Is making a refund due to excess postage costs free with Postepay Evolution?

Good morning,

I have a question: if, at the time of shipping, I realize that the shipping costs came out a couple of euros less, can a refund be issued with the Postepay evolution account? Do you know if the refund is free, or do you have to pay for it? Thanks

prettyd_63

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Posted 2 years ago·Last reply 6 months ago

7 comments

daxsisko

·2 years ago

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@prettyd_63 wrote:
Good morning,
I have a question: if, at the time of shipping, I realize that the shipping costs have come out a couple of euros less, can a refund be issued with the Postepay evolution account? Do you know if the refund is free, or do you have to pay? Thanks

assuming that if certain shipping costs are indicated in the listing and the buyer accepted them automatically by winning the item I don't see the point of a refund....... : anyway, if someone then wants to make life complicated for something that in my view isn't due, I remind you, in addition to what Sika indicated, that the refund must be made through the Ebay procedure ( this in case the buyer opens some dispute and so you don't have to pay twice......) .

prettyd_63

OP2 years ago

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Thanks, I actually don't know how to do it. Basically, by selling lots of different items and with all kinds of weights and sizes, I weighed the items and set the prices based on rates, sizes and zones. Sometimes though, it happens that at the post office, like today, they suggested I send it as Raccomandata Piego di Libri instead of a normal registered letter or a parcel (as I had instead calculated the price for a parcel based on weight because anyway the book weighed almost a kilo). And so, since in the past it has sometimes cost me more (it depends on the size), I then rounded up the shipping price by adding 1 euro (for packaging costs and consumables (packing tape, cost divided however over several shipments so if the tape for packing costs 2 euros, I divide the price by at least about 10 shipments (I always pack well with lots of tape) in short, I have travel expenses, gas, sometimes depending). But this time the difference is 3 euros. I had 3 euros left over by sending it as Raccomandata piego di libri. It seems wrong to me if a person paid 8 euros for shipping and then the package arrives with 5 euros written on it, for example, as the shipping cost (I don't remember the exact amount), is that right? In a sense you also spend gas to go to the post office, but the post office I often go to is the one near my house etc.. in any case.. but if I have to refund less than 3 euros, if for example they take 1 euro, I don't know in the end whether with 2 euros or 1 euro left over it's worth refunding. So I don't know how to handle it? I can't put a definite exact cost for postage, because often something changes at the post office. Sometimes I ended up losing money because by then I had already written a cost for shipping. How do you handle it? for prices?

daxsisko

·2 years ago

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@prettyd_63 wrote:
Thanks, I honestly don’t know how to do it. Basically, since I sell lots of different items with various weights and sizes, I weighed the items and set the prices based on rates, sizes, and zones. Sometimes though, at the post office, like today, they suggested I ship as a book-rate registered mailing instead of normal registered mail or a parcel (even though I had calculated the price for a parcel based on weight because the book weighed almost a kilo). And so, since in the past it has sometimes cost me more that way (it depends on the format), I then rounded up the shipping price by adding 1 euro (for packaging costs and consumables (packing tape, whose cost I divide across several shipments since if the tape for packaging costs 2 euros, I spread that price over at least about 10 shipments (I always pack well with lots of tape) anyway I have transport costs, fuel, sometimes depending). But this time the difference is 3 euros. I ended up with 3 euros left over by shipping as book-rate registered mail. It seems wrong to me if a person paid 8 euros for shipping and then the package arrives with, say, 5 euros written on it as the shipping cost (I don’t remember the exact amount), would that be right? In a sense you also spend money on gas to go to the post office, but the post office I often go to is the one near my house etc.. anyway.. but if I have to issue a refund for less than 3 euros, if they take, say, 1 euro I don’t know in the end whether, with 2 euros or 1 euro left over, it’s worth refunding. So I don’t know how to handle it? I can’t set a definitive, exact postal cost, because often something changes at the post office. Sometimes I lost money on it because I had already written a shipping cost. How do you handle it? for prices?

for a thorough answer it depends on a number of factors (and also on experience......) and so it would be very complicated; however, very briefly :

there isn’t just the post office, but also various shipping management sites on the web (including the one “sponsored” by Ebay and managed by Packlink) where the amount paid isn’t shown (.....although, if it’s a savvy buyer, they’ll find out anyway.....), sites that you do have to know how to use;

for prices, some offer free shipping (which then isn’t really free, because more often than not it’s built into the item price....), or else they split the difference;

the weight and dimensions of the item being sold can be known in advance, as can the packaging used (all you need is a simple electronic kitchen scale.... for heavy parcels, a bathroom scale....), so you check the estimated shipping costs before posting the listing;

to keep it brief I won’t go on any further, but I’ve already given you some ideas on the matter.....

prettyd_63

OP2 years ago

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Thanks for the reply. Yes, I always weigh packages and items, but precision isn't always possible because even when I weigh the packages, sometimes it didn't match. In fact, by going to the post office, I've ended up losing money many times having to pay extra. I'll still try to take the measurements and weights as best I can to avoid it happening, as it has happened a few times, thanks for the information!

daxsisko

·2 years ago

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@prettyd_63 wrote:
Thanks for the reply. yes, I always weigh the packages and items, but precision is sometimes not possible because even if I weigh the packages, sometimes it didn’t match. In fact, when I went to the post office, I ended up losing out many times having to pay extra. Anyway, I’ll try to take the measurements and weights as best I can to avoid it happening, as it has happened a few times, thanks for the info!

you’re welcome

anyway, if the main problem is not wanting people to see how much you really spent on shipping costs (since with certain postal services it’s clearly indicated on the shipping package), consider using a shipping manager and sending via courier, or putting low shipping costs - or free ones -, and at the same time raising the item price (for example, putting an item at 5 eur with 10 eur shipping and putting the same item at 15 eur with free shipping means you pay the same fees to Ebay and the buyer pays the same total amount); then when you’re a bit more experienced, you can eventually consider "variations".

marchingenius

·6 months ago

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When I realize it before going to the post office, I add the difference inside the shipment.

sika700

·2 years ago

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Good morning,

if eBay has to withdraw the amount from your Postepay, the cost is 40 cents... because it's a direct debit.

Kind regards.