Ebay Buyer Jumps The Gun On Invoice And Then Complains I Don't Offer Combined Postage

I'm selling some FDCs on ebay right now, and the listing includes the instruction:
"Combined postage for multiple covers -- please wait for invoice."
So some guy buys a cover one night, then a cover the second night -- and then pays for both covers before the evening's listings have even wrapped up, and sends me an email minutes after his bid complaining that I offer combined postage, but didnt give it to him!
What on earth can you do about people like this?
Because I'm sure the guy is now gearing up to give -ve feedback.

Tell him what you are telling us

Peter

I did tell him.
No reply as yet.
In my experience such people refuse to admit they made a mistake.

I usually refund buyers like this one of the postage costs and then mail the two items together. It may cost you a few pence in ebay fees, but worth it to stave off the - feedback.

How do you go about refunding one of the postages?

You can refund the difference directly to the customer's paypal account. Or you can always do what Matthijs Philatelie does on ebay when a buyer makes a mistake with combined postage. Pocket the money, ignore the buyer and the negative feedback, then block them and move on.

I Just worked out how to do that.
Hopefully that does the trick.
Thanks for the help.

There's really nothing you can do to prevent it. I have the same text in my listings to tell people to wait or request an invoice, but there's always one or two who will buy multiple items and pay for each one separately. Like others have stated the best thing you can do is to refund the excess shipping paid.

This is one thing I like about Delcampe. Buyers can't pay until I send an invoice so shipping is correct the first time.

Hopefully this guy is happy I refunded the postage.
There's nothing worse than collecting -ves for buyer mistakes, even after you give a refund!

It's interesting how many buyers don't seem to add the "postage" column to the "price" column. Each week I give people Paypal refunds because they don't read my "please wait for an invoice" text.

Sometimes on the pay total, multiple sellers are bunched together and if you click the pay now button, they are all paid, even when bids are still out. It does seem like a bad feature. I'm sure sometimes this is the case...from experience!

It happens to us all the time and we refund the extra shipping, but you should probably tell him you sent the refund. I think a lot of our buyers never realize they got a refund.

I agree with KRelyea. Tell the buyer that you have given him a refund. Hope this helps!

Why is this a problem? Because it inconveniences you? Sorry but you're in business and it can get inconveniencing at times. Just refund the overpayment. Done. I've made the same mistake a couple of times, and I always appreciate it when the seller corrects it for me. Those sellers I keep buying from. A seller who complained I "didn't read the notice" I wouldn't buy from again. People make mistakes. Stop complaining about it.

The buyer got back to me after the refund and even apologized for being rude.
All's well that ends well.

Hi yall;

I will comment on this for I was like that sans the negative feedback- I very rarely have done that, I think it is 2 neutrals and 2 negatives out of over 500. This would be a good topic, when have you given or received neutral or negative feedback? One was an individual whom kept writing me back over 2 dozen times for minute reasons and may have been on something or having some other issue. When I finally got the item I gave a neutral on communication and said individual wrote me, apparently sincerely, that I was ruining said individuals career and taking bread out of the mouth. This hurt my feelings.I would not do such if I could and I couldn't.
Well anyway, as sellers you can block any buyer for any reason. But, I went to buy some Uni-safe hinges for just nearly three dollars and free shipping from someone I had bought them from before. And I was blocked. So I wrote a nice letter and explained that I did not do not remember ever having had a problem with the seller and had bought the item before and although I acknowledged the right of the seller to block, I asked why? The seller wrote me back in capital THANK YOU for my letter and proceeded to tell me that the seller places the buyer they block on a list-lol - and that the seller does not make a notation of why and oh well forgot why. I am not angry at all. I got my hinges from someone else. But now I "keep a little list" lol on sellers who are flaky and I won't buy from them. The purpose for my having written this is just to remind people that it goes both ways.