Buyer wanting cheaper shipping than what was listed

The time to negotiate shipping is before placing a bid, as the delivery cost is usually part of the buying decision. If it was stated on the auction, then that's what the buyer should pay.

Best thing to do is ask the buyer for their address so you can prepare them a quote for the shipping, as of course, you can't get a quote without their address. Once you know the quotes, go back to the buyer and let them know. Suggest that if they would prefer to pay you to pack and they then arrange courier collection themselves, then you are ok with that, if that's what you want to do, else simply say, these are the quotes, here's the packed weight and dimensions, let me know which option you would like.

I find when buying something the sellers  postal cost  for a parcel, that  I would normally pay for by sending with courier through Trademe is double.  If you combine then they almost double it any way a couple of dollars less.  I was shocked at my last parcel very light weight in a small bag gauging by tm courier should of been only $4 at the most and I had to pay $9.00.   What they are doing is paying a cheaper postage than what they say and that bumps the price up of the article you are buying.  Two bites at the one cherry.   Come on TM if anyone wants to buy sell on TM then they should be made to use TM courier service.  Such a vast difference.   My thinking is that people that use TM to get a good bargain so why should it be pushed up but a huge courier cost.     I keep my postage as low as possible to make it worth while for the person trading.    Just saying, but think it’s time for these business people trading in here to be loyal and support TM and their courier service.   Everyone would be happy all round and the business selling would maybe sell a lot more because their courier costs would be lower.   Waits for ear bashing now.  Hahaha.   But it’s true.

If they didn't like the quoted shipping they shouldn't have bid.

As you mentioned big traders get deals with couriers by buying bulk tickets etc and many small traders and just people traders cannot do that. Stick to your guns (quotes I mean!) and don't be bullied into having to fork out for part of their shipping cost. Very good advice from Gary above on how to deal with it :)

@Yvonne, TM's courier service won't help serious "business people" in cutting down courier costs, BAC is not the cheapest option around (except maybe if one is happy to use Aramex). BAC is only good for the occasional traders who don't send many parcels.

@Yvonne, I must disagree.  I've found the booking system incredibly accurate.  The only difference I can see is the level of service, you get an upgraded service compared to what you would get instore.  BTW in this scenario I'm talking courier not snail mail.

@Gary, I did email her asking for her address before I posted here.  Now she has come back with an address in Southland (I'm north island), that the system won't pick up so I will have to go instore.  On the mail post code finder it only says they get mail delievered to that address 3 times a week.  She has also stated that she wants it there before Christmas.

It just seems like unrealistic expectations to me, expecting to pay as little as possible & to receive it as fast as possible particularly at this time of year, in a neighbourhood with sporadic delivery?!

I'm so worried about negative feedback (because not a lot can be done) & I feel like this is so unfair.

I'm not ok giving over my details to let her organise shipping (& then having to work around that, that was never part of the deal) so I'm just going to tell her to pay up or cancel, not wasting any more time on a service I never said I was going to provide.

Hi Tania. You may want to have a look at this post as it shows how to manually input an address if the system doesn't recognize it. 

The delivery every 3 days sounds like a rural delivery address, so even the smallest parcel that has 1 dimension of 700mm is going to cost $15 - $17 using Book a Courier depending on what service you choose.

Mails getting delivered 3 times a week (not every 3 days) sounds like a normal urban address.

@OP if you have listed all the costs clearly in the listing and the buyer won the auction based on that, I don't think it's wise to negotiate anything at all after the auction closed, IMHO negotiating after auction closed is a bad practice, that resulted in bad habits in buyers who like to negotiate after auction closed. Please try to stick to the terms, costs, etc listed in the auction (even if the seller made a mistake and lost money). If a buyer tries to wriggle out of the terms of auction they have won, they should be reported to Trade Me and blacklisted.

@Arthur I 100% agree & always stick to the price, even if the quote was wrong & I am out of pocket.  After mucking around with several emails back & forth I reminded her again she agreed when she bidded so either pay it or cancel it.  She paid - albeit short a cent lol some folks just like a win no matter what!  Lesson learnt.