Seller wants to refund because shipping costs more than they thought it would

[iluvstartrek]

Hi! 
I bought an item that had free shipping.  The price was $44 for an item that will have to be mailed priority.  In all honesty, I thought the price was low because I estimated it would cost $20 + to mail.  However, the seller has almost 5000 feedbacks and 99% of that is positive.  So I figured they just wanted to get rid of it.  Today they emailed me saying “I have to refund you because it would cost $25 to mail it and  have to pay fees” I replied and said ok and told them they might want to do some research first because I had just did a google search and found out that a seller who refunds, gets an automatic defect from eBay and have to pay the final value fee anyway.  I stressed that I wasn’t threatening or trying to be negative that I was just Informing and that they should get some information before going forward.  This is the reply I got to that: 

”Sorry I'm not going to sell some.thing for 45.and ship for 25 and probally.5 In all fees I'm down to like 15 for it... your in CA I've had this on before the Mail hike this year shipping gets up there on the west.coast....”

My question is can I report this to eBay? It isn’t my fault this person didn’t list the proper prices.  In addition eBay has all kinds of helpful shipping tools.  This person had the shipping set for free.  It is obvious that the item will have to be shipped priority and pretty easy to at least get an idea of cost.  Heck, a large flat rate priority mail box cost close to $20 and non flat rate costs more than that.  I’d really like to do something because I don’t trust this seller now.  It seems very strange to me that someone with almost 5000 feedbacks has a low price on an item that even before the “mail hikes”( that happened probably over six months ago) would cost around $20 to send.

Thank you,

Sherri  

[atikovi]

Leave negative feedback with factual details so other buyers are informed, and move on. Many sellers make errors on calculating shipping costs and ship anyway, eat the cost, and chalk it up to experience. You think if seller found out the shipping would be much cheaper than expected, they would give you a portion back?

[orangehound · Accepted solution]

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@iluvstartrek wrote:

My question is can I report this to eBay? It isn’t my fault this person didn’t list the proper prices.  

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You will get a notice when the seller cancels.  If the seller cancels the transaction due to "requested by buyer" or "problem with buyer address", then the seller is attempting to circumvent penalties and notices from eBay ... in this case, you should call up customer service and point out that the seller is attempting to avoid penalties.

On the other hand, if the seller cancels due to "out of stock or damage or not available", then the seller reported the situation correctly, and eBay will levy a buyer defect on the seller for not following through on a transaction ... you do not need to call because eBay already registered the problem with the seller.

By the way, seller defects can be very, very bad ... and dishonest sellers will often try to wiggle out of them, so don't be surprised if you see the reason being a problem with your address.

[lex-talon]

The seller you bought from obviously is reneging on your purchase, just making excuses about shipping costs.

I had a experience from a seller like that not too long ago. You would think a seller with 5000 feedbacks would treat their buyers better than that. Just leave an actual, negative feedback to warn any potential buyers.

[iluvstartrek]

This seller hasn’t left feedback for me.  If I leave negative feedback, can’t he or she leave negative feedback for me?  

[nobody*s_perfect]

Nope, it's not possible for a seller to leave a neutral or negative rating for a buyer. They're even forbidden to leave a positive rating with a negative comment.

LOL at the shipping rate changes excuse -- the new rates for 2020 go into effect on Sunday (January 27) and this seller apparently hasn't yet adjusted to the previous changes!

[iluvstartrek]

Thank you!  Should the seller put down I requested a refund, problem with my address, or anything other than he or she refused to send it because they were unhappy with how much money they would be getting, I will inform eBay.  I know it is stupid, but this irritates me a little.  I hardly ever sell on eBay, and even I know that with something non media mail and heavier than one pound, it has to be sent priority.  Regular priority cost more than flat rate and the priority flat rate large box costs almost $20. They sold something for $45 total with free shipping that was going to cost more than $20 to ship. It is so obvious to me that they would end up with $15-20 that I now suspect this seller of wrong doing.  So I would like nothing better than to prevent this person from doing it to someone else. 

[iluvstartrek]

That is funny!  That is exactly what I told this seller. Well, it was more along the lines of “the mail hike as you call it, happened more than six months ago and I just heard a postal clerk say that priority mail was going up in price soon.  

Thank you! I will definitely leave negative feedback. The hard part will be saying everything I want to say in the allotted number of letters and spaces.  

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@iluvstartrek wrote: .... The hard part will be saying everything I want to say in the allotted number of letters and spaces.  

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Um, how about, "Seller refused to ship because he had undercharged for postage." That's about 65 characters out of the allotted 80.

[a_c_green]

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@iluvstartrek wrote:

Thank you! I will definitely leave negative feedback. The hard part will be saying everything I want to say in the allotted number of letters and spaces.  

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You get 80 characters, including spaces. Stay factual and on-topic. Namecalling can get it removed, and sounding like a knucklehead can give others the impression that you may have been more at fault than the seller. If you want to run your proposed comments past us first, we can give you feedback on your feedback. 😁

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@iluvstartrek wrote: ... Regular priority cost more than flat rate and the priority flat rate large box costs almost $20. .... 

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Regular Priority Mail rates are often less than the cost of a flat rate box. For less than the cost to mail a large flat rate box, you can  ship a 3-pound box to Zone 8 at the regular Priority Mail rates (based on weight and distance). And you can ship 8 pounds to Zone 5 or 24 (yes, twenty-four) pounds to Zones 1 & 2 for less.

[iluvstartrek]

Update-I had warned the seller in an message not to say I requested a refund or my address was wrong or any reason having to do with me. (Warned as in trying to help/stop him from saying I requested the refund and not as a threat the seller.) I said that should he say to eBay that I requested a refund or my address was wrong or anything like that, I would report him to eBay.  He messaged me and said he was done and was reporting me and was calling eBay now.   I called eBay and found out that since all of our messaging was through eBay, they can read all of our messages. 

So it is on record that he admitted that he was refunding due to not wanting to send the item because of the cost of shipping being more than he thought.  He also did exactly what some very helpful person in this board said he would do-the seller said I requested a refund.  eBay knows it was him and not me and the seller is being reported and investigated and this in incident is being sent to some department that  I can’t remember the name of.  I believe she said all of his transactions are going to be investigated too. He is also in trouble for negligence in his post for not correcting his sales post so he would charge the right amount.  I asked if I were in trouble if the seller did call and report me like he said, and she said no because all of the messages went through eBay and they can see them.  
Fingers crossed that I some how don’t get in trouble despite her saying I wouldn’t and that the seller doesn’t do this to someone else.  I don’t like any kind of confrontations at all and usually let people walk all over me.  As of now, it feels good to stand up for myself in a small way.  Thank you everyone for your help!  
As a by the way, I just reported the facts and didn’t say anything like “this seller was a jerk” or do anything to try to get the seller in more trouble.  I really went on the line of this is what happened, “ he refunded because he wasn’t making enough money on the sale due to his mistake, I tried to help him. Now he said he was going to report me. I did nothing wrong and don’t want to get in trouble. “

[buyselljack2016]

The seller was wrong, but not sure how it will go.

You did say:

I replied and said ok and told them

So, no matter what some CSR told you, their may possibly be no repercussions for the seller as you did in essence agree to the cancellation(not that you had a choice)

A CSR should not have been telling you even half of what you posted that you were told, and often the CSR will tell a caller many things that will never be done, or materialize.

You are in no way, in the wrong.

[iluvstartrek]

Thank you!  Here is what I’d like to leave as feedback. Please excuse the lack of proper grammar and abbreviations.  I usually avoid both of those if I can and dislike abbreviations.  I do make grammatical errors, but not deliberately.  Anyway, how does this sound? 

refused to ship cause he had undercharged for postage.Told eBay I asked 4 refund

That is the facts.  He did refuse to mail the item because he would only make $15 after fees and then he reported to eBay that I asked for the refund.  I really want any potential buyer to know both of those things.  

thank you!!  

[iluvstartrek]

Thank you!  The whole transaction was weird.  It is also weird coming from a seller with over 4800 feedbacks where 99% were positive.  I did tell the seller ok, sorry it didn’t work out, before you refund etc.  I did that because like you said, I didn’t have a choice, but also I was afraid if I forced the issue and some how got this to send it, he would damage the  item on purpose so he could file a USPS claim.  
I didn’t think about the customer service representative not being honest with me.  I really hope this guy is investigated.  eBay should want to because he said I wanted a refund so he didn’t have to pay the fee.  Which makes me seem like a dear beat buyer.  I really dislike greedy, dishonest people like the seller.  Unfortunately, where ever you go, there they are.  
Thank you for your help!