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

[xyz307xyz]

Thanks - I thought that was true for standard and signed for postage - I didn't know about tracked nor special delivery etc. @trace-ken can you explain a bit more about "After a bit of investigation I found out that it was because the buyer lives in the hard to reach outskirts of Scotland. ... Royal Mail automatically bump up the cost when they have the address."

? thanks

[zoomingmouse]

If you wanted to, you can exclude buyers from certain areas of the UK until you get to the bottom of the problem.

Under your name, top left, Hello ..... scroll down to account settings.

Then choose 'postage preferences' & then as below 'exclude postal locations' & click 'edit' which will take you to the 2nd screenshot where you can choose if you want to exclude any of the locations.

[trace-ken]

My buyer lived in an area that cost far more to send than the cost I had originally offered. At my end it stated that the buyer had selected another postal service.I looked at the address and it was very remote so the postage I had offered with Yodel was replaced with Royal Mail and the charge had bumped up to over £5. Now whilst Royal Mail do not charge extra to deliver in the U.K., they are often the most expensive and the difference in cost was much higher. As it was so remote, other couriers would not deliver there. So I had no choice if I wanted to send it and would be out of pocket ( I am a private seller, just trying to make some money from my personal items to help pay the bills so it was something I could not afford to absorb). Someone on the forum told me that remote areas were more expensive. I even changed my settings so it would not offer Royal Mail so it doesn’t happen again. I’m happy to be corrected if I’m wrong as I’m still finding my feet around eBay, especially with all the changes. My understanding is that it can be more expensive to send a parcel to Northern Ireland with Royal Mail (it was 6 months ago and it may have been Northern Ireland and not the highlands). I am just very wary now and feel the buyer should be warned if postage will cost more and  pay for any extra postage costs. I also find that simple delivery is always more expensive than what I am offered in custom delivery.

[trace-ken]

Yes, you are correct, but Royal Mail charges more than most other options on eBay for parcels. Other couriers don’t offer services to some areas and the only option left is to pay a higher amount with Royal Mail.

[oliviaowen77]

Thankyou for taking the time to reply - I can confirm that Royal Mail has
taken the item at their standard price - however the extra amount has come
out of my pocket ! If this wasn’t bad enough it doesn’t look good for e-bay
in terms of a promise to escalate immediately & get back to me - which they
haven’t done ! Also their advisors on the phone don’t seem to have a clue
as different areas was never mentioned- I had to spend hours extra trying
to figure it out myself ! Putting it simply eBay were useless - my seller
rating has gone down also due to having to cancel & relist the item twice
as I honestly couldn’t work out what the problem was - I also am fully
aware that eBay intend to do simple delivery only in the near future &
again it was one of reasons I’d adjusted my original postage & to also
encourage buyers with cheaper post on cheaper items yet the hours it has
taken to figure out for myself the drop in seller ratings - the packaging &
the fuel cost to go to post office & all the extra grief doesn’t come close
to a good reason for being out of pocket ! EBay seems to be trying to hard
& failing to keep up with other seller platforms - I’m seriously thinking
of just using one if them
ThAnkyou for your time
Many thanks
O Owen