If you're emailing just to say "I'm not bidding because you're overcharging for shipping" or "because you won't accept payment method X", then you're just being arrogant and obnoxious.
But if you're emailing him to ask legitimate questions to help you decide whether to bid, and you ask in a civilized manner, that's perfectly acceptable. For example, you might ask how much he's charging for shipping (if his auction page didn't say); or you might suggest "$X for shipping sounds a bit steep, would you consider reducing it to only $Y if I win?"; or you might ask about the condition the item is in; etc.
Unfortunately, that's not eBay's view. A court may not convict you but eBay will hold you accountable.
If you enter a bid and that bid is the high bid, you've entered into a contract to buy the item. It is up to you as the buyer to pay for it, including postage or other charges. That's why it behooves the bidder to know, in advance, what postage and "other charges" might apply BEFORE bidding.
Well I don't care for rediculous S&H rates, and simply don't bid on those items. As someone else said, there will be another, insert item here, that will be listed shortly.
When I list items, if I have the right sized box I'll use that as well as any left over packing materials I may gathered over the years, or newspaper. Newspaper is a great packing material that is relatively cheap.
I can say that one reason for not allowing local pick ups is simply that as a seller, I don't want strangers dropping over at my house. A good example is a few years ago I sold a very rare guitar amp and due to the size was initially all to happy to waive shipping and let the buyer who lived locally come by and pick it up. Unfortunately, he turned out to be a *very* weird person and dropped by a few more times unannounced just to chat, usually around dinner time! Finally, I kind of put my foot down and I later heard from my neighbor this guy was seen trying to climb my wall to get in my back yard one day while everyone was at work. I never had another problem with the guy once I contacted him about the incident but I'll never allow a stranger to drop by again.
I would not allow anyone to come to my house either, but if we are near each other, arranging a meeting in a suitable location (such as work places - which I have done, and also coffee shops) is pretty simple.
I have a wife and young son. In this day and age, I don't take chances with my family's well being when it comes to strangers.
However, like someone else mentioned, meeting at a public place isn't a problem and in a few instances when it came to small items (picking up or selling concert tickits in all my cases) isn't a big deal. However, I'm not going to lug a big kit or other sizeable and pricey item to say, a store parking lot to meet some guy who hopefully has several hundred bucks in cash for his purchase.
Like I said, if it seems reasonable, I'll pay it, even if I didn't ask it beforehand; my ethics and the law seem to agree here. That's what a reasonable person would do. Whether it's $1.85 or something like $8 for a single normal size kit box. But it it's $20 or up, reasonable starts to be in doubt. I got a $50 shipping charge on a paypal invoice the other day for a single item. I assumed it was an error and asked the guy, since he had a long history of good feedbacks and no bad, and of course it was a typo. If it wasn't I wasn't going to feel morally obligated to pay it, though. That's why the mechanic has you sign or initial a statement on the repair order that you will preauthorize repairs up to $xxx and larger than that they will call you; not many courts would say that by dropping off your car for a simple oil change, you automatically agreed to pay $2,000 because that's what the mechanic charges.
Yeah, but considering how arbitrary they are about enforcing things, whether obviously justified or not, I consider getting NRUed a random act of nature, with very little correlation with whether an individual has done anything either unethical, or against eBay's rules (which are not themselves all that well correlated). I try to avoid it, but if it hits it hits.
So you decide what's reasonable for the seller? Do you tell your local car dealer how much to charge for a new car?
I want in on that deal! Heh.
More seriously; if you don't *ask* the seller, you have nothing to bitch about. If you don't like it when a seller provides no clue about shipping costs (which irks me) then don't bid. It's very simple.
I seriously doubt you would ever reach court stage. If you stiff a seller on eBay, generally the worst you'll get is a nasty comment from the seller and a negative feedback.
Most sellers are very willing to send you an estimate, if provided with a zip code. The ones who really irk me are the sellers who post package dimensions and weight, with a link to ups.com.
I know, since I've sold a couple things myself, that it isn't that hard to include the button to estimate shipping by zip code. In fact, the script asks you the box dimensions, weight, and which shipping methods will you provide, such as UPS, USPS Priority, media mail, bound & printed matter, etc.
Piece o' cake...
Bill Woodier did a great job of summing up the basics already. I just felt the urge to share my wisdom. ;)
Why do I have the feeling that Stephen T. is the type to tell you what kind of car you should drive, what kind of food you should eat, and that smoking, drinking, and fatty foods are all bad for you?
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