Irritating Illiterate bidders...

[hex65000]

Okay, I get this guy asking if I'm willing to combine shipping on a bunch of auctions, I say yes, so I get it all boxed up and he's irate because he thinks that combining shipping means that I'll cut him a huge discount on the shipping price. So now he's whining that the actual shipping is too much and expects me to eat about $10 worth of shipping for him or mutually withdraw from the auction. I'm more inclined to strongarm his keester and take the neg even though my auctions get nearly zero traffic. It's not like I have anything to loose and frankly he smells like a reseller trying to get some cheap games to flip quick.

 

And if he's here reading, hell yes I'm irate.

 

Hex.

[ "Hey sexy mama, wanna help me kill all humans? "]

[jerrykurtz]

Okay, I get this guy asking if I'm willing to combine shipping on a bunch of auctions, I say yes, so I get it all boxed up and he's irate because he thinks that combining shipping means that I'll cut him a huge discount on the shipping price. So now he's whining that the actual shipping is too much and expects me to eat about $10 worth of shipping for him or mutually withdraw from the auction. I'm more inclined to strongarm his keester and take the neg even though my auctions get nearly zero traffic. It's not like I have anything to loose and frankly he smells like a reseller trying to get some cheap games to flip quick.

 

And if he's here reading, hell yes I'm irate.

 

Hex.

[ "Hey sexy mama, wanna help me kill all humans? "]

 

Well, what are the facts of the shipping? Country, weight, size, cost, etc?

 

I always combine items for my buyers to save them the shipping costs? Unless you're burrying a bunch of fees in there, there's no reason not to help them out? Of course, I'm not saying you should take a loss on shipping either, but if it only costs $5 to ship something, then don't charge them $15.

 

Collecting vintage games isn't really an expensive hobby, but it can be if shipping gets out of hand. Shipping charges can be a significant portion if this hobby if not contained.

 

If I run across a seller that is hell-bent on not helping save shipping costs, then I'll be hell-bent on NOT saving them any money. I'll go as far as paying for each item separately so they incurr each initial .35 transaction fee, and I insist that each item be shipped individually. If I'm not going to catch a break on the shipping, I'm sure as heck not willing to let them make even more profit by sticking it to me...

 

Jerry

[Almost Rice]

Okay, I get this guy asking if I'm willing to combine shipping on a bunch of auctions, I say yes, so I get it all boxed up and he's irate because he thinks that combining shipping means that I'll cut him a huge discount on the shipping price. So now he's whining that the actual shipping is too much and expects me to eat about $10 worth of shipping for him or mutually withdraw from the auction.

 

I thought your listing was very clear "Actual Shipping + $1" That is for the combined package? If so, it sounds like he is trying to resell to me.

Edited July 1, 2006 by Almost Rice

[hex65000]

It's about 55 carts in one box. I packed them up, went to the post office and had it weighed to be priority w/ delivery conf. the thing weighs in at about 7 lbs 15 oz. I charge as a rule the actual price of delivery and the priority conf and such + $1. Somehow he thinks that combining shipping equals something like I'll only charge what one box of eleven carts is worth or something. I still haven't figured out how he got to that conclusion. I admit it was my fault that I took a week to get the total to everyone involved. at the same time I'm thinking this dude is reading a convienent message to make it cheaper.

 

I don't like sellers who gouge either and try to pay attention and not feed them often. I also would rather have a clean auction than the BS I wound up with.

Bleah.

 

Hex.

[ It is making me angry to the point of irrational thought... I can FEEL veins on my head... GRRrr. ]

[jerrykurtz]

It's about 55 carts in one box. I packed them up, went to the post office and had it weighed to be priority w/ delivery conf. the thing weighs in at about 7 lbs 15 oz. I charge as a rule the actual price of delivery and the priority conf and such + $1. Somehow he thinks that combining shipping equals something like I'll only charge what one box of eleven carts is worth or something. I still haven't figured out how he got to that conclusion. I admit it was my fault that I took a week to get the total to everyone involved. at the same time I'm thinking this dude is reading a convienent message to make it cheaper.

 

I don't like sellers who gouge either and try to pay attention and not feed them often. I also would rather have a clean auction than the BS I wound up with.

Bleah.

 

Hex.

[ It is making me angry to the point of irrational thought... I can FEEL veins on my head... GRRrr. ]

 

Well, you did what you could. Just be honest and frank with him -- tell him the package weighs in at 8 pounds, and give him your zip code and have him go to www.usps.com and see for himself what the rates are. Make sure to tell him about the $1 handeling charge (which for that many carts isn't a bad deal at all!)

 

Tell him its not your rate, its the post office's rate. If he has a problem with how much it costs to ship 55 carts, then he shouldn't have bought that many.

 

You could always tell him he could pay for someone like UPS to pick the package up - but once he sees that he'll pay a bit more that way, he'll probably give up on that real quick

 

 

Have you already packaged it in a priority mail box? If not, maybe you could pack them in a normal box and offer to ship them media rate for him (plus your same $1 fee) -- making sure he realizes that if the post office inspects the pacakge that he'll be responsible for the additional postage in order to get the package from the post office. Media Rate would be much less expensive than Priority...

[+Omegamatrix]

I've bought with Hex before, and I can assure everyone he is a straight up guy with shipping charges that even Jetset would love. Sorry that this auction went so sour, Hex.

 

Cheers,

Omega

[hex65000]

I won't even consider shipping it media mail because I then lose the tracking option of delivery conf. leaving me open to the whole "I never got it" scam. I also state pretty clearly that I ship USPS priority. Here's a link to one of the five auctions he won.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=104752398751

 

What he's pulling right now is that he wants the thing shipped at his imagined price or he wants a mutual withdrawl from the auction. Because hey, he's the only one who bid on em' (true). I'm not sure if it's worth wasting my time with him or not. I do at least want my listing fees back though.

 

Any ideas on what to do with him other than the imaginary firebomb that I think he deserves. ( I'll ship free on that one ) What mystifyes me is that he is a fairly experienced Ebayer. So I'm not sure how he wound up at the oddball conclusion that he had.

 

My current plan is to give him three non-negotiable options: He can reimburse me the listing fee and we can mutually withdraw from the auction, he can pay the entered total for the package, or I drag him to non-paying bidder land and he can pay for the package -- and I'll likely get neged.

 

Thanks for the vote o' confidence Omega. Hopefully, my other completed auction winners won't be like this guy. I have a bad feeling about it though... Although Jetset wouldn't like that extra dollar on the end, but relative to the masses out there, I don't feel so bad.

 

BTW, is there something wrong with the lots I'm putting up for sale that I'm missing? I thought I was pretty straight-forward on them and didn't expect the lots to go to a joker like this.

 

Hex.

[ "Incredible, near-infinite power, but... ityy-bitty-living space." --Alladin ]

[lemoncurry]

Unreal. You go to the trouble of testing each cart for ten minutes and he expects to get them cheaper than 75 cents each, shipped?

 

If I were you, I'd go ahead with the mutual withdrawal (in which case you'd get your Final Value fees back, but not the Insertion fees, so what's that, 5 x $.35?) and wait until fall to relist them; these lots should have gone for more in the first place.

Edited July 2, 2006 by lemoncurry