Suggestions on refunding shipping.

[NHBandit]

ABSOLUTELY NOT ! no refund, the buyer entered into an agreement when he bought the item, as long as shipping amount was shown, and he agrees, the deal is FINAL, PERIOD.

Sounds like a nickel, and dimer...and some other descriptive words.

Side story, I once sold a couple of boxed double dollar coin sets, start price 1 dollar, shipping 10 dollars. The boxes over an inch thick cost me more than the ten bucks each. for any type of secure shipping, express post, reg. mail, or expedited.

The winning bidder got the coins for the opening bid of 1 dollar, gave me a negative comment for the "high" shipping cost, even though he seen it in advance, and agreed to it. some people.

The trouble with Ebay is, it always takes the side of the buyer.

I repeat do not refund him a cent, that will only encourage him to do it again.
Further more in regard to total actual costs, here in Canada the tax is not shown on the shipping label amount, which for me in Nova Scotia amounts to 15% of the total.

All very true.. buttt.. Would YOU risk negative feedback over ONE guy who wants to nickle & dime you over a couple bucks ? It's easy to give advice on the internet when you don't have to deal with the repercussions.

 

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[Keith Jackson]

Why on earth would you buy boxes ? USPS Priority Mail boxes of every shape & size are free from the Post Office. You can even set up an account and order the boxes in bulk from the USPS website and they will ship them to your door. All free. I have been using Ebay as a buyer as well as a seller since 1999 and I can tell you, one of the things that pisses me off the most is when a seller pads their profit by overcharging for shipping. Not saying you intentionally did that but since you asked, I would say to give them the refund and avoid the possible negative feedback.

I know that I am not the OP, but I did mention buying boxes. Normally, I do not buy them. In this case the items were smaller than the smallest free box from the PO. The smallest they have is the small flat rate, which ships at $6.80. Mine went at $2.60, so with buying the box for $.48 I still saved a ton, especially since I had 7 boxes to send.

 

[Rick (Nova Scotia)]

All very true.. buttt.. Would YOU risk negative feedback over ONE guy who wants to nickle & dime you over a couple bucks ? It's easy to give advice on the internet when you don't have to deal with the repercussions.

ABSOLUTELY ! And in case your wondering I have many ebay sales, mostly coins, and always got good comments re the grading etc. Also sold a few other things.
If people check the feedback and see 99+% of people are very happy, say things like: as pictured, better than expected, accurate grading etc. and the "odd one" (less than 1% has some little gripe with shipping costs, that is nothing to worry about.

Bottom line is (for buyers, which I am too) if you don't like the shipping price, find another seller with a more reasonable ship price, don't gripe about the purchase "after the fact" at least based on shipping price. That just makes you a nobody. No intelligent person will care what they say. Furthermore you do get a chance to reply to neg. feedback.

The customer is NOT "always right", some, and the percentage is small, will try to screw you.


Again to the OP that customer does not deserve a refund under no circumstances.

Good luck out there.
(if it weren't for the ground being froze, and covered with snow, maybe I'd be diggin.)

 

[Xraywolf]

All very true.. buttt.. Would YOU risk negative feedback over ONE guy who wants to nickle & dime you over a couple bucks ? It's easy to give advice on the internet when you don't have to deal with the repercussions.

I would, and have many times.
People that cower in fear over the threat of a neg have always made me cringe.

 

[GarageSaleKing]

I know that I am not the OP, but I did mention buying boxes. Normally, I do not buy them. In this case the items were smaller than the smallest free box from the PO. The smallest they have is the small flat rate, which ships at $6.80. Mine went at $2.60, so with buying the box for $.48 I still saved a ton, especially since I had 7 boxes to send.

Yeah, I feel the same way. First class shipping for games and DVD's is a couple bucks. I buy boxes and packages with packages of 100. It is about 30 bucks for 100 boxes and 20 bucks for 100 envelopes. So 20 or 30 cents each. I ship all single DVD's and games in the packages but ship multiple DVD or game discs in a box for protection. It is a way to earn a few extra bucks which really just pays your fees.

 

[GarageSaleKing]

Why on earth would you buy boxes ? USPS Priority Mail boxes of every shape & size are free from the Post Office. You can even set up an account and order the boxes in bulk from the USPS website and they will ship them to your door. All free. I have been using Ebay as a buyer as well as a seller since 1999 and I can tell you, one of the things that pisses me off the most is when a seller pads their profit by overcharging for shipping. Not saying you intentionally did that but since you asked, I would say to give them the refund and avoid the possible negative feedback.

Shipping is for shipping and handling. Even if it takes you only 10 minutes to ship a product, if you made on average $12 an hour you would have earned $2 for shipping that product. So, I don't have a problem with me or anyone else making a couple bucks on shipping.

 

[Bizscotty]

As an eBay buyer, I take their shipping charges into account for my bids. I bid accordingly and also accept the sellers shipping amount; I would bid less if their shipping was more. Total cost of item kind of thing. Difference of $2.50? they should have bid $2.50 less.

 

[Palmetto Pony]

Having been an Ebay member for more than 18 years I've seen a lot of things go on during that time. Regarding the original question I'd have to say that any refund is your choice. If you had overestimated shipping by a huge amount I don't think you would hesitate to give a partial refund. Ebay actually forbids excessive shipping. For a time there were some unscrupulous sellers that would jack shipping way up to intentionally increase their profit. I have also dealt with some very honorable sellers that included a refund in the package or it just appeared as a credit. Everyone of these have been unsolicitied and was only a few dollars. Personally, I wasn't even concerned about a few dollars difference and wrote it off to their time and materials. Only in one instance did I ever question a shipping amount. It was listed as being high, around $45 or $50. I have seen sellers list an excessive amount but then adjust to an accurate and more reasonable in their actual invoice. Upon receipt of the item I saw an almost $30 difference on the postage. When I inquired about a partial refund I received some song and dance about his shipping material costs, time and gas to drive to the post office, blah blah blah. No refund, partial or otherwise. The upside was I got the item and a greatly reduced cost to what they normally go for so I was still pretty even. My action? Nothing! I didn't whine nor did I post negative feedback. What I did instead was post NO feedback. I have also been fortunate in that I have only had to post one negative during that time. This being done after extensively negotiating and willing to work with a seller over an item totally destroyed in shipping and they could have cared less! As a side note any damage claims in shipping have to originate from the shipper. This seller flatly refused to do anything to rectify it or offer a refund.

In almost two decades as a buyer/seller I have only received one negative feedback...ever! The real kicker is that it wasn't even from someone involved in the transaction! Back in the early days any registered user could simply post feedback on any item they wanted to, even though they weren't a bidder or seller of the item! This person looked up every listing of the particular item I was selling and posted a negative to that person if they felt the selling price was too high! Of course, all of those sellers then responded in kind (though I did not), and the person almost lost their account due to high negatives. They then went back and posted a positive for each of those listings, mine included, and provided an apology.

What I would recommend is writing the buyer and provide an explanation of your total costs. I would advise you made nothing off of the shipping nor was it your intent to do so. Point out that that is the shipping cost that was clearly listed in the auction and you have no obligation to provide a refund simply because the postage itself was less. I would then conclude that if they felt that strongly about it that you'd rather maintain a good reputation as a seller and would give them a partial refund. I make this recommendation based on my lengthy membership with the site. The choice, obviously, is ultimately yours.


p.s. As a measurement of how long I've been on Ebay, I was a member when the millionth item was sold!

 

[RustyGold]

"What I would recommend is writing the buyer and provide an explanation of your total costs. I would advise you made nothing off of the shipping nor was it your intent to do so. Point out that that is the shipping cost that was clearly listed in the auction and you have no obligation to provide a refund simply because the postage itself was less. I would then conclude that if they felt that strongly about it that you'd rather maintain a good reputation as a seller and would give them a partial refund. I make this recommendation based on my lengthy membership with the site. The choice, obviously, is ultimately yours."

My thoughts exactly!
As a longtime eBay seller and buyer I have switched to free shipping or an obvious low shipping price if others are selling and shipping for more.
Remember the days of purchasing items from a garage sale or department store where feedback was only word of mouth?
Basically non existent.
Refund only if you feel it is fair to do so or if you are a new seller and want to initially keep the negative FB 0.
Hard decision, best of luck!

 

[cyberdan]

p.s. As a measurement of how long I've been on Ebay, I was a member when the millionth item was sold!

I thought I had been on the bay a long time, 15 years now. I didn't know that you could leave feedback like that in the very early days. Now it is so hard to even report an item. I wanted to a few days ago but the drop down menu items to choose from are very specific. Seller wanted .01¢ for an item with $10 ship and there is no way to report that. they do not even give "other" as a choice. If the problem does not fit what they want to hear about the seller gets away with it.

 

[Palmetto Pony]

I thought I had been on the bay a long time, 15 years now. I didn't know that you could leave feedback like that in the very early days.

LOL Wild and wooly days back then! The really bad thing about the incident I described was it wasn't even my item I was selling. My sister-in-law asked me to sell something for her! My ID history says a member date of 1998. You used to be able to see the dates when each feedback was posted. They've changed that now so it just says "more than a year ago". My first feedback (the negative one) was actually dated 1997!

BTW, regarding the original question I forget to mention I'd almost bet the refund request is being made by someone with a newer membership. Probably 20 or 30 feedback rating themselves!

 

[Magimerlin]

If the eBay post had shipping listed $10.00.. that's it, no refund from differance of "actual" shipping cost. it's was plain as day in the add... buyer saw it and upon hitting "buy it now" or winning the auction is bound to it... driving to and from the post office ain't free either... why they call it "shipping & handling"

As far as neg feed back.. if they do it you can reply to it. Can explain it in black and white for ALL to see.....

sent from what use to be a great country...

 

[diggummup]

If the buyer had a problem with the shipping price, it should have been negotiated before the sale or before they bid on the item. At this point of the deal, they deserve absolutely nothing. Do not fear a negative feedback. In the future, you should print your labels via ebay and not show the shipping cost on the label as mentioned early on in this thread.