Winning a Bid

wolfmann601

wolfmann601

Gone, but not forgotton. RIP Ira.
Joined
Mar 12, 2001
Messages
7,385
Dumb NEWBIE question, but I really need to have some input. This is a matter of principle. If someone (me) bid one buck on a knife on an auction and won the bid. Then the SELLER wants seven bucks to ship the knife, and I decide to just BUY the knife BUT NOT have it shipped, should I then only need pay the SELLER one buck. If I convey the message as soon as the auction closed that I DO NOT want the knife shipped, the SELLER does nothing in preparation for shipping, should I still be responsible for shipping? Second part is a little more towards ethical knife selling. Should a Seller make a PROFIT by means of using shipping charges?
IMHO, I think buying and shipping are two different issues. If I pay for the knife, "gift" it back to the seller and the seller does nothing,what loss will the seller incur if the seller just resells the knife. Please keep in mind, this is a ONE DOLLAR knife......wolf
 
Wolf,

Good questions. I do not think that you should make a profit out of shipping goods sold on a auction site. I also think that your approach of paying the $1 and saying that you do not want the knife shipped should not incurr a shipping charge.

Regards,

Ed
 
This has gone from a DUMB question to now a matter of ethics, a threat that I pay up or be banned from the auction board ( of course so says the SELLER only) and what I deem to be childish and skinning one's nose to spite their face, AN E-Mail PROHIBITTING ME from bidding on any of this Sellers knives. Gee, the ONLY person in the world to auction off florida clones I no longer buy, one dollar knives and I have on several occassions bid on and immediately paid for Daltons and a pair of MT's. But a one dollar knife? I have mailed the one dollar to pay for the knife, with instructions NOT to ship. The Seller has many of these knives, I was the only sole who opened the bids at one dollar and immediately upon closure of the auction told the SELLER, NOT to ship. So NO shipping charges should apply. So I am buying the knife I won and not asking for it to be mailed via USPS as it is NOT an auto. To ship it was $1.83. Should shipping be a profit making device to cover a loss when a SELLER takes a hit? I say NO IT's plain wrong. Shipping costs are the costs to package, the time to prepare it for shipment and the actual cost. If this does not take place, it should not be used to MAKE money. AM I wrong, is this slime raising to the surface? Now it's principle and I am not paying period, just the one buck!!!! wolf
 
I say: send the $1, tell him to hold on to the knfe and that you will be by his place to pick it up. And then tell him that if you do not make it to his place, he can keep the knife.

Rich
 
I've bought and sold hundreds of items on online auctions and without a doubt, if there is "no" shipping and handling, then there can be no S&H charges. The seller is being a jerk, trying to make his items look more appealing by charging $1 and then $7 S&H. He should have just sold them for $5 + $2 S&H. His loss....

He's really being an @ss if he's threatening you. If he didn't want you coming by to pick it up, he should have just gave you the option of canceling the buy. No harm, no foul to either of you.

If the guy (or gal) continues to be a jerk, please let us know who it is in the "Good, Bad and Ugly Forum", so the rest of us won't do business with them.
 
Heehee! This is really funny. I don't know how the auction board will view it, especially if the vendor listed his S/H charges up front...there's something about the buyer's obligation to complete the transaction as denoted in the listing. But I think you have a logically sound argument! Good luck and let us know how it turns out.
 
I say send him the dollar and tell him to throw the knife out for you....
Nick
 
Yeah, I often bid only on local stuff and ask where I can meet the prrson to pick up. I offer work, home, or neutral place to be fair and a time of their choosing. Find out if a forumite lives near by and have them pick it up and throw it out for you. If is with in 50 miles of Boston I'll volunteer.
 
This is beyond ludicrous!!!! Now the SELLER will NEVER allow me to bid on their knives. And I have done Hundreds and hundreds of dollars worth of buying from this SELLER. Yes Sir, it is clearly marked that the buyer shall pay $6.95 for THE shipping costs, but here is the kicker, THE shipping costs are zero as the knife was never even put in a shipping envelope. Damnit, the knife was not even touched from inventory. Yes, I was stupid to bid a buck. I figured with six days to go, I would just "open" it up as I bid and buy alot on this auction and I have bought from this SELLER and the SELLER'S "other" many many times. But as the clock ticked to almost zero and I know/knew the Seller had a bunch of these plain folders, that I DID NOT want it mailed and promptly BEFORE the end of the auction E-mailed the SELLER to inform them of the no ship, the buck is on the way notice. It was made VERY clearI would just pay the buck. Now about a Month later, all this BS for a one dollar POS knife and seven bucks to use the USPS??????? I would have just sent the $7.95 total and still said "keep the knife" if some diplomacy was involved and I played "ignore the auction, but I did not. Also, I cannot pick it up as I am here in NH, the SELLER is from Florida and hence moves lots of Florida clone autos. But now it's principle, threats of bidding suspension, orders to NEVER bid on their auctions and "My bids shall NEVER be accepted" ( UNTIL I pay up) is crap. Especially the "until you pay up SH*T./ I have paid for the knife, the SELLER KNEW not to mail it, we ALL know it does not cost 7 buck in time, labor and material to mail one non-auto $1.00 little folder and since it never was prepared to be mailed, the shipping is simply being added to recoup the loss of the cost of the what is probably a 5-8 dollar knife. NOPE, this is now just stupid......wolf
 
Ahhhhhh, now that I have re-read your second post it becomes more clear.

You new in advance that the S&H was $6.95 and you still bid on it? And your nowhere near the guy so your not gonna pick it up?

You never should have been if you weren't planning on paying. If he posted the S&H charges in the ad, and you still bid, then I feel your obligated to carry out your part of the bargain.

Yes, the seller is overcharging a bit for S&H, but you seem to have known that when you bid. So you messed up. Don't cry over spilled milk, just hope you learned your lesson.
 
wolfmann601,

I think that one of these days, you and I are going to have to get together and get drunk (eventho' I don't drink)! It kind of scares the hell outta me that you and I sometimes think alike.:D.:eek:.:D.
 
Originally posted by Nick
I say send him the dollar and tell him to throw the knife out for you....
Nick
Click to expand...

ROTFLMAO :)

My sentiments exactly! He would probably charge you $5 for waste management fees!

But seriously, I want to be the devils advocate for a minute. I think in most cases the seller should not over charge for shipping, however; If I were selling a very expensve and fragile piece or equipment that required me to spend $10 to be 100% sure it was properly packaged, then shouldn't I have the right & ability to pass at least some of this charge on to the purchaser? After all, they will ultimately benefit from my good packaging.

This reasoning does not apply to this scenario but I don't think you can make a blanket statement that a seller can not charge more for shipping than the actual shipping costs. Just my .02
 
Sorry for double posting but I read more after my first.

wolfmann601, I would go ahead and pay for the knife and shipping. Make them send it to you. Then bust it into a million pieces and send it back to them postage due.

But post some pictures here first ;)
 
This thread cracked me up -- especially the part about forbidding you to ever bid on his auctions again. As if you would ever want to do business with that dork again.... Please post his name on TGB&U. Or post it here and I'll copy the thread to TGB&U.
 
First, if the seller listed a knife for $1.00, then that knife has the right to sell for $1.00 no question. As for the shipping you are correct. No seller has the right to make a profit off of shipping in my opinion. It is nothing more than a transportation method for completing a business transacion.
 
I'm going to disagree with everyone!!!! LOL!!! A seller has a right to make money off of shipping, AS LONG AS YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS UP FRONT. Shipping is part of buying off of the internet, and a harsh reality we must all deal with. IF you don't want to pay shipping, EMAIL BEFORE YOU BID.
Let me continue. It can be argued that because you want to receieve a package in good shape, that that seller must take some time to pack it well, and therefore deserves a little compensation for this. If you think this is not the case, talk to an antique buff!!!! I'm buying an acoustic guitar off of ebay, and the shipping is expensive, but those suckers HAVE to be EXTREMELY well packed.
 
Wolf,
Unfortunately, there are many people who end up making profit on the S&H. Usually, it's just sort of "rounding it up"... i.e. if it will be about $3.85, charge $5. This gentleman is, as someone said, doing a loss leader with the knife and making the money on the shipping. Have you seen the magazine ads for the "designer" sunglasses, trying to make market share? The glasses are FREE, the ad says, just pay $14.95 to $19.95 for shipping and handling, the small print says... :rolleyes: Hmmmm, are they really free? In my auctions I offer a choice between an educated guess, or exact cost (takes a little longer).
If he said it up front..... That was part of the deal... I think it sucks, but you agreed when you bid.
Sorry,
Rob
 
This reminds me of a letter I once received in snailmail. It said I had won a boat complete with a motor in some contest I didn't recall entering, and all I had to do was send them $55 for shipping and they would send it to me.

After a careful reading of the letter combined with researching some catalogs (of course I knew it was a scam at first sight but I wanted to know how it worked) I figured out it was an inflatable boat with an electric motor and if I wanted one I could have bought it for about $40 ... including shipping....
 
I think wolfmann has a point. It's "$1+$6.95s&h". The crux of the matter is the plus sign. If I decide, before you put the item in its shipping container, that I would like to pick it up personally, then the "plus s&h" should not apply.

In this case, wolfmann told the seller, before the end of the auction, that he would pay for the knife but didn't want it shipped. The seller should have come to this conclusion. This is mere common sense. I am curious, of course, if the same conclusion is support by the letter of the law.

Maybe the seller has no common sense? Afterall, if a wolfmann won the bid and elected to pay for the bid but not take the knife, then, after making sure that he really doesn't want the knife, I would be up by one knife and one dollar. I could start another auction without any loss.

What pisses me off more is that wolfmann said he has done many transactions with the seller before. You'd think the seller could do the least bit and accept the $1 and keep the knife as wolfmann suggested.

However, I may just be shooting my mouth off here because I just realised another part of the equation. How much does the auction house charge to put an item up for auction? Is it a percentage of the winning bid or a flat fee? Perhaps the seller is trying to recoup some of the auction fees? Even so, IMHO, I think he has to accept the loss. That is the truth of doing business. Sometimes, the POS that one puts up for auction may not make money because no one is interested in them. In which case, to protect oneself, one can always use the "reserve price" feature.
 
I KNEW there was a shipping charge of $6.95. Let there be no question. Being one that hates buzz words and semantics as the auction post said "THE shipping", THE being a key buzz word. We BOTH knew at the close that I did NOT want the knife even touched from the inventory, just sending the one dollar bid. The Seller bought a wholesale lot of these folders. I have re-read the entire auction post of a Month ago and carefully studied the POS knife in question. YUP, should have brought in about ten bucks a piece, as the Seller paid maybe 4-5 bucks each. NOW, it is the shipping charge that I had informed the SELLER PRIOR that need not apply as shipping would not be required. I(f there was NOT this warning/notice and the SELLER packaged it and took the time Labor and material and it was just one knife and not a perpetual Auction that STILL runs, I would have sent the $7.95. But the knife was never even touched for my benefit. Man it's just 8 bucks, no big deal, BUT I am NOT a man who can afford to give up my principle and pee away two bucks. Then, after bidding and buying a MT Socom Elite Auto, a MT two-tone L-UDT (yup yours Lanny) a couple of Daltons and about 15 clones, for 8 bucks I get banned from bidding on this Seller's knives ( unless I send at least the SHIPPING charge)? The Auction will NOT Ban me, my record, my name and my money speaks for itself. But yeah it said THE SHIPPING when I bid, but for some strange reason, even with the glowing write-up the Seller gave this knife and the picture of it, NO ONE but ME bid and the open bid was this one-buck. Glockmann, Yeah let's get drunk!!! I do not drink either, and I am NOT paying EITHER!!!!! BUT.......wolf
 
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