The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Any thoughts to proceed here:

I bought a small phonograph item via ebay from an antique dealer in the UK, who stated postage would be £30. As most people I meet on ebay are honest I don't question their estimates.

However when the small package arrived, the real postage cost was £5.30. There were no other costs involved, he sells his honour very cheaply.

I wrote the person but no reply. Any one had experience challenging postage costs as this is quite egregious! many thanks

There's no ebay mechanism for contesting postage costs. However, you certainly leave neutral or negative feedback if the seller doesn't respond to you, mentioning the unreasonable shipping costs in the feedback you leave. You can also rate them low on their shipping costs at that time as well.

Did the seller personally state the postage amount to you, or was it indicated on the eBay auction info? Ebay miscalculates and overcharges for postage. As an occasional seller, if it's under a couple dollars I let it go. However, I recently refunded $15 to a guy, who never bothered to thank me or leave any feedback. In fact, only 1 time out of many shipping refunds, did anyone ever thank me.

Some sellers include packing materials, gas, a handling fee, and maybe also enough to cover the percentage that eBay charges on the shipping cost portion of the total cost, and some sellers don't pad the shipping estimate with any of these. There is no way to get a shipping cost refund, but as was already mentioned, you can always leave feedback.

For me, my bid limit takes the sales tax and quoted shipping cost into account, so when I bid I am accepting what the total cost including shipping and sales tax will be. I don't care if the seller can ship it for less as long as the item gets to me in a timely manner.

With some shipping methods the insurance charge is separate from the postage and doesn't show up on the package