Yet Another Ebay Tale Of Overcharging On Shipping

[Quinvy]

I have noticed a few of these threads, and I have been charged large amounts for shipping before, But!

I have always paid up without causing a scene, because I failed to see the seller had stipulated the costs in his listing. However, yesterday I won an item for $17 and there was nothing in the listing for international shipping, so I waited for the invoice. When the invoice arrived, I couldn't believe my eyes. $24.50

That's just taking the piss in my eyes, so I wrote a very polite email querying the price. I received a very curt reply saying, we only ship recorded to international customers. So I replied that recorded delivery didn't cost anything like $24.50 and please could he do it for the correct price.

I didn't get a reply, so the next day I paid for the record and put a note saying I was unhappy with his charges and I would be reporting him to eBay.

Next thing I know he has refunded the payment and put in an item cancellation. I'm annoyed about this because I want the record. That's the situation at the moment, I have refused to agree to the cancellation. Impasse?

[Pete S]

About 6 weeks ago I raised exactly the same subject except mine was with a UK seller overcharging postage by £2, I also wrote a polite email asking why post was so high, he replied that item was actually damaged and sale would be cancelled. It's quite a long thread, I'll see if I can find it. I reported him to ebay.

[Pete S]

[pikeys dog]

Threaten to go round to his house and set fire to something he loves....

his children.

[boba]

rounding to whole numbers, registered US-UK is the $7 for international first class (assuming standard packaging) + $12 (for registered), so $19. Just FYI. There are other services like priority international and express international that have different costs.

[Dave Fleming]

The other month a US seller tried to charge me $46,after a week of pm`s he said $15,

when it arrived it was in a flimsy thin card usps envolope with no packing inside

just the 45,i thought it would be in 10 pieices when i opened it,but it was a miracle

it was in one pieice,when i informed the seller he reply was,well you never paid the

$46 for protection :-),you couldn`t make it up.

Dave f...

[boba]

what a prick.

[Ernie Andrews]

Good job we have members on here like you Bob-Its great when you tell the seller Ok just post it to an address in the US - they become bemused!

[Missgoldie]

Postage in the US has gone up, registered post especially. I was charged $44 for a 45 recently, I told the seller I'd pay it but thought it was excessive. He ended up refunding me $5 and when the package came the price indeed was $38.90. If I'm paying over $200 for a record I'd rather pay the extra than have it lost in the post.

It's the ones that charge P&P that get up my nose...That extra P is a license to go to town.

[boba]

Postage in the US has gone up, registered post especially. I was charged $44 for a 45 recently, I told the seller I'd pay it but thought it was excessive. He ended up refunding me $5 and when the package came the price indeed was $38.90. If I'm paying over $200 for a record I'd rather pay the extra than have it lost in the post.

It's the ones that charge P&P that get up my nose...That extra P is a license to go to town.

Registered post fees have not gone up much. Registration used to cost $11.50, today it costs $11.75. First class international has gone up by about a dollar. So a registered package should cost you about $1.25 more than before. If that seller actually shipped first class international registered it was only expensive because of the packaging being heavy.

[KevH]

I have noticed a few of these threads, and I have been charged large amounts for shipping before, But!

I have always paid up without causing a scene, because I failed to see the seller had stipulated the costs in his listing. However, yesterday I won an item for $17 and there was nothing in the listing for international shipping, so I waited for the invoice. When the invoice arrived, I couldn't believe my eyes. $24.50

That's just taking the piss in my eyes, so I wrote a very polite email querying the price. I received a very curt reply saying, we only ship recorded to international customers. So I replied that recorded delivery didn't cost anything like $24.50 and please could he do it for the correct price.

I didn't get a reply, so the next day I paid for the record and put a note saying I was unhappy with his charges and I would be reporting him to eBay.

Next thing I know he has refunded the payment and put in an item cancellation. I'm annoyed about this because I want the record. That's the situation at the moment, I have refused to agree to the cancellation. Impasse?

Phil,i did notice (maybe) the same seller.Had something i was interested in,but when i saw the $24.50 postage i gave him the swerve.

[John Elias]

Postage in the US has gone up, registered post especially. I was charged $44 for a 45 recently, I told the seller I'd pay it but thought it was excessive. He ended up refunding me $5 and when the package came the price indeed was $38.90. If I'm paying over $200 for a record I'd rather pay the extra than have it lost in the post.

It's the ones that charge P&P that get up my nose...That extra P is a license to go to town.

and you could have been hammered by customs and excise on top pf that.

[Quinvy]

Phil,i did notice (maybe) the same seller.Had something i was interested in,but when i saw the $24.50 postage i gave him the swerve.

Mate, the guy I bought off didn't have any postage details in his listing. Maybe he has changed his ways after my complaint. I haven't a clue what is happening with my case. He sent me a refund, but I refused it. Now the listing seems to be in limbo.

[SallieJane]

Not really a comment on excessive shipping costs. But can anyone tell me why I've had to pay customs duty on a record (more than the cost of the record). Been buying records off dealers in the US for a while but was charged equivalent of £14 recently....can I claim this back and how ????

[Guest john s]

But can anyone tell me why I've had to pay customs duty on a record (more than the cost of the record). Been buying records off dealers in the US for a while but was charged equivalent of £14 recently....can I claim this back and how ????

Explained here - and no, you can't claim it back!

https://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageVAT_ShowContent&propertyType=document&id=HMCE_CL_000014#P21_1913

[Guest JJMMWGDuPree]

By my reckoning you could claim back the tax, if the value of the item including postage was less than £14 then you were over 4 quid inside the limit, but not the £8 handling fee charged by the Post Office. That fee is ridiculous on low value items, but there's not much the Post Office can do about it, the fee is "Internationally agreed".

I can remember when it was one pound...

[Sutty]

I understand that you are supposed to pay the VAT on items over £15 frm outside the EU. what gets me is that the post office charge £8 for collecting the fee when there appears to be no way to legitimately pay the fee upfront, so it's a license for the po to print money for doing naff all. I usually go into the change jar and pay in 1p, 2p and 5p as much as possible and then as many coins as poss. They have never even counted it and just take what I give them so I guess you could pay a bit less without them realising. There's no point complaining to the people at the sorting office, just doing their job, but unless I've missed something and you can pay the VAT upfront, there must be a case for stopping the excessive po charges?

Cheers Sutty

[Guest JJMMWGDuPree]

It's £18 on personal imports and £28 on gifts.

When I imported a guitar from the states I knew there was no way of evading the taxes so I 'phoned Customs & Excise and asked them what the damage would be. I gotta say the guy on the other end of the line was one of the friendliest people I've ever met over the 'phone. It seems if you tell them the value of the item they'll give you a quote and if you accept it they give you a number to have put on the parcel which fast-tracks it through customs and saves you both the PO handling fee and the tax that you'd pay on the packaging (They only use the actual postage in their quote).

I don't know if you can do this with small parcels, but the problem with doing this with records is that small parcels more often than not slip through without penalty because they're more trouble than they're worth. Every now and then some swine looks at the docs and thinks "100 quid???" and you get hammered, but in my experience it's worth the occasional penalty payment in exchange for all the freebies.

BTW, as I mentioned before, the £8 isn't the PO's doing, it's what they're told to charge. If my memory serves me well the UK Post Office suggested a fee of £2. Me, I think it should be a percentage. The tax on a £20 parcel would be about a fiver, paying a handling charge of £8 on top of that is crazy.

[Chris L]

Of course Ebay don't generally set the charges for postage (I know they do in some cases, DVDs) you really count on the common sense and honesty of the seller. I have had some sellers re-imburse shipping costs without being prompted and generally it works out OK, got a good one this morning. I want to buy a non record item where the shipping charge is £1.99 for 1, I asked what the combined cost would be for 2, reply came back £4.97.

[Simon Stevenson]

I recently payed : US $7.50(approx. £4.75) - USPS First Class Mail International perfectly packed from Portland OR.

Good value for a $500 record.

I now recycle mailer boxes to cut down on costs for those who buy from me, usually estimated postage / recorded delivery

There's no excuse for rip off prices