advise needed

[wrldstrman]

I won an auction for 8 atari games and the book type holder, couldnt weigh more than 3 pounds.10.80 was winning bid games were just common combat etc,I mainly just wanted the holder .The seller sends me atotal with shipping 27.oo. 17.00 for shipping you got to be kidding.I sent them back a email stating the shipping was very unreasonable,that I have always paid for all my wins but 17.00 was redicilous .I just sent a complete sega system across the us for 8.00 .this item is in a neighboring state and even with a handling fee of 5.00 couldnt cost more than 10.00 to ship. If they dont lower the shipping what would you do. I have always paid for ever auction I have won and got great feedback as a buyer and as a seller only one neg as a seller and that was a bogus neg from unpleasable person over a dollar item. I am seriously thinking about just taking a negitive non buyer feedback just because I belive that shipping that high is just plain extorhtion. what you all think.

[JerseyDevil]

Is this for Priority Mail? Media Mail? I would wait and see if they lower the shipping. I have on non-paing bidder warning for this very reason, the seller was trying to charge me 10.00 to ship 1 CD. The seller must have been scared of a retaliation negative because they did not leave me feedback. Remember you can always respond to your feedbacks and explain what happened.

[lonesome_pa]

First, is there a link to the auction?

 

Also depends if the auction listed a shipping price specifically or if it states that "buyer pays for all shipping". If it's stated specifically, I'm sorry to say, but tough luck. By bidding on it, you agreed to the terms. And as was stated above, if it's Priority it would cost more, but I can't see it costing that much. If you have the sellers zip code, plug the info into www.usps.com postage calculator and see what you get. My best suggestion, which might not be the best answer, is to haggle with him/her. If they won't budge on the shipping amount (again assuming it wasn't stated in the auction), I would tell the seller which level to go to and risk the negative. Be sure to leave factual, not retalitory, feedback for them as well stating the overinflated shipping. Receiving a negative in this case just might outweigh the out of pocket cost to you. But, in the end, take the decision that lets you sleep better at night.

[Room 34]

I am usually reluctant to bid on auctions that don't explicitly state the shipping cost up-front... mainly because having to wait for the seller to calculate shipping charges delays the whole transaction, but also because of cases like this where the seller is going to rip you off.

 

I have no problem with sellers charging a handling fee on top of shipping charges. I do it myself, since I often have to buy packing materials or at the very least take time out of my day to take the item to the post office/UPS. But $17 for what you're getting is totally out of line. I recently shipped a box that weighed 32 pounds across several states via UPS Ground for $22!

[Clock]

Well your not seriously thinking of paying that amount, so wait and see. If he does leave neg feedback, just reply to feedback stating the facts. This then leaves the door open for you to leave him negative feedback, and with that kind of feedback who's going to buy fom him again???

[jetset]

At the risk of being accused of being "hung up" on the subject, I've said it before and I'll say it again....these sellers trying to profit from the shipping of an item are getting out of control.

There's no way you should pay that amount.

Personally, I'd tell him I wouldn't pay more than $7-8 dollars to ship that. I'd also report that to ebay. Even $5.00 is an excessive handling fee my friend.

One thing to remember....a negative is bad for anyone, but it's worse for a seller. He will likely be a LOT more likely to try to work with you to avoid a negative since it affects him more than it would you as a buyer.

Use that to your advantage. Don't let this guy take advantage of you!

[DaveAtari]

NEVER bid on something unless you know what the shipping charges are going to be.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

The problem with knowing the shipping up front, is that you don't know where the person will be coming from who wins the auctions. In my case I don't state the shipping but do state how I ship and if I know, I will state the weight of the item. Keep in mind that in my case, I don't already have the item boxed up and waiting to ship. I wait until the deal clears before I box it all up and send it out. However, I don't have a scale in this house believe it or not, and certainly not one that the post office would qualify as being official. Point is, I don't know how much anything costs until I get to the post office to send it. I will admit there are a few times I have used the online USPS calculator to figure my costs, and usually it ended up costing a few cents less that I stated. In one case I was to ship a fairly heavy item to Canada. Shipping I estimated from the online calculator had me actually end up overcharging the buyer by several dollars. So what did I do? I went to my paypal account and sent back the change.

 

So, the whole, "Don't bid on anything that doesn't have the shipping stated on it.." bit pisses me off. Again, I have only sold a very few things on Ebay, and between comments like I am supposed to magically know how much something weighs and where it is going, to non-US bidders bidding and winning on my US and Canada only auctions...is starting to get really annoying.

 

I agree that ripping off someone on shipping is wrong, and I don't follow such practices. However, stating that bidding on auctions that don't list the shipping up front is ignorant is just insulting to those who are honest and simply have no way to tell ahead of time.

 

just my .02

[holygrailvideogames.com]

I personally list shipping charges for every item that I sell. Sometimes I make a little money on shipping and sometimes I have to eat part of the shipping cost. At least that way the buyer knows what shipping will be up front. If shipping cost aren't stated in an auction I will almost always ask the seller for shipping cost up front prior to bidding just to be safe.

[Christophero Sly]

If the shipping costs aren't stated in an auction, e-mail the seller and ask for a shipping estimate and/or the intended method of shipping. Bidding on an auction without a reasonable understanding of all the costs and fees involved is just asking for this sort of dilemma.

 

That being said, $17.00 is completely unreasonable for a 3lb. parcel. Hopefully, you can convince the seller of that.

[Inky]

I recently shipped Mock an Apple 2E, Monitor, Printer and associated software in 3 boxes, the total weight of all three packages about 100 pounds for $35 (Fed Ex)

 

AND it got there in 3 days!

[sku_u]

This item could be sent Mediamail for between $2 and $5. Even Priority Mail wouldn't cost close to that much for this parcel.

 

Send him $1.70 for shipping and if he says anything, say that you just assumed that such a high shipping fee was a typo as no one in their right mind would pay $17 to ship a small parcel.

[video game addict]

Weird. From the auction, he's got a shipping calculator and uses UPS. The shipping came to $12.04 when I plugged a generic WV zip in. That's still $5 off what hes now trying to charge. FYI, the shipping calculator, actually gives you a total, with any additional fees added in. Assuming he set it up correctly. It has a Paypal button from within the popup. I don't think he can raise the price more, now that there is a total.

 

But I would imagine a $12 UPS fee is excessive, but is a known factor coming into the auction. You would have to pay that since you bid.

 

I checked thru USPS, and it was less the $5 for a 3LB package mailed Priority mail, was $5.85 for a 5LB package sent Priority mail.

[wrldstrman]

After contacting seller They did lower the shipping amount.Guess it never hurts to ask.I defenitly will take everyones advise and not bid on stuff unless I know shipping up front.thanks all