Another Ebay question

Danbo

Danbo

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While not a huge deal or a major ripoff, I do have a question. Rather, it's a collection of opinions that I'm looking for. A week or two ago, I won two auctions for a couple of really nice pieces of Redwood Burl. Both auctions from the same seller, so he supposedly combined the shipping charges. This seller charged me $4.95 for shipping. Not a big deal, as I pay a lot more than that all the time for shipping.

But, yesterday the package shows up. The wood is packaged in one of the padded envelopes that has the ends folded over and taped shut. I can see right on the envelope what he paid for the shipping. It's almost exactly half what he charged me. The invoice he sent me via email said nothing about "Handling" charges, so I wonder if I'd be out of line to ask him about the difference. ??? Or, should I just suck it up and let him have his extra $2.50?
 
Danbo,

I'd just suck it up. The envelope did cost something and he had to take it to the shipper. In fact I'd say he was very reasonable.
I was looking at a camera on Ebay and the bidding price was OK but the shipper was charging $29.99, a little high. When questioned he told me he "had to make a profit somehow", he told me if I was hogh bidder he would "only" charge $19.99. Real cost would have been under $10.00 with insurance.

Win
 
Hi, Not to be offensive, but I sell alot on ebay. I know you said he didn't mention handling, but with gas as high as it is today, driving to the post office, and very seldom do I go there and the lines not out to the door so you can count one 15 to 20 minute wait. So, all and all, you came out allright. There is a method for the mailman to pick up packages but I think you have to weigh them and have proper paperwork filled out. Plus, I allways try to pad things very well I ship. I usually charge $12 to $14 for priority mail insured on knives and still go in the hole on it if insurance iis high on bigger ticket items. As an added side note, I bought a Ruger Old Army used--- on Auction Arms, and the dude shipped it in a large padded envelope or bag, The barrel was sticking out of a hole in it in my mailbox. Its within the law to mail black powder guns, but the post office couldn't tell by just the end of the barrel, it could have been a .44. Why they didn't confiscate it is beyond me.
 
Danbo said:
While not a huge deal or a major ripoff, I do have a question. Rather, it's a collection of opinions that I'm looking for. A week or two ago, I won two auctions for a couple of really nice pieces of Redwood Burl. Both auctions from the same seller, so he supposedly combined the shipping charges. This seller charged me $4.95 for shipping. Not a big deal, as I pay a lot more than that all the time for shipping.

But, yesterday the package shows up. The wood is packaged in one of the padded envelopes that has the ends folded over and taped shut. I can see right on the envelope what he paid for the shipping. It's almost exactly half what he charged me. The invoice he sent me via email said nothing about "Handling" charges, so I wonder if I'd be out of line to ask him about the difference. ??? Or, should I just suck it up and let him have his extra $2.50?
Click to expand...


Padded envelopes are about $1.50 ...Id suck it up..he made a dollar..
 
Ren the devils trailboss said:
Padded envelopes are about $1.50 ...Id suck it up..he made a dollar..
Click to expand...

And if you add in time and gas, he didn't even make that. I always try to keep my shipping as low as possible for Ebay sales and it's a fine line between actual charges and sometime even losing money on shipping.

I could live with this alot better than the Ebayers that say "Priority Mail" and charge for it, then 9-10 days later I get the package First Class mail for under $2.00.

OK, pet peeve rant over. :D

P.S. Ren...your "signature" is the sickest and funniest thing I have ever seen!
 
You folks are right, I'll just leave things be. The wood IS awesome, by the way. :)
 
Danbo said:
You folks are right, I'll just leave things be. The wood IS awesome, by the way. :)
Click to expand...

Now quit yer whinin' and go make a handle outta the stuff for one of those blades you've supposedly been workin' on and SHOW us!!! LOL!!!! :D

From what I remember... you've got one heck of a collection of wood in that garage of yours!
 
Ditto on everyone's opinion here......

I drive ten miles out of town to use another post office because ours here sucks so bad.....huge wait and no parking.

If I HAD to ship from here in town I'd charge my customers and extra $10 just for the induced stress.

I don't buy from anyone on ebay who charges a ridiculous shipping rate on liteweight items.
 
There are definitely Ebay sellers who are trying to scam money on shipping, but this guy isn't one of them.

My wife bought what amounts to a small, very lightweight pamphlet on Ebay, it was $19.95, she didn't look closely to see what the shipping was set at, assuming it would be typical, maybe $3-$4 max, in the item description which was very long and hard to read with no seperate paragraphs, there was a mention again of the price of the item, $19.95, the trouble is, when she paid, it turned out the seller had set the shipping at $19.95, same exact price as the item itself, hoping people would see the number in the description and assume they were just mentioning the price again, where in reality, if you read it carefully, it was saying shipping was $19.95, remember, this is a small, lightweight item requiring no insurance or special packing, shipping at most should have been $4, really more like $2, when she complaiend, of course they said it was clearly stated in the auction and she was obligated to pay it. Scumbag. We got out of it, but when my wife told the lady she was way out of line with the shipping fee, the lady responded: "Honey, this is Ebay." :)
 
Not to beat a dead horse but ditto on the majority opinion here. I sell on ebay and try to ship as reasonable as possible. I lose money sometimes but I try to take into account the driving to the post office, waiting in lines, trips to Walmart to buy padded envelopes, bubble wrap, tape etc. As already mentioned here, there are those who try to overcharge and take advantage. Like those guys who sell worthless junk knives for 99 cents and charge $10.00 for shipping. Not to hard to figure out what's going on there.

Scrimmer
 
I'd suck it up just because getting to the post office is a PITA for me. For that matter, when I sell stuff, I normally absorb the PayPal fee just because it means I don't have to go to the bank to deposit a check or money order (unless the item is so valuable that 3% is a lot).

Time is money, as they say.
 
I remember offering three or four customs on ebay that all were in the 600-900$ range. I offered 2-Day DHL, insured for 25$. Seemed fair enough and I was clear on it. If a bidder thought it was 5$ to much, they should just bid less. But I got several irate emails from one guy berating me about trying to make money on shipping. That was on a knife bid up to 780.00 at the time.

Thankfully ebay makes it easy to block bidders. He emailed me with more wailing and whining about blocking him from bidding. That's when it is nice to easily block emails.

Remember, ebay doesn't take a percentage of the shipping. A lot of bidders take advantage of this. Just note the shipping before you bid!
 
I could be wrong on this, but it seems to me that PayPal charges their fee on the total including S&H. Not a big deal.

A while ago I was looking at a $10 item on eBay that had a $10 fixed S&H. I asked the seller why S&H was so high. He told me that a lot of dealers dealers charge extra S&H to recover PayPal fees. You are not allowed to charge extra for PayPal on eBay.
 
Who cares what the shipping is, I always just figure it into the sum of what Im paying. I just cant stand the auctions that dont list shipping.
 
gimmejr said:
I just cant stand the auctions that dont list shipping.
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Most of the auctions on eBay are out of the US. I'm in Canada, so I always have to email the seller to find out what shipping costs will be. A pain, but a fact of life. However, the charge for basic shipping within the US should be listed.
 
I always look at the total costs. High bid (plus taxes sometimes), plus shipping and handling, plus paypal fees ( if used).
That is the total cost to get me that item...If I think it's too much I don't bid.
If no s/h is indicated I don't bid.
If it states priority mail and I get it in a envelope I get pissed!!
 
UffDa said:
I could be wrong on this, but it seems to me that PayPal charges their fee on the total including S&H. Not a big deal.

A while ago I was looking at a $10 item on eBay that had a $10 fixed S&H. I asked the seller why S&H was so high. He told me that a lot of dealers dealers charge extra S&H to recover PayPal fees. You are not allowed to charge extra for PayPal on eBay.
Click to expand...

Paypal does. Ebay Doesn't. You may not be allowed to charge extra for paypal but you can charge whatever you want for S&H.
 
>75% sellers charge shipping with build-in handling. The total cost is usually between 2-4x the actual shipping charge.

There is nothing wrong with your shipping charge.

Danny Boy
 
I used to sell quite a bit on ebay (mostly non-knife items) and always listed my shipping charges in the appropriate field as well as in the description of the item. My shipping charges always included an additional $5-$10 over the actual shipping charge. This was because I had to buy the shipping materials like boxes, tape, bubblewrap etc. What I don't understand is why someone would bid on an item where the shipping fee is clearly listed and then try to negotiate the fee after the sale. I certainly agree that there are quite a few sellers on Ebay who charge ridiculous s/h fees. I simply do not bid on items where I feel the seller is grossly overcharging on s/h. It would not occur to me to bid on the item and then hope to talk the seller down afterwards. If a buyer does not read an auction closely and overlooks the s/h fee I don't see how that is the sellers fault. If no s/h fee is listed, I always email the seller privately and ask their fee before I bid. If they will not provide me with a cost based on my zip code I will not bid under any circumstance. Just my
$.02 :)
 
Stop whining, you guys! ;) ;) ;)

My son just showed me a set of wheels he wanted to buy on eBay for his SUV - the wheels were $199. for 4 of them ("Buy It Now!") -- and the shipping was an additional $250!
 
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