Customer receives underpaid postage fee for correct eBay printed 2nd class letters

[savillianify]

Hello,

I've searched all over the internet to see if anyone else has experienced this issue but it seems to be just me.  I thought I'd take a shot at asking if anyone would be able to to help.

I have 2 customers on eBay that have left me negative feedback claiming they have had to pay an fee for underpaid postage to receive their orders. These were sent on 2nd class in card backed envelopes that measured 16.1cm x 11.4cm and a depth of under 0.5cm, both weighing under 100g. All the eligible criteria for 2nd class letters. The labels were purchased through eBay's system. The buyers did not state how much they had to pay so I can't narrow down the type of charge.

I have never experienced this before for 2nd class letters, I've had plenty of orders before or since that were sent via the same method and same packaging with no issues. Strangely enough both of these orders were ordered and dispatched within a day of each other in January. The feedback came about 3 weeks after dispatch, albeit one of the customers also says the order took 12 days to get there which is baffling.

I'm hoping someone might be able to make sense of it, because I certainly can't.

Chris

[chrisjo-714]

I think there is potentially an issue with the RM 2nd Class Letter labels ebay generates.

While the selection page for a letter shows "up to 100g" as the default value when you generate and print the label it show "1g" as the item weight.

My local post office never mentions or complains about it. However,  once I was visiting family and used a different post office and they pointed out the "1g" weight on the label. They changed it by hand but said recipients may be charged extra if the weight of the item is more than the label says.

9 times out of 10 now I manually change the weight to say 99g before I print the label. Occasionally I forget if in a rush but "touch wood" have never had a buyer tell me they have been charged extra.

If you still have access to the labels I'd have look at them and see if they say "1g". If so perhaps your customers were unlucky and have overly zealous posties that have applied a surcharge?

This "issue" with RM letter labels seems to have been going on for ages and doesn't seem to affect other package sizes, e.g printing a large letter and leaving the default 100g weight prints a label showing 100g.

[julies9731]

It's the same price for 1g or 100g. 0.5mm is very, very thin, maybe the cardboard you put in took it over the 0.5mm therefore making it a large letter by thickness. Stage though how your customers haven't told you how much they had to pay 🤔🤔🤔🤔

[andha-21]

Can't comment on the surcharge part but it looks like you may not know about Royal Mails umbrella programme. I found out when I started a claim. 

As I understand it all the services outside of Special Delivery have a 10 working day delivery window after the item enters their network. So after they collect it from the Post Office is the start of their timeframe. In my experience it's rare. I've only had 3, each one taking around 3 weeks to deliver. & it's not a sticks thing either. 2 were intercity. You can't claim until after that window has expired.

That's why all of their services outside of Special Delivery have the disclaimer, this is an aim, not a guarantee.

[technthread]

The delayed postage is normal as they have to issue the recipient with a card to pay the fee before they will deliver the item. 

My guess is they have been harsh on the 0.5mm thickness if they were borderline. Do you use a Royal Mail size guide and physically check they go though the letter slot? I always have mine to hand with letters to double check.

[technthread]

I have one of these but you can get a cheap unbranded one that does the same job:

[wintersdawn1]

If you mean the slotted cardboard device that the post office use to check that our packages/letters go through, are these available from post offices so we can check our letters/packages at home? 

[technthread]

Someone on the forum told me they got one from their post office. I just bought one on eBay. 

[julies9731]

Yes, the Post Office and good stationary shops. 

[technthread]

People sell the solid ones that I have for £20 on eBay so I decided not to ask my post office for one of those in case they thought I was being cheeky. I have never used a cardboard one I want one that can’t bend at all so I have no doubts. 

[julies9731]

£4.49 for the plastic one. 

[jokers_toybox]

I was cheeky and got an official royal mail acrylic one, I lucked out with a disgruntled member of staff I think 

[technthread]

That’s pretty good. It’s one of the best things I have bought as an eBay seller, I wouldn’t be without one.

[technthread]

I wish I had asked my post office now haha. 

You know what made me buy one was a post office convinced me my letter was a large letter as they put it through the slot the wrong way. It bugged me so much I got the guide and burned the Royal Mail dimensions into memory so I wasn’t ripped off again 🤣.

[savillianify]

It's definitely the case that I manually entered the weight of the order when doing the label, I always do, I don't have the most reliable scales though. I also notice that sometimes it reverts back to 1g so I double check once the label has been generated. Since it is the case that the price for 1g - 100g remains the same as @julies9731 says, I might just stick 99g for every letter. The items I'm selling in this package format will never exceed this and stay in a letter format.

[savillianify]

The letters can be a borderline if the customer buys multiple of the items when sent in these card-backed envelopes. I have however sent out multiple orders with the same thickness before and after these incidents without issue, so could just be luck of the draw with who checks the dimensions in RM's system I suppose.

I don't have a size guide to check them with, just a tape measure if I'm a bit concerned which isn't always the most accurate to gauge in detail. I'll look into getting one, maybe even some callipers if I'm looking to be fancy.

[suelel1968]

I suspect width of letter too. Or that last bit of tape to stop RM ripping the address label off took it over the 100g. A bit mean of the buyers to leave negative feedback without contacting you first. They could have got a refund and you wouldn't get the feedback. Everyone less unhappy.

[eastern-lights]

If I was a buyer and got charged a surcharge, first thing I would do is message the seller, see if they wanted to refund me to cover it.

Aren't buyers supposed to give sellers the opportunity to put things right, before leaving negative feedback?

[lucy_farmer]

'Aren't buyers supposed to give sellers the opportunity to put things right, before leaving negative feedback?'

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Ah ha ha ha.....🤣. 

(  sorry for laughing. )

Yes, in a perfect world.

No, in a world where you have to fight through dim script-reading CS human bots to get any sort of common sense applied.

I got a neg *asking* for a refund! (yes it was a genuine mistake of mine, but no chance of putting things right first)

Ebay CS wouldn't remove that "Buyer's opinion" .....

[jokers_toybox]

This is exactly what I do, all my letters are 100g, all small parcels are 2kg, the only one that differs for me is large letter, but even then I round up to the max in that bracket, so 150g goes as 250g