Another ebay WWYD

A couple weeks back I won 2 cheap cards from a seller, one for $2.51 and one for .99. Both cards had .99 shipping and the seller did not offer combined shipping. No big deal. Shortly after I received the first card in a top loader in a PWE as expected. I messaged the seller to verify that the cards were indeed shipped separately as I received only one and he said yes they were. No problem. Yesterday I finally received the 2nd card, also in a PWE, but with a thicker/heavier "snap" case and $1.83 postage due. I message the seller letting him know that I received the card with postage due. He responded (relatively politely) that he was sorry, but if he issues me a refund it would be like giving me the card for free as it was the card I won for .99 plus .99 shipping and he "isn't in the business of losing money no matter how small the amount" and again apologized that "they charged me extra".
The seller has perfect feedback thus far and I'd hate to ruin that over $1.83 but is the principle here that bugs me, more specifically his lack of accepting responsibility for HIS error. I can also somewhat see his perspective as the additional cost here is actual shipping charges that are the buyer's responsibility. So what would you do? Nothing because it's not worth anyone's time (I'm on vacation today through Monday!)? File a claim for a partial refund based on principle? Leave a negative for not even offering to split the cost of his own error? Leave neutral? Ding the stars?
I'll probably not leave feedback and do nothing (already left positive for the first card). Been an odd week as I've received the dreaded "we care" bag from the PO on a Sweet Spot that was in a PWE, a postage due, and 2 other "sent the wrong cards". I was more shocked this seller appears willing to take a hit over it than anything else lol

I would ding him for it. It drives me crazy that people don't take the time to do things right the first time. Since he is "not in the business of losing money", he should be held responsible for taking a short cut and passing the buck down the line.

jszczech said:

I would ding him for it. It drives me crazy that people don't take the time to do things right the first time. Since he is "not in the business of losing money", he should be held responsible for taking a short cut and passing the buck down the line.

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Agreed. I have a postage due of $1.83 sitting at the post office right now. Debating on letting it get sent back as I'm not sure which of three auctions it is. I don't mind waiting onany of the three. It's the seller's responsibility to get your item to you at the postage price they offer.

Seller will never learn if they dont get dinged and negged
You gave him the opportunity and he failed, ding and neg away IMO

And for those of you that wish to have my ebay user ID because you want to block me from bidding on your items because of my stance, look under my user name to the left ;-)

Postage due and refuses to refund you? So you will have to pay double for his mistake? No way. Negative - for sure.

I just don't understand why people are so willing to be forgiving over this stuff? He set the shipping price. He let the item ride at auction format. He is responsible to get the item to you in one piece and no postage due. Getting a refund wouldn't be worth it, as you'd need to send the card back at your cost and that would probably cost more than what you had to pay for postage due. If you feel the "negotiating" has reached a wall, then I'd leave a negative to warn other buyers and move on.

I have a somewhat similar story that happened recently, although not about money due. I won a group of blank front print errors and the item came damaged. The seller packaged them in a ridiculously oversized padded mailer and included nothing to help reinforce the item. The cards were in a 9 pocket page that had been folded over twice into a strip of three, three thick. The loose strip of cards was them dropped in and free to move within the 8x10 sized envelope and every card was damaged by the time it reached me! I think I paid $9.99 delivered or maybe $9.99 plus s/h. It was not a significant amount. My issue was with the lazy package job.

I contacted the seller and expressed my concern about how they package items. I am now firmly convinced after a few instances I have had to deal with that most people don't want ANY constructive criticism and think they know best all the time regardless. The guy agreed to a refund if I sent back the damaged cards (a good seller would refund the money and not bother with a return, because that is just added costs to deal with), but wouldn't accept responsibility for the poor package job and wouldn't agree to pay for the return shipping (the right thing to do in my opinion).

I was going to send back the cards and told the seller that the only way it would make sense was for me to send them in a PWE. I was not about to spend another $2 to ship back junk. Then, after thinking about it, I decided that sending them back in a PWE to limit my losses exposed me to further risk. I imagined this guy, who was SO RIGHT in how he handled the situation to date, receiving the damaged cards in my PWE but claiming he never got them back. In the end, I saw myself out my purchase price and s/h cost, out the damaged cards and then out another couple of stamps and this guy ends up with my money, the cards and the satisfaction that he got over on me!

Maybe it's just my paranoia or perhaps a general mistrust in society to do the "right thing" most of the time, but I kept the damaged cards and have not done anything further yet. I am tempted to leave negative feedback though. It may seem petty, especially considering that I was offered a refund, but that was still at a cost to me and I end up with nothing in the end but a lost item, my time wasted and I'm out a few bucks too just because this ****** can't ship something properly! Maybe I am in the minority, but I don't think a buyer should be out ANYTHING on a deal gone bad due to seller negligence or apathy.

Here is what my feedback would say, "Nice card in PWE with 1.83 postage due!"

100% negative feedback. HE set the shipping price, HE goofed and sent it so it would be postage due, YOU ended up paying $1.83 more than your actual bid. Incredible that he could acknowledge that you had to pay that extra amount and just flat out refuse to refund you for it. He'll only stop that crap if he gets enough negatives and paypal disputes.

I agree with the neg or dinging the stars or both. He tried to be cheap and got burned. He "isn't in the business to lose money". Well I am sure you aren't either. Had he gave you an option maybe work with him but it seems he just expects you to pay the extra. No thanks

I'd neg him and file a claim. He won't learn otherwise. His auction, his responsibility to make sure it's listed correctly.

Neg. Neg. Neg.

Neg and claim. 100%

KLARNOLD said:

Here is what my feedback would say, "Nice card in PWE with 1.83 postage due!"

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Copy & paste!

But a question to you and KLARNOLD would be…is it a positive, neutral or negative with that comment? Positives, regardless of what they say, get lost eventually. Buyers quickly scan the feedback percentage and numbers in most cases and will not likely read them unless there is cause for alarm (neutrals and negatives). Then you read to see what you might be getting yourself into.

Gwynn545 said:

Copy & paste!

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KLARNOLD said:

Here is what my feedback would say, "Nice card in PWE with 1.83 postage due!"

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Gwynn545 said:

Copy & paste!

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mrmopar said:

But a question to you and KLARNOLD would be…is it a positive, neutral or negative with that comment? Positives, regardless of what they say, get lost eventually. Buyers quickly scan the feedback percentage and numbers in most cases and will not likely read them unless there is cause for alarm (neutrals and negatives). Then you read to see what you might be getting yourself into.

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Fair question. Personally I'd go nuetral with the copy and paste! Negatives would be buyers down the line if it continued.

The more I think about it, it really is the comment about not being in the business of losing money that irks me. I think I'm going to leave a negative. He'll have the opportunity to ask me to remove it (is that correct?) by making it right in which case he'll be in the business of learning about customer service. That's how I'm leaning anyway

I can't get over the fact that he isn't in the business to lose money, but apparently you are in the business of losing money on his behalf?!? What if you gave him your paypal address and asked him to paypal you the 1.83? No refund, just send you the money that way. If he would do that, I'd go from leaving negative, to a neutral or maybe even positive but with the comment copied and pasted in a previous post.

I'm not the type to blast somebody with negative feedback (probably haven't left 10 negs in 14 years on eBay), but this is a no-brainer negative. I've always been pretty hard on people who under-post packages because it really isn't that difficult to get it right. I can remember one instance where I had to go to the post office to pick up the package (which is virtually impossible for me to do during business hours) and I was mad enough at the inconvenience and total waste of my time that I insisted that the seller reimburse the entire shipping and handling charge, even though it was more than I had to cover in extra postage. He resisted at first but ultimately did it. I think he knew he'd be getting negged if he didn't do it.

ccouch (Chad) said:

I'm not the type to blast somebody with negative feedback (probably haven't left 10 negs in 14 years on eBay), but this is a no-brainer negative. I've always been pretty hard on people who under-post packages because it really isn't that difficult to get it right. I can remember one instance where I had to go to the post office to pick up the package (which is virtually impossible for me to do during business hours) and I was mad enough at the inconvenience and total waste of my time that I insisted that the seller reimburse the entire shipping and handling charge, even though it was more than I had to cover in extra postage. He resisted at first but ultimately did it. I think he knew he'd be getting negged if he didn't do it.

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Exactly. It's not that hard to get the right amount of postage on a package. And I think this has only happened to me once and I quickly paypal'd over the difference and then some for the buyer's trouble. He's willing to get a neg over 1.83? Sounds like an awful seller IMO.