Ebay postage problems

[ian parkes]

What your opinion .
i often buy multiple small items on ebay from one seller and always get a combined postage rate . Sometimes you have to ask for a total from the seller but its normally done fairly .

The other day i ordered 8 items from a fishing tackle seller . All small light items that wouldfit into a normal A3 emvelope and certainly wiegh less than half a kilo .
The total postage for the seperate items would have been £10.26 and i asked for a combined postage rate and invoice total from the seller .

I got this reply and a refusal to offer any postage discount .

hi there these items are listed on ebay as individual sales and individual p&p if i was going to combine these items &the p&p i would of listed them as a bulk buy job lot the trouble with people like you is you want the gear for next to nothing or should i say nowt i have been in touch with ebay and i am quite within my rights not to offer combined p&p as these items were listed seperetly if you dont want to pay for these items that is up to you cheers dft

[Polwart]

Originally Posted by ian parkes

What your opinion .
i often buy multiple small items on ebay from one seller and always get a combined postage rate . Sometimes you have to ask for a total from the seller but its normally done fairly .

The other day i ordered 8 items from a fishing tackle seller . All small light items that wouldfit into a normal A3 emvelope and certainly wiegh less than half a kilo .
The total postage for the seperate items would have been £10.26 and i asked for a combined postage rate and invoice total from the seller .

I got this reply and a refusal to offer any postage discount .

the trouble "with people like him" is that he wouldn't know customer service if it bit him. The new ebay feedback system does at least allow you to specifically rate his postage costs. Ebay also are not that keen for people to extort money for postage as he implies. There official policy is here:

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policie...-shipping.html

Of course ebay don't care about you being extorted (except for the bad reputation the site gets) what actually pisses them off is they make no money on the postage element of the sale.



Piss him off by asking him to ship to 8 different addresses!

[Orville]

or pay for each lot individually by Paypal....this will cost him 20p more for each extra item.

[jwalker]

If possible I dodge the dealers who have unrealistic p&p. If you need to deal with someone who sells cheap and balances the cost with high p&p, just decide whether the product is worth the total. To me it does imply a certain attitude and that appears to be the case by the reply you were given in this case.

I wouldn't loose sleep over it, though.

However, I had this situation a while ago and each product dropped through the letter box in its own separate package in the same delivery so it may just be easy for the trader not to bother to link items.

[Andy Moore]

The power is with you. Leave him sht Feedback. He looks like he deserves it.

He might be trying to make extra £££s by charging too much for P&P, which sucks I think.

[ian parkes]

Iam pleased you all see it as i do.
I replied politely and pointed out that my request wasn't actually going to cost him any more money and that return business and more custom would be the result . I got this rather smug reply .

HI AGAIN I BET OTHER SELLERS DONT SELL THEIR ITEMS AS CHEAP AS THE ONES YOU HAVE BID ON OFF ME AND THE LISTED POSTAGE IS DEARER AS WELL. A LOT OF SELLERS KEEP THE B/NOW PRICE UP & POSTAGE DOWN SOME THE OPPOSITE AT THE END OF THE DAY IF YOU WERE TO TAKE THE TIME AND CHECK ALL THE LISTINGS THAT ARE THE SAME ITEM I KNOW WHO WHOSE ITEMS WOULD BE THE CHEAPEST WHETHER THEY COMBINED PRICES OR NOT THERE IS ONE SELLER CHARGING B/NOW ROD RAIL REST AT 3.00 + 3.00 P&P DO YOU NOT THINK IVE DONE MY HOME WORK BUD I HAVE WENT TO A POWER SELLER IN LESS THAN A YEAR AND SELF EMPLOYED CHEERS DFT


iam not losing sleep over it , but having comitted to buy the items , then not buying just causes problems and disputes , and then negative feedback wars etc .

[codprawn]

In fairness some people will post a cheap price and then expensive postage to avoid Ebay fees - for example a camera for £200 with £90 postage instead of charging £280 with £10 postage.

Having said that the reply you had totally stinks!!!

[jwalker]

Originally Posted by ian parkes

...but having comitted to buy the items , then not buying just causes problems and disputes , and then negative feedback wars etc .

If you've bought, then you need to pay. Be sure to do any negotiation before you commit to buy.
If you've made the postage an issue after you purchased, I'm not surprised the guy is a bit grumpy.

[MikeCC]

Hmmm . . interesting replies . . . Bud!

I think the idea of 8 separate payments and 8 different addresses is quite entertaining and well-justified if you can be bothered.

He's obviously one of those who know the price of everything and the value of nothing. The only really valid point he makes is whether the total price inc p&p is a good deal, but there's nice ways of putting it.

[Polwart]

Originally Posted by codprawn

In fairness some people will post a cheap price and then expensive postage to avoid Ebay fees - for example a camera for £200 with £90 postage instead of charging £280 with £10 postage

Well thats not the situation here - the price per item sounds quite sensible, simply combined unfair. But who is the above aproach "fair" to? the buyer ? no he gets initially excited about a good price; other sellers? no their goods appear expensive; ebay? no.

Perhaps you think it is OK to screw ebay... but they are a commercial organisation - if they miss out on fees they will just end up charging everyone else a bit more.