EBay Concerns

In a word, yes. Gouging on s/h has been going on for a while because eBay does not charge fees on the s/h charges. Some say "So? It's the total you pay that counts" but that isn't always the case. Should there be a problem with the shipment and you wish to return it for refund, guess what the seller WON'T refund... yeah, the s/h.

What cracks me up is that much of this s/h gouging is done by high-volume "power sellers," who pay lots of money in eBay fees. You'd think eBay would crack down on it, since they lose money every time something sells and the commission isn't charged on the s/h. But then again, those sellers could just decide to stop selling and take their business elsewhere, so eBay lets them flout whatever rules they want, whether it's gouging on s/h, using keywords in listings that have nothing to do with the item being sold, etc. If you or I, on the other hand, are a small-time seller who tries to do the same thing the big guys get away with, we will inevitably get reported (usually by a competitor, read: power seller) and have our auctions pulled and/or account suspended.

How does one protect himself against a shady seller? People say "check their feedback" but sometimes that doesn't help either. Buyers are wary of leaving negative feedback for sellers that don't communicate, sell improperly described merchandise, use poor packaging, etc. because those sellers will fire a negative right back at them out of retaliation. While one negative won't really hurt a seller with 5000+ positive transactions, think of how it hurts someone just starting out.

As far as the "penalty" thing goes, it's probably another thing that goes against eBay TOS, but I'll let someone else answer that one. I'd just recommend reporting the seller (for what it's worth) and see what happens from there.

This seems to be US problem? In the UK all regular postal charges must be quoted in advance and any extras for say overseas delivery must be 'reasonable' and mutually agreed by both parties.

(kim)

But where they get you is not the shipping. It's the handling. Those are 2 different things that people tend to consider as 1. Yeah, the USPS or UPS charges $6 SHIPPING. The seller then charges a HANDLING fee of what ever they require. So if you $15 S & H & it gets shipped for $5, then the seller charged a $10 handling fee.

in article dhko0f$9df$ snipped-for-privacy@domitilla.aioe.org, kim at snipped-for-privacy@aol.com wrote on

The instances I have related are admittedly predominately occurring with U.S. Sellers but lately, Ebay has begun to post the mailing rates as a means of providing a more accurate picture of the final costs of the sale.

Where there is still a great loophole is that the sellers invariably do not give international rates and fall back on the ploy of claiming that there is no control over what the post office charges. I have yet to see a mailing charge that accurately reflects the true mailing costs- postage and a small "fee" for handling.

If the seller intends to make up the difference in a low bid price win by charging exorbitantly for mailing expenses, then the only recourse is to stop dealing with that seller. The damage, however, is done and as an earlier reply indicates, buyers do not feel comfortable in responding to the seller when there is an immediate and often vindictive retribution exacted. One only has to look at the seller's past record to see that "dissing" is a common tactic to silence any critics.

If a seller has a large number of sales with positive feedback even though they do may act capriciously or even maliciously, they can afford to weather the occasional negative response. A seller who has just begun suing EBay would find a carefully placed negative feedback devastating.

This is the exact reason I Started

This is the exact reason I Started

I don't deal much in the models section of eBay but have done a lot of business in eBay militaria for the past 8 years or so. I've neither had, nor even heard of such a thing before. In fact, I've had exactly the same thing happen to me twice. Once I accidentally shorted the seller 50 cents and the other time a dollar. One payment was via check, the other PayPal. In each case, as soon as I realized what I'd done, I didn't wait for the seller to contact me; I e-mailed the sellers and advised I would be mailing out the extra amount in an envelope. One seller said that would be fine while the other actually reduced the postage by a dollar so my payment would be on the money, so to speak. Neither seller evoked or even mentioned a penalty clause. If it were me and the events happened as you describe, I would vote with my wallet and would never do business with that seller again....ever. There are enough good, honest sellers on eBay that there's no need to deal with a s*it-bag blood-sucking opportunist.

I agree. Shipping is shipping. It should be exactly what the post office (or whatever shipper you're using) charges. I have had a couple militaria sellers charge higher than normal fees for mailing. I've been buying long enough that I have a pretty good idea what a tunic costs to mail or a complete uniform. If it's slightly over that, no big deal. If it's "over the top" I ask them to break it down for me. I had one seller tell me the extra "handling fee" was for the packaging. When I got it, it had been sent via regular parcel post in a priority mail box that the seller had turned inside out (priority boxes are free at the post office). The tunic was wrapped in an old Sears plastic shopping bag, and was padded with old newspapers. Why this cost an extra $7.00, is a good question and I never got a satisfactory answer and I didn't push it beyond a single polite inquiry to avoid a retaliatory negative FB. Needless to say, that seller is on my personal blacklist.

I've run into a few sellers who also try to boost their profit by charging a surcharge on USPS insurance coverage as well. When I questioned two of them about it, they said it was a typo and charged me just what the post office charges. Again, I voted with my wallet and have never done business with them again. When you run into this sort of thing, you can get in their face over it but as others have said, you run the risk of pissing the seller off and getting an undeserved negative feedback for your trouble. If everyone who dealt with these people stopped bidding on their items, the message would be much more powerful than a nasty e-mail to them.

I make it a habit to check the S&H before bidding on anything I buy via eBay. If the seller hasn't posted it, I email them and ask the S&H to my zip code, and I retain the email. If I think they're hauling timber on me I don't bid.

Having said that, I think handling charges are a rip off. Either build it into the price of the item or live w/o it. Its part of doping business and as has been said already, its a mwans of avoiding paying eBay what they charge in fee's. Its not ok for the seller to screw eBay but its ok for them to screw the buyer!

John

I've noticed the shipping hikes for the last several years. One person was even so bold as to advertise his kit as $5 with a $20 s/h charge and then state "Get it? $20 + $5 s/h". Just a way to cheat eBay from the fair fee with a lower item price.

Recently, I won three Eduard PE sets from a seller for $17 total. His stated s/h was $3 per set, but I had asked prior to bidding if s/h would be combined. His response was $3 will be the s/h. It made sense that the cost of mailing one photo etch set would be roughly the same as mailing three.

I sent a payment of $20, then received an e-mail stating I needed to pay s/h for the other two sets ($4 more). I mailed him an additional $4 and finally received the three correct sets (the first set he sent me was the wrong item). Grand total postage for the one wrong item was

The seller charged me $7 shipping for a small envelope, scrap piece of cardboard and $1 postage. If he sends me $8, I'll return his wrong item USPS priority mail with insurance and delivery confirmation.

I only charge what the Post Office charges me plus a $1 for the packing material. I recently started doing that when styrofoam peanuts started costing so much.

So far I've only had one negative and, I suppose, I weathered it but it sure smarts even now. Had it been based in fact I would feel suitably chastened but it was a falsehood and I feel wronged. Looking back at this buyer's feedback I see that several other people had problems with him at the same time. I'll be charitable and say he had a bad patch. I spent 6 months working with this guy and he failed to come through, either with the original deal or the negotiated settlement.

I've had to leave some negatives for others but they were in the order of non-payment issues. If the buyer doesn't respond in 3 months what else can you do?

From the other side of it, I've been fairly lucky with the sellers I've encountered. The closest I got to being had was the model car I bought with what looked like a dirty windshield. When I asked, the seller said it was dust. When it got here it was glue and scratches. Fortunately the windshield could be replaced with one from Modelhaus and even then the cost was still under buying an unbuilt kit. I'd think twice before bidding on one of his models again, though.

Bill Banaszak, MFE

shouldn't be more than $6.

That depends. I recently sold a Monogram B-52 on eBay and got hit with an oversized box charge. Had to eat an extra $10 in postage...

Flat shipping rates may not be entirely fair, but for large volume sellers I can well imagine them using them. Consider: they want to be able to state a shipping charge up front, and they don't want to take each and every kit to the post office in a box before it even sells. Thus, they use an estimate (on the safe side for them), and call that a flat rate. No fundamental problem there. When it does get unfair, is when the shipping for multiple items is then deemed to be the sum of all the flat rates, or something close to that.

Never saw that happen.

In either case, the only thing you can do in these cases is refuse to play along, and never be intimidated. If they hit you with excessive charges after the auction closes, don't pay. They'll probably raise all hell about that, and maybe even file a non-paying bidder report, but this is not an automatic conviction; eBay does check with the buyer (been there, done that). If the problem becomes apparent after you receive the item, give them a hard time of it and leave negative feedback. That, and reporting them for policy violations, are your only weapons, so use them. If they really rip you off, consider doing a chargeback through your credit card.

If they retaliate with negative feedback, make sure to mark your own negatives as retaliatory. Most traders are still OK, so while your record won't be spotless, on the balance you'll stay significantly positive. Only a total newbie should ever have cause to hold his or her tongue.

All that said, I'm sometime amazed by the behaviour of other eBayers. I've seen positive feedback with a comment that basically said the product was crap and the seller had overcharged for everything. It is this mixture of stupidity and cowardice (choose which applies here) that keeps bad traders in business.

Rob

Caveat Emptor

This is a really good practice. Most of the sellers I deal with list a postage cost on the item page. Most do not charge a "handling" fee but whenever the postage fee is not stated in the auction, I always ask for a breakdown of postage and any handling charges before bidding.

I'm about to list something through a friend and it's not a small or light item. I'll crate the sucker and have it weighed, then it'll be up to the buyer to figure if he wants to bid based on the fact I'm going to require FedEx second day air, special handling and insurance of $2000 against loss or damage. I'll of course provide the zipcode it's shipping from. In case you're curious it's a 1/350 CV-8 Hornet built on commission (the dirtbag backed out of the deal) with Doolittle's plane just about to leave the deck.....estimated weight is on the order of 40 pounds with crate.

I round to the nearest dollar when I charge for shipping, up or down it's the nearest dollar.

I do charge to crate built models but then plywood isn't free. I also charge when I have to buy an oversized box.

That's illegal and should be reported to the Postal Inspectors. Reuse of a Priority Mail box is also illegal except in cases where you are returning an item "in the original packaging".

I lump that in with the actual shipping charge and round as above. If shipping and insurance cost $14.95 I charge $15, it it runs $15.45 I charge $15.

I give you the weight...exact weight on really big things in crates, approximate weight for stuff that can fit in a Priority Mail box or smaller and my zipcode, it's up to you to do the leg work on the rates.

Sorry dude, if you but 20 kits, you're paying for the box they fit in. If you buy a built up, you're paying for the crate I have to build so it doesn't get trashed. Built ups via Fedex second day air only and only within the lower 48. You can opt to skip insurance but then it's your problem if it gets smashed or lost.