I am so pissed right now.

[LadyMoondancer]

Is 00.305 Kg a reasonable weight for that amount of ponies? (Asking as an American who only knows ounces, lol.)  If not, is it possible the seller purchased postage online and "underweighed" it?   I know some sellers do this, essentially trying to cheat the PO.  It sometimes works since the PO does not necessarily weigh every package that already has prepaid postage.

I don't know about UK Royal Mail, but I've heard of some American sellers literally being banned from sending packages after being caught systematically under-weighing packages.

[Sebby6]

They have prepaid boxes and bags in the UK don't they? Maybe they went over a weight limit for a pre-purchased bag, and had to pay the difference? I know here we can only buy the boxes when we ship, but when we were in France, they let us buy the box, take it home, fill it and bring it back to ship. If we went over the weight, we had to pay extra. The label would only have shown the overage. But in saying that, what kind of limit would be lower than 300grams? Kinda blows my theory out of the water...

No, not for Royal Mail. I think it's only DHL who has that

Is 00.305 Kg a reasonable weight for that amount of ponies? (Asking as an American who only knows ounces, lol.)  If not, is it possible the seller purchased postage online and "underweighed" it?   I know some sellers do this, essentially trying to cheat the PO.  It sometimes works since the PO does not necessarily weigh every package that already has prepaid postage.

I don't know about UK Royal Mail, but I've heard of some American sellers literally being banned from sending packages after being caught systematically under-weighing packages.

No I think that's about right. It's about 100g for an adult and about 40g for a baby
Even if she had done that, the minimum cost for sending abroad is still more than 2.85
Also that label is a post office printed one

[Nella]

I just found this: http://www.postoffice.co.uk/mail/small-parcels
Second class small parcel (up till 1 kg) is 2,85 pounds....

This is the price to an UK address I think. Maybe the postal office selected the wrong country?

I would just ask for the missing pony and also ask what the shipping costs were... because of the 2,85 pound on the package and the price you've paid for it.

[Baby Sugarberry]

I'd guess someone at the post office goofed, didn't notice it was going international.

Had that happen to me once -  The mail-lady was rather bemused when I pointed out this was definitely /not/ England and the address on the box clearly wasn't for here.  Post office had registered my return address as the destination, despite it being in teeny tiny font in one corner while the main address had TO: and was about 5x larger.   

[Pierlala]

It just keeps getting better. I got 2 messages back from her. Saying she posted the Pony with the others? Which makes no sense.

Other then that she claims to have been on a chat with EBay and says it was conformed that it's not against the rules to make shipping higher. I swear I hate people who only think about the money. She even was so rude to say "You saw the shipping price before you bid on it. WHich was not the case, because I had bid on several of her Ponies and only missed out no one of them. Usually Ebay gives you a reasonable combined shipping price. But the shipping price she asked was rediculous even with combines shipping it was 5+ pound EACH pony. Even the babies!

Then after discussing thatshe finally lowered the shipping price to 15 GBP. Which is still a lot!

Again, she confirmed that she deliberatly made the shipping higher to get money from it.

 

[Baby Sugarberry]

There's nothing in Ebay's policies that says sellers can't charge whatever they want for shipping or that they have to offer a combined rate/discount as far as I know?  Edit: Looks like the answer is... sort of.  Ebay mentions 'excessive shipping' but only specifies rates for certain categories of items, toys not being one of those.  *headscratch* So that's a bit baffling.

If the shipping rates were posted ahead of time on the auction, that's what you agreed to pay.  Sometimes it's helpful especially for international buyers, since the shipping costs aren't factored when it comes to duty/customs in most countries.  If you didn't think the shipping was acceptable, why'd you bid on this person's auctions?

Not including what was supposed to be in the package isn't acceptable though.  Was the package damaged on arrival, or any sign it'd been previously opened?

[Pierlala]

There's nothing in Ebay's policies that says sellers can't charge whatever they want for shipping or that they have to offer a combined rate/discount as far as I know? 

If the shipping rates were posted ahead of time on the auction, that's what you agreed to pay.  Sometimes it's helpful especially for international buyers, since the shipping costs aren't factored when it comes to duty/customs in most countries.  If you didn't think the shipping was acceptable, why'd you bid on this person's auctions?

Not including what was supposed to be in the package isn't acceptable though.  Was the package damaged on arrival, or any sign it'd been previously opened?

I have bought A LOT from people from the UK. The postage price is alwasy neatly combines with a reasonable price. Besides. The shipping prices on the auctions were about 9 GBP each. Which I knew beforehand was mever going to be that high when you combine postage. She even told me that indeed it was the case that she made the shipping higher for profit. The combined shipping price was eventually reduces to 15 GBP combined because I was trying to reason with her. She didn't even bother to say no. She made the shipping so high that it was easy for her to lower it. But even then it was still expensive.

I had never had this happen before on EBay and from the UK. So I was expecting the same from her.

[Baby Sugarberry]

Okay but ... no seller is /forced/ to offer combined shipping.  Is it a good idea? Yeah of course! It makes buyers happier, and it's usually less work to make up one box rather than a bunch. But it's not mandatory.

If you didn't agree with the costs the seller was charging for shipping, why bid?

Not getting what was ordered is a separate kettle of fish.  Since the packaging has the weight on it, does it equal the ponies you've received or not?  If the missing pony was in there but lost in transit there should be a discrepancy, otherwise easy to prove the seller never packed it.

[flying_narwhal]

There's nothing in Ebay's policies that says sellers can't charge whatever they want for shipping or that they have to offer a combined rate/discount as far as I know? 

If the shipping rates were posted ahead of time on the auction, that's what you agreed to pay.  Sometimes it's helpful especially for international buyers, since the shipping costs aren't factored when it comes to duty/customs in most countries.  If you didn't think the shipping was acceptable, why'd you bid on this person's auctions?

Not including what was supposed to be in the package isn't acceptable though.  Was the package damaged on arrival, or any sign it'd been previously opened?

I have bought A LOT from people from the UK. The postage price is alwasy neatly combines with a reasonable price. Besides. The shipping prices on the auctions were about 9 GBP each. Which I knew beforehand was mever going to be that high when you combine postage. She even told me that indeed it was the case that she made the shipping higher for profit. The combined shipping price was eventually reduces to 15 GBP combined because I was trying to reason with her. She didn't even bother to say no. She made the shipping so high that it was easy for her to lower it. But even then it was still expensive.

I had never had this happen before on EBay and from the UK. So I was expecting the same from her.

I agree with Baby Sugarberry's comments.

I don't know whether or not you asked the seller ahead of time about the shipping costs, but don't assume that just because other sellers combine shipping for a reasonable rate that they all will. There are sellers who won't give combined shipping discounts and I don't think eBay requires that sellers provide this service. I personally think it is rather silly and a poor practice not to combine shipping but it does happen. Always ask before bidding/buying what the shipping cost will be for the items you are interested in. It will save you a headache later on so you don't have to haggle with the seller post-sale. As a buyer, you can decide not to purchase from someone if you do not like their selling practices (including inflating shipping costs).

I do hope that you are able to find out what happened to the missing pony!

[Pierlala]

Okay but ... no seller is /forced/ to offer combined shipping.  Is it a good idea? Yeah of course! It makes buyers happier, and it's usually less work to make up one box rather than a bunch. But it's not mandatory.

If you didn't agree with the costs the seller was charging for shipping, why bid?

Not getting what was ordered is a separate kettle of fish.  Since the packaging has the weight on it, does it equal the ponies you've received or not?  If the missing pony was in there but lost in transit there should be a discrepancy, otherwise easy to prove the seller never packed it.

Because I never knew it was allowed to charge whatever you wanted for shipping. I read different sories on the internet and many people say it's not allowed and you can report people for it.

But I guess lesson learned. I do hope Ringlets shows up. But I'm affraid she won't. All Ponies were sent together. Why is she missing...

[ponycake]

I don't get why people excuse trying to make up for costs in shipping later (I'm assuming what you paid was not what you saw when you bid, maybe nothing showed, but it asked you to contact). I don't care if you didn't contact them. Making up your loss in shipping price is wrong and against the rules. Auction didn't go as high as you wanted? You should have planned for that. You can't just stick it to the buyer in shipping when they already entered their top 'willing to pay x amount.'

You should have contested the price before paying it though, sure.

[Sebby6]

There was an excellent point made further up about the weight. How much does the parcel weigh versus what it says on the label? She won't be able to argue with that

[LadyMoondancer]

There was an excellent point made further up about the weight. How much does the parcel weigh versus what it says on the label? She won't be able to argue with that

Great point. 

As far as shipping price goes, the seller is probably right about eBay telling her she can charge what she wants.  Because eBay gets a cut of the shipping price.  Which means the higher the shipping price is, the more money they make.

It's best to work out the shipping price ahead of time with the seller in cases of combined shipping.  Because if the seller said, "Here's the shipping price, it's 5 pounds PER PONY", well in eBay's eyes that's perfectly fine.

eBay also allows sellers to combine shipping like this:  First pony is 3 pounds (or whatever) + 1 pound per additional pony.

[pinkkittywinks]

I shall post a picture of the label in the morning. I need to take a picture still and I am on my phone right now.

Post Merge: January 15, 2017, 01:39:20 AM

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Here you can see the label. It has my zip/postal code on it. My adress was written on the enveloppe.

That is a standard, small parcel, inland, second class stamp. How did it make it overseas with out it either being sent back to the seller or you being asked to cover the extra shipping??

It's just bonkers 

I've been WAY overcharged in the shipping department before. I filed a complaint with eBay and got told "that was the stated shipping price" even though I was over charged by over £10, the packet arrived bday wrapped and torn. I contacted the seller and was told "you got a nice coat for a cheap price". From her feedback she did it to everyone.

My second crazy shipping incident was quite recent. I won three ponies from one seller. She was asking £5 shipping per pony. I asked for combined shipping, she still charge me £15. The ponies were sent individually (yes, individually) via plain old second class, not even sign for. I couldn't be bothered to deal with it so gave her no stars on shipping in the feedback.

Love pkw xxx

[Mkia]

Personally, I pay close attention to what the shipping cost listed is and look at the sellers terms on combined shipping if buying multiple items. I won't buy an item if the shipping is more than I think it should be.


As for your missing pony, I would open a case.