g026r wrote:Interestingly enough, it's something that's never come up for me before. (8O) (Okay, so a dollar or two extra has come up, but never enough that I was actually pissed about it.)

Anyway, I purchased a book on eBay.  Seller charged me $10 for shipping -- bit steep for the item, but he could have just taken a priority flat rate envelope quote and not bothered to see if it could be gotten cheaper.

Item finally arrived today after roughly a month.  I figured it had just gotten hung up in customs when I was waiting, but it seems the real reason was cheap-ass seller: manilla envelope, first class mail shipping, for a grand total of roughly a quarter of what I was charged.

So: should I contact the seller first? Should I just leave feedback? What's the standard way of dealing with these things?

Contact him and make him know you are displeased, it may help get a refund.

Unfortunately, as someone who checks the postage on packages that arrive, it's actually about normal (few dollars less, pretty much) for any RPG books going to Canada via Priority Mail.

I shall contact the seller then; now to come up with an email that clearly displays that I'm upset without veering into crazy buyer territory...

I've run into this before, and contacted the seller.  The last time I got a convincing story about costs above and beyond the actual postage, but I know other times its been daylight robbery.

Anyway, I purchased a book on eBay.  Seller charged me $10 for shipping -- bit steep for the item, but he could have just taken a priority flat rate envelope quote and not bothered to see if it could be gotten cheaper.

Item finally arrived today after roughly a month.  I figured it had just gotten hung up in customs when I was waiting, but it seems the real reason was cheap-ass seller: manilla envelope, first class mail shipping, for a grand total of roughly a quarter of what I was charged.

So: should I contact the seller first? Should I just leave feedback? What's the standard way of dealing with these things?

In my view, unless you're an eBay shareholder, shipping costs are pretty much irrelevant so long as you know them ahead of time.

Suppose you value the thing at $20.

If he wants $3 for shipping, then you'd bid up to $17 for it.

If he wants $10 for shipping, then you'd only bid up to $10 for it.

You still end up paying the same amount.. $20. So, from a buyer's perspective it makes no difference to me. Now I suppose it could be argued that others don't think exactly this way, but it's a stretch to believe s/h costs aren't factored in, at least to some degree, when making auction bids.

However, if you don't know how much the seller is going to charge you, or that it ends up a lot more than you were led on to believe (which seems like the case you've described), then I'd have a serious gripe.. and worthy of a complaint.

Of course, incidental to this issue is the question of how much shipping can be according to eBay rules but based on my experience and eBay vigilance, anything +/- $5 from your "normal" postage, and so long as the price isn't entirely embedded in the shipping costs, is not something that will draw their attention.

But this seems like a separate issue and has been brought up before.

Not to rehash all of this but that is a very simplistic and naive view.  Maybe this is fine if all goes well in a transaction but if the transaction goes bad, you are out of luck.  If the item is bought for $5 with $15 shipping and it ends up being damaged or not in the condition as noted, then the shipping and handling plays a huge part of what kind of refund you will get.

That's a good point. Though I'm not sure if I would call what I think simplistic and naive, maybe incomplete..

Still, I do think that it's a rather small consideration given that:

1) many sellers will refund all expenses if the item is not up to par, and even if they do not;

2) the price will likely dwarf the shippping cost for any item that one would consider returning. After all, it is usually not worth it to return the item when the return shipping costs are high unless one paid a lot for the thing to begin with.

While we're on the topic, can anyone tell me how to cancel a sale? I had an item returned and I'd like to recoup the eBay fees if possible.

I am not getting involved in this any more than this post and this has been beat to death by you know who, but a some sellers make their living off the S&H fees from thier auctions.  Don't beleive me, check out natalie's posts in the Cougarrinard thread to see what I mean.  Examples:



1) One lot she recieved form dear old dave contained 33 items Shipping and hanlding fees for that auction: £90 plus an extra £9 for insurance or in other words ~$200 USD for 33 items to be shipped to her.  





2)  Lot #2 from Dave, 40 items. S&H this time £93 plus an extra £9 insurance. In this circumstance it cost her ~$214 to have those items shipped to her



3)  Lot #3 from Dave, 5 items.  S&H this time was £12 plus an extra £3 for insurance.  Total cost in USD for 5 items to be shipped $30.  



All told, it cost her roughly $450 UDS to have a total of 78 items shipped to her.  $450 where it probably actually cost Dave about 1/3 of that to ship it. all  Dave has an expressed return policy in his auctions where he will not refund shipping and handling fees under any circumstance nor will he reimberse for Ebay & Paypal fees from the auctions.  Don't believe me?  Check his auctions:



http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0161951118



That means Dave is profiting roughly $300 above and beyond what the auctions sell for that are guarenteed in his pocket.  He can ship you a box full of dog shit(which looking at the CM2 picture Natalie posted, its not that far off) and you have the privledge of paying an extra $300 to do so, none of which will be refunded.   This is precicely how many sellers on Ebay work and also the exact reason why Dave has been able to hang on so long.

bclarkie wrote:I am not getting involved in this any more than this post and this has been beat to death by you know who, but a some sellers make their living off the S&H fees from thier auctions.  Don't beleive me, check out natalie's posts in the Cougarrinard thread to see what I mean.  Examples:

1) One lot she recieved form dear old dave contained 33 items Shipping and hanlding fees for that auction: £90 plus an extra £9 for insurance or in other words ~$200 USD for 33 items to be shipped to her.  


2)  Lot #2 from Dave, 40 items. S&H this time £93 plus an extra £9 insurance. In this circumstance it cost her ~$214 to have those items shipped to her

3)  Lot #3 from Dave, 5 items.  S&H this time was £12 plus an extra £3 for insurance.  Total cost in USD for 5 items to be shipped $30.  

All told, it cost her roughly $450 UDS to have a total of 78 items shipped to her.  $480 where it probably actually cost Dve about 1/3 of that to ship it. all  Dave has an expressed return policy in his auctions where he will not refund shipping and handling fees under any circumstance nor will he reimberse for Ebay & Paypal fees from the auctions.  Don't believe me?  Check his auctions:


** expired/removed eBay auction **


That means Dave is profiting roughly $300 above and beyond what the auctions sell for that are guarenteed in his pocket.  He can ship you a box full of dog shit(which looking at the CM2 picture Natalie posted, its not that far off) and you have the privledge of paying an extra $300 to do so, none of which will be refunded.   This is precicely how many sellers on Ebay work and also the exact reason why Dave has been able to hang on so long.

Holy sh*t, what a jerk!!!!!        

Sea-to-sky-games wrote:
1. If you think overcharging on shipping indicates a "slimy" seller, then you shouldn't bid on the item in the first place. I think you're suppositions have answered you're own question here.

Bingo.

This type of thread has been beaten into the ground year after year.  The solution is very simple: DONT PATRONIZE SELLERS WHO ARE CHARGING OUTRAGEOUS SHIPPING.  And if you do, don't cry about it, man up for god's sake and resolve to read the fine print next time around.  We've all had an "oh crap" moment when we pushed a BIN too quickly and realized the shipping was over the top.  Live and learn.

Personally I would LOVE if all my competition charged $10 an item shipping. Free enterprise would take over, and I'd be making a bundle when buyers realize I charge half that, plus combine shipping.  

And frankly, anyone purchasing from Diamond Dave not ONCE but the SECOND TIME AROUND probably deserves what they got. While I feel for Nat, she did make a large purchase from the same person a few months earlier, so was apparantly aware of excessive charges involved with the Coug. If you want to smear honey all over your wang and shove it into a fire ant pile, you might get stung. The solution is to avoid the Coug at all costs, something a quick perusal of his feedback and the fact he doesn't state any shipping charges in his descriptions might indicate with a little research.

Mike B.