Sellers refusing to post to the Scottish Highlands

[graymee1234]

Recently I have tried to purchase a few items from businesses but the listing shows Doesn't post to Scottish Highlands. I have contacted individuall businesses and they have ammended their listing to allow me to purchase their goods, others haven't bothered or couldn't work out how to sort this problem and have lost the sale.

Postage to me means using the Royal Mail to send items and as the Royal Mail is mandated by law to charge the same ammount for anywhere in mainland UK the sellers can't say postage is more expensive.

If they dispatch goods via a carrier other than Royal Mail then perhaps they incur higher deliver costs so their argument perhaps has some validity. This does not ring true however for an item I recently tried to purchase. The seller was based in the Newcastle area. They would not post to Scottish Highlands. If this was based on increased delivery cost why is there no restriction on posting to Cornwall? Using Truro as an example, it is 450 miles from the seller and only 280 miles to me. Ebay should clamp down on what is discrimination based on location and also potentially amend the listing template to more accurately say delivery rather than postage.

[cassiej1234]

Hi,

I have just come across this issue, I sold something from Wales to Scotland with Evri and post on listing was £2.94, buyer paid £2.94. When I went to print label it charged me £5.44. I have asked ebay and they have said that Evri charge an extra £2 50 to deliver to Scotland, Northern Ireland and Jersey.

It is not the sellers fault its the postal service. Sorry

[imposs]

So is "Doesn't post to Scottish Highlands and Islands." discrimination or not?

My recent experience with an eBay seller offered shipment at £30 on the goods from my winning eBay bid, then I was eventually informed that both ParcelForce & UPS (after Tracking appeared for both on eBay) didn't/hadn't turned up to collect? 

I don't know if there is a problem using ParcelForce or UPS but based on other eBay sellers Buy it Now's for the same goods, I offered that seller another £100 (as shipping did appear to be an issue) to conclude our eBay transaction.

My reward was that the seller didn't accept my offer, cancelled our transaction and refunded my payment.

Later relisting the goods back on eBay and selling to another eBay bidder for less than I paid the first time round.

Looking at payments for shipping on the same goods, I've been quoted:

eBay: £30 (my winning/losing eBay bid), £70+vat & £130 (this seller also quoted delivery to Aberdeen £19.99)

Independent enquiry: £185 due to it having to be palletised.

Amazon: Also has one advertised at £3.99, confirmed via Amazon Chat but I don't know if I'd like to chance it & the seller doesn't communicate directly?

Certainly, Not Good Karma!     

[shauwilliam-35]

As a seller and I sell 1000's of items every year all over the world. I can confirm that every courier charges more from mainland England to certain locations in Scotland and Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands. The only delivery company that charges the same amount is royal mail and their prices are in the middle of all delivery companies in the UK. So when sellers tell you that it costs them more to ship to you in the highlands. They are telling the truth and it does. Take my word for it from my own experiences. Royal Mail are not cheap and it costs the seller and the buyer more to use them. The system really is not fair as it's all part of the UK. It's a nightmare for all of us. I've sold something just now and it should cost me £3.71 with yodel and it's going to have to cost me £5.99 with royal mail because Yodel along with EVRI and DPD and Inpost and UPS and any courier you care to mention are all trying to charge me more than Royal mail on the postage as it's going to Inverness. It's just not a fair system for any of us. It means that the buyer has underpaid on her postage and I will have to cover the extra from the price she paid for item. It's totally not fair at all.