Slightly OT - Who's being unreasonable? (Ebay metal content)

Depending on the weight, UPS is sometimes cheaper. Once, I had a package go to Canada. I had to jump through hoops and give a credit card number for it to go UPS, which was at a customer's request. Long story short, the Canadian customs charged the person more than the item was worth in customs. They were going to charge our credit card, but the decent buyer paid it out of pocket instead of having us held up by Canadian Customs.

Now, we have a disclaimer that says item is described exactly on customs forms, exact value is stated, and whether it is a gift, merchandise, or whatever is stated, and that the buyer is responsible for whatever extortion and fees their country wants to charge.

STeve

The problem with UPS from US to Canada is that most of the fees are actually charged to the recipient by UPS (and they attempt to blame it on government fees). With mail the damage is limited to $5 on top of the duty (most of the time it's duty free, electronics and stuff made in the US are always duty free) and sales tax (which the buyer would have to pay anyway).

They don't *have* to do it, they have special deals with some companies to handle all the paperwork for a few dollars (eg. Newark), but for the one-off shipments they can charge $40 or $50 extra for the same thing. Fedex ground is fairly reasonable for heavy stuff, they still charge a bit, but it's like half.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

If you feel that strongly about it, pay for the auctions but don't pay the shipping, and tell him to keep the material. I've done just that a couple times myself when unhappy with shipping charges on "bargains."

When you want to buy odds and ends of SS or aluminum check out Yarde's Drop Zone. The price per pound is not much different from what you paid and you get to pick the stuff you want. You do have to spend $75 to avoid a handling charge.

Ned Simmons

Thanks for the support Harold. The seller's Ebay ID is "gentoolco"; I included a link to his current auctions in my original post, but here it is again:

I agree with your last statement. While I have had many successful transactions on Ebay, there have been a few where I've been screwed with no recourse.

In this particular case, I wouldn't call the guy a "crook", just a bad businessman who has little regard for his customers. As I had stated in another post in this thread, I was planning on buying more auctions from this seller. In fact, I told him so when I originally wrote him and asked if he would ship via the less-costly Priority instead of UPS. I said I'd rather give him my business and money than spend it on shipping. I guess he'd rather make money for UPS than for himself.

Regards, Michael

Except this particular seller had other auctions with USPS Priority Mail listed as the shipping method. In fact, he just listed another new auction today with Priority Mail as the listed shipping method.

His stated reasons for denying my request for shipment by Priority Mail was that he only uses UPS and the Post Office is "very inconvenient". Obviously, those two statements are lies.

- Michael

Seems to me "buyer pays actual shipping costs" is pretty clear. Also seems to me that if you had a preferred shipping method, that would have been a good thing to negotiate before the sale.

So THAT'S why they do it. I've bought several items recently priced that way and was satisfied that the total price I paid, including shipping, was fair enough.

If the shipping charges aren't clearly defined in an auction listing I ALWAYS ask the seller what they will be, before bidding.

It would be interesting to learn what the Mike's seller actually PAID to UPS. I wonder how close to $17.70 it really was.

Jeff

What was the weight and what were the ship from and ship to Zip Codes? You can easily check the actual shipping charges at

Why is cashing at the Post Office better?

Less chance of having the amount subtracted from your bank account if it turns out to be fake or whatever. I suppose the lack of a paper trail might also please those who are not declaring their income.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

"Spehro Pefhany" wrote

Now, who would do such a thing? ;-) Wouldn't you want to pay taxes on income you got from selling something you bought with after tax dollars that you already paid the taxes on?

Steve

PS: Don't forget the sales tax.

Mark, the seller never specified the method of shipping in the auctions I bid on. He did specify US Priority Mail as the shipping method for some of his other auctions, so it's reasonable to assume he is willing to -- and quite capable of -- shipping by Priority mail.

Btw, it is now possible to ship by USPS without making a trip to the Post Office. Free Priority Mail boxes and other supplies can be ordered from the USPS web site (and delivered to your doorstep for free within a day or two). And you can schedule a free parcel pick-up by your mail carrier (also from their web site). You can even pay for postage online. I had pointed all this out to the seller, and I even told him I would send him pre-paid postage to stick on the parcel so he wouldn't have to set up an online account.

The USPS has become quite competitive with other shipping services.

- Michael

Not only that but they're also selling their services to at least one of the other services. I ordered some shirts a while back and they were to be shipped via UPS because that was the only option they offered. They emailed a UPS tracking number to me and it continuously showed that they had been notified electronically that the package was being sent. After about a week there was still no change in the status. One afternoon my wife noticed the mail carrier walking back up the driveway to his truck. She looked on the front porch and there was my package with a UPS shipping label on it but it was delivered by the US Post Office!

I emailed the company I bought the shirts from and they said that's the way UPS is doing it now on some shipments. The tracking was useless. I wonder about the insurance.... :-/

Best Regards, Keith Marshall snipped-for-privacy@progressivelogic.com

"I'm not grown up enough to be so old!"

On Wed, 18 May 2005 01:34:22 GMT, the inscrutable "Keith Marshall" spake:

I ship via USPS Priority most often and find that their "tracking" page is similarly useless. It tells you that the package was delivered the day after it gets there, and nothing shows up except they list the electronic notification. There is no hard data during transit or clear proof that the package physically shipped. Luckily, I've never lost a PM package and close deliveries are overnight.

------------------------------------------ Do the voices in my head bother you? ------------------------------------------

page is similarly useless. It tells you that the package was delivered the day after it gets there, and nothing shows up except they list the electronic notification. There is no hard data during transit or clear proof that the package physically shipped. Luckily, I've never lost a PM package and close deliveries are overnight.