Just thought I would share this with you. Sometime ago I ordered some batteries off these guys. They charged me £3 P&P for each battery (3 in total), but the batteries arrived in three regular envelopes with 69p stamps on them.
I left negative feedback saying “product fine. postage a rip off!! stamps on envelope 69p but charged 3GBP +”. To so visibly charge such a mark up seems like business naivety as well to me – the batteries where really cheap (99p) which is great, but if you need to sell them for more then charge more, don’t make up your margin in such an underhand way.
Anyway today I got a request to withdraw the mutual feedback as they have left this negative feedback for me; “BEWARE YOU DO NOT WANT TO DEAL WITH THIS ONE”
I am going to ignore them. By my reckoning I did nothing wrong. I said the product was fine, but the amount they charges for P&P in relation to what it cost them means I wouldn’t buy anything from them again, and I think people have a right to know this is what they do. At the P&P price they charged I would have been OK if the batteries were boxed up and it had cost them that amount to send them. As for their feedback I think it shows them to be threatening bullies. My reckoning is that anybody that I want to deal with again on eBay will see that without exception I pay straight away and that this one bit of negative feedback will be seen for what it is – a way for a company that has already shown itself to be underhand, to be demonstrating that trait again by trying to manipulate it’s feedback score.
Shame on you – try improving the way you do business rather than trying to intimidate people.
I don’t know. You might want to reconsider. With someone that has thousands of feedback quite a few negatives are probably expected. But as someone with feedback in the tens, it probably won’t bode well for future transactions. Especially when it just says “BEWARE…” with no explanation. Was the shipping price not labled? If not, then I’d keep the neg.
Just a thought. Of course, if you don’t do much on eBay, it might not bother you.
By reconsider you mean back down to their bullying – never!
Yes the P&P price was quoted but that isn’t the point. The point is that they made such a HUGE mark up on it. I was actually really amazed. It cost the 69p to send each battery from the UK to Spain which is really good value. To charge over £3 for each one and for it to only arrive in a plastic bag inside a regular envelope seems wrong to me.
Regards the feedback what have people got to BEWARE about? I paid on time as I always do, said the product was fine, and warned people that these guys put a huge mark up on the P&P. What is wrong with that?
The company had the opportunity to contact me and explain, ask that I removed but to put a totally unsubstantated IN BOLD statement like that up just sucks. I have every confidence that regardless of whether people agree with me over the P&P mark up they will agree that to be ‘threatened’ that way shows them up in a really bad light.
Agreed. I’ve started to notice that on eBay, though. As more and more people start doing business on eBay, some are offering outrageous shipping charges. I’ve always charged exactly what it costs me. I even pay for the box or envelope. To start charging people, for example, $30 for shipping and “handling”, (which is where they get you,) when it really costs like $12.00, is almost criminal.
If I recall correctly, ebay doesn’t include shipping and handling costs when they calculate their final value fee to take their cut. They have some kind of check in place so you don’t sell a $100 item for 99 cents and $100 in shipping charges, but for smaller items it’s easier to get away with it.
If it’s a postage fee, it’s a ripoff. If it’s a postage and “handling” fee, it’s still a ripoff but a bit more justified. You have to take the S&H into account when you buy any items.
Essentially, ebay got screwed out of a few measly cents in the final value fee calculation.
Were comparable batteries going for the same low rate?
There were batteries of a similar price and some more expensive.
To me people should charge what they want for the item and P&P should be at cost.
I am not saying I wouldn’t necessarily have paid the same amount for the batteries if they were more expensive. What I really dislike is the feeling of been ‘had over’. I could very probably have paid more for the batteries and less overall off someone else.
This has bugged me for a really long time. I hate it when I pay X amount for shipping and the package arrives at my house and the postage on the box says much much less than what I payed for. It’s especially aggravating when the box arrives slowly. Had I gotten the shipping I payed for it would have gotten to me quicker.
I think that ebay should roll out a new feature to fix this problem. Ebay should allow you to choose what shipping method you want and it will calculate the exact cost for the item to get from point A to B and only allow the seller to charge that much.
For a while now, I have been using http://www.eurobatteries.com/ for battery purchases. I have found them to be very reliable and cost-effective.
I agree with you on the postage overcharging. My understanding is that eBay’s new feedback rules are designed to promote more transparent postage fees if buyers can leave feedback directly related to shipping costs.
I just bought something on ebay for $0.01 with an $11.00 shipping. The product is ~$50.00 retail, so I didn’t mind paying a huge shipping fee.
Fair enough. How much did it actually cost them to post it to you though? Was it packaged in a box? My point was the ‘mark up’ that they made on three 69p stamps and 3 regular envelopes.