Postage Due and Overcharged Shipping

[superfastkona]

I bought a laptop. Shipping was a little more than $30 and I figured that was reasonable since it was a rather expensive laptop. When i received it, the mail man said I owed $5.35 for postage due. Paid the man, got my laptop. Aparently the seller paid for a "Flat Rate Envelope" and sent a normal brown box. (Not a flat rate box) and I got stuck with the postage due based on its weight. I was grateful that the laptop came as described so I contacted the seller asking for my $5.35 back. They are ignoring me. I was willing to overlook the gross shipping overcharge but now when I escalate this to ebay, will they refund me the difference in shipping price versus the actual shipping price?

[frodobagginskennedy]

NO.  If your seller will not refund there really is little you can do.  I would leave factual feedback stating what occured

[1tuna]

that happens less now since the PO started to bill peoples paypal accounts for overcharges

it has something to do with the API system

never the less your seller is up to no good.maybe on purpose, but factual feedback is alwasy good for getting the point accross

It takes a lot of nerve to ignore a buyer when they were shorted.I would have refunded the $ back quickly

[globexk]

Go ahead and message the seller that you will file a complaint with the postal inspectors office and contact their local post office postmaster to tell them about how they are committing fraud. They will pay up real quick.

[globexk]

I disagree with your comment here once OP  messages the seller that they will file a complaint with the postal inspectors office and contact their local post office postmaster to tell them about how seller is committing fraud. They will pay up real quick.

[globexk]

Also this seller did not pay even close to $30 you are owed a refund. Flat rate envelope costs tops $7.15. You should ask for $35.35 as your refund or you will file your complaints. Their local post office postmaster will not be happy as I suspect he is doing this with other buyers.

[globexk]

Remind the seller about this Ebayer:

https://www.insider.com/iowa-man-defrauded-usps-250000-postage-meter-stamps-2021-3

[superfastkona]

Thank you all for your replies. The thing is, he's a small seller with 59 overall listings since 2003. All 100%. I really didnt want to be the one to mess it up for him since I actually did get a perfectly working laptop at a reasonable price. I did reach out to him again this morning a little more aggressive per you all's advice. I'll see if he keeps ignoring me. I've never sold anything on Ebay so I dont know if this could have been an honest mistake or not. In the likley event that he will ignore me once again, should I really get the post master involved? Will ebay really do nothing about this?

[frodobagginskennedy]

It IS possible it was an honest mistake.  The flow on the shipping labels now is really MESSED us on E BAY>  THe FIRST option I see when I go to print a USPS label is FLat rate Envelope. even if I had FEDEX at 70 pounds 18/18/18 box in the deiminsions.  IF this is a new seller he probably just clicked and went about his way.

[buyselljack2016]

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@globexk wrote:

Also this seller did not pay even close to $30 you are owed a refund. Flat rate envelope costs tops $7.15. You should ask for $35.35 as your refund or you will file your complaints. Their local post office postmaster will not be happy as I suspect he is doing this with other buyers.

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So now the buyer should be refunded the entire amount paid for shipping & handling????

The complaint to USPS will get lip service, and go into file 13.

The APV will often catch errors such as the wrong service/short payment, but it was none the less caught by the delivery office, and the correct  funds collected.

Does not matter that the buyer paid $30 initially.   The buyer agreed to the $30 shipping & handling when the purchase was made. I can charge $30 shipping & handling to ship a feather in a plain white envelope. If a buyer agrees to it, that is on them.

I do agree that the additional $5.35 should be refunded.

[tdrake]

Neg him. Now. Then move on.

[superfastkona]

@buyselljack2016 wrote:

Does not matter that the buyer paid $30 initially.   The buyer agreed to the $30 shipping & handling when the purchase was made. I can charge $30 shipping & handling to ship a feather in a plain white envelope. If a buyer agrees to it, that is on them.

I do agree that the additional $5.35 should be refunded.

---

Looking back to the original ad, I agreed to pay $30 shipping using USPS Parcel Select Ground. Even if it had cost significantly less than $30 to ship it that way, I would've been cool with that. Except he sent it using a USPS Flat Rate Envelope label on a box and incurred upon me a "postage due" expense that got my attention. All in all, I just want my 5 bucks back except he is not responding. After a little bit of research, I might as well go for the $30. Per EBAY policy: 

 "Only include shipping charges that are
actually incurred and are related to the cost
of shipping and handling the items being
delivered
. Actual cost paid to the shipping service

. Handling costs, including the cost of packaging materials and insurance."

This is the first time I've ever had a shipping issue with a seller but this seems like an open and shut case. I hate to do it like this but after sending multiple messages with no reply, I have no choice but to go through with it and see what happens

[buyselljack2016]

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@superfastkona wrote:

@buyselljack2016 wrote:

Does not matter that the buyer paid $30 initially.   The buyer agreed to the $30 shipping & handling when the purchase was made. I can charge $30 shipping & handling to ship a feather in a plain white envelope. If a buyer agrees to it, that is on them.

I do agree that the additional $5.35 should be refunded.

---

Looking back to the original ad, I agreed to pay $30 shipping using USPS Parcel Select Ground. Even if it had cost significantly less than $30 to ship it that way, I would've been cool with that. Except he sent it using a USPS Flat Rate Envelope label on a box and incurred upon me a "postage due" expense that got my attention. All in all, I just want my 5 bucks back except he is not responding. After a little bit of research, I might as well go for the $30. Per EBAY policy: 

 "Only include shipping charges that are
actually incurred and are related to the cost
of shipping and handling the items being
delivered
. Actual cost paid to the shipping service

. Handling costs, including the cost of packaging materials and insurance."

This is the first time I've ever had a shipping issue with a seller but this seems like an open and shut case. I hate to do it like this but after sending multiple messages with no reply, I have no choice but to go through with it and see what happens

---

You are whistling in the wind for anything beyond the $5.35, and are not entitled to anything beyond the $5.35.  eBay can not/will not back that policy, and besides you can not determine/eBay can not determine all seller costs involved in this sale.

Do I think the $30 was a bit much? Well sure, but that is what was shown, and that is what you agreed to.

Seller actually upgraded the shipping service from "ground" to Priority.

I suspect that it was a result of what eBay is doing.  eBay often now displays USPS Priority flat rate shipping as the "buyer selected" service when a seller gets to the label printing even when the seller lists the shipping as Parcel Select. 

I can click on "compare all services" to see the Parcel service. Some do not get the Parcel option. It seems that eBay is in the process of removing that service from their offerings.

You indicate your seller is a low volume seller with 59 feedback(s) in 17 years. They probably don't have a great grasp of all the strange things that eBay does.  Are those 59 all seller feedback?

[superfastkona · Accepted solution]

Seller finally replied. He pretty much told me what a few of you told me: to rudly take a hike and also dared me to escalate it. So I did. I hit him with the facts exactly how I have them stated here. Pictures of the box, label, screenshots of ebay policy and his rude message to me stating "I am very aware of shipping policy and how it works." I hit him with a partial refund request of $27.83. ($32.48+$5.35-$10) Ten dollars being what he more than likley had into shipping my package including the recycled box and the bubble wrap. He quickly offered me my $5 back. And I took them. Yeah, I could have probably won the $27 but like I said before, i was happy with what i received so I didnt hold his attitude against him. Gave him honest feedback and that's it. It was never about the money to me. It was about doing the right thing. Something I learned today is that it pays to have all the facts. Seller probably learned that too.