Why Do Ebay Sellers Charge So Much For Shipping

[relivingdapast]

i find shipping for tfs is always so expensive on ebay? i think its wrong to pay $10 or $15 usd for shipping, then when it comes in i see it only cost $5 usd or cdn for that matter to send. thats whack and unfair.

[jhs8swd]

i find shipping for tfs is always so expensive on ebay? i think its wrong to pay $10 or $15 usd for shipping, then when it comes in i see it only cost $5 usd or cdn for that matter to send. thats whack and unfair.

To avoid this problem enturely, I recommend either e-mailing sellers in plenty of time to ask how much shipping will cost, or bidding on those items that already have shipping costs listed. As long as you know exactly what you're paying, it's simply your decision as to whether you want to bid or not!

 

Has saved me a lot of trouble anyway

[Skullshine]

Actually, many sellers do this on many different items. It's their way of "recovering" money lost on low bids. It's a crock of sh*t really, but what can you do?

[Rama Sha]

When I sell, I usually only charge 6-8 and it usually comes in between those two. I've even lost money on shipping before, when I didn't charge the buyer enough. Since I quoted the shipping price to him, I paid for it outta my own pocket.

[Quickshift]

Actually, many sellers do this on many different items. It's their way of "recovering" money lost on low bids. It's a crock of sh*t really, but what can you do?

Omega hit it right on the head. It's pretty similar actually to online retailers like BBTS who have flat-rate shipping. You know they send some stuff that costs way more than $4.99 USD to ship, but they also ship a lot more stuff that costs way less than $4.99 USD to ship. So, it all evens out in the end. Problem is, eBay sellers frequently don't do as much business as on online retailer would, so their markup on shipping guesstimates has to be a lot higher to cover the deficit. Well, that and some sellers are just greedy and know people will pay it - that's how they can let stuff go for cheap sometimes, since it's more than covered in the shipping profit.

[eclipse1]

i understand that some sellers will charge you for actual shipping and maybe a couple of extra bucks for packaging and their troubles, but some are just crazy charging over double. since i'm not in the US, i always ask. if i'm charged say $10 for something that $7-8, that's understandable, but anything over is ridiculous.

[synch]

If they try to charge me more I just don't pay

[Silverbolt]

Unless the item is very hard to come by if they don't have a stated shipping charge I don't place a bid. As a seller I usually try to charge a buck or two more for shipping to cover the other expenses, though sometimes I'm very wrong with my guess, those times its out of pocket.

[synch]

The odd time I sell I do the right thing & wait to get teh sellers adress info & then take it to the post office & figure out a price. None of that under charging or over charging bs @loll@

[Silverbolt]

The odd time I sell I do the right thing & wait to get teh sellers adress info & then take it to the post office & figure out a price. None of that under charging or over charging bs @loll@

I just hate going and standing in line at the post office, prefer a one shot deal.

[Starscream49]

Do one of 3 things,

 

1. which I do: email the person tellign them you bid to win the item but shipping has to be $5 (granted its a $5 shipping cost) If it has "buy it now" Ill use that if they shipp for free.

 

2. Ask why, most of the time they will its shipping and handling.

 

3. just be a juerk and tell them you will win and pay that shipping, but if Im paying more than the post mark I leave negative feedback.

 

 

Its a buy/seller world. Buys need to set some rules too. Not just the seller.

[Silverbolt]

Do one of 3 things,

 

1. which I do: email the person tellign them you bid to win the item but shipping has to be $5 (granted its a $5 shipping cost) If it has "buy it now" Ill use that if they shipp for free.

 

2. Ask why, most of the time they will its shipping and handling.

 

3. just be a juerk and tell them you will win and pay that shipping, but if Im paying more than the post mark I leave negative feedback.

 

 

Its a buy/seller world. Buys need to set some rules too. Not just the seller.

Whats your ebay SN, if this is how you deal with sellers I'll want to block you on the spot. I try to be fair with my start price and BINS, but I will not have people tell me what they will and won't pay for shipping, and if I refuse to make something down and you decide to bid anyway then don't pay the total amount that your invoiced and leave me a negitive for what is completely your problem I don't want anything to do with you.

 

Why shouldn't sellers charge for things like packing material, box cost and time. I'll admit that it shouldn't be anything out rageous, but a 1 to 2 dollar charge is more then fair, and personally I much rather pay that then have to wait longer for them to calculate and get back with me on the cost.

 

 

 

If the price is set then you have no one to blame but yourself. Bid accordingly with the shipping

[Starscream49]

I didnt say I would bid anyway. If you say shipping is $10 and the package arrives and cost you $4 to ship, thats BS.

 

Second, If you wanna sell you item take care of packing, Why should I pay for packing material when I recieve it in a used up box and shredded paper? Did that reallycost you $6?

 

If your fair, you dont have to worry about it. Im only talk about someone mailing a regular size TF and charging $10.

 

Ive sold things and the only time I ever charged more than the EXACT shipping is if I had to purchase a bigger box and that would be a dollar.

 

I think most people arent talking about that though.

[Behold, Galvatron!]

Do one of 3 things,

 

1. which I do: email the person tellign them you bid to win the item but shipping has to be $5 (granted its a $5 shipping cost) If it has "buy it now" Ill use that if they shipp for free.

 

2. Ask why, most of the time they will its shipping and handling.

 

3. just be a juerk and tell them you will win and pay that shipping, but if Im paying more than the post mark I leave negative feedback.

 

 

Its a buy/seller world. Buys need to set some rules too. Not just the seller.

 

As a seller myself, I find that's very unfair. If a seller ships an item to you immediatly after recieving payment and has been coridal througout the process, you would give them negative feedback for paying at most $4-5 dollars more for shipping?

 

Buyers do have a say, but they should speak with their wallets.

[Starscream49]

No I have never done that, but Ive never paid $10 shipping and had a package come postmarked $4 either. If a postmark is $4, there is nothing to justify charging $10 other than trying to take an some extra on the side.

[Behold, Galvatron!]

But if its already established before during the auction the seller isn't really ripping you off.

 

If its one where they take your zip code to calc shipping and then overcharge you its understandable.

[relivingdapast]

i agree a dollar even 2, fine. like when i get records off ebay i usually pay around $6 usd and it arrives usually at $3.40-4ish dollars. that acceptable.

its the doubling, tripling or more of charges that bull. i remember i paid $25 or $30 USD for an item and when i got it, it cost $8 CANADIAN to ship. now thats just wrong.

 

now i dont want to piss any one off by saying this but i find that for some reason most american sellers seem to include canada as "rest of the world" shipping prices which is stupid. were north of the border for christs sake not overseas or in asia, and it is a big difference. i hate that.

 

ive found that with canadian sellers who, dont get me wrong also do the markup thing, are charging too much and in say in my province or city, if i ask if they can reduce the price they sometimes agree. for instance just recently i won on ebay a sealed downshift (yay for me - now i only need a sealed cdn overdrive) and the shipping was $10usd. i asked and they agreed and charged me $5usd. when i got it it was priced at $4.90canadian. so that was acceptable and very nice.

[relivingdapast]

oh also as a seller and since im such an honest guy, i actually mailed someone back a $1us bill cuz i felt bad that i overcharged!

[Silverbolt]

The only time I think you have a right to complain is when they calculate a shipping price and don't state anything up front. While normally I would pay ten dollars for a item I really wanted, that item better be in my hands in less then a week or I'm going to be upset. However when the price is clearly stated for all in the terms of the auction you have no place to complain. Its there bid accordingly. If something arrives and its ten dollars less then what you paid to ship it well you have nobody but yourself really to blame, you knew thats what the seller was going to charge to ship the item and you chose to bid. If you got the item and its in the stated condition and arrived quickly then you have no reason to leave a negitive when the seller made their terms very clear to you in the auction.

 

Now if you pay 10 for a 3 dollar item and it comes five weeks later, the figures box wrapped in brown paper instead of boxed up then I could see it as a case for a negitive fb.

 

As for Canadian sellers/buyers for some reason I have more trouble with them then the ones from the States. I will sell to them and buy from them but they're usually the ones that cut the most corners, and alot of the non-paying bidders that I've had came from there as well.

 

 

What I don't want to see happen though is for me to list a custom figure up on ebay that I spent a lot of time on and have someone like Starscream here win it for around the minimum and then give me a negitive for it being four or five dollars less to ship then what the auction stated. Even though I usually bubblewrap, use packing peanuts and use a box that is oversized for the item and ship next business day. If its anything like that custom seeker I put up in the fall I made nothing from it, probably a dollar and it did take some time to do, so I would be highly offended by getting a negitive over something like that, especially when it was clearly stated in my auction terms. Not like I just sprang it on you, which I do agree with. I had some seller try to tack on a four dollar Paypal charge on top of a 15 dollar shipping fee from HK. I already thought that the shipping charge was five dollars more then it needed to be but I wanted the figure so I went along with it.

[Starscream49]

I dont care what any one you say. If a seller states shipping is $10 and I agree to buy it, then it arrives and shippign cost $4, thats a out and out lie. I dont care if he stated it was $10. I can only assume it will take $10 to ship.

 

If a seller says $10 and it cost $8 or $9, fine. I agreed and he was right on. But to state its ok to charge $10 when it only cost $4 to ship just cause the seller says it is BS.

 

 

If you say $10 it should cost $10. You dont get to say what ever price just to make money and think thats ok.

[ScottieEvil]

I gotta agree with screamer, up to a point (I do buy the higher end stuff so if they take the extra care to pack it well, it's worth a few extra $$ to me)

[Silverbolt]

As a buyer you should also have a decent idea of how much something will cost to ship. Nobody is forcing you to buy anything or place the bids. If a seller says 10 dollars up front to ship it, then its up to the buyer to take that into account and bid accordingly. Does it make it a great thing for a seller to do, no that will hurt future business, but I also don't think you have any right to say you were over charged for something when you knew how much they were charging up front and most likely had a pretty good idea how much it would cost to really ship it.

[Behold, Galvatron!]

I agree with Silverbolt. You can pretty much look at an item and tell how much it would really cost to ship.

 

Don't like how much a seller's charging then don't buy it. Either way they dont deserve a nf for it.

[Starscream49]

Funny the two sellers agree! So I take it you guys overcharge as well since you are coming to the defense of it????

 

Just cause you say shipping is $10 doesnt mean you get keep the extra $6. If you really wanna screw people over just charge six more dollars on the BIN or starting price.

 

 

If you say shipping is $10 it better be $10 or its a lie. Just like buying a C-8 toy, you wanna get a C-8 toy. A lie is a lie, is a lie, is a lie, is a lie.

[Skullshine]

In my personal opinion, if you sell something on ebay, you should have already decided your terms for shipping. Ask yourself, am I willing to ship internationally, or just intercontinentally? Something that pisses me off is when someone charges $6-8 for a few comics. You can get a flat rate envelope for free and the stamp for $3.85, and that's for all the envelope willl hold. Just $3.85. Bigger items I can understand. Especially things that need extra "padding" to prevent damage. I wouldn't guess a shipping total if someone inquired. I'd go to the post office and ask just for the sake of being accurate and honest. That's just my opinion though.