Thread: Postage charges and dispute.

You know the postage before the item sells to bid accordingly.... I just bought an item and the seller went full retard and charged $17 for postage for a micrometer head...

I bid accordingly... I will also leave feedback appropriate to the postage costs...

Hello fellow groover!

This recently happened to me with a purchase in the US. I asked the seller if they posted to Aus and for a price. It was for a Rockwell universal grinding fixture. The seller said they had never shipped to Aus before but was happy to get a quote. $200 was the quote, which was prohibitively expensive. I offered to investigate further from my end and got shipping quotes through Shipto. At $50 it seemed doable. I then went on the USPS website to get a quote from the seller to Shipto warehouse in Nevada. The quotes were a little confusing but one figure for a parcel larger than the size of the item and for the weight came in at US12. I sent them a link to the quote and asked them to send an invoice for the item and the domestic shipping cost to Nevada. I promptly got an invoice (after I was the highest bidder and the auction finished) for the item price + $30 shipping! While I didn't directly question the shipping price, I kindly asked if that was for shipping to Nevada or to my home address (hint hint)

Anyway, I was pretty happy with the price of the item and in the end I figured it was going to be counter productive to argue about the extra $17 for shipping so I just paid it.

Now I'm waiting like a cat on hot bricks! The item was posted last week Wednesday and it is still yet to arrive at Shipto. I have since double checked the address and it's all correct. First time use of Shipto and must admit I find it an uncomfortable process since there is the potential for ducking and weaving by all parties should the item "disappear".

Simon

Hi
I agree with RC "bid and leave feedback accordingly"

I have walked away from many auctions because the seller seems to think we are too far, hard etc to post to.

Others have been super helpful. One site even tells you what else can be squeezed into the box.

I had one item get shipped here and back to Canada due to incorrect sticker on the box. 9 months later i got it second time but did split the second postage.

Sometimes i have refused and copped the strike and appealed for it to be removed. The other reason they jack up post is to avoid fees as postage is not hit with fees and does not have to be refunded etc

James


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Forgot to mention. Don't forget it is postage AND handling. If the seller has to drive 20 mins to the post office then they are entitled to charge "reasonable" handling fees.

Sometimes the postage is so cheap that it does not even get considered in the final price, other times when it's quite substantial it needs to looked at as an overall price of the item.

Simon

The seller was going to charge me about $30 using his boxes and bubble wrap and take it to the post office to send. Then why cant he go to the post office buy a 5kg satchel wrap the items in his bubble wrap and post it for $16.70?
If he wanted to add a couple of dollars for bubble wrap and asked me about it, I would have agreed and said that it was not an issue. To double the postage is what really annoyed mw along with his ignorance when asked about the pricing.
Damien.

In the good old days of direct mail (remember those catalogues full of junk advertised with a special offer on the back of No Idea and similar woman's mags?) it wasn't uncommon for the postage charge to actually be the profit source on the transaction. And if you are more of an ad-hoc seller, it does actually take a fair bit of running around to pack and send stuff.

I recently purchased some clock parts from Lee Valley in the US,ordered on thursday afternoon,was on my doorstep on Monday morning,I was amazed,quicker than coming from Melbourne,cost $38 UPS freight,even with the freight was still cheaper than local supplier.

I think one of the reasons Postage charges have gone up on fleabay is because fleabay are now gouging the sellers for fee's on the postage costs as well as the sale item. Then again some sellers are just greedy.

Originally Posted by simonl

Hello fellow groover!

The quotes were a little confusing but one figure for a parcel larger than the size of the item and for the weight came in at US12. I sent them a link to the quote and asked them to send an invoice for the item and the domestic shipping cost to Nevada. I promptly got an invoice (after I was the highest bidder and the auction finished) for the item price + $30 shipping!

Simon

Well so far so good. The item arrived at Shipto overnight. I found out why the seller charged me $30 for domestic postage instead of the $12 I was expecting. The thing does not weigh 9 lb as the seller said, it weighs 19 lb So their only offence would be not having accurate scales, $30 does not seem unreasonable.

Despite the nearly 100% increase in estimated shipping weight, the Shipto costs have gone from $50 to $70. Not too bad either!

Simon

Originally Posted by Auskart

I think one of the reasons Postage charges have gone up on fleabay is because fleabay are now gouging the sellers for fee's on the postage costs as well as the sale item.

That’s partly ebay’s response to sellers offering 1cent or $1 BIN and charging $10, $15 or $20 on shipping and “handling” for envelope sized objects.

My item arrived as well.... Posted regular post, no registered, no express.... Cost him $7.20... I got charged $17.80 or so...

Neutral feedback left... Stuff them, if they cannot work out proper postage costs prior to the sale then expect unhappy customers... If it was posted registered or express at greater cost I would have been more lenient..

The seller selling all that measuring stuff on ebay with a starting price of $10 or so, got it all from that toolmakers auction in I think it was Geelong, that was mentioned in the ebay thread... The item I got still had the lot number on it...

Originally Posted by .RC.

My item arrived as well.... Posted regular post, no registered, no express.... Cost him $7.20... I got charged $17.80 or so...

Neutral feedback left... Stuff them, if they cannot work out proper postage costs prior to the sale then expect unhappy customers... If it was posted registered or express at greater cost I would have been more lenient..

The seller selling all that measuring stuff on ebay with a starting price of $10 or so, got it all from that toolmakers auction in I think it was Geelong, that was mentioned in the ebay thread... The item I got still had the lot number on it...

Yep that's not fair. It's dead easy to work out postage costs. Aus post have an online calculator.

Simon

I'm watching with interest my package that went through Shipto. The tracking system provided by TNT seems to be updated fairly regularly. The latest update has me scratching my head. I won't put a link to it, but the latest update reads:

Date Time Location Action

14 Jul 2014

12:00:00

Sydney

Delay. Recovery Action Underway

What's recovery action, is it lost?

Not lost. More likely put on the wrong truck or something so it's heading to Brisbane say instead of Melbourne. Recovery action means they have realised the mistake and are putting a plan in place to get it back (for example, air freight from Brisbane to Melbourne?)

Michael