advertisement
Forums

The Forum is sponsored by 
 

AAPL stock: Click Here

You are currently viewing the Tips and Deals forum
Rant: Dang it, I HATE getting boned on shipping on eBay!
Posted by: Paul F.
Date: December 12, 2005 07:20PM
I learned long ago to LOOK at the shipping listed on auctions....
If it's not listed, more and more I just pass the auction by.

Saturday night, I won an auction (uncontested by other bidders...) for some foreign currency in an album sort of case. (about the size of the average software box).

Emailed the seller (in Great Britain) for the correct total with shipping (he listed 4 pounds sterling for shipping within Britain, but not for North America).

I expected it to be higher.... maybe 6 pounds.... maybe 8... maybe EVEN 10 pounds...

Nope..
Item cost: 1.99 pounds.
Shipping cost: 20 Pounds!
For a total of $40 for a $4 collection.


Yeah, I did it to myself... I didn't get a shipping quote BEFORE I bid.
My "positive" feedback is going to reflect a certain dissatisfaction with the shipping cost...





Paul F.
-----
A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand. - Lucius Annaeus Seneca c. 5 BC - 65 AD
----
Good is the enemy of Excellent. Talent is not necessary for Excellence.
Persistence is necessary for Excellence. And Persistence is a Decision.

--

--

--
Eureka, CA
Options:  Reply • Quote
Re: Rant: Dang it, I HATE getting boned on shipping on eBay!
Posted by: JTman
Date: December 12, 2005 07:24PM
Man, I hate that!

I've had luck sometimes with asking the seller if there's anyway he could cut you some slack based on cheaper actual cost - a few times they have.

JT
Options:  Reply • Quote
Re: Rant: Dang it, I HATE getting boned on shipping on eBay!
Posted by: ArtP
Date: December 12, 2005 07:52PM
Paul F. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> I expected it to be higher.... maybe 6 pounds....
> maybe 8... maybe EVEN 10 pounds...
>
> Nope..
> Item cost: 1.99 pounds.
> Shipping cost: 20 Pounds!
> For a total of $40 for a $4 collection.
>
>
>

See if you can research cheaper shipping options and NICELY negotiate with the seller. Ask if he would be willing to send it for a SLOWER/CHEAPER rate and offer him 5 or 8 pounds on top of that for his trouble.

Try and cut that figure in half but leave room so he can "Pad his Shipping" for the trouble of International shipping....
Options:  Reply • Quote
Re: Rant: Dang it, I HATE getting boned on shipping on eBay!
Posted by: viaripatti
Date: December 12, 2005 07:55PM
AND don't EVER depend on those shipping calculators...I've seen them at $120 for the cheapest shipping for a G4 Tower. I've written them about it saying that it will kill their pool of bidders and they quickly try to fix it. Never bid unless you get the seller to confirm via eBay's email what the shipping will cost-that way they're locked.

Yeah, I hate it when they just canNOT manage to figure out fair shipping beforehand. Jeez, all they have to do is look at several of the same items on eBay to figure it out.

Also, many sellers just do high, eBay exempt, shipping charges to obtain extra money without paying the eBay fees.
Options:  Reply • Quote
Re: Rant: Dang it, I HATE getting boned on shipping on eBay!
Posted by: owc jon
Date: December 12, 2005 08:28PM
I agree completely.... I've won auctions for $50 dollar parts only to get charged $20 bucks for ground? Yeah right.... cost is like $5 bucks or so for ground.... annoying...





----------------------
Jon Hiller
Other World Computing
[eshop.macsales.com]
[www.fastermac.net]
FOLDING FOR TEAM 48057
Options:  Reply • Quote
Re: Rant: Dang it, I HATE getting boned on shipping on eBay!
Posted by: Paul F.
Date: December 12, 2005 08:41PM
It took the guy two DAYS to even invoice me...

I just sucked it up, and paid.

Giving myself "negative reinforcement" as a lesson...


I probably could have spend another week or two trying to get the guy to charge a more reasonable shipping.. but given how brief his item description was, and how long it took to even get a total to pay him, I think it would have been an excercise in frustration.


Like I said... "previously learned lesson now painfully reinforced".






Paul F.
-----
A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand. - Lucius Annaeus Seneca c. 5 BC - 65 AD
----
Good is the enemy of Excellent. Talent is not necessary for Excellence.
Persistence is necessary for Excellence. And Persistence is a Decision.

--

--

--
Eureka, CA
Options:  Reply • Quote
Re: Rant: Dang it, I HATE getting boned on shipping on eBay!
Posted by: Zoidberg
Date: December 12, 2005 08:42PM
I do the same thing; figure the shipping cost into my final highest bid. I forget in the heat of the moment sometimes -- for instance, just won a replacement toy (an old Imperial Troop Transport for my son); toy was $12.50 and shipping is $15.

When I charge shipping I'm pretty up front about it. Sometimes I'll eat the cost but on big-ticket stuff I do a "to be determined; winning bidder to pay actual shipping" but I'll eat the packaging costs; etc.
Options:  Reply • Quote
Re: Rant: Dang it, I HATE getting boned on shipping on eBay!
Posted by: incognegro
Date: December 12, 2005 09:55PM
i asked an ebay seller to lower his $8 shipping for a Hulk poster, from VA to PA. he agreed, grudgingly.

never hurts to ask, i say.
Options:  Reply • Quote
Re: Rant: Dang it, I HATE getting boned on shipping on eBay!
Posted by: Speedy
Date: December 13, 2005 03:29AM
I just won a $46 auction for an iMac with shipping also being about $46 via UPS. What I hate is that the guy won't let me pick it up even though I drive right by his location (a church, he's the preacher's son and his wife works as a secretary at the church) 5 days a week.
Options:  Reply • Quote
Re: Rant: Dang it, I HATE getting boned on shipping on eBay!
Posted by: JoeBob
Date: December 13, 2005 07:04AM
Speedy, that sucks.
I have been pretty lucky with local pickup, so far.
Bought a Ham radio, and met the guy at his office to make the exchange (police dept, I felt pretty safe), and have done well on a few local computers.
Options:  Reply • Quote
Re: Rant: Dang it, I HATE getting boned on shipping on eBay!
Posted by: pinion
Date: December 13, 2005 08:05AM
Just remember: it is in pounds so take any price you would think is reasonable and double it.






---“What you permit, you promote. What you allow, you encourage. What you condone, you own.”
Options:  Reply • Quote
Re: Rant: Dang it, I HATE getting boned on shipping on eBay!
Posted by: Paul F.
Date: December 13, 2005 08:49AM
Technically, multiply by 1.77 to get dollars.. but yeah...




Paul F.
-----
A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand. - Lucius Annaeus Seneca c. 5 BC - 65 AD
----
Good is the enemy of Excellent. Talent is not necessary for Excellence.
Persistence is necessary for Excellence. And Persistence is a Decision.

--

--

--
Eureka, CA
Options:  Reply • Quote
Re: Rant: Dang it, I HATE getting boned on shipping on eBay!
Posted by: Michael
Date: December 13, 2005 12:22PM
Speedy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I just won a $46 auction for an iMac with shipping
> also being about $46 via UPS. What I hate is that
> the guy won't let me pick it up even though I
> drive right by his location (a church, he's the
> preacher's son and his wife works as a secretary
> at the church) 5 days a week.


That does suck. Why don't you offer an extra $10 or $20 to pick it up? That way, he'd get his padded cost and you'd save some $ and not have to worry about it getting banged around.
Options:  Reply • Quote
Re: Rant: Dang it, I HATE getting boned on shipping on eBay!
Posted by: Sam3
Date: December 13, 2005 12:31PM
<sarcasm>How "Christian" of him.</sarcasm>
With church people like that, who needs the devil?
Options:  Reply • Quote
Re: Rant: Dang it, I HATE getting boned on shipping on eBay!
Posted by: insider
Date: December 13, 2005 01:01PM
Sorry guys but I side with the seller (being one myself).

I sell a lot of 3 pound items on ebay.


Rates:
USPS Priority mail $6-8
FEDEX Ground $5-7
UPS Ground (I NEVER SHIP UPS)

even gound shipping for a 1-2 pound item is almost always more than $6 just because FEDEX and UPS charge such a large amount for "residential delivery".

Now on residential packages here is my process:

Print out labels for all items (80% USPS 20% FEDEX) (6 minutes or so)
Attach and place all packages outside (2 minutes)
Setup pickup with FEDEX and USPS (2 minutes).

So in 10 minutes I can do about 20-40 packages/day.

Now with international first I'm stuck doing everything at the post office unless I ship express (which no one wants to pay for).... then I have to sign a crap load of papers, manually print labels for the box etc.

The fact is that international shipping, I like it as an option but it's a huge hassle even for a effient home business. Imagine the general ebay user that has 10-40 feedback over their lifetime selling CD's.
Options:  Reply • Quote
Re: Rant: Dang it, I HATE getting boned on shipping on eBay!
Posted by: Speedy
Date: December 13, 2005 05:07PM
The seller has a zero rating so he doesn't have the volume insider does nor is it a light item.

>>>

Sam3 wrote:

"<sarcasm>How "Christian" of him.</sarcasm>
With church people like that, who needs the devil?"

I thought the same thing because when I wrote him right after the auction I told him that his iMac would be going to a good cause because this iMac is going to a single parent family that has two kids with disabilities, one a very severe disability, and that I am donating it to them at the request of a local non-profit.

>>>

Michael wrote:

"That does suck. Why don't you offer an extra $10 or $20 to pick it up? That way, he'd get his padded cost and you'd save some $ and not have to worry about it getting banged around."

I thought about doing this but, on principle, I really didn't want to appeal to his greed.

>>>

But in the seller's defense I did not ask before the auction ended if local pick-up was an option. And I wouldn't gripe except for where the computer is coming from and going to. The church is a large evangelical fundamentalist independent operation that has the reputation (local gossip of old line protestants) of being a profit center for the preacher so, if true, I assume the son is very well trained in fleecing the flock.
Options:  Reply • Quote
Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.

Click here to login

Online Users

Guests: 700
Record Number of Users: 186 on February 20, 2020
Record Number of Guests: 5122 on October 03, 2020