Buyer selected a different (more expensive!) shipping options

[blunakat2]

I sold a very inexpensive item. I set the shipping option.

They buyer paid the tiny bid amount and the shipping option I selected. But they were able to select a DIFFERENT shipping option which costs more -- so now if I ship I'm actually out of pocket 2 quid?!

Can they do that? Is that an option -- the buyer can change the shipping method and eBay doesn't add it to the price??? I am seriously FUMING

[emmaushampshire]

Thanks. I must take another look at my postage options

Catherine Harris
Trustee and eBay coordinator
Emmaus Hampshire

[colonial_clive]

Well that not true as I listed post at a certain price to cover packing and buyer change it to a cheaper option this has happened to me now on 4 occasions!

[krlor75]

This has happened to me as well, and it’s been multiple times! I don’t think it’s fair either, as in these cases, I’ve had to bear the loss myself.

[marcela105]

It happened to me twice ... I have chosen standard Evri and they have chosen more expensive option, however they have been charged only what I have asked for. At first I thought that i have done mistake when listing the item... so I made sure it will not happen again and it did 😞

I am so disappointed as i am losing money - first time postage costed more that the actual item !!! 

[myriad*seller]

marco@ebay another one for you 

[trace-ken]

Same here, and I always select Yodel as my postage but the buyer changed it not only to Evri but to double the cost. It will cost me in transport to get it to the drop off but also the higher postage cost and is a solitary item (as the other 3 purchases haven’t paid yet, but that’s a different matter) I’m not sure why, when the buyer selects a higher postage, that they are not told they need to pay the extra. Seems very wrong.

[jhothersall2003]

I was shocked to see "buyer selected" postage next to my sale, which nearly doubled my postage, giving me a grand net profit of £1.50 instead of the still very modest £3.99 I was expecting. I went into the postal choices on the print a label section, and changed it to a different company with the same tracking/insurance etc, and a day quicker too. Then I went back to my site to try to see what happened. Turned out to be a buyer in Belfast, and she'd just agreed the postage company I'd chosen (evri), but turns out evri charge extra to get to N.Ireland. Yodel don't charge extra but still track and insure. Hope this info helps you next time? So you can change it back after the buyer selects...

[emmaushampshire]

Thank you for your reply. Yes I continue to post with my choice of courier. It's crazy otherwise, not fair on the seller.

[bluebellfressia]

I had this exact thing happen to me today.  But fortunately  I realised before paying the £5.46 and changed it to RM for £3.39.  So I am only 45p out of pocket.

I have now excluded N. Ireland in my settings, which is a shame.   

Would this happen with the Scottish Highlands & Scottish Islands too? 

[emmaushampshire]

Yes postage to Scottish Highlands and Islands is much more than mainland. I have been stung before.

[bluebellfressia]

Thank you for your reply. 

So another two to exclude,  such a shame.   

[pollyhen]

Just Happened to me with Royal Mail within England 10 miles from where I live. I’m fuming too.

[trace-ken]

I cancelled the order. The buyer can see the postage charge when they purchase the item and they can also see which postage they are selecting. The buyer also surely knows if they live in a part of the U.K. that costs more postage because they are remote. I’m sure they will be aware of why it is cancelled due to this but especially of very low price items, the seller should not be penalised.

[trace-ken]

Sorry, I meant to say that I have gone into my postal settings and changed them but those changes are limited. I wanted to make Yodel my preferred delivery and only offer that service but eBay must have a deal going with Evri and the post office because it will only let you select one of the two.

When you make a listing and you go into the postage section, I found it best to ignore their  *easy postage* and click on the drop down box for the postage weights. Scroll down to below the postage weights list and there is a tab which you can select for making your custom postage. Click on that button and you decide which postal service you are offering. *Be careful, if your item relists then eBay will revert it to their recommended smart option so you will need to check the postage again and change it back so you are in control again.

[oliviaowen77]

hi, I’ve never come on this part before, but I googled the question and it came up on here as I’ve been on the phone to eBay for most of the day. My seller rating has taken an awful hit from what’s going on and they still haven’t provided me with an answer so I sold an item for £2.99 and I’d recently changed all of my postage from Royal mail as the post office is miles away and it’s over a pound dearer than yodel store door Which I can just scan the QR code at my local shop as they do not print the labels. I done 1  the other day absolutely fine so I go on postage Custom and choose 16 x 35 x 45 cm, which is shoebox size and 1 kg in weight. This is £2.69 and then you just scan your barcode so the lady purchased the item and it said exactly what I’ve just said until I clicked on get the QR code and it then proceeded to charge me £6.19 and tell me that the buyer had paid £2.69 and I couldn’t figure it out. As a result, I had to void that QR code, so you have to wait two weeks for that to be refunded and you can no longer choose the option to get the barcode on that item, so I refunded the item relisted it double check the postage she purchased again and it done exactly the same again so I didn’t press to get the code. However it does offer an edit option when you look on the sales information so I clicked on that and again I put shoebox size 1 kg and it’s charging me for up to 10 kg and a much larger parcel despite me selecting the smaller one and in between that are yet have printed yet another QR code on another item and it’s been absolutely fine. The guy spoke to you today couldn’t really tell me other than escalate it. I told me to ask the buyer to wait a bit longer, and I explained that I’d be out of days and my seller rating would be hit next  As it wouldn’t be in the right time span to be posted, and also I’ve cancelled and refunded the item at least twice And I still can’t send her the parcel, because obviously she doesn’t want to pay more and do Royal Mail - my shop doesn’t print yodel labels it just does QR codes nowhere local to me does labels I don’t have a printer and I don’t want one because they cost a lot of money to do all that. So my idea of going cheaper than Royal mail has worked twice but failed miserably this time like I say my ratings taken a terrible hit to it. The man didn’t re correct it just suggested I ask her to wait longer and that he would escalate the problem but in order for me to get a QR code, it wants me to authorise the bankcard yet again, and the fact that it takes two weeks is bad enough, but I don’t wanna keep doing it as I have no funds left. I don’t have any give the woman the item for free if she lives local to me, but she doesn’t so why should I have to be out of pocket or out-of-pocket to send it for free? I was absolutely fuming as I don’t have the time to be on the phone to eBay all the time and I wanted to know whether I was gonna have to change all my listings back, and you really didn’t give me an answer to be fair but it does say that the seller has chosen it I went through this and she’s been very helpful and she told me that it categorically didn’t give her a choice and her end. It says 269 and I can see it does until I go to buy it and then it ranks up to £6.19. If I hadn’t noticed this, I’ve been doing this left right and centre  does anyone know what on earth is going on here 

[trace-ken]

Hi, I’m not sure if this is what has happened to you but I’ve found that when an item doesn’t sell and is in the relist section or it automatically relists, then eBay defaults to its own simple postage. The only way to change this (and I think you’d have to change it before a bid or a buy it now purchase, is to go into the item and click ‘revise item’. Then go down to the postage, go into the weights and scroll down to the bottom, select custom postage and not simple postage (as simple postage will only offer Royal Mail and/or Evri depending on your postage settings). It sounds like your item was on simple postage. I select custom postage every time now as that offers Yodel. You also select your weight in custom postage. EBay seems to guess what the weight is and often gets the package size wrong with mine. 

[oliviaowen77]

Hi
Many thanks for your reply - unfortunately it’s not quite what I meant as
I’d previously done as you suggested - as e-bay always recommends different
postage to what is ideal & cheapest ! This was a little different & still
not actually solved / confirmed as despite speaking to e- bay several times
I ended up with several different answers, none of which were correct as
had already tried them. One operative told me that it was nothing to do
with them as it wasn’t the postage and the other told me twice that he
would escalate it and he totally understood and he didn’t have any answers
and I’ve yet to hear back from them so as usual I’m out of pocket it
starting to make me wonder if it’s even worth using eBay much more because
it’s always one thing or another ! So I’ve always used Royal mail
second-class unless it’s unusual size however the post office is quite
distance away as many have shut just one stop has started doing yodel as
I’ve received several from Vinted via the shop so I decided to give it a go
and realised it was over a pound cheaper to drop my items to one stop down
the road However I’ve had repair issues at my property and I don’t have my
printer unpacked or available and I think it’s quite expensive doing things
that way so I have been using the QR code on my phone and I’ve done this. I
decide of selling this parcel, so it has worked on both occasions before
and after And I was quite pleased as I don’t have to go to the post office
and offered the buyer a cheaper version so I slowly changed all of my
listings over to this. It seems to work because £2.99 cheaply priced Minnie
Mouse body warmer for a toddler not an adult sold instantly could be
because the postage was cheaper which would’ve been £2.69 which would’ve
been shoebox size 35, 45,16 cm up to 1 kg. It said on the listing I
doublechecked it it said it on the listing, but when I pressed to get QR
code like it came up as £6.19 and went straight to my card and took the
money so I cancelled it because I refused to pay that and it said it would
take up to 2 weeks to refund me via yodel that was bad enough because not
everyone has spare cash sitting in banks . spoke to the customer, was happy
to help me out as many would’ve just left it. I’ve so much on at the moment
but I made the time to try and sort this out because I need to know the
answer but in the meantime I’ve relisted the item and doublechecked the
postage and asked her to do it again she did so and the same thing happened
and it said that the buyer had selected it. She confirmed to me that this
is not been the case she could either collected in person or use postage
and that was the only choice she had so I spent ages on the phone to eBay
and was assured them to get back to me I spoke to one of the phone advisors
and they told me to get the customer to wait and lengthen the postage time
and they get back to me well luckily I didn’t because they’ve still yet to
get back to me and I told them that affects my celebrating and it’s going
to be out of the days shortly. Also where I cancelled and advertised the
item that probably does something to the celebration as well as it appears
that I’m messing around so I told the lady he would try one more time which
we did so, and the same thing happened again I couldn’t understand it. I
tried everything it was on the part of postage as I missed to using that so
now was becoming worried because that’s far too high, and I changed all my
listings to go via the shop upon Reading some of the messages on here it
seems that it’s a different location. If the location is in out of the Way
area it seems that it costs more with the couriers I wasn’t happy with that
solution. However, I had to take it as correct, so I messaged Lady and she
said it was a bit out of the way. so as a result, I then had to send the
item by Royal Mail who covers everywhere for the dearer price, and I think
I made about a pound by the time Who was done, including the fuel to get to
the post office and postage. It really wasn’t worth it. Let alone the time
that it took and the fact that no one has got back to me. I can only assume
that this is the reason because we cannot change it and the lady assured me
that she wasn’t doing it at her end. At which point, I was kind of past
caring, but it really does make me wonder if it’s worth it on here anymore
because if the couriers are going to charge more in different areas than
eBay only knows the address address when the person is purchased but it
should flag up and it doesn’t sell again like I say this is just a guess
but I’ve accepted it as that for now, but many thanks for your reply. Most
appreciated .
O.Owen

[trace-ken]

Ah yes, I had that with one item I sold for £2.50. It came up with the postage of £5.64. I was horrified as I was expected to stump up the extra meaning I would sell at a loss. After a bit of investigation I found out that it was because the buyer lives in the hard to reach outskirts of Scotland. It is more expensive to post in farther regions of the U.K. (I think I saw some destinations in Ireland as well that are out of the way. Royal Mail automatically bump up the cost when they have the address. I cancelled the order as the buyer must know it is pricier to send to them and I would expect a message if they were prepared to pay the extra. You also often find not all couriers will deliver to those remote places.