Example:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Boeshield-T-9-Rustproof-Lubricant-Corrosion-Protection_W0QQitemZ7208488690QQcategoryZ27953QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Boeshield:$8 current bid. shipping $8.
what's wrong with this picture?
I just ordered some for $12 with NO shipping from a boat supplier.
Tee hee!
dave
On Sat, 07 Jan 2006 04:39:26 GMT, "Toller" <[email protected]> wrote:
>> So if I sold you a car for $100 and charged you a $15,000 delivery fee
>> that wouldn't be lame? (and *of course* you can't pick it up dummy)
>>
>Okay, the car costs $15,100. Is that lame or dishonest? Seems perfectly
>honest and straight forward to me.
It's very dishonest when you realize that the seller is only paying
"taxes" on the $100 and is getting the $15,000 completely tax-free
because it's counted as shipping.
>And who said you can't pick it up? I sold a large piece of exercise
>equipment on Ebay. For anyone wanting it shipped I charged "the actual
>freight cost plus $50 handling" The buyer paid $355 for the machine, $50
>for handling, and $65 for freight. The buyer knew the story before bidding
>and was delighted with her bargain.
Most sellers on eBay won't allow you to pick up your merchandise even
if you live next door to them. In fact, in all the years that I've
been on eBay, I've only run into one person who would allow a personal
pick up and that's because he had an actual physical store-front.
Otherwise, you get it shipped, no matter what.
"It's unethical, in my opinion to break out a separate (additional)
charge for "handling" when that cost should be a part of the cost of
the product."
That is idiotic for a number of reasons.
There is absolutely NOTHING unethical about charging a fee for a
necessary service as long as the fee is disclosed in advance. It is
also not a "scam." Only a moron believes they are scammed when they
are told that shipping costs $x.xx if they buy something.
Simple math will prove that $19 for a product + $1 for shipping = $20
just like is $15 for a product + $5 for shipping = $20. Now maybe some
people are fooled by the difference and feel a whole lot better and I'm
certain the advertisers just love having those kind of folks around.
However the rest of us don't much care about anything more than the
all-in cost of $20, because that's what we are paying.
If you had ever shipped anything you would know that it costs money to
buy packing tape, boxes and bubble wrap. People get really pissed off
when the stuff they bought arrives damaged because it wasn't properly
packaged.
"I have no use for jerkoffs that sell a $20 item for $5 then charge $40
for shipping."
The only jerkoff is the one who can't clearly see that they are paying
$45 for a $20 item and go ahead and make the purchase.
"Don't your customers have to "handle" it too? "
Yes they do. And they are more then welcome to bill themselves for
their trouble.
> > Shipping fees should cover the cost to get something to me, not be a huge
> > profit margin for the seller. Some sellers sell stuff for 1 cent and
> > charge $19.95 shipping to get around Ebay fees as Ebay doesn't charge
> > their cut on shipping.
>
> That's also contrary to eBay policy. I don't know why they don't crack down
> on it, since it's money out of their pocket.
Hundred of thousands of auctions. Not sure how they could monitor such
things on an item by item level without any complaints. They may do
some sampling, however.
A.M. Wood wrote:
> "I have no use for jerkoffs that sell a $20 item for $5 then charge $40
> for shipping."
>
> The only jerkoff is the one who can't clearly see that they are paying
> $45 for a $20 item and go ahead and make the purchase.
>
>
In my case I won't buy from any seller who has to resort to that kind
of tactic because it screams "DON'T TRUST THIS PERSON". If a
traditional store with an on-line service can deliver a washing machine
for $30, why do some ebay sellers require the same amount for an item
that will fit in your mail box?
We know that ratings and feedback on ebay are no longer credible guides
to a buyer/seller's integrity. Common sense has to rule. From now on
whenevr I see one of these obvious overcharges, the seller is going to
get a pointed comment which will also be copied in to ebay.
FoggyTown
"Can any sellers say whether Ebay charges extra to have the shipping
calculator on your page? "
IIRC Ebay does not charge to have the shipping calculator. They also
allow the seller to add a handling fee in the calculation and that fee
doesn't appear separately in the calculated shipping cost the buyer
sees.
It is wrong in my opinion to fault a seller for adding a REASONABLE
charge for packing materials into the equation.
"Can any sellers say whether Ebay charges extra to have the shipping
calculator on your page? "
IIRC Ebay does not charge to have the shipping calculator. They also
allow the seller to add a handling fee in the calculation and that fee
doesn't appear separately in the calculated shipping cost the buyer
sees.
It is wrong in my opinion to fault a seller for adding a REASONABLE
charge for packing materials into the equation.
"Can any sellers say whether Ebay charges extra to have the shipping
calculator on your page? "
IIRC Ebay does not charge to have the shipping calculator. They also
allow the seller to add a handling fee in the calculation and that fee
doesn't appear separately in the calculated shipping cost the buyer
sees.
It is wrong in my opinion to fault a seller for adding a REASONABLE
charge for packing materials into the equation.
"Can any sellers say whether Ebay charges extra to have the shipping
calculator on your page? "
IIRC Ebay does not charge to have the shipping calculator. They also
allow the seller to add a handling fee in the calculation and that fee
doesn't appear separately in the calculated shipping cost the buyer
sees.
It is wrong in my opinion to fault a seller for adding a REASONABLE
charge for packing materials into the equation.
"It's very dishonest when you realize that the seller is only paying
"taxes" on the $100 and is getting the $15,000 completely tax-free
because it's counted as shipping."
Maybe somewhere that is true. But here in the U.S. that shipping
revenue is included in the calculation of taxable profits. The seller
most definitely is required to pay income tax on that income.
"It's very dishonest when you realize that the seller is only paying
"taxes" on the $100 and is getting the $15,000 completely tax-free
because it's counted as shipping."
Maybe somewhere that is true. But here in the U.S. that shipping
revenue is included in the calculation of taxable profits. The seller
most definitely is required to pay income tax on that income.
"It's very dishonest when you realize that the seller is only paying
"taxes" on the $100 and is getting the $15,000 completely tax-free
because it's counted as shipping."
Maybe somewhere that is true. But here in the U.S. that shipping
revenue is included in the calculation of taxable profits. The seller
most definitely is required to pay income tax on that income.
"It's very dishonest when you realize that the seller is only paying
"taxes" on the $100 and is getting the $15,000 completely tax-free
because it's counted as shipping."
Maybe somewhere that is true. But here in the U.S. that shipping
revenue is included in the calculation of taxable profits. The seller
most definitely is required to pay income tax on that income.
"It's very dishonest when you realize that the seller is only paying
"taxes" on the $100 and is getting the $15,000 completely tax-free
because it's counted as shipping."
Maybe somewhere that is true. But here in the U.S. that shipping
revenue is included in the calculation of taxable profits. The seller
most definitely is required to pay income tax on that income.
"It's very dishonest when you realize that the seller is only paying
"taxes" on the $100 and is getting the $15,000 completely tax-free
because it's counted as shipping."
Maybe somewhere that is true. But here in the U.S. that shipping
revenue is included in the calculation of taxable profits. The seller
most definitely is required to pay income tax on that income.
"It's very dishonest when you realize that the seller is only paying
"taxes" on the $100 and is getting the $15,000 completely tax-free
because it's counted as shipping."
Maybe somewhere that is true. But here in the U.S. that shipping
revenue is included in the calculation of taxable profits. The seller
most definitely is required to pay income tax on that income.
"It's very dishonest when you realize that the seller is only paying
"taxes" on the $100 and is getting the $15,000 completely tax-free
because it's counted as shipping."
Maybe somewhere that is true. But here in the U.S. that shipping
revenue is included in the calculation of taxable profits. The seller
most definitely is required to pay income tax on that income.
wow - my S/H woes got more responses than I expected - no time to read
through them all "_
Anyway, im not bitching about the person who charges a couple bucks
handling fees - it makes sense and is fine to offset the cost/gas of
going to the post office, time spent foing so, etc.
My complaint was soley for the people (and there are plenty of these on
EBay) who try to hook you with a an item thats:
- Worth around $50.00
- Auction is listed for $10.00
- And hope people wont notice the $75.00 shipping and handling fee.
there's also the bit about return policy. I bought an external drive
case- couple of bucks, 15 or so shipping. I thought, sleazy, but it
adds up to the right amount, so I bought it. when it came, the case was
badly sub-par quality. wouldn't recognize. the vendor's return policy
was sale price refund only, and I have to pay shipping return. so I'd
be paying $3 shipping to get a $2 refund.
lesson learned.
All and all It's what ever you can get. I never bid on items with high
shipping or if I do I only bid what its worth as a deal with shipping
combined. LET THE BUYER BEWARE
"Frank Arthur" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> If you had to send the bottle or can of Boeshield to someone else in the
> USA how much would you have to spend to box and ship it?
> USPS, UPS or whatever.
>
>
> "David" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> Example:
>> http://cgi.ebay.com/Boeshield-T-9-Rustproof-Lubricant-Corrosion-Protection_W0QQitemZ7208488690QQcategoryZ27953QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
>>
>> Boeshield:$8 current bid. shipping $8.
>>
>> what's wrong with this picture?
>>
>> I just ordered some for $12 with NO shipping from a boat supplier.
>>
>> Tee hee!
>>
>> dave
>
>
Joe Barta <[email protected]> writes:
>I have no use for jerkoffs that sell a $20 item for $5 then charge $40
>for shipping. They might as well have tattooed on their forehead...
>"I'm a dishonest putz but I don't have the wit or the courage to be
>any good at it." I never buy anything from those types because you
>don't know what other lame surprises are in store for you.
I know guys who sold Xbox 360s at huge profits on Ebay before Christmas.
They charged $40 to $50 shipping and justified it as covering shipping,
Ebay, and Paypal fees. The 50% to 100% profit they made couldn't cover
the Ebay and Paypal fees??
Shipping fees should cover the cost to get something to me, not be a huge
profit margin for the seller. Some sellers sell stuff for 1 cent and
charge $19.95 shipping to get around Ebay fees as Ebay doesn't charge
their cut on shipping.
Brian Elfert
"LRod" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Fri, 06 Jan 2006 22:04:53 GMT, "Toller" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>I've gotten a number of complaints like that because I (like everyone else
>>on eBay) charge about $5 handling. It takes time to pack it up and ship
>>it.
>
Charge what ever you want for shipping an handling! Just be up front about
it and I will decide if the total price is in line. I refuse to bid if the
shipping and handling is not shown.
My neighbor "won" an auction on Ebay lately. He sent an e-mail for a request
for shipping charges before he bid. After the bid was done the seller sent
him a e-mail for the total, with shipping, and HANDLING! The shipping was as
quoted, but the added handling charge was more than the shipping. It was a
small item, but with all the charges it was more than he would have wanted
bid/pay for the item.
Greg
"todd" <[email protected]> writes:
>> They charged $40 to $50 shipping and justified it as covering shipping,
>> Ebay, and Paypal fees. The 50% to 100% profit they made couldn't cover
>> the Ebay and Paypal fees??
>It is against one's user agreement with PayPal to "charge back" PayPal fees.
They weren't/aren't chargin back the Paypal fees. They are just
justifying inflated shipping by saying they need to cover the Paypal and
Ebay fees.
>That's also contrary to eBay policy. I don't know why they don't crack down
>on it, since it's money out of their pocket.
It may be against Ebay policy, but many sellers do it. There would
probably be a seller rebellion if they started charging their cut on
shipping as some sellers pass along true costs and some items cost
hundreds to ship.
Brian Elfert
toolmiser <[email protected]> writes:
>My brother in law bought a bicycle on ebay with a really high shipping
>and handling price (even for a bicycle). The only thing was he was
>from the same city as the seller and he told him he would pick it up.
>The seller demanded he have it shipped, my BIL said no, so the seller
>refused to go thru with the sale.
I was looking at Dell computers on Ebay before Christmas and saw lots of
good prices. But, the price became ripoffs when shipping of $75 to $100
was added. I ended up buying from the Dell Outlet.
One seller even had a different price listed for local pickup that was
like $50 higher than the regular Buy It Now price. He was basically
adding on the profit he normally makes on shipping.
Brian Elfert
Enoch Root <[email protected]> writes:
>Can any sellers say whether Ebay charges extra to have the shipping
>calculator on your page?
I have never used the shipping calculator. I just use a flat fee that
sometimes makes me a few bucks and sometimes I lose a few bucks depending
on the buyer's location.
The shipping calculator can have handling fees added to the actual cost of
shipping. This way, the seller can rip off all buyers equally! With
fixed shipping, the shipping "profit" can be more or less depending on the
actual shipping charges.
Brian Elfert
Enoch Root <[email protected]> writes:
>> It's very dishonest when you realize that the seller is only paying
>> "taxes" on the $100 and is getting the $15,000 completely tax-free
>> because it's counted as shipping.
>Shipping isn't tax-free.
In the state of Minnesota, sales tax is not charged on shipping costs if
it is listed strictly as shipping charges. If it is listed as shipping
and handling then tax applies on the S&H charges.
Vehicles have special sales tax provisions and you probably couldn't avoid
sales tax by claiming a really high shipping charge.
Brian Elfert
"todd" <[email protected]> writes:
>high school education should be able to do the math. Do you believe mail
>order places should not charge for shipping? After all, when you go to Best
>Buy and purchase a television, they don't add a shipping charge, do they?
>Yet the television had to be shipped there, so Amazon is cheating people by
>charging shipping, right?
Unless a mail order company drop ships from the manufacturer, they had to
pay shipping to a warehouse somewhere somehow. This is no different than
a retail store paying to have stock shipped to them.
Brian Elfert
"Brian Henderson" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Sun, 8 Jan 2006 00:10:14 -0600, "todd" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >I was responding to an earlier comment that no one should ever charge
> >"handling" fees of any kind. Obviously, eBayers participating in final
> >value fee avoidance by charging very high shipping costs should be
killed.
> >I'm talking about adding a few bucks to the actual shipping cost as a
> >handling charge. What difference does it make if it's included in the
price
> >of the product or not? Either way, the buyer pays. Anyone who thinks
the
> >buyer doesn't pay is kidding himself. As long as it isn't excessive, I
> >don't see a problem.
>
> The handling fee should be part of the purchase price. You don't go
> to a store and get charged a handling fee, do you? After all, they
> have to pay someone to put the product on the shelf, don't they? They
> have to pay someone to ring up your purchase and put it in the bag?
> Should they charge you a packaging fee too?
Would you feel better if it was buried in the price of the part? Does that
make you think you aren't paying it? I really don't see the problem as long
as a) it isn't excessive and b) it's fully disclosed. Most people with a
high school education should be able to do the math. Do you believe mail
order places should not charge for shipping? After all, when you go to Best
Buy and purchase a television, they don't add a shipping charge, do they?
Yet the television had to be shipped there, so Amazon is cheating people by
charging shipping, right?
todd
>> And what is lame or dishonest about it?
>
> So if I sold you a car for $100 and charged you a $15,000 delivery fee
> that wouldn't be lame? (and *of course* you can't pick it up dummy)
>
Okay, the car costs $15,100. Is that lame or dishonest? Seems perfectly
honest and straight forward to me.
And who said you can't pick it up? I sold a large piece of exercise
equipment on Ebay. For anyone wanting it shipped I charged "the actual
freight cost plus $50 handling" The buyer paid $355 for the machine, $50
for handling, and $65 for freight. The buyer knew the story before bidding
and was delighted with her bargain.
I didn't bother to figure out in advance what the shipping would be, because
I assumed the buyer would be local and pick it up. Then there would be no
freight and no handling.
Was I lame or dishonest?
> If I sell you a tire for $5 but I charge $80 for mounting and
> balancing.... that's not dishonest? (and no, you can't mount it
> yourself sir... all tires come with mounting and balancing as a
> courtesty)
>
Well, lets see. The tire costs $85. And that is dishonest how?
> It's not at all difficult to understand.... and if YOU want to do
> business with folks that play these games, that's your option. But
> when you get bit in the ass by one of them, I hope you don't complain
> too loudly because this guy won't be feelin no sympathy!
>
How could I get bit when the cost is known to me before I bid? If I am too
stupid or lazy to add in the shipping before bidding then I certainly
deserve what I get.
> Joe Barta
>
> P.S. And if you think it's just okie dokie to skate past ebay's
> fees... if someone were to use a loophole to skate past paying YOU
> what you might otherwise be owed, I wonder if you'd think it was
> perfectly ok.
Ebay doesn't seem to have a problem with people charging handling; they
would just charge commission on the entire transaction rather than just the
product if they cared. Why on earth do you? Or are you just trolling on
this and I bit?
On Sun, 08 Jan 2006 13:02:52 GMT, Ba r r y
<[email protected]> wrote:
>Sales tax is not "paid" by a merchant, it's collected from the buyer
>and forwarded on to a taxing authority.
I didn't say sales tax. I said tax, which in this analogy would be a
lot closer to income tax.
>If the seller is keeping books, the $15,000 shipping charge would
>probably result in some sort of profit, which _can be_ taxable,
>depending on the structure of the business and the conditions on how
>the money is taken out of the business, such as owner's dividends,
>salaries, etc... <G>
You have to remember this is just an analogy. eBay charges "taxes" on
the sales portion of the auction. By playing creative bookkeeping,
some eBay sellers are screwing eBay out of their "taxes" by shifting
the real cost of the item over to the shipping side and selling their
products for a penny. eBay, of course, who is paying for the whole
auction system, has every right to stomp on this practice, and they
should do so. There is a cost to using the eBay auction site and
being dishonest to make an additional profit that you are not entitled
to should not be permitted.
Ba r r y wrote:
> On 6 Jan 2006 13:26:16 -0800, [email protected] wrote:
>
>
>>yea, the shipping scame is pretty common, and cheap as hell.
>>If i see a seller who is going nuts with the shipping, i always send
>>them an email asking them if they made a mistake and mean 5.00 for
>>shipping instead of 50.00, etc etc, or something along those lines to
>>try and piss them off.
>
>
> The seller Dave was pointing to isn't exactly scamming on shipping.
>
> He is offering $7.95 flat rate shipping, and offers to combine
> auctions for one shipping charge. He has 767 items currently for
> sale. The seller has a 5000+ 99.9% positive feedback rating.
>
> That's a scam? Have you priced actual packaging and shipping charges,
> including pickup fees or gas to get to the shipper lately? How about
> time? Is yours free?
>
> If I order just this one item from Grizzly via Amazon, it's $7.95 +
> $7.70 for shipping, or I can buy a 12 oz. can of Boeshield locally for
> about $15 + sales tax. $7.95 for a 4 oz. can of Boeshield, and paying
> shipping on the one item simply dosen't make economic sense if you're
> looking for a deal.
>
> The boating supplier Dave mentions probably is using it as a
> loss-leader special to attract other sales, as they're probably losing
> a few cents on it if you order nothing else.
>
> Now if Dave would share the name of the boating supplier... <G>
(I guess I accidently cleared out the subject on the previous post)
I can do that.
and the name of the boating supplier is...
bettersailing.com
I meant to order just one or two cans but ended up adding a silicone
free dry lubricant as well, about $17/can.
dave
Frank Arthur wrote:
> If you had to send the bottle or can of Boeshield to someone else in the USA
> how much would you have to spend to box and ship it?
> USPS, UPS or whatever.
>
>
> "David" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>
>>Example:
>>http://cgi.ebay.com/Boeshield-T-9-Rustproof-Lubricant-Corrosion-Protection_W0QQitemZ7208488690QQcategoryZ27953QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
>>
>>Boeshield:$8 current bid. shipping $8.
>>
>>what's wrong with this picture?
>>
>>I just ordered some for $12 with NO shipping from a boat supplier.
>>
>>Tee hee!
>>
>>dave
>
>
>
at least $6. that's why i ordered 2 cans of the T9 and added another
$17 can of dry film lube to my order--I felt guilty! :)
Dave
Ba r r y wrote:
> On 6 Jan 2006 13:26:16 -0800, [email protected] wrote:
>
>
>>yea, the shipping scame is pretty common, and cheap as hell.
>>If i see a seller who is going nuts with the shipping, i always send
>>them an email asking them if they made a mistake and mean 5.00 for
>>shipping instead of 50.00, etc etc, or something along those lines to
>>try and piss them off.
>
>
> The seller Dave was pointing to isn't exactly scamming on shipping.
>
> He is offering $7.95 flat rate shipping, and offers to combine
> auctions for one shipping charge. He has 767 items currently for
> sale. The seller has a 5000+ 99.9% positive feedback rating.
>
> That's a scam? Have you priced actual packaging and shipping charges,
> including pickup fees or gas to get to the shipper lately? How about
> time? Is yours free?
>
> If I order just this one item from Grizzly via Amazon, it's $7.95 +
> $7.70 for shipping, or I can buy a 12 oz. can of Boeshield locally for
> about $15 + sales tax. $7.95 for a 4 oz. can of Boeshield, and paying
> shipping on the one item simply dosen't make economic sense if you're
> looking for a deal.
>
> The boating supplier Dave mentions probably is using it as a
> loss-leader special to attract other sales, as they're probably losing
> a few cents on it if you order nothing else.
>
> Now if Dave would share the name of the boating supplier... <G>
I can do that.
and the name of the boating supplier is...
bettersailing.com
I meant to order just one or two cans but ended up adding a silicone
free dry lubricant as well, about $17/can.
dave
If you had to send the bottle or can of Boeshield to someone else in the USA
how much would you have to spend to box and ship it?
USPS, UPS or whatever.
"David" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Example:
> http://cgi.ebay.com/Boeshield-T-9-Rustproof-Lubricant-Corrosion-Protection_W0QQitemZ7208488690QQcategoryZ27953QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
>
> Boeshield:$8 current bid. shipping $8.
>
> what's wrong with this picture?
>
> I just ordered some for $12 with NO shipping from a boat supplier.
>
> Tee hee!
>
> dave
Ba r r y wrote:
> The boating supplier Dave mentions probably is using it as a
> loss-leader special to attract other sales, as they're probably losing
> a few cents on it if you order nothing else.
>
> Now if Dave would share the name of the boating supplier... <G>
heads up: I never received my order from them. turns out they never
filled the order, so I canceled it today. Flakes!
Dave
"Roger amd Missy Behnke" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Every buy something from a traditional retailer or catalog warehouse then
> have it shipped? There is usually a shipping AND handling charge. Are
> these merchants being unethical?
They can be, depending on how they do it. I have no problem with a shipping
and handling charge but they can be used in a bogus manor. In the case of
these EBay sellers, many of them are using the S&H charge to both rip off
PayPal and EBay as well as fool the buyer into thinking they are getting the
item for less money. Another problem with this crap that may not apply to
EBay so much but could happen is screwing you if you return it. You buy an
interesting widget for the unbelievably low price of $19.99 but it has a
$200 S&H charge. You the buyer reasons (like many in here have) as this
thing is easily worth the $220 combined cost, probably more like $300 and it
has a money back guarantee so who cares how the price is laid out. So you
order it and it shows up a week later in perfect condition but it proves to
be both an advertising scam and a piece of junk. No problem you say, it has
a guarantee and send it back for your refund. The seller of course honors
his commitment and sends you back a refund check ....... for $19.99. Hey,
wait a minute, it cost you far more than that and you call the seller to get
this corrected. His response is... I'm sorry Sir, but you paid $19.99 for
the product which we fully refunded, the $200 was payment for our excellent
shipping and handling service and is not refundable.
--
If at first you don't succeed, you're not cut out for skydiving
On 6 Jan 2006 21:43:56 -0800, [email protected] wrote:
>And what should I bid to the guy that was selling labels for my Dymo
>Labelwriter for $9.99 and was charging $25 flat rate for shipment to
>Canada?
NEGATIVE $25
Does Ebay allow negative numbers in their bidding?
I can buy 5 rolls of that label stuff at Walmart for $4.95, and for
awhile they had an extra "free" roll in the pack, so 6 rolls for that
price.
"LRod" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Fri, 06 Jan 2006 22:04:53 GMT, "Toller" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >I've gotten a number of complaints like that because I (like everyone
else
> >on eBay) charge about $5 handling. It takes time to pack it up and ship
it.
>
> Well, why don't you break it down altogether: $6 house payment, $2
> mortgage interest, $3.50 gas, 75¢ electricity, 50¢ tape, etc. Those
> are all rents that should be in the base price of the product, just
> like the raw materials and the machinery is to a manufacturer.
>
> It's unethical, in my opinion to break out a separate (additional)
> charge for "handling" when that cost should be a part of the cost of
> the product. It represents pure profit, so far as I'm concerned, just
> like extended warranties, just because someone wants to maintain a
> price point to make a sale. It belongs in the price.
Well, it's a little harder to build the price in on an auction. Since the
seller doesn't know what the final price will be, it makes sense for the
shipping and handling to be factored in by the buyer. I think it's
different for a seller who auctions something here and there than it is for
an established business who actually knows their fixed and variable costs
and can factor them into the sales price. For me, I take the actual
shipping cost and throw in $2 for supplies. I don't think it's unethical to
break out a handling cost. What I think is unethical is one of the other
stories in this thread where the bidder asked for the shipping cost prior to
bidding and then when the auction is over a handling charge is sneaked in.
todd
> If i see a seller who is going nuts with the shipping, i always send
> them an email asking them if they made a mistake and mean 5.00 for
> shipping instead of 50.00, etc etc, or something along those lines to
> try and piss them off.
>
I've gotten a number of complaints like that because I (like everyone else
on eBay) charge about $5 handling. It takes time to pack it up and ship it.
Beats the heck out of me why they complain, when all they have to do is bid
accordingly, or not bid at all.
One guy won the auction and then demanded I reduce the shipping; like he is
somehow special. I told him to forget about it and I sold it to the next
bidder.
On Fri, 6 Jan 2006 21:11:47 -0600, "todd" <[email protected]> wrote:
>Well, it's a little harder to build the price in on an auction. Since the
>seller doesn't know what the final price will be, it makes sense for the
>shipping and handling to be factored in by the buyer. I think it's
>different for a seller who auctions something here and there than it is for
>an established business who actually knows their fixed and variable costs
>and can factor them into the sales price. For me, I take the actual
>shipping cost and throw in $2 for supplies. I don't think it's unethical to
>break out a handling cost. What I think is unethical is one of the other
>stories in this thread where the bidder asked for the shipping cost prior to
>bidding and then when the auction is over a handling charge is sneaked in.
The seller doesn't know what the price of the product is? Of course
they do, they bought it and are now trying to sell it! If it costs
them $10, then they should set the minimum bid no lower than $10. If
they know it's going to cost them an additional $2 for shipping
supplies, then they should set the minimum bid no lower than $12.
The problem is that these people are setting their minimum bids at $1,
then charging $30 for shipping because they want to make up the profit
for their item without having eBay charge them fees for it. If the
auction goes to $20 and they charge $30 shipping, then they make $50
on the deal, rather than if the item went for $20 and they charged
what it actually cost to ship, which might be $5.
In the end, shipping isn't supposed to be a way to make a profit, it's
supposed to be a way to get the product to a customer.
Brian Elfert <[email protected]> wrote:
> Shipping fees should cover the cost to get something to me, not be a
> huge profit margin for the seller. Some sellers sell stuff for 1 cent
> and charge $19.95 shipping to get around Ebay fees as Ebay doesn't
> charge their cut on shipping.
>
>
Why doesn't e-bay go after them? I see a lot of this and it is blatently
obvious that they are avoiding the e-bay fees.
"Brian Elfert" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> "todd" <[email protected]> writes:
>
> >high school education should be able to do the math. Do you believe mail
> >order places should not charge for shipping? After all, when you go to
Best
> >Buy and purchase a television, they don't add a shipping charge, do they?
> >Yet the television had to be shipped there, so Amazon is cheating people
by
> >charging shipping, right?
>
> Unless a mail order company drop ships from the manufacturer, they had to
> pay shipping to a warehouse somewhere somehow. This is no different than
> a retail store paying to have stock shipped to them.
>
> Brian Elfert
So you agree that Amazon, Dell, etc. are dishonest because they break out a
shipping charge when B&M stores absorb it in the product cost? Heck, I bet
even Lee Valley charges shipping.
todd
Brian Henderson wrote:
> On Sat, 07 Jan 2006 04:39:26 GMT, "Toller" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
>>>So if I sold you a car for $100 and charged you a $15,000 delivery fee
>>>that wouldn't be lame? (and *of course* you can't pick it up dummy)
>>>
>>
>>Okay, the car costs $15,100. Is that lame or dishonest? Seems perfectly
>>honest and straight forward to me.
>
>
> It's very dishonest when you realize that the seller is only paying
> "taxes" on the $100 and is getting the $15,000 completely tax-free
> because it's counted as shipping.
Shipping isn't tax-free.
er
--
email not valid
Leuf wrote:
> On Sun, 08 Jan 2006 15:40:54 GMT, TomL <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
>>On Sun, 08 Jan 2006 01:42:48 GMT, Brian Henderson
>><[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>On 6 Jan 2006 13:26:16 -0800, [email protected] wrote:
>>>
>>>Actually, you need to report them to eBay. It is a violation of eBay
>>>rules to pad shipping costs like that and they will end auctions that
>>>do so if it's ridiculously obvious.
>>
>>How do you report these issues to Ebay. I keep looking for the
>>"Contact Us About This Item" or the "Report Ebay Violation" buttons
>>but they seem to be eluding me..
>
>
> http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-circumventing.html
>
> You have to open the "additonal information" tab. I agree they aren't
> going out of their way to make this accessible, but if they had a
> button on the auction page they'd get 100k complaints a day 5% of
> which would be valid.
>
> You see the bogus shipping charges the most on things that there are a
> lot of competing sellers. Not only do they get more profit by
> avoiding fees, they get you to click on their auction instead of the
> other guys because of their lower price. Consequently everyone
> selling that item has to do it too.
It must be a numbers game, because when I'm scanning my search results I
don't look for the cheapest, I look at them all... *except* the ones
that've already exceeded what I'm willing to spend. That is, I cull on
the high side rather than selecting from the low side. That's somewhat
different, I think.
er
--
email not valid
Every buy something from a traditional retailer or catalog warehouse then
have it shipped? There is usually a shipping AND handling charge. Are
these merchants being unethical?
"LRod" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Fri, 06 Jan 2006 22:04:53 GMT, "Toller" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>I've gotten a number of complaints like that because I (like everyone else
>>on eBay) charge about $5 handling. It takes time to pack it up and ship
>>it.
>
> Well, why don't you break it down altogether: $6 house payment, $2
> mortgage interest, $3.50 gas, 75¢ electricity, 50¢ tape, etc. Those
> are all rents that should be in the base price of the product, just
> like the raw materials and the machinery is to a manufacturer.
>
> It's unethical, in my opinion to break out a separate (additional)
> charge for "handling" when that cost should be a part of the cost of
> the product. It represents pure profit, so far as I'm concerned, just
> like extended warranties, just because someone wants to maintain a
> price point to make a sale. It belongs in the price.
>
>>Beats the heck out of me why they complain, when all they have to do is
>>bid
>>accordingly, or not bid at all.
>
> No problem. I won't be bidding on yours. I sure do retain the right to
> bitch about it, though.
>
> --
> LRod
>
> Master Woodbutcher and seasoned termite
>
> Shamelessly whoring my website since 1999
>
> http://www.woodbutcher.net
>
> Proud participant of rec.woodworking since February, 1997
"Joe Barta" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> wrote:
>
>> yea, the shipping scame is pretty common, and cheap as hell.
>> If i see a seller who is going nuts with the shipping, i always send
>> them an email asking them if they made a mistake and mean 5.00 for
>> shipping instead of 50.00, etc etc, or something along those lines
>> to try and piss them off.
>
> I have no use for jerkoffs that sell a $20 item for $5 then charge $40
> for shipping. They might as well have tattooed on their forehead...
> "I'm a dishonest putz but I don't have the wit or the courage to be
> any good at it." I never buy anything from those types because you
> don't know what other lame surprises are in store for you.
>
Geez, when you see an item you decide how much you want to pay for it; say
$40.
If shipping is $5 you bid $35. If shipping is $30 you bid $10.
What is so damn hard about understanding that?
And what is lame or dishonest about it?
Greg O wrote:
> Charge what ever you want for shipping an handling! Just be up front about
> it and I will decide if the total price is in line. I refuse to bid if the
> shipping and handling is not shown.
> My neighbor "won" an auction on Ebay lately. He sent an e-mail for a request
> for shipping charges before he bid. After the bid was done the seller sent
> him a e-mail for the total, with shipping, and HANDLING! The shipping was as
> quoted, but the added handling charge was more than the shipping. It was a
> small item, but with all the charges it was more than he would have wanted
> bid/pay for the item.
I agree, if the S/H charges are listed, or seller states he won't charge
a handling fee, it's possible to figure out what your max bid will be.
It's a feature.
Can any sellers say whether Ebay charges extra to have the shipping
calculator on your page?
er
--
email not valid
Charles Self wrote:
> I got a friend to Ebay some old books for me, stuff I hadn't looked at in a
> decade or more, but that was useful and costly when bought and might be
> useful to others. Most sold for $1.50 or so. I listed a flat $5 shipping, no
> deals. Most cost $1.40 for postage and a buck for the envelope. I "made" $2
> or so extra on each book because of the postage...but I had to address the
> envelopes, drive them into town and stand in line to ship the suckers.
>
> My decision: I'd rather throw the books away next time it happens. It's a
> PITA, got my buddy six or seven neutral feedbacks because of the shipping
> costs, and basically didn't bring in enough to cover the time and energy of
> entering the books on Ebay.
I don't understand this. Why not start the bidding at $3.50 and charge
a $2.50 S/H fee?
er
--
email not valid
When I was looking for windows XP to upgrade one of my PC's, The best
price (on ebay) I found was like 69.00 plus $15.00 shipping. The guy was
upfront about making his profit from the shipping. Remember, Ebay takes
a cut from the selling price, but not the shipping. This was for a full
version, intended for OEM.
John
"Brian Henderson" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Fri, 6 Jan 2006 21:14:33 -0600, "todd" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >It is against one's user agreement with PayPal to "charge back" PayPal
fees.
>
> And you have to report it to PayPal and they'll do something about it.
As is the way with most everthing, action will only get taken when someone
points it out.
> >That's also contrary to eBay policy. I don't know why they don't crack
down
> >on it, since it's money out of their pocket.
>
> Part of the problem is that eBay doesn't have enough people to watch
> the auctions and catch all of this without being told about it, and
> the other is that eBay's claim to fame is having millions of auctions
> going on. If it starts going after a lot of the small-time cheats,
> etc. they wouldn't be able to claim that.
>
> If you take the time to report a violation to eBay, they will usually
> step in and stop it, but if you think they're going to go looking on
> their own, you're out of luck.
I have reported sellers to eBay who were jacking up shipping costs.
todd
Brian Elfert wrote:
> Enoch Root <[email protected]> writes:
> The shipping calculator can have handling fees added to the actual cost of
> shipping. This way, the seller can rip off all buyers equally! With
> fixed shipping, the shipping "profit" can be more or less depending on the
> actual shipping charges.
Yes, but at least I can see what I'm going to pay...
OT: The marvel of the ebay system is that what I end up paying is
determined by what someone else decides he or she wants to pay, modulo
what I will pay.
er
--
email not valid
<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> And what should I bid to the guy that was selling labels for my Dymo
> Labelwriter for $9.99 and was charging $25 flat rate for shipment to
> Canada?
>
I don't know what those labels cost in a store, but I'd say you shouldn't
bid if the combined price bothers you.
on 1/10/2006 6:45 PM Brian Henderson said the following:
> That was actually me who said that. :)
>
> And there are many items that legitimately have a high shipping cost,
> so just killing all auctions with a high cost doesn't make much sense.
> Does eBay require people to disclose shipping costs up front? I know
> most people list them, but is it a hard rule?
AFAIK, there is no such rule. If there is, it certainly has not been
enforced.
I certainly can see there being a measure of ambiguity with regard to
shipping costs when you're talking about selling off a 45 lb widget. I
cannot see it when you're talking about a DVD set, or something which is
fairly light and "standard."
A wise buyer will simply ignore an offering in the latter category and
not bid on it. In those cases, I think the presumption is you're going
to take it in the butt in shipping charges.
For those goods in the former category or an item that's one of a kind,
the buyer will inquire and get a somewhat firm committment regarding
shipping costs before bidding. If he/she doesn't, they probably aren't
bright enough to realize they've been had when they get that poke in the
rear.
Ralph E Lindberg wrote:
> In article <[email protected]>,
> Enoch Root <[email protected]> wrote:
>>Can any sellers say whether Ebay charges extra to have the shipping
>>calculator on your page?
> Not one penny, nor do they charge a fee on "handling" charges
Thanks. If they don't use that, or a flat fee, then no way.
er
--
email not valid
wrote:
> yea, the shipping scame is pretty common, and cheap as hell.
> If i see a seller who is going nuts with the shipping, i always send
> them an email asking them if they made a mistake and mean 5.00 for
> shipping instead of 50.00, etc etc, or something along those lines
> to try and piss them off.
I have no use for jerkoffs that sell a $20 item for $5 then charge $40
for shipping. They might as well have tattooed on their forehead...
"I'm a dishonest putz but I don't have the wit or the courage to be
any good at it." I never buy anything from those types because you
don't know what other lame surprises are in store for you.
Joe Barta
Lobby Dosser wrote:
> Brian Elfert <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> Shipping fees should cover the cost to get something to me, not
>> be a huge profit margin for the seller. Some sellers sell stuff
>> for 1 cent and charge $19.95 shipping to get around Ebay fees as
>> Ebay doesn't charge their cut on shipping.
>>
>>
>
> Why doesn't e-bay go after them? I see a lot of this and it is
> blatently obvious that they are avoiding the e-bay fees.
I never thought of that. I've sold stuff on ebay and I use Paypal..
the fees for both are pretty low. But I suppose if you sell a lot of
stuff and start with a nearly full retail price, those fees might add
up. I'm sure ebay is aware of this and either they don't care, or
they'll do something about it eventually.
Capitalism... gotta love it :-)
Joe Barta
Toller wrote:
>
> "Joe Barta" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> wrote:
>>
>>> yea, the shipping scame is pretty common, and cheap as hell.
>>> If i see a seller who is going nuts with the shipping, i always
>>> send them an email asking them if they made a mistake and mean
>>> 5.00 for shipping instead of 50.00, etc etc, or something along
>>> those lines to try and piss them off.
>>
>> I have no use for jerkoffs that sell a $20 item for $5 then
>> charge $40 for shipping. They might as well have tattooed on
>> their forehead... "I'm a dishonest putz but I don't have the wit
>> or the courage to be any good at it." I never buy anything from
>> those types because you don't know what other lame surprises are
>> in store for you.
>>
> Geez, when you see an item you decide how much you want to pay for
> it; say $40.
> If shipping is $5 you bid $35. If shipping is $30 you bid $10.
> What is so damn hard about understanding that?
I understand it perfectly. Confusion is not the problem.
> And what is lame or dishonest about it?
So if I sold you a car for $100 and charged you a $15,000 delivery fee
that wouldn't be lame? (and *of course* you can't pick it up dummy)
If I sell you a tire for $5 but I charge $80 for mounting and
balancing.... that's not dishonest? (and no, you can't mount it
yourself sir... all tires come with mounting and balancing as a
courtesty)
Buy one widget for $10 and we'll throw in a second widget for FREE...
just pay the shipping and handling (which happens to be $12.95...
EACH)
It's not at all difficult to understand.... and if YOU want to do
business with folks that play these games, that's your option. But
when you get bit in the ass by one of them, I hope you don't complain
too loudly because this guy won't be feelin no sympathy!
Joe Barta
P.S. And if you think it's just okie dokie to skate past ebay's
fees... if someone were to use a loophole to skate past paying YOU
what you might otherwise be owed, I wonder if you'd think it was
perfectly ok.
Toller wrote:
>
>>> And what is lame or dishonest about it?
>>
>> So if I sold you a car for $100 and charged you a $15,000
>> delivery fee that wouldn't be lame? (and *of course* you can't
>> pick it up dummy)
>>
> Okay, the car costs $15,100. Is that lame or dishonest? Seems
> perfectly honest and straight forward to me.
Then we're at an impasse. We'll leave it at that.
> And who said you can't pick it up?
<sigh>
A.M. Wood wrote:
> There is absolutely NOTHING unethical about charging a fee for a
> necessary service as long as the fee is disclosed in advance.
We all have our own ideas about what is ethical and what exactly is a
necessary service I suppose.
To me it's a simple matter. To me sellers that offer a low low price
and make up for it with very high and mandatory "shipping & handling"
charges are unethical and of low character... and buyer be very aware.
You know who you are and you know full well that what you are doing is
wrong. My opinion.
Enoch Root wrote:
> I don't understand this. Why not start the bidding at $3.50 and
> charge a $2.50 S/H fee?
He figgered what every other seller figgers... they'd sell more with a
lower price. My have sold even more if he had just listed them as free
with $6.50 shipping. Or maybe free, AND he'd throw in a $5 gift
certificate for Dennys... just pay the $11.50 shipping. Nothing
unethical about that, is there? Errthing up front, ain't it?
Enoch Root wrote:
> 4. If it smells like bad fish, it probably is bad fish.
Probably the most important bit of advice. Like the guy that spends
$59.95 on a magic cream that will grow hair on his bald spot in 10
days. When it doesn't, he feels ripped off. When the company jerks him
around about a refund, he feels ripped off. In my opinion the dude
ripped his own fool self off the minute he paid money for a magic
cream that he KNEW wasn't going to work.
It never ceases to amaze me the mentality that some folk have. This
way of thinking that absolves them of any responsibility when things
go wrong. Buyer be ware. And as a great man once said... "If it smells
like bad fish, it probably is bad fish."
-Joe Barta
Brian Henderson wrote:
> eBay, of course, who
> is paying for the whole auction system, has every right to stomp
> on this practice, and they should do so. There is a cost to using
> the eBay auction site and being dishonest to make an additional
> profit that you are not entitled to should not be permitted.
Someone mentioned that there is no way ebay could keep an eye on all
it's auctions to prevent such a thing from occuring. But it seems to
me that it should be fairly simple to automate and report such things
on their end.
Many of these sellers have multiple items and do this over and over.
One would think it would be a simple matter to find auctions where
there is a suspicious ratio between the sale price and the shipping
charge. It could even be done while the auction is running if the
seller has a buy it now price.
Once such auctions/sellers are flagged, ebay can manually take a
closer look. I can't help but wonder why they don't watch this a
little closer... seeing as it appears to cost them money. Or maybe
it's a practice they tolerate because they want as many sellers as
possible so that when people go looking for "it", there are plenty to
choose from... even if they are cheated out of a little revenue.
At any rate, I still have a problem with such tactics on principle and
avoid such sellers like the plague.
Joe Barta
Toller wrote:
>"Joe Barta" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> news:[email protected]...
>> wrote:
[uh, I think I got that right...]
>>>And what is lame or dishonest about it?
>>
>>So if I sold you a car for $100 and charged you a $15,000 delivery fee
>>that wouldn't be lame? (and *of course* you can't pick it up dummy)
>>
>
> Okay, the car costs $15,100. Is that lame or dishonest? Seems perfectly
> honest and straight forward to me.
It's dishonest especially when the seller has somehow misrepresented the
item such that it doesn't have the value to you you thought it did...
and the seller won't reimburse you for the "shipping" charges. It happens.
Ebay rules to live by:
1. 98.5% feedback is marginal, you have a good chance of being
disappointed if you bid on this ID's item. This is hard to judge
though, being stochastic, especially when the ID has less than several
hundred sales.
2. Read the feedback. If it's marginal it may be because some whiny
fussbudgets needed their swing at the world. Conversely, people are
insanely reluctant to leave negative feedback, but may drop hints in the
comments. I have a comment to make about some chisels I got recently
but I've never left negative feedback (I follow these rules :) and am
about to break that record... severe pitting and deep toolmarks that
were neither pictured nor described.* :(
3. Only bid on stuff you can calculate the final cost out of your pocket
for. Obviously it's nice to know what you're going to pay, and knowing
the max amount you're willing to pay you can adjust your bid accordingly.
4. If it smells like bad fish, it probably is bad fish.
5. Know the value of what you're bidding on.
6. If you're unsure about something, ask (before the last two days of
the auction...)
7. Don't bid on poorly photographed or inadequately described items.
This is the hard one. "Good condition", "great user", etc., seem to
have very different meaning for some people than for myself.
8. Don't let that stupid clown (who doesn't know what he's willing to
pay for the item) know what you're willing to pay. :)
9. Pray to the gods of the shadows that a veil has been cast over that
one item you must have, that no others will find it.
* Contact them? I haven't because what they did, or didn't do, is
already done... I'm keeping the chisels because the pitting is far up
the back of the chisel (they're 12" blades) and the toolmarks are
cosmetic problems on something I got for using. But still, they were
given a "shine" on a buffing wheel to make them look passably good for
sale on ebay, and given the other items ID was selling they were
obviously savvy to old-toolers requirements.
er
--
email not valid
Brian Henderson wrote:
> On Fri, 6 Jan 2006 21:14:33 -0600, "todd" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
>>It is against one's user agreement with PayPal to "charge back" PayPal fees.
>
>
> And you have to report it to PayPal and they'll do something about it.
>
>
>>That's also contrary to eBay policy. I don't know why they don't crack down
>>on it, since it's money out of their pocket.
>
>
> Part of the problem is that eBay doesn't have enough people to watch
> the auctions and catch all of this without being told about it, and
> the other is that eBay's claim to fame is having millions of auctions
> going on. If it starts going after a lot of the small-time cheats,
> etc. they wouldn't be able to claim that.
>
> If you take the time to report a violation to eBay, they will usually
> step in and stop it, but if you think they're going to go looking on
> their own, you're out of luck.
I'd think eBay is well aware of high shipping charges. Pretty obvious
to the casual observer, even. 2006 might see some new Ebay rules.
Dave
Brian Henderson wrote:
> On 6 Jan 2006 13:26:16 -0800, [email protected] wrote:
>
>
>>yea, the shipping scame is pretty common, and cheap as hell.
>>If i see a seller who is going nuts with the shipping, i always send
>>them an email asking them if they made a mistake and mean 5.00 for
>>shipping instead of 50.00, etc etc, or something along those lines to
>>try and piss them off.
>
>
> Actually, you need to report them to eBay. It is a violation of eBay
> rules to pad shipping costs like that and they will end auctions that
> do so if it's ridiculously obvious.
I just did a random check of shipping charges on Ebay. I looked up cell
phones. Many of the shipping charges hover close to $40!
Dave
On Fri, 6 Jan 2006 21:14:33 -0600, "todd" <[email protected]> wrote:
>It is against one's user agreement with PayPal to "charge back" PayPal fees.
And you have to report it to PayPal and they'll do something about it.
>That's also contrary to eBay policy. I don't know why they don't crack down
>on it, since it's money out of their pocket.
Part of the problem is that eBay doesn't have enough people to watch
the auctions and catch all of this without being told about it, and
the other is that eBay's claim to fame is having millions of auctions
going on. If it starts going after a lot of the small-time cheats,
etc. they wouldn't be able to claim that.
If you take the time to report a violation to eBay, they will usually
step in and stop it, but if you think they're going to go looking on
their own, you're out of luck.
"Brian Henderson" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Fri, 6 Jan 2006 21:11:47 -0600, "todd" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >Well, it's a little harder to build the price in on an auction. Since
the
> >seller doesn't know what the final price will be, it makes sense for the
> >shipping and handling to be factored in by the buyer. I think it's
> >different for a seller who auctions something here and there than it is
for
> >an established business who actually knows their fixed and variable costs
> >and can factor them into the sales price. For me, I take the actual
> >shipping cost and throw in $2 for supplies. I don't think it's unethical
to
> >break out a handling cost. What I think is unethical is one of the other
> >stories in this thread where the bidder asked for the shipping cost prior
to
> >bidding and then when the auction is over a handling charge is sneaked
in.
>
> The seller doesn't know what the price of the product is? Of course
> they do, they bought it and are now trying to sell it! If it costs
> them $10, then they should set the minimum bid no lower than $10. If
> they know it's going to cost them an additional $2 for shipping
> supplies, then they should set the minimum bid no lower than $12.
>
> The problem is that these people are setting their minimum bids at $1,
> then charging $30 for shipping because they want to make up the profit
> for their item without having eBay charge them fees for it. If the
> auction goes to $20 and they charge $30 shipping, then they make $50
> on the deal, rather than if the item went for $20 and they charged
> what it actually cost to ship, which might be $5.
>
> In the end, shipping isn't supposed to be a way to make a profit, it's
> supposed to be a way to get the product to a customer.
I was responding to an earlier comment that no one should ever charge
"handling" fees of any kind. Obviously, eBayers participating in final
value fee avoidance by charging very high shipping costs should be killed.
I'm talking about adding a few bucks to the actual shipping cost as a
handling charge. What difference does it make if it's included in the price
of the product or not? Either way, the buyer pays. Anyone who thinks the
buyer doesn't pay is kidding himself. As long as it isn't excessive, I
don't see a problem.
todd
The [email protected] entity posted thusly:
>And what should I bid to the guy that was selling labels for my Dymo
>Labelwriter for $9.99 and was charging $25 flat rate for shipment to
>Canada?
Approximately $0.00 (Cdn), unless your Dymo labels usually cost a lot
more than $35.
Not at all hard to figure out..
On Sun, 8 Jan 2006 00:10:14 -0600, "todd" <[email protected]> wrote:
>I was responding to an earlier comment that no one should ever charge
>"handling" fees of any kind. Obviously, eBayers participating in final
>value fee avoidance by charging very high shipping costs should be killed.
>I'm talking about adding a few bucks to the actual shipping cost as a
>handling charge. What difference does it make if it's included in the price
>of the product or not? Either way, the buyer pays. Anyone who thinks the
>buyer doesn't pay is kidding himself. As long as it isn't excessive, I
>don't see a problem.
The handling fee should be part of the purchase price. You don't go
to a store and get charged a handling fee, do you? After all, they
have to pay someone to put the product on the shelf, don't they? They
have to pay someone to ring up your purchase and put it in the bag?
Should they charge you a packaging fee too?
On Fri, 06 Jan 2006 22:04:53 GMT, "Toller" <[email protected]> wrote:
>I've gotten a number of complaints like that because I (like everyone else
>on eBay) charge about $5 handling. It takes time to pack it up and ship it.
Well, why don't you break it down altogether: $6 house payment, $2
mortgage interest, $3.50 gas, 75¢ electricity, 50¢ tape, etc. Those
are all rents that should be in the base price of the product, just
like the raw materials and the machinery is to a manufacturer.
It's unethical, in my opinion to break out a separate (additional)
charge for "handling" when that cost should be a part of the cost of
the product. It represents pure profit, so far as I'm concerned, just
like extended warranties, just because someone wants to maintain a
price point to make a sale. It belongs in the price.
>Beats the heck out of me why they complain, when all they have to do is bid
>accordingly, or not bid at all.
No problem. I won't be bidding on yours. I sure do retain the right to
bitch about it, though.
--
LRod
Master Woodbutcher and seasoned termite
Shamelessly whoring my website since 1999
http://www.woodbutcher.net
Proud participant of rec.woodworking since February, 1997
The Brian Henderson entity posted thusly:
>The handling fee should be part of the purchase price. You don't go
>to a store and get charged a handling fee, do you? After all, they
>have to pay someone to put the product on the shelf, don't they? They
>have to pay someone to ring up your purchase and put it in the bag?
>Should they charge you a packaging fee too?
A few years back, I bid successfully on a tele-extender for a camera.
The bidding started at $1.00, with free shipping. I bid $15, but since
nobody else bid, I got it for $1.00.
Well, I felt a bit bad about it, as the fellow had obviously thought
it was going to go high enough to pay for his free shipping. I ended
up sending him $10.00
My point in this is that there really are a few ways to do it.
1. bidding starts at $1, shipping set at $5, handling set at $2
2. bidding starts at $3, shipping set at $5, no handling charge
3. bidding starts at $8, no shipping charge, no handling charge
Is there any difference to the buyer here? #1 ensures the seller will
recoup his expenses, without having to set a reserve. I look at the
entire package when I decide what to bid, and I don't much care
whether the cost is listed in column A or column B.
I tend not to bid on items that have all the cost in the shipping and
handling, but that's because it usually means that the overall price
is too high. To me, that's a regular sale, not an auction, and I
resent paying more for it than the current market stipulates through
the bidding process.
--
If at first you don't succeed, you're not cut out for skydiving
"Joe Barta" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Brian Henderson wrote:
>
> > eBay, of course, who
> > is paying for the whole auction system, has every right to stomp
> > on this practice, and they should do so. There is a cost to using
> > the eBay auction site and being dishonest to make an additional
> > profit that you are not entitled to should not be permitted.
>
> Someone mentioned that there is no way ebay could keep an eye on all
> it's auctions to prevent such a thing from occuring. But it seems to
> me that it should be fairly simple to automate and report such things
> on their end.
>
> Many of these sellers have multiple items and do this over and over.
> One would think it would be a simple matter to find auctions where
> there is a suspicious ratio between the sale price and the shipping
> charge. It could even be done while the auction is running if the
> seller has a buy it now price.
>
> Once such auctions/sellers are flagged, ebay can manually take a
> closer look. I can't help but wonder why they don't watch this a
> little closer... seeing as it appears to cost them money. Or maybe
> it's a practice they tolerate because they want as many sellers as
> possible so that when people go looking for "it", there are plenty to
> choose from... even if they are cheated out of a little revenue.
That is exactly the reason that they don't. They want to keep as many
sellers as they can to attract the most buyers because in the business
world, a little is better than nothing at all. EBay is no longer the only
auction site on the web but they are still the biggest and want to stay that
way.
--
If at first you don't succeed, you're not cut out for skydiving
In article <[email protected]>,
David <[email protected]> wrote:
> Boeshield:$8 current bid. shipping $8.
Like that clown selling a computer lessons CD for FREE... $ 6.95 US for
S&H.
You'd be paying him for a CD which has nothing but advertising of his
products.
Nose-hair trimmer, and cordless drill. $19.95. $29.95 S&H
"LRod" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Fri, 06 Jan 2006 22:04:53 GMT, "Toller" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>I've gotten a number of complaints like that because I (like everyone else
>>on eBay) charge about $5 handling. It takes time to pack it up and ship
>>it.
>
> Well, why don't you break it down altogether: $6 house payment, $2
> mortgage interest, $3.50 gas, 75¢ electricity, 50¢ tape, etc. Those
> are all rents that should be in the base price of the product, just
> like the raw materials and the machinery is to a manufacturer.
like the phone company? $7 for this fee, $3.75 for that fee, ad inifinitum,
when all the fees are is part of the base charge anyway.
> It's unethical, in my opinion to break out a separate (additional)
> charge for "handling" when that cost should be a part of the cost of
> the product. It represents pure profit, so far as I'm concerned, just
> like extended warranties, just because someone wants to maintain a
> price point to make a sale. It belongs in the price.
>
>>Beats the heck out of me why they complain, when all they have to do is
>>bid
>>accordingly, or not bid at all.
>
> No problem. I won't be bidding on yours. I sure do retain the right to
> bitch about it, though.
>
> --
> LRod
>
> Master Woodbutcher and seasoned termite
>
> Shamelessly whoring my website since 1999
>
> http://www.woodbutcher.net
>
> Proud participant of rec.woodworking since February, 1997
Don't your customers have to "handle" it too? They have to take
delivery (sometimes that means picking it up from UPS, USPS, etc.),
unpack it, and dispose of the packing materials. Why can't you
take your effort into account in the selling price?
Toller wrote:
> I've gotten a number of complaints like that because I (like everyone else
> on eBay) charge about $5 handling. It takes time to pack it up and ship it.
> Beats the heck out of me why they complain, when all they have to do is bid
> accordingly, or not bid at all.
> One guy won the auction and then demanded I reduce the shipping; like he is
> somehow special. I told him to forget about it and I sold it to the next
> bidder.
>
>
"Toller" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> "Joe Barta" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> wrote:
>>
>>> yea, the shipping scame is pretty common, and cheap as hell.
>>> If i see a seller who is going nuts with the shipping, i always send
>>> them an email asking them if they made a mistake and mean 5.00 for
>>> shipping instead of 50.00, etc etc, or something along those lines
>>> to try and piss them off.
>>
>> I have no use for jerkoffs that sell a $20 item for $5 then charge
>> $40 for shipping. They might as well have tattooed on their
>> forehead... "I'm a dishonest putz but I don't have the wit or the
>> courage to be any good at it." I never buy anything from those types
>> because you don't know what other lame surprises are in store for
>> you.
>>
> Geez, when you see an item you decide how much you want to pay for it;
> say $40.
> If shipping is $5 you bid $35. If shipping is $30 you bid $10.
> What is so damn hard about understanding that?
> And what is lame or dishonest about it?
e-bay does not collect a fee on "shipping". Let's say the "true" shipping
and handling cost is $10. If you charge $30, you get $20 that is not
dinged with a fee.
On another note, one technique I have found useful as a buyer is to query
sellers for a 'best price to my doorstep'. I've used this technique when
buying multiples of an item and usually query as many sellers as I can
find selling the same or similar items. The seller then sets up a private
auction for the agreed upon price. I have seen sellers load more than 50%
of the quote into the shipping come auction time.
>
>
>
On 6 Jan 2006 13:26:16 -0800, [email protected] wrote:
>yea, the shipping scame is pretty common, and cheap as hell.
>If i see a seller who is going nuts with the shipping, i always send
>them an email asking them if they made a mistake and mean 5.00 for
>shipping instead of 50.00, etc etc, or something along those lines to
>try and piss them off.
Actually, you need to report them to eBay. It is a violation of eBay
rules to pad shipping costs like that and they will end auctions that
do so if it's ridiculously obvious.
they are only doing that to beat ebay out of thier fees
<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> yea, the shipping scame is pretty common, and cheap as hell.
> If i see a seller who is going nuts with the shipping, i always send
> them an email asking them if they made a mistake and mean 5.00 for
> shipping instead of 50.00, etc etc, or something along those lines to
> try and piss them off.
>
"Brian Elfert" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Joe Barta <[email protected]> writes:
>
> >I have no use for jerkoffs that sell a $20 item for $5 then charge $40
> >for shipping. They might as well have tattooed on their forehead...
> >"I'm a dishonest putz but I don't have the wit or the courage to be
> >any good at it." I never buy anything from those types because you
> >don't know what other lame surprises are in store for you.
>
> I know guys who sold Xbox 360s at huge profits on Ebay before Christmas.
>
> They charged $40 to $50 shipping and justified it as covering shipping,
> Ebay, and Paypal fees. The 50% to 100% profit they made couldn't cover
> the Ebay and Paypal fees??
It is against one's user agreement with PayPal to "charge back" PayPal fees.
> Shipping fees should cover the cost to get something to me, not be a huge
> profit margin for the seller. Some sellers sell stuff for 1 cent and
> charge $19.95 shipping to get around Ebay fees as Ebay doesn't charge
> their cut on shipping.
That's also contrary to eBay policy. I don't know why they don't crack down
on it, since it's money out of their pocket.
> Brian Elfert
todd
On 6 Jan 2006 13:26:16 -0800, [email protected] wrote:
>yea, the shipping scame is pretty common, and cheap as hell.
>If i see a seller who is going nuts with the shipping, i always send
>them an email asking them if they made a mistake and mean 5.00 for
>shipping instead of 50.00, etc etc, or something along those lines to
>try and piss them off.
The seller Dave was pointing to isn't exactly scamming on shipping.
He is offering $7.95 flat rate shipping, and offers to combine
auctions for one shipping charge. He has 767 items currently for
sale. The seller has a 5000+ 99.9% positive feedback rating.
That's a scam? Have you priced actual packaging and shipping charges,
including pickup fees or gas to get to the shipper lately? How about
time? Is yours free?
If I order just this one item from Grizzly via Amazon, it's $7.95 +
$7.70 for shipping, or I can buy a 12 oz. can of Boeshield locally for
about $15 + sales tax. $7.95 for a 4 oz. can of Boeshield, and paying
shipping on the one item simply dosen't make economic sense if you're
looking for a deal.
The boating supplier Dave mentions probably is using it as a
loss-leader special to attract other sales, as they're probably losing
a few cents on it if you order nothing else.
Now if Dave would share the name of the boating supplier... <G>
"toolmiser" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> My brother in law bought a bicycle on ebay with a really high shipping
> and handling price (even for a bicycle). The only thing was he was
> from the same city as the seller and he told him he would pick it up.
> The seller demanded he have it shipped, my BIL said no, so the seller
> refused to go thru with the sale.
>
Unless the seller says he allows pickups, you are required to ask before
bidding if you want to pick up.
A number of people have refused to allow pickups or charged a handling
charge. I asked first, so I didn't bid, and now filter their listings out.
No big problem.
I have never refused a pick up, though it has just happened once. It is
easier than shipping, and worth forgoing my $5 handling charge. Obviously
other sellers don't feel that way, but they have the right to run their
auction any way they want, as long as they conform to eBay requirements.
Your BIL deserves a negative feedback for backing out of a purchase; though
I expect the seller just let it go because it wasn't worth the hassle.
On Sun, 08 Jan 2006 15:40:54 GMT, TomL <[email protected]> wrote:
>On Sun, 08 Jan 2006 01:42:48 GMT, Brian Henderson
><[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>On 6 Jan 2006 13:26:16 -0800, [email protected] wrote:
>>
>>Actually, you need to report them to eBay. It is a violation of eBay
>>rules to pad shipping costs like that and they will end auctions that
>>do so if it's ridiculously obvious.
>
>How do you report these issues to Ebay. I keep looking for the
>"Contact Us About This Item" or the "Report Ebay Violation" buttons
>but they seem to be eluding me..
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-circumventing.html
You have to open the "additonal information" tab. I agree they aren't
going out of their way to make this accessible, but if they had a
button on the auction page they'd get 100k complaints a day 5% of
which would be valid.
You see the bogus shipping charges the most on things that there are a
lot of competing sellers. Not only do they get more profit by
avoiding fees, they get you to click on their auction instead of the
other guys because of their lower price. Consequently everyone
selling that item has to do it too.
If you look at postal scales, almost everyone is trying to charge you
an additional fee for the a/c adapter that comes in the box.
-Leuf
<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> wow - my S/H woes got more responses than I expected - no time to read
> through them all "_
>
> Anyway, im not bitching about the person who charges a couple bucks
> handling fees - it makes sense and is fine to offset the cost/gas of
> going to the post office, time spent foing so, etc.
>
> My complaint was soley for the people (and there are plenty of these on
> EBay) who try to hook you with a an item thats:
> - Worth around $50.00
> - Auction is listed for $10.00
> - And hope people wont notice the $75.00 shipping and handling fee.
Before Christmas, I was hoping to buy my wife a new computer chair. I
checked Staples, Office Max and local stores, and found a couple that looked
good, and were low cost. For giggles, I checked EBay. Yeah, right. Same
chairs, 1/3 the price, and the shipping charge was almost exactly what
Staples et. al. charge for the chair itself.
I didn't see any bids on that one, and I sure didn't make a bid.
Ralph E Lindberg wrote:
> In article <[email protected]>,
> Enoch Root <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> ..
>
>>Can any sellers say whether Ebay charges extra to have the shipping
>>calculator on your page?
>>
>
> Not one penny, nor do they charge a fee on "handling" charges
>
And therein lies the catch.
I have E bay sellers with items listed as $1.00 buy it now, but postage
and handling is $25.00. E bay collects on the $1.00 and the seller makes
100% of the postage and handling, less the postage. BTW these items on
another site had postage at $3.75 US.
regards
John
"Brian Elfert" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Joe Barta <[email protected]> writes:
>
>>I have no use for jerkoffs that sell a $20 item for $5 then charge $40
>>for shipping. They might as well have tattooed on their forehead...
>>"I'm a dishonest putz but I don't have the wit or the courage to be
>>any good at it." I never buy anything from those types because you
>>don't know what other lame surprises are in store for you.
>
> I know guys who sold Xbox 360s at huge profits on Ebay before Christmas.
>
> They charged $40 to $50 shipping and justified it as covering shipping,
> Ebay, and Paypal fees. The 50% to 100% profit they made couldn't cover
> the Ebay and Paypal fees??
>
> Shipping fees should cover the cost to get something to me, not be a huge
> profit margin for the seller. Some sellers sell stuff for 1 cent and
> charge $19.95 shipping to get around Ebay fees as Ebay doesn't charge
> their cut on shipping.
I got a friend to Ebay some old books for me, stuff I hadn't looked at in a
decade or more, but that was useful and costly when bought and might be
useful to others. Most sold for $1.50 or so. I listed a flat $5 shipping, no
deals. Most cost $1.40 for postage and a buck for the envelope. I "made" $2
or so extra on each book because of the postage...but I had to address the
envelopes, drive them into town and stand in line to ship the suckers.
My decision: I'd rather throw the books away next time it happens. It's a
PITA, got my buddy six or seven neutral feedbacks because of the shipping
costs, and basically didn't bring in enough to cover the time and energy of
entering the books on Ebay.
On Mon, 09 Jan 2006 19:29:30 GMT, Joe Barta <[email protected]> wrote:
>Brian Henderson wrote:
>> eBay, of course, who
>> is paying for the whole auction system, has every right to stomp
>> on this practice, and they should do so. There is a cost to using
>> the eBay auction site and being dishonest to make an additional
>> profit that you are not entitled to should not be permitted.
>Someone mentioned that there is no way ebay could keep an eye on all
>it's auctions to prevent such a thing from occuring. But it seems to
>me that it should be fairly simple to automate and report such things
>on their end.
That was actually me who said that. :)
And there are many items that legitimately have a high shipping cost,
so just killing all auctions with a high cost doesn't make much sense.
Does eBay require people to disclose shipping costs up front? I know
most people list them, but is it a hard rule?
In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] wrote:
> Some of the sales are really absurd. When looking for a source for
> 30330 return address labels for my labelwriter printer, I had a look at
> ebay.ca.
>
> One guy has them on sale for 9.99 US and wants a standard flat rate
> shipping fee to Canada of 25.66 US.
>
It just might be he only ships via UPS, their broker-rate to ship north
tells me they don't want to do it. The Postal rate is quite cheap
However, there is a dodge that many eBay sellers are using, sell the
item really cheap and make the profit on shipping/handling. Since eBay
charges by sales price, with no charge for handling fees
--
--------------------------------------------------------
Personal e-mail is the n7bsn but at amsat.org
This posting address is a spam-trap and seldom read
RV and Camping FAQ can be found at
http://www.ralphandellen.us/rv
In article <[email protected]>,
Enoch Root <[email protected]> wrote:
..
>
> Can any sellers say whether Ebay charges extra to have the shipping
> calculator on your page?
>
Not one penny, nor do they charge a fee on "handling" charges
--
--------------------------------------------------------
Personal e-mail is the n7bsn but at amsat.org
This posting address is a spam-trap and seldom read
RV and Camping FAQ can be found at
http://www.ralphandellen.us/rv
In article <[email protected]>,
Joe Barta <[email protected]> wrote:
> A.M. Wood wrote:
>
> > There is absolutely NOTHING unethical about charging a fee for a
> > necessary service as long as the fee is disclosed in advance.
>
> We all have our own ideas about what is ethical and what exactly is a
> necessary service I suppose.
>
> To me it's a simple matter. To me sellers that offer a low low price
> and make up for it with very high and mandatory "shipping & handling"
> charges are unethical and of low character... and buyer be very aware.
> You know who you are and you know full well that what you are doing is
> wrong. My opinion.
>
eBay is who these people are "cheating", and yes, when a seller lists
and item for $1 and charges $50 for "shipping and handling" they are
cheating eBay out of the fees that someone more ethical would be paying
(and yes I have seen those exact numbers)
--
--------------------------------------------------------
Personal e-mail is the n7bsn but at amsat.org
This posting address is a spam-trap and seldom read
RV and Camping FAQ can be found at
http://www.ralphandellen.us/rv
In article <[email protected]>,
Ba r r y <[email protected]> wrote:
..
>
> That depends on the tax.
>
In this case, it's eBay's sellers fee. There isn't one on handling
chargers.
--
--------------------------------------------------------
Personal e-mail is the n7bsn but at amsat.org
This posting address is a spam-trap and seldom read
RV and Camping FAQ can be found at
http://www.ralphandellen.us/rv
In article <[email protected]>,
David <[email protected]> wrote:
...
>
>
> I'd think eBay is well aware of high shipping charges. Pretty obvious
> to the casual observer, even. 2006 might see some new Ebay rules.
>
It's a rule change I am also expecting, since it is costing the
revenue. Like their rule change (a few years ago) on extra charges for
the % PayPal gets (but only for high dollar/volume sellers)
--
--------------------------------------------------------
Personal e-mail is the n7bsn but at amsat.org
This posting address is a spam-trap and seldom read
RV and Camping FAQ can be found at
http://www.ralphandellen.us/rv
"Greg O" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> "LRod" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> On Fri, 06 Jan 2006 22:04:53 GMT, "Toller" <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>>I've gotten a number of complaints like that because I (like everyone
>>>else on eBay) charge about $5 handling. It takes time to pack it up
>>>and ship it.
>>
>
>
> Charge what ever you want for shipping an handling! Just be up front
> about it and I will decide if the total price is in line. I refuse to
> bid if the shipping and handling is not shown.
> My neighbor "won" an auction on Ebay lately. He sent an e-mail for a
> request for shipping charges before he bid. After the bid was done the
> seller sent him a e-mail for the total, with shipping, and HANDLING!
> The shipping was as quoted, but the added handling charge was more
> than the shipping. It was a small item, but with all the charges it
> was more than he would have wanted bid/pay for the item.
> Greg
>
>
>
I always ask for shipping And handling, though frequently I'll pass an
auction that does not quote S&H or provide a calculator.
My brother in law bought a bicycle on ebay with a really high shipping
and handling price (even for a bicycle). The only thing was he was
from the same city as the seller and he told him he would pick it up.
The seller demanded he have it shipped, my BIL said no, so the seller
refused to go thru with the sale.
--
toolmiser
On Sun, 08 Jan 2006 01:57:47 GMT, Brian Henderson
<[email protected]> wrote:
>On Sat, 07 Jan 2006 04:39:26 GMT, "Toller" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>> So if I sold you a car for $100 and charged you a $15,000 delivery fee
>>> that wouldn't be lame? (and *of course* you can't pick it up dummy)
>>>
>>Okay, the car costs $15,100. Is that lame or dishonest? Seems perfectly
>>honest and straight forward to me.
>
>It's very dishonest when you realize that the seller is only paying
>"taxes" on the $100 and is getting the $15,000 completely tax-free
>because it's counted as shipping.
That depends on the tax.
Sales tax is not "paid" by a merchant, it's collected from the buyer
and forwarded on to a taxing authority.
If the seller is keeping books, the $15,000 shipping charge would
probably result in some sort of profit, which _can be_ taxable,
depending on the structure of the business and the conditions on how
the money is taken out of the business, such as owner's dividends,
salaries, etc... <G>
Barry (being stupidly hypothetical, since we've moved to the stupidly
hypothetical world...)
On Mon, 9 Jan 2006 19:04:07 -0600, "todd" <[email protected]> wrote:
>Would you feel better if it was buried in the price of the part? Does that
>make you think you aren't paying it? I really don't see the problem as long
>as a) it isn't excessive and b) it's fully disclosed. Most people with a
>high school education should be able to do the math. Do you believe mail
>order places should not charge for shipping? After all, when you go to Best
>Buy and purchase a television, they don't add a shipping charge, do they?
>Yet the television had to be shipped there, so Amazon is cheating people by
>charging shipping, right?
Oftentimes, it is excessive. Last night, for example, my wife was
looking for a USB cable for her cell phone. Lots of people are
selling them, most starting around $20 with shipping around $4. But
there are a couple people who are selling them for $4 with shipping at
$25. All of those are "BUY IT NOW" prices. Certainly it doesn't cost
*ANYONE* $25 to ship a USB cable, they are just making extra money off
the buyer ($5 additional over other sellers) and extra money off eBay.
In short, they're ripping everyone off.
It's called having character. Too bad so many people have none.
On Sun, 08 Jan 2006 01:42:48 GMT, Brian Henderson
<[email protected]> wrote:
>On 6 Jan 2006 13:26:16 -0800, [email protected] wrote:
>
>>yea, the shipping scame is pretty common, and cheap as hell.
>>If i see a seller who is going nuts with the shipping, i always send
>>them an email asking them if they made a mistake and mean 5.00 for
>>shipping instead of 50.00, etc etc, or something along those lines to
>>try and piss them off.
>
>Actually, you need to report them to eBay. It is a violation of eBay
>rules to pad shipping costs like that and they will end auctions that
>do so if it's ridiculously obvious.
How do you report these issues to Ebay. I keep looking for the
"Contact Us About This Item" or the "Report Ebay Violation" buttons
but they seem to be eluding me..