STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

erin · Chanel

ebay sellers who extort on shipping

Elle · Hermes

I hate sellers who gouge for shipping! I don't think you're being petty at all - if he wanted to make more money on his freaking shirt, he should have listed it higher to begin with. I too would have a problem paying 8 times what an item costs for shipping !

It might be an honest slip-up for this person though - isn't there some feature that lets you put in the info and it automatically generates an invoice to the winner at the end of the auction? Maybe he already had it set up with $8 shipping forgot to change it?

I'd reply to his last email to you so the record is included, and ask for an updated invoice with the adjusted shipping cost. If he doesn't reply or stands by he $8 shipping, report him.

lynnie · Chanel

ok, it sucks that he did that... but did the listing say $8 shipping? my take on this is- if he made $.99 off of a listing- plus has to give away some to ebay and some for the initial listing- plus has to list it, take pictures, go to the post office, for around $.50? who would do that, honestly. Is the shirt worth $9 to you? I personally would pay it, or try to talk him down to $4 shipping or something- but on smaller listings i know that the seller usually makes $2 or $3 off of shipping and I'm completely ok with it.

cc · Marc Jacobs

Did he say that the $8 cost was for flat-fee shipping (which is now $8.10)? I agree that it's crazy to charge that much for a tee-shirt but maybe if he lists in large quantities he just uses the USPS flat Priority Mail rate. I actually started doing that with some of my items (not anything as little as a t-shirt though) that I've listed because I don't have a scale and I kept underestimating shipping and losing money but if anyone asked me to use a different shipping method I would agree to it. I suppose in this case it seems pretty clear that the seller was trying to snag people by listing at a really low price and then padding the shipping fees a lot.

I agree with Elle that it could be a simple mistake since Ebay has those automated invoices that are filled in with the initial shipping charges from the listing. If he doesn't go along with the agreement you made with him you could always tell him that you want to cancel the auction and leave him neutral or negative feedback.

Cortney1982 · Chanel

The $8 shipping is rather excessive when I bet he ships first class for less than $1. But ebay is so expensive with their damn fees, somebody has to pay for it! Say I sell something for $20, $4 of that cash is going to ebay and paypal! People make up for it a bit in shipping so ebay can't steal it away when they already took a good lump for listing fees.

Since you didn't have a said amount before you bid on the item, I'd say pay up.

jettie · Kate Spade

I'm guilty of overestimating shipping charges for things I sell on ebay. I've had a couple of experiences where I underestimated the cost and don't want to get stuck with extra costs again.

Also, its not just the cost of the postage but the cost of the packaging and handling too. However, I agree that if you had spoken to the seller about shipping for less than $8, I would definitely pursue.

erin · Chanel

jettie wrote:

I'm guilty of overestimating shipping charges for things I sell on ebay. I've had a couple of experiences where I underestimated the cost and don't want to get stuck with extra costs again.
Also, its not just the cost of the postage but the cost of the packaging and handling too. However, I agree that if you had spoken to the seller about shipping for less than $8, I would definitely pursue.

yeah i am familiar with getting burned on occasion..but i would have rather payed a higher auction cost than shipping just because it pissed me off so much!

ps after hemming and hawing i did the "pay it now!" link and it was changed to 6$ shipping..which was still a lot for probably cheapo shipping, but i am at least slightly appeased by the 2$ difference!