged someone €2.50 for shipping, they complained because the postage cost on the package was €1.50ish. Jesus, thankfully I built a swimming pool with the extra money to get over it.

jor el

Never assume anything, especially with eBay. Was there anything special stated in the P&P section of the auction, like registered post? That's really the only grounds for a complaint, if you pay for registered and it's sent by regular post. This has happened to me before, and it really annoys me.

I don't mind over paying for shipping, as it usually means you are getting it cheaper over all, but over paying for registered post and then having it come by standard post is something I wouldn't accept.