Ebay Shipping Question

valvepimp · Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2003 10:44 am Post subject:

I've noticed that a standard rider of "buyer pays all shipping costs" is often attached to eBay auctions when no specific shipping amount is mentioned. I assume that if the seller is acting in good faith that only the postage fee incurred will be charged. Has anyone ever won an auction with this standard rider, only to find that a handling fee has been added and the seller claims "well yeah, handling is part of shipping"? Or that the buyer claims the actual shipping is significantly higher than we know it to be from past experience? What recourse do buyers have if the final tally for shipping and handling is excessive when no amount was mentioned in the auction?
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musiclifeline · Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2003 10:54 am Post subject:

Yes, I've had someone try to hit me with a high shipping charge. I asked them politely about it, and they replied that they had simply used some kind of online shipping calculator. It turned out that they were charging UPS prices instead of USPS prices, which were much lower. I worked it out that I would pay a certain amount that I knew to be standard for that item, and anything over that would have to be covered by the seller.

mark125 · Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2003 10:57 am Post subject:

If someone has an auction like this, you need to use the send a question link before you bid and give them your zip code and ask for exact shipping charges.
The flat rate some of the sellers list is the maximum it would cost them to ship in the United States and may not be a good deal if you live close to them.
I never bid without asking first. Some of the sellers like to add handling charges which is o.k. if it is a fragile item and they need to buy good packaging materials to ship it in. If you don't ask first and then decide not to buy the item, you will probably get some poor feedback.

Mark

drdoct · Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2003 11:22 am Post subject:

I had this happen on a nonhorn item but it's all the same. They tried to charge me double what I could get it for on ups ground so I emailed them back to ask how they were figuring their shipping because it estimated it at half the price. I was nice about it but let them know that I knew exactly how much the shipping should be. They came back and said that they were figuring priority mail which was honestly stupid since it was double the cost and with no benefit whatsoever. But they offered to ship it however I wanted to pay for it. It's always an unknown when you dont know the shipping and I'll probably take a ding sooner or later for refusing to pay double the shipping price. But they'll get a ding also for gouging and it'll look worse on theirs if they sell a lot. I never allow any handling to get 'tacked' on AFTER the auction because they were too careless or even worse hid their intentions of adding one. Actual shipping cost should equal actual shipping cost, not the max for all the u.s. period.

jcmacman · Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2003 12:32 pm Post subject:

I bought a non-horn item a few months back from eBay with the same type of rider attached to it. In my case the seller only charged me the actual shipping cost, no handling fee, no tax.
John