You agree to the shipping costs when you buy.  Unless you ask the seller questions about shipping first. 

I think that’s right.

Hi Brenda, I have just looked up Trade Me's guidelines about postage, and this says: 

"Shipping and packaging charges must be reasonable and a reflection of the actual costs for packaging and postage, and shouldn't be inflated for profit."

I would suggest that you go down to and click on the words Contact Us (in small print, at the bottom of yourTrade Me pages). A blue bubble will appear on the right-hand side. Click on that, and then type-in Talk to a person, to bypass the robot, and do an online chat with a Trade Me staff-member. The hours they are on-duty are as below. So,if you do the Contact Us process now, an email will be sent to you, that you can respond to, and then do an email-correspondence with a Trade Me staff-member.Or, if you do the Contact Us tomorrow, you can do an online chat then, with a Trade Me staff-member.

Hello Brenda. No, Trade Me don't have such a thing. As Teresa said unless you have organised something different to what the seller had stated that's the shipping you agreed to pay when you purchased it. About all you can do is ask the seller to explain their postage costs to you. Your final step would be to leave feedback explaining how the trade went from your end.

Personally I refuse to buy from sellers with a $ rate to combine small items that are obviously just going to be packed and sent together. I don't see how that can be justified.

Hi Brenda, I found this under: 

I agree with Callum.Sellers should not be adding a $1 to every purchase on top of the original combined rate on small items.This to me indicates they are profitting on shipping.The whole idea of "intrade" sellers being charged success fees on shipping was to stop this.Oh wait that's right,from what I've seen a lot of casual sellers are doing this !!!

Code of conduct

As with others, I too do not agree off this adding 50c-$1 for every additional item when combining?, 

how can it be justified? a few seconds to add another item into a parcel?, no it is wrong,

I too do not buy from sellers that do this, yes, it is straight out profiting? as when you combine the buyers will be paying actual shipping with built in packaging costs anyway, it is just greed asking for extra $$ for every item, 

my buyers can buy an average for example between 10-20 items at a time?, sometimes it can alter the shipping to next size only by $1 which they will pay for, why on earth would you ask for another $1 per item?, 

The cost would also be dependant on what packaging products the seller is using and how much they pay for them and which services they use. They may use the trade me booking service or go in person to the local post office for example.

Julia

Anything up to $2 added to shipping is generally an acceptable amount to cover packaging costs, as a lot now days use recycled packaging, But then there is those that come back and ask for more above what was on auction because they went to post shop & brought a box for $8.00, that is not on as those sort of costs need to disclosed on auction, before any bids are placed, in those cases buyers do not have pay for them, as a hidden cost & not disclosed, when recycled boxes can be picked up at lots of different places for free,

I had someone come back many years ago and asked for $15 more dollars after trade was completed, as they brought a big Roll of packing tape and roll of brown paper especially to package parcel, that did not need to be wrapped at all, would have been a metre of tape used, and less a metre of paper only partially wrapped?, seriously that was so wrong, put it this way they got disabled not long after, so how many did they pull that stunt on? whom then possibly complained to trade me?.

It has been a few years now since I have received anything in a Brand New NZ Post box, most are on the ball these days and use recycled boxes, or new boxes from warehouse stationery etc. for a couple of dollars,

I have someone currently arguing over the cost of packaging for an LP record. Shipping collectable LPs in mint condition is risky because damage to the sleeve can devalue the item, and she is obviously a reseller. I put on the auction "Can be shipped in vinyl mailer", but didn't add shipping costs due to the complication of factoring the actual cost to me of a vinyl mailer ($3.50) into that. The buyer (who didn't inquire about shipping costs before bidding) is arguing I should make one for free using cardboard, tape and bubble wrap, and about the total cost (it's in an area where Aramex is more expensive). Well, I don't have cardboard, am not confident that I could make one that would be rigid enough, and its extra hassle I can do without. I try to use recycled packaging wherever possible and have never charged for it, but I don't have any regular source, and certainly not for something as specific as this. She's tried saying can she wait in case she buys another one so she can combine shipping, but I wouldn't do business with her again and have blacklisted her.

Latest/final response: "I will wait to yoit your man flu has gone , maybe i will buy something else to add to postage as im not paying for that , overpriced courier" 

I had a similar issue recently. Purchased from a seller, and asked if I could meet for trade if it suited, as I worked in the same town as he did. He responded "unfortunately I can't as I have work and family commitments", and responded that  the courier could deliver same day for $11.

I accepted that as face value, paid, and the next day it got delivered. No courier tag/barcode, and when I checked with our reception, was told it was dropped off by an individual. So I was charged for a non existent courier service. The least they could have done was to state "I've charged for a courier but I am going to drop it off myself" No doubt they were running another errand... I've provided that service myself to buyers, but I have never charged courier costs when doing so.

When I queried this with the seller, he condescendingly suggested I was confused or stressed. Told me I should have sought explanation before feedback, which I did, and which went unanswered. Maybe the seller really needed that $11....

I recently sold something that was quite bulky and a buyer asked prior to bidding for the cost of delivery to another part of Auckland. I offered to drop it for $7 but didn’t know the actual address which turned out to be a lot further away than I had hoped. In the end I probably lost $10 on the trade, so it can work both ways. The ird km cost for running a car is $1.04 so unless it’s a very short distance or you’re already going there it’s not going to be profitable to deliver a trade yourself.