The Yak Shack Forum

I have just received a parcel from Australia.  I was charged $32.50 American dollars but the label on it is for $22 Australian dollars.  Looking for an opinion - should I complain about the postage charge or am I just being mean and this is a reasonable price to pay for a padded envelope?

Answers on a postcard .....  ;)  No seriously any thoughts greatly appreciated.

Padded envelopes in Aus dont cost this much; Id be asking questions...

It depends if the item was insured at all... for eg, I sent a card out a few weeks ago... postage on it was marked $8, but I paid $10 extra for insurance which wasn't indicated on the stamp, so that might be a possibility...

Ah that could be it.  The bits were fully insured.  In the UK the sticker on the parcel includes the insurance.   Many thanks  :)

Since $22 AU equals $16.93 US with this morning's currency exchange, there's a difference of $15.57 US.  Would the insurance have been that high?

Depending on where and what was sent (as well as how much it was insured for) and also how it was sent (express?) yes it is a possibility. The card I sent was to the US and insured for $100 US, it was total of $18 AU. I don't recall the exact insurance rates sorry :( But looking at what Cindy has said, I think they were being a bit lavish with the fees anyway :-\

To be honest I was getting a bit confused with them anyway.  Some bits were in US dollars and other bits in Australian dollars - I wish they had just stuck to one or the other.  The parcel was actually one trading card and one box of cards.  They put an insurance value of $200, but I don't know if that is US or Oz.  I think what I am a bit cross about is this.  They were two separate auctions - one mine and one Grahams (not that we knew we were bidding with the same seller).  As Graham doesn't have Paypal so I paid for his with my account.  Now as they finished on separate days and I always pay ASAP, they were done as two Paypal payments but all the bits have been sent in the same envelope.  If the seller had asked if we wanted to combine postage fair enough but they just took both lots of postage (and insurance) and then sent the items together.  They are a good seller and do have great stuff so I don't want to upset them for a few dollars, I just get miffed when I think I have been diddled  :(

But thanks for these bits.  I will have a think about whether to email them or not.

Some sellers will not combine shipping when two items are paid separately, because PayPal charges fees per transaction.  It sounds like that's what happened here. 

However...had the seller shipped two packages -- one to you and one to Graham -- that would be one thing, but since he/she put all of the items for two different buyers into one package, there should have been some sort of shipping discount. :-\

No when I realised they were the same seller but I had paid on two separate Paypal transactions I assumed they would be sent separately.

Icing on the cake now - I am so cross  >:()  The card I had bought was the Saruman costume card for Grahams birthday, the one I was trying to keep secret  >:()  But this seller took it upon themselves to send Graham a message via Ebay saying they had sent both items in the same envelope and would refund $3.50 on the postage.  Now apart from the fact that after Paypal fees $3.50 will be practically nothing, they told Graham what I had bought!  The Saruman was bought on my Ebay account, paid for on my Paypal account and apart from the fact that me and Graham live at the same address, had nothing to do with his purchase.  If they had told me what he had bought fair enough, it was paid for under my Paypal account but the other way round!  >:()

Nothing I can do now, he knows but is being really sweet and 'forgetting'.  I will send the seller a message when I have calmed down pointing out they shouldn't discuss other peoples purchases with a third party.  But I am just so  >:()

The seller was definately in the wrong.  I wouldn't calm down too much, this sounds like this should be actionable through eBay and PayPal.  The seller has no right discussing your private information with others. >:()  Go get him Sharon! >:(

Sounds like sharp practice to me Sharon and I think that's outrageous they went ahead and told Graham about the Saruman card .... you were so chuffed to get it for him after trying to win one ... not funny! :-\
The other thing the seller could have done was to refund you the first payment and got you to combine it with the second auction and that way you would pay one lot of transaction fees and combined shipping.
I'm sure the insurance cost quite a bit, but even so the differences Cindy quoted do appear excessive. :-[

Go on ... get that email sent asap and do it through your ebay account too - always a good option if you want proof of contact should you need it later! ;)

A couple of questions for the ladies (Sharon and Nienna)who speak real English. The reason that I'm asing is I've seen the words here and want to determine what would be the right usage. Also are they good things or bad things?

1. Chuffed

2. Diddled


I don't know if your mad or glad?

chuffed is pleased, or satisfied. Diddled is cheated, hard done by etc

Go the little Aussie translator ;)

Sharon, I would definitely send the seller an email about that, *luckily* you and Graham are brother-sister and even though its terrible that your surprise was wrecked like that, at least he wasn't sharing your information with a stranger. But what if it wasn't the case >:()

:rofl:

I forget words I use every day may look a bit odd  :rofl:  I think it is because most Brits are brought up on US TV so understand most American words and so assume the same works in reverse.  ;D

Well I am just about to send the Email now but I am now in such a good mood I should probably wait.  I don't know what has cheered me up the most - the language thing or being called a lady instead of just 'Oi You'  Thank you John  ;D

I would have said the same until the other day when I took a US IQ test... I was asked to say what the opposite of some words were and I hadn't a clue what either word meant, I took a bash at it - and overall it rated me flatteringly highly in maths and logic but embarassingly low in understanding of language. I wonder if anyone ever made a US to UK dictionary - or a 3 way one into Aussie too, I get the impression Aussie English is closer to native English overall, but words in IQ tests aren't always the sorts of words they put in bog-standarrd US TV ;D

I hasten to add that I've never had any trouble with UK IQ tests ;)

Thank you, Kate and Ferd.

Flattery will get you EVERYWHERE John!! :-* ;)

You might see 'dead chuffed' written too ... meaning REALLY pleased!!

If you want to look through a wonderful Brit slang website, then this one is a fave of mine ...

http://www.effingpot.com/slang.shtml

Another funny one:~

http://www.zoo.ufl.edu/bolker/vocab/vocab.html

... for purely 'educational' purposes of course!! :rofl:

Jules, great links. You'll never know how releived I am to hear what you Brits mean by "diddled".   :-X
I used "Bob's your uncle", in a thread just for you. If you find it let me know how I did.  :rofl: