Rural delivery charge avoidance
I'm seeing an increasing number of rural buyers attempting to avoid the RD surcharge by omitting the RD info in the delivery address they supply, or not paying the appropriate amount when the posted shipping amount states "RD extra". This obviously doesn't happen (except maybe with Aramex) if their shipping address is uploaded to their Trademe profile or if the seller gets a quote via Book a Courier. Presumably they're hoping the seller won't notice that they're forking out an extra $5.50 or whatever on shipping, but it's an unnecessary waste of time having to get them to top-up the payment amount. Are other sellers encountering this?
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Yes I have had it happen. Sometimes it is a genuine mistake. ( I have done it myself). When a buyer has done it to me I offer 3 options to the buyer.
They pay the extra, or give me a non rural address or I cancel the trade. I give e them some time to reply. If no reply I cancel trade and refund then block
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S Community SuperuserEditedKia Ora Robert,
Unfortunately this is a common occurrence and for various reasons including the way different courier services zone their Urban - Rural districts therefore Urban addresses can be classed as Rural by 1 courier company though classed as Urban by a different courier company. - Others do make a genuine mistake when selecting shipping cost, as Teresa has advised and there are the ones who push their luck with Sellers.
If you type 'rural delivery not paid' in the Help search bar at the Top of Community pages you will see many discussions on this Topic with Helpful insights & Tips provided from Members.
A good Seller I use often has their Shipping loaded as Rural charge first followed by the Urban charge second therefore harder for Buyers to skip passed this Rural option. - Cheers.
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flossy63 Community SuperuserHaving this does not help your cause.. "RD extra" you need to have a firm shipping cost for both Urban and Rural in the shipping options,as payment details will only give them the one shipping you have which will be urban and they just pay what is on the payment instructions,Yes, unfortunately over the years many have and still will omit the RD out of address, hoping you are going to just write address on post bag and send,but more & more sellers are booking online, so no escape from hiding the RD, (after I picked it up once years ago, the buyer said just put in a bag and send?, um no sorry,) they were straight out trying to cheat the system & knew it,a good way to spot a rural address straight off if the 3rd number is a 7, 8 or 9 in post code for example 2382, seeing that 8 tells me rural, so check online, https://www.addresscheck.co.nz/or do dummy courier booking to get quote and gives you rural quotes,in my products it is easy just go to book a courier, get quote as address supplied automatically entered, as all on one page, so quick and easy, not the 3 pages the other onsite way,Just let the buyer know they have supplied a rural address, ask them to please pay the outstanding Rural fee, or can they please provide an alternative Urban address, If you have no luck getting either, contact Trade Me, they will not pay the correct shipping,it usually gets some action, after a week, no luck then you can cancel the trade and refund, if no rural payment or no alternative address,0 -
S Community Superuser
Kia Ora Robert,
My Comment for you has been stuck in Pending status for the last couple of hours awaiting TradeMe Staff to clear - Meantime this is how it reads for you...
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I get that but if you’re using a shipping option other than tm couriers (eg nz post bag) there isnt room to stick that in easily
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S Community Superuser
Example...
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flossy63 Community SuperuserEdited
I do not understand your comment, there is no room to stick it in?,
if you use the quotes system, write them down then manually enter your shipping type in what you want,
or use my products and create your own shipping templates,
You do not need to put "post bag" in, NZ post is sufficient, eg Std NZ Post Tracked (Rural), Std NZ Post Tracked (Urban)
I use different Couriers depending on address etc. so do not state a courier, so use the one with best shipping at the time, as boxed parcels can also vary between some destinations, my quotes average between the two couriers I mainly use,
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flossy63 Community Superuser
I also see my post earlier is also stuck in pending,
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Ok I hadn’t spotted that option, and it may deter some from trying to avoid it but in most cases it seems to be a deliberate strategy to ignore what it says in the listing or mislead, eg by sending the address with RD omitted and asking what the total cost is including shipping
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flossy63 Community Superuser
When buyers ask for combined shipping I always make sure I have the address via Trade Me first, so it can be checked, to make sure it is not Rural etc. before I give out the combined shipping cost,
Even if they say they are urban, get address first before giving cost (my stance, It must be sent via Trade Me & not in E-Mail, then locked in,) as some carriers class areas they do not serve Rural,
I fell for that trap many years ago said urban, but got rural address omitting RD, even questions on auctions, they do not get quotes until they have won and I physically have their address to check, they may say urban, but then you find rural with your carrier,
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