This is eBay related, but I suppose it relates to the forum as well.

I recently sold a set of Alloy wheels on Ebay; they were listed for £400+£60 shipping and the buyer offered £300 + the £60 shipping to Huddersfield, which I agreed to.

As chance would have it, I had to go to Derby this week for work and so I cancelled the shipping company (£53 via TNT), took my own car, and took the wheels with me to deliver in person. All went as planned, but the buyer has now contacted me asking for me to refund the postage/shipping charge…

Perhaps naively, I assumed that because I was able to deliver, I’d (for once) lucked out and that I could pocket myself a few extra ££ in exchange for a little extra inconvenience.

Am I in the wrong here? What would you do?

Cheers,

M

He paid for delivery. Someone delivered them. Only it was you. Tell him to do one.

as above

Was the method of “shipping” pre-agreed? If not I can’t see his problem other than feeling that it didn’t cost you £53 to take it yourself.

And seeing as you will be claiming the trip back on expenses, he’s paid for a service that has cost you nothing.

What do you feel you should do?

And seeing as you will be claiming the trip back on expenses, he’s paid for a service that has cost you nothing.

This is irrelevant. I wouldn’t expect a retailer to refund my courier delivery charge just because the couriers also have a parcel for Mrs Jones 3 doors down.

The buyer didn’t collect therefore it was delivered

This is irrelevant

Not if it was pre-agreed to be by courier.

I can see your point and I can see his…I’d go with partially refund or it could turn into a war of a words which will then drag on and is not worth the hassle imo

They were delivered, he was happy to pay £360 for them, he got them for £360. I’d say he’s a chancer.

Does he know you were going up there anyway?

I’d have just told him I had a free day so thought I’d do that rather than faff about with a courier. That way he couldn’t feel like he was being ‘scammed’.

Just to clarify, there was no pre-arranged courier or delivery date.

I also assume you probably took a lot better care with them than a courier. 🙂

did the wheels arrive?

that’s what he paid for.

deadlydarcy – Member
I also assume you probably took a lot better care with them than a courier.

This was a factor, and the fact that insurance for shipping 4*20kg parcels insured for £100 each was almost £35.

I can see it from both sides really. Why not split the £60. By the way £53 for shipping two wheels is bloody expensive. Would have been about £12 with UPS

I assume a lot of the charge was insurance rather than shipping alone?

Send him a breakdown of the hourly rate for your new courier business. I’m pretty sure when you break it down it’ll come to £60 and he’ll see no problem with it 🙂

and then copy that to your employer?

****s everywhere it seems.

By the way £53 for shipping two wheels is bloody expensive

sold a set of Alloy wheels

shipping 4*20kg parcels

😉

Good point, I was think of bike wheels, car alloy wheels a different matter and £53 seems quite good

Good point, I was think of bike wheels, car alloy wheels a different matter and £53 seems quite good

No it’s still expensive.

Depending on size, I pay £26 – £28 for a set of four wheels.

(£29 – £33 if they are complete with tyres)

****s everywhere it seems.

It’s not like he had his meeting in Huddersfield. It was in Derby…which is some way from Huddersfield, and not on the route from Bath to Derby on my maps.

I’d say you’d gone out of your way and the £60 covers your inconvenience.

I see both sides, I get why he wanted the cash, he was thinking that you arent out of pocket cos you didnt pay postage, I’d go back and say sure I’ll refund the cost but deduct it from the time/petrol bill for delivering in person. With a nice cheeky smile!

140 miles round trip out of your way and 3 hours+ of driving.

You should have charged him at least an extra £10 !!

🙂

nealglover – Member

(£29 – £33 if they are complete with tyres)

Cheapest quote I got was £8.50+VAT per wheel, or £75 for the four together. This means I have to package them individually, so 4*5m roll of bubble wrap at £5.30 per roll, total cost inc packaging is £15 per wheel…for a 1 day courier, that price went upto £11.60+vat, which is give or take £53.

None of these costs include insurance beyond the £35-£50 standard.

So whichever way you look at it, I was going to be out of pocket without even considering the day off waiting for the courier.

He paid for delivery and they were delivered, end of story. I’d also agree that you no doubt took more care than a courier would.

As above, offer to refund the delivery charge as long as he agrees to foot the bill for your time and petrol. According to Google maps it’s about 2.5 hours from Bath to Derby and 147 miles. 5 hour round trip and 300 miles worth of petrol….

£20 per hour? = £100
45p per mile = £135.

So he owes you £175.

Truth is, many ebay sellers load the postage costs up in order to reduce fees (I know, this is being taken away), so he probably wasn’t really thinking about postage costs at all, just the end cost to him.

At the end of the day, he got the goods on time and without any hassle (postcard through door, trip to depot etc), so I think he has little to complain about.

soobalias – Member
and then copy that to your employer?

****s everywhere it seems.

Just to clarify, I get paid a fixed amount (no overtime) for 37 hours, and was at Derby (from Bath) for an 09:30 meeting which finished at 15:00. I’d worked my allotted hours (even without considering the return commute) by the time I left the meeting. I also used my own car (so no company fuel) to deliver the wheels.

asked for a refund? – hope they didn’t pay by paypal if you delivered them personally I would start crossing everything you have…

Can’t get my head around this. He was happy to pay for delivery, you personally delivered them all the way from Bath and he wants a refund !!!
Jog on doesn’t really cover it.

How does the buyer know that you did not use a courier?
A courier doesn’t always have a uniform and sign written van.
I’m guessing that you told the buyer that you were delivering yourself.
If so, that’s where you went wrong!
You should have pretended to be a one man band that does deliveries. That would have saved all the grief.
At the end of the day he agreed to pay for delivery and the wheels were delivered to him so tell him to do one and next time cover your arse a bit better 😉

Ha ha. I was thinking bike wheels too. 😆

😳

OP – how did the buyer pay, seems a bit odd asking for refund after delivery unless paypal was involved? If it was a paypal payment I would exercise extreme caution & at least offer to split the difference or even a full refund of delivery charge as you are currently at risk of them raising a dispute & you losing the full £360 – make sure you keep the email trail regarding the refund so you can prove delivery to small claims court if they do decide to diddle you.

Price asked was £460 including delivery, price paid was £60 and he wants to pull your pants down and get them for £300?
Tell him your time costs £20 an hour & £0.45 per mile for petrol etc. Did he really expect because they were personally delivered to be refunded the delivery?
Use these two words in any further correspondence “get” and “bent”.
*edit* mean to add, if he paid cash tell him to swivel, if he paid paypal, you may be stuffed.

2nd ebay thread today that’s got me fuming. Some people really are complete and utter ****s. How has he (or she!) managed to get to the conclusion that you should deliver them for nowt?

Unbelievable. Jog and indeed, on.

Daffy – Member
Just to clarify, there was no pre-arranged courier or delivery date.

The buyer paid for it to be delivered by courier at a certain rate which afaik was agreed by the buyer. You then changed that delivery method WITHOUT the buyer’s prior knowledge and/or agreement and this is the point the buyer is making.

If it were me i’d calculate the cost of the delivery method you used and credit/charge the buyer the difference. I fail to see how the buyer can complain that way.

The buyer has backed down, all is well with this working class problem.

Result 🙂

Did you tell him that STW (mostly) thought he was being a bellend and that truth bomb forced him to reconsider 😀

By the way, next time you need alloys delivering, use Paisley Freight.

They are way cheaper than what you were quoted.