Retro Gaming eBay advice needed!

[Cauterize]

Hmm, It feels odd posting this as I usually post in these threads to help others. However im a little stumped here.

I recently won a bundle of 12 NES games from eBay Australia. When the postage quote came through, the guy wouldnt budge and claimed every game costs $6.50AUD to post. I repeatadly told him that I had bought similar bundles and postage was no more than $50AUD...

In the end, I had to pay around $80AUD for postage. I put faith in him that he would package the items up well and get them here to me in good time.

Fast forward to yesterday. The games finally arrived 2 and a half weeks later. This wasnt on as I had made two other purchases in ebay Aus since this transaction and recieved them before his arrived!


But to make it worse, the guy wrote on the customs label the exact value of the auction and claimed it was merchandise. I had to travel down to the sorting office to collect it and pay £13 to recieve it.

I was under the impression it was an unwritten law online that if you send abroad, you tick the gift box. The last thing any buyer wants is to have to pay a further charge for their items.

Once I recieved the box, the contents inside were rattling around... I was not impressed, all that was inside was one bit of bubble wrap pushed to the side protecting nothing... Luckly none of the games were damaged, but that is not the point here.

Unfortunately, there was no postage cost label on the box, so I could do my research. It was sent via Air Mail and weighs around 1500g. According to Australia Post, this does (as mentioned before) cost $50AUD. So there is $30 he has pocketed.

Now I dont usually mind postage being a little higher if the packaging is of a high standard and the games arrive early. But this really took the piss...


I emailed him earlier saying all of the above in a very polite tone and that I was very disapointed in the transaction. I asked him to provide proof of postage/a recipt of the payment for postage. I also asked him to help me solve this issue or id want to take it further with eBay/Paypal.

He replied earlier saying none of the above was his fault, i agreed to the postage costs (which is obviously true) and that the packaging was consistent.
There was no form of postage cost proof and he totally avoided that fact.

I replied again saying that unless he could prove the $80 went on postage & packaging I would report all this to eBay.

His reply was a one liner, 'Im happy for you to take this further'
A cocky approach thinking I dont have a leg to stand on... He obviously knows he is in the wrong as he is refusing to be a man and prove me wrong with the recipt.



So NTSC-UK, please help me out here! I am wanting to take this further. I know $30AUD isnt a great deal of money, but combined with the customs charge, poor packaging and slow delivery. It all adds up and its unacceptable.

So if you have any ideas then please let me know. Can I claim for such things listed above? And how would I go about it?

If the worst came to the worst and I lost the case, is it morally wrong to leave one person 10+ negatives for the above?

And what would you guys do?

Seriously guys, anything will be most appreciated

[noobish hat]

Was the delivery recorded?

[Blast Hardbody]

To be fair, in regards to the gift/merchandise box, he was completely correct in his auctions.

Although I always tick gift and write a lower item amount on the customs form, what I am doing is illegal.

So yeah, it is pretty annoying when someone won't budge on that point, but I guess he is covering his own ass.

Now to the shipping costs.
For $80, you could have got ECI Merchandise which is around the $80 mark up untill 2000g's.

Now ECI is the top shipping methods australia posts offers, it is online trackable, and express (I think 3 days?) So for him to charge you $50 for, most likely, regular overseas post, that's pretty ballsy of him to pocket that much of your money.

2 1/2 weeks postage is on the long side, but not unheard of. He probably waited a number of days before posting out.

You can tell if the parcel was registered if there is a massive sticky label cover the address on the box.

If there is no label, i'd open up a dispute and say item not received, and say you would be happy with a $30 refund

If it was registered, i'd go for a big fat neg based on the attitude of the seller.

[noobish hat]

That's what I was gonna suggest. If a seller accepts payment by paypal, they have to ship recorded, according to paypal rules, whether the buyer paid for that service or not. If any buyer opens a paypal dispute over an item not received they will automatically win if the seller has no proof of postage.

[Fastware]

That's what I was gonna suggest. If a seller accepts payment by paypal, they have to ship recorded, according to paypal rules, whether the buyer paid for that service or not. If any buyer opens a paypal dispute over an item not received they will automatically win if the seller has no proof of postage.

Yes, but the seller could just forward the emails to paypal saying that you had recived them. In opening an undelivered item despute wrongly that would make you worse than the sellers postage overcharge.

[noobish hat]

yes I was thinking that too, bit late now

[mekanor]

There should be a sticker on the parcel somewhere stating how much postage actually cost.

whenever i buy stuff off ebay i kind of expect the seller is making a few dollars out of postage but $30 is absurd.

What kind of feedback rating does the seller have? Surely the threat of 10 negatives has to give you some leverage. Unless he has thousands of positive references then 10 negatives is going to bring his percentage down a bit and 10 negs in a row cant look good.

[nem]

Unfortunately, eBay is full of scum that do this. I was once charged $11 something postage and when I received the item (computer memory), the postage was $1.80. Naturally, I inquired about this and the seller agreed that I was right in this matter and was willing to refund

*wait for it*

two dollars. Apparently, the rest was to pay for the petrol he used up to drive to the post office.

Bloody hell, I'm surprised he didn't make me pay the bill for his lunch that day.

[Blast Hardbody]

I hate people that use the fuel excuse.

It's part of running a business, it can be claimed back at tax time as a work expensive.

It should NOT be something you charge your customers with.

[ninjabearhug]

I've had the exact same problem in the past only difference being my games were for the SMS and they arrived damaged. I filed a claim with paypal and eventually got my money back, although i would much rather have had the games. Obviously, I never got the customs charges back.

If people insist on charging that much postage and not offering me a postage discount, I make sure they understand that I expect every item wrapped and posted in a separate package, I want what I'm paying for. The customs thing isn't the sellers fault really, he's just doing things legally.

Since then, I always get stuff posted to a friend in Australia, he saves the games up for me and then ships them surface mail when i have a large amount.

Leave him 10 negs and move on, it happens to us all at some point.

[superstarbeejay]

I tend to take a karma approach to these things:

Have you got the games you paid for? yes
Did you agree a price for these games? yes

I'm sorry, but don't leave feedback or leave a neutral and move on. It's really not worth your time. Nothing illegal has been done here, the only illegal action has been suggested in this thread. Get a grip guys. You sound like whinging old men who've got nothing better to do.

[Cauterize]

I tend to take a karma approach to these things:

Have you got the games you paid for? yes
Did you agree a price for these games? yes

I'm sorry, but don't leave feedback or leave a neutral and move on. It's really not worth your time. Nothing illegal has been done here, the only illegal action has been suggested in this thread. Get a grip guys. You sound like whinging old men who've got nothing better to do.

Im not arguing over whats illegal or not. Its the whole principle and the guys attitude towards this transaction that has prompted me to action.

Usually I am very calm about these things. The other day I recieved a SNES game from Germany in a paper envelope, the letter type with no padding.
It had ripped open and came in a plastic bag provided by Royal Mail saying your mail had been opened.
In repsonse I thought it would be fair to not leave any feedback, as I got my game in the end.

But yeah, this is a little different...

To be fair, in regards to the gift/merchandise box, he was completely correct in his auctions.

Although I always tick gift and write a lower item amount on the customs form, what I am doing is illegal.

So yeah, it is pretty annoying when someone won't budge on that point, but I guess he is covering his own ass.

Now to the shipping costs.
For $80, you could have got ECI Merchandise which is around the $80 mark up untill 2000g's.

Now ECI is the top shipping methods australia posts offers, it is online trackable, and express (I think 3 days?) So for him to charge you $50 for, most likely, regular overseas post, that's pretty ballsy of him to pocket that much of your money.

2 1/2 weeks postage is on the long side, but not unheard of. He probably waited a number of days before posting out.

You can tell if the parcel was registered if there is a massive sticky label cover the address on the box.

How can I tell the difference between ECI and Air Mail. What exactly is the massive sticky thing youre talking about?
Im pretty sure it wasent sent via ECI as like I said, it took over 2 weeks to arrive and had a huge air mail sticker on it.

Would a photo of the box help?

There should be a sticker on the parcel somewhere stating how much postage actually cost.

Now this is what I would normally base my dispute on. However there is nothing at all with the details on.
There is a large stamp saying postage paid for and thats it. So I have nothing to go on at all...

What kind of feedback rating does the seller have? Surely the threat of 10 negatives has to give you some leverage. Unless he has thousands of positive references then 10 negatives is going to bring his percentage down a bit and 10 negs in a row cant look good.

Well, suprise suprise the guy has just over 10,000 feedback...




One thing I will not be doing in this though is lying, Its something I cant do, so I wont be claiming the items never arrived.

Now, I have found this, The Excessive Postage & Packaging Charges Policy
Would this be the next step to take?

[zipper]

did each auction by itself have reasonable postage?
If you've not confirmed a discount before bidding, I'm not sure the seller's at fault here. He may not be generous (and actually sounds like an asshole), but he's sticking to the terms of the auctions so I'm not sure there's much you can do.

[buster_broon]

I had to travel down to the sorting office to collect it and pay ?13 to recieve it.

I was under the impression it was an unwritten law online that if you send abroad, you tick the gift box. The last thing any buyer wants is to have to pay a further charge for their items.

i agreed to the postage costs (which is obviously true)

just really highlighted the 2 points

firstly nobody would be happy with the level of packing offered

but the unwritten law online quote is going to be my signature from now on, it did make me laugh, if you pay a penny for an item its classed as merchandise and its really upto the buyer to accept a loss if its marked down or if the seller is happy to mark it down

eBay is a binding contract and when you bid on an item and win it that means you are happy with everything included in that auction which includes the postage

but you were already unhappy about the postage thing so your hackles were already up

[buster_broon]

Although I always tick gift and write a lower item amount on the customs form, what I am doing is illegal.

2 1/2 weeks postage is on the long side, but not unheard of. He probably waited a number of days before posting out.

If there is no label, i'd open up a dispute and say item not received, and say you would be happy with a $30 refund

the delay in the postage could be the fact that customs stopped it to apply charges

but in 1 breath you state that something is illegal and then you state you should say it never arrived, thats worse in my opinion and really mail fraud

but again you recently got stung and you feel this is the only way to stop you getting stung

I've been caught once by Fuel and bus charges being added onto postage, never happened since as i always check the postage and if its high i email the seller and if he/she wont do anything about it i just dont bid on it