Ebay enforcing maximum shipping costs in certain catagories now?

[norkusa]

Don't know if this is old news, but I just listed some big box PC games on Ebay yesterday and got the following message immediately after listing them:



Attention Sellers:
http://pics.ebay.com/aw/pics/s.gifhttp://cgi5.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dllhttp://pics.ebay.com/aw/pics/s.gifhttp://pics.ebay.com/aw/pics/s.gifhttp://pics.ebay.com/aw/pics/s.gifhttp://pics.ebay.com/aw/pics/tbx/warnSm.gif
Starting in October, the maximum shipping cost (http://pages.ebay.com/sell/August2008Update/MaxShipping/)in this category will be $4.00. You'll be asked to enter a shipping cost less than or equal to this cost for the first U.S. flat rate shipping service.
Get a head start on these changes by updating your shipping costs for this listing



I'm glad to see Ebay is finally cracking down on the S&H gougers, but some of these games I'm selling weigh over 3lbs (like Falcon 4.0 with the 300 page manual) and there's NO WAY shipping will be anywhere near $4. Maybe if they were sent Media Mail but my local post office doesn't consider PC games Media. WTF?

[Kitsune Sniper]

You can get around that if you use calculated shipping. Enter the weight, then add a handling fee. Bam. Price gouging again.

[norkusa]

You can get around that if you use calculated shipping. Enter the weight, then add a handling fee. Bam. Price gouging again.

Ahh, good to know. Thanks for the tip Kit! :-D

[megasdkirby]

You can get around that if you use calculated shipping. Enter the weight, then add a handling fee. Bam. Price gouging again.

Great...a way around shipping gouging for crooked sellers... :(

[zektor]

Well, ebay should be protecting buyers if the seller cheats the weight. If you buy a game and the seller entered 30lbs for example (ad it is under 1lb) there should be a way to inform ebay after receiving the merchandise and creating a dispute for the shipping money back.

They probably have not gotten that far yet, but I can see this happening down the road. I actually think the category shipping is kind of fair. There are many times I purchase things like a joystick extension cable which was $1 buy it now but $8.95 to ship...then I get it media mailed to me for $1.10.

[megasdkirby]

I agree with zektor. Either companies who inflate shipping will adjust or leave Ebay.

However, Ebay's new move is bad as well. Companies can simply accept the changes and then send the slowest, possible way. For example, the extension cable zektor mentioned.

Or even worse, they will not combine shipping, forcing buyers to pay $40 shipping on 10 items in which shipping charges were $4 a piece.

I wonder how Ebay will combat this...

[Kitsune Sniper]

Great...a way around shipping gouging for crooked sellers... :(

Yes.

But, on the upside, if they charged you $8 and your package only cost $4 to send, you now have a better case against them due to price gouging. :p

[Cornelius]

Well, ebay should be protecting buyers if the seller cheats the weight. If you buy a game and the seller entered 30lbs for example (ad it is under 1lb) there should be a way to inform ebay after receiving the merchandise and creating a dispute for the shipping money back.

They probably have not gotten that far yet, but I can see this happening down the road. I actually think the category shipping is kind of fair. There are many times I purchase things like a joystick extension cable which was $1 buy it now but $8.95 to ship...then I get it media mailed to me for $1.10.

OOOhh... they could even build this into paypal, and make it so all a buyer has to do is claim that it weighed less than they were charged for, and get refunded automatically! Out of the seller's account, of course. That is, unless the seller has paid an "item weight verification fee" to paypal up-front, in which case it will enter a dispute where the buyer has to get a third party to weigh the item and submit the results on some sort of official letterhead. :eyeroll: /end sarcasm

Seriously, I've never understood buyers' beef with shipping charges, so long as they are listed clearly. Now, sellers that give reasonable shipping rates have a legitimate beef with the gouging sellers, since they could both sell the same item for the same total amount (including S&H), but the inflated shipping seller actually nets a larger amount, since they don't pay fees on as much of the sale. Note, in both cases the buyers are paying exactly the same amount.

The only real solution is to eliminate S&H altogether. The fee structure would have to be redone so you could list a game starting at 4.99 for 10 cents (or somesuch). This would seriously mess with things for a short while, but the market would correct itself pretty quickly.

[Simply Dave]

Ebay is charging a 15 percent final value fee on all video games, on top of the listing fee, paypal fee, ect.

That's gouging.

[jb143]

The only real solution is to eliminate S&H altogether. The fee structure would have to be redone so you could list a game starting at 4.99 for 10 cents (or somesuch). This would seriously mess with things for a short while, but the market would correct itself pretty quickly.

I've done this many times on light stuff that doesn't cost much to ship anyways. And the "FREE SHIPPING" attached to it seems to bring in more bids. I think Ebay has some sort or promotion for sellers to save on fees or something if they offer free shipping.

[megasdkirby]

Seriously, I've never understood buyers' beef with shipping charges, so long as they are listed clearly. Now, sellers that give reasonable shipping rates have a legitimate beef with the gouging sellers, since they could both sell the same item for the same total amount (including S&H), but the inflated shipping seller actually nets a larger amount, since they don't pay fees on as much of the sale. Note, in both cases the buyers are paying exactly the same amount.

As you mentioned, if a buyer agrees to shipping, then there is no reason to complain.

This however does not mean that what those sellers do is correct and they should not be allowed to put in practice such action.

[p_b]

Well, ebay should be protecting buyers if the seller cheats the weight. If you buy a game and the seller entered 30lbs for example (ad it is under 1lb) there should be a way to inform ebay after receiving the merchandise and creating a dispute for the shipping money back.

They probably have not gotten that far yet, but I can see this happening down the road. I actually think the category shipping is kind of fair. There are many times I purchase things like a joystick extension cable which was $1 buy it now but $8.95 to ship...then I get it media mailed to me for $1.10.


Don't buy from them. It's as simple as that. I can't believe that this was the only seller offering a joystick extension cable?

[The 1 2 P]

I'm glad to see Ebay is finally cracking down on the S&H gougers, but some of these games I'm selling weigh over 3lbs (like Falcon 4.0 with the 300 page manual) and there's NO WAY shipping will be anywhere near $4. Maybe if they were sent Media Mail but my local post office doesn't consider PC games Media. WTF?

I have been getting the same message over the last two weeks. While I'm glad that it will put a stop to "some" price gouging, it also dawned on me that I am going to be taking a real hit on shipping fees. I guess the biggest problem will be when I list systems. I should probably list them all before this goes into effect.

[Dark_Sol]

Recent changes suck. What can i say.... shipping fees are a rip-off. And adding it as a handling charge will definitely make every buyer angry.

[Japan-Games.com]

The new maximum shipping policy has nothing to do with protecting buyers. In a lot of cases eBay set the price below actual shipping cost, meaning it will cost more than the max even if you simply put a stamp directly onto the item and put it in the mailbox. Just be thankful you don't sell books...

What eBay's doing is a creating a way to charge selling fees on shipping. They've admitted that some of their max fees are below actual shipping prices, and they have encouraged Sellers to list their items in auction. They believe that Buyer will look at the total price, so a $75 item with $50 shipping is $125 total. If shipping is maxed at $15 then Buyers will pay $110 for the item and $15 for shipping. That means the total price for the Buyer is the same but the seller pays fees on $110 instead of $75.

That's what it's all about....

[megasdkirby]

Don't buy from them. It's as simple as that. I can't believe that this was the only seller offering a joystick extension cable?

It's not that...it's actually a trend. For some odd reason, sellers would hike shipping costs. I dunno why either...my guess is that if someone does it, why not others?

[smork]

It's too bad there's no good way to do post-paid shipping like they do on Yahoo Japan.

It's perfect for all involved -- the price of the item is the price of the item, buyer pays shipping costs directly to the shipping company or post office. I've bought tons of stuff this way and hate the thought of doing it any other way now.

[Japan-Games.com]

It's perfect for all involved -- the price of the item is the price of the item, buyer pays shipping costs directly to the shipping company or post office. I've bought tons of stuff this way and hate the thought of doing it any other way now.

With that you run into the problem that Sellers really have no incentive to take the time to find the cheapest way to send it. Japan Post charges by the size of the box, not the weight. I've received a small game in an oversize box with a ton of stuffing that worked out to be $12-$15. Since the Seller doesn't know or care what the shipping prices will be sometimes you end up paying a lot more than you should...

[vincewy]

It's not the worst part, they're now forcing everyone to use Paypal, screw that! I've been buying (not selling) on eBay for a while and there's no way I'd reopen my paypal account again after a security breach.

[smork]

With that you run into the problem that Sellers really have no incentive to take the time to find the cheapest way to send it. Japan Post charges by the size of the box, not the weight. I've received a small game in an oversize box with a ton of stuffing that worked out to be $12-$15. Since the Seller doesn't know or care what the shipping prices will be sometimes you end up paying a lot more than you should...

Very true - but most of the sellers seem to either tell you what it will cost ahead of time, or give you their preferred method, or give you the option of choosing the method.

I suppose I haven't gotten burned on excessive shipping yet -- and if fact have gotten some rather nice deals on bulk lots..

[JSoup]

Maybe if they were sent Media Mail but my local post office doesn't consider PC games Media.

That...that actually matters? I send everything via MediaMail, be it media or not. It's not like the post office is going to open up the package and look.

[dao2]

Don't know if this is old news, but I just listed some big box PC games on Ebay yesterday and got the following message immediately after listing them:



I'm glad to see Ebay is finally cracking down on the S&H gougers, but some of these games I'm selling weigh over 3lbs (like Falcon 4.0 with the 300 page manual) and there's NO WAY shipping will be anywhere near $4. Maybe if they were sent Media Mail but my local post office doesn't consider PC games Media. WTF?

My question is why the hell does your post office not accept games as media mail o_0 Wrap it in a box, toss it to em and say it's "electronic readable media" (which it of course is) and ship it!

Wots with the saying no? Are they really supposed to do that?

[Kitsune Sniper]

Media Mail is not supposed to have advertising, at least not in a huge quantity. This means video games are excluded - at least according to some postmasters, like the douchebag that runs the post office where I live.

The point is, the rules aren't very clear on what is allowed or not, so everyone just makes up the rules as they go. What one postmaster thinks is fine, won't be according to another one. Just saying.

Anyway, if you want to get around the $4 limit, just use calculated weight shipping and add a small surcharge to cover the box. That's what I did with heavy items anyway.

Edit:
Oh, the post office CAN open and inspect Media Mail packages. They rarely do, but if they DO open the package, they'll bump the shipping to Priority Mail and charge the postage to the person getting the package.

[Wookie]

<deleted - wrong thread>

[megasdkirby]

My question is why the hell does your post office not accept games as media mail o_0 Wrap it in a box, toss it to em and say it's "electronic readable media" (which it of course is) and ship it!

Wots with the saying no? Are they really supposed to do that?

Media Mail is an option only if you wish to destroy your account by having buyers leave negative feedback for items not received or taking a very long time to receive.

In short, Media Mail is horrible as well as Parcel Post.

It's funny to see sellers complain and then say "I shipped quickly via MEDIA MAIL...". Sigh...

[Sniderman]

That...that actually matters? I send everything via MediaMail, be it media or not. It's not like the post office is going to open up the package and look.

Actually, yes they can and yes they do. Media Mail has the most-inspected packages since it's a. cheapest and b. prone to abuse. So your Media Mail packages WILL be inspected if there is any question as to the contents. You may have gotten lucky thus far, but if they suspect anything amiss, they'll open it on route and potentially send it back to you or charge the recipient for the extra postage.

The "Are videogames considered Media Mail" debate has raged for years and even the USPS isn't sure. The USPS official description is no help:


Media Mail® service is a cost efficient way to mail books, sound recordings, recorded video tapes, printed music, and recorded computer-readable media (such as CDs, DVDs, and diskettes). Media Mail can not contain advertising except for incidental announcements of books. The maximum weight for Media Mail is 70 lbs.

The INTENT is for books; personally-recorded tapes, CDs, and DVDs; and computer software. I don't THINK that they originally intended for any and all CDs and DVDs to be considered. And although game software is sometimes loosely considered OK, game carts - even though they are "media" - are usually flat refused for Media Mail postage.

So basically, Media Mail allowance is at the discretion of the clerk slapping on the postage as well as any chucklehead who handles your package on route. And you can argue that you're within your rights, but do not be surprised if that box of Sega CD games ends up back at your house with POSTAGE DUE/REFUSED stamped upon it.

[DragonmasterAlex]

This $4 maximum shipping aplies to US-Residents only?
I'm from Brazil and for me to ship something to the US costs something like $20!

[jb143]

That...that actually matters? I send everything via MediaMail, be it media or not. It's not like the post office is going to open up the package and look.

I've had it happen to me before. I had a clerk question me when I tried shipping laserdisks once. He ended up shipping them but acted like like I was committing a crime the whole time.

[Kitsune Sniper]

Media Mail is an option only if you wish to destroy your account by having buyers leave negative feedback for items not received or taking a very long time to receive.

In short, Media Mail is horrible as well as Parcel Post.

It's funny to see sellers complain and then say "I shipped quickly via MEDIA MAIL...". Sigh...

Well, it's different for you - you're not in the continental US of A. People from Alaska and Puerto Rico who get stuff shipped to them via Media Mail have to wait at least two months to get the stuff. Parcel is slow, true, but it's not as bad as Media. :\

And I ship stuff via Parcel all the time, but I always let my buyers know it might take up to a week to arrive. If they're cheap and don't want to spring for Priority it's not my problem. :p

[megasdkirby]

Well, it's different for you - you're not in the continental US of A. People from Alaska and Puerto Rico who get stuff shipped to them via Media Mail have to wait at least two months to get the stuff. Parcel is slow, true, but it's not as bad as Media. :\

And I ship stuff via Parcel all the time, but I always let my buyers know it might take up to a week to arrive. If they're cheap and don't want to spring for Priority it's not my problem. :p

True, but it also depends on one other factor: zones.

A friend from New Jersey purchased a few DVD's from an Ebay seller located in Washington. It took almost two months to arrive, and it was via Media Mail. Yet there are times in which something from the same distance arrives...in two-three days? It doesn't make any sense.


Parcel is the same as well: depends on zones and other factors. Sometimes I get items really quickly or I have to wait MONTHS, which is silly, considering Priority Mail could be like $2-$5 more? (depending on size and weight...could be more)

[Sniderman]

Something else to keep in mind those who use Media Mail - You cannot get Delivery Confirmation. So if someone pays via Paypal and you ship via Media Mail, you have no shipping record. I never got it, I charge a chargeback, I get my money AND your parcel, and you're SooL. Simply because you wanted to ship it cheap.

[megasdkirby]

Something else to keep in mind those who use Media Mail - You cannot get Delivery Confirmation. So if someone pays via Paypal and you ship via Media Mail, you have no shipping record. I never got it, I charge a chargeback, I get my money AND your parcel, and you're SooL. Simply because you wanted to ship it cheap.

Did not know that. Thanks for the info.

Another reason why Media Mail is the suckage...IMO.

[Kitsune Sniper]

Something else to keep in mind those who use Media Mail - You cannot get Delivery Confirmation. So if someone pays via Paypal and you ship via Media Mail, you have no shipping record. I never got it, I charge a chargeback, I get my money AND your parcel, and you're SooL. Simply because you wanted to ship it cheap.

Are you sure?

http://www.usps.com/send/waystosendmail/extraservices/deliveryconfirmationservice.htm says you can add it.

My local clerks said that the reason that Media takes so long is that they literally send all that stuff last. It's got the least priority, which is why it takes so long.

[Sniderman]

Are you sure?

http://www.usps.com/send/waystosendmail/extraservices/deliveryconfirmationservice.htm says you can add it.



Package Services Parcels - Includes Parcel Post® , Media Mail® , Bound Printed Matter, and Library Mail.


I stand corrected.

[JSoup]

Chargebacks shouldn't be an issue for any seasoned seller. Many people use credit unions with charge confirmation.

[jb143]

Something else to keep in mind those who use Media Mail - You cannot get Delivery Confirmation. So if someone pays via Paypal and you ship via Media Mail, you have no shipping record. I never got it, I charge a chargeback, I get my money AND your parcel, and you're SooL. Simply because you wanted to ship it cheap.

I think it used to be this way not too long ago though. Becasue thats whats I always thought as well untill I saw otherwise online a few months ago.

[megasdkirby]

My local clerks said that the reason that Media takes so long is that they literally send all that stuff last. It's got the least priority, which is why it takes so long.

And another reason why it should be avoided like the plague...

[GameDeals.ca]

Back to the topic at hand... everything about eBay is going downhill. This is just one example of why my eBay selling has dropped in the last year and will probably be reduced to almost nothing in the coming months.

I charge a reasonable amount for shipping, and sometimes it's a couple bucks over my cost and sometimes it's a couple bucks under my cost, but it evens out and customers appreciate knowing the cost beforehand. Some items that fall into the "$6 or less S/H cost" eBay bullshit actually cost me $13 to ship (not including the bubble mailer). Tell me how this is fair? It's not. They're turning it into a buyer's market but not doing anything to stop Non-paying bidders, etc. It's all bad.

[Japan-Games.com]

Tell me how this is fair? It's not. They're turning it into a buyer's market but not doing anything to stop Non-paying bidders, etc. It's all bad.

Yep, eBay is now a Buyer's marketplace. They've realized that the Sellers will come regardless, but that Buyers have many options from different outlets to make purchases. In the past Buyers and Sellers were on equal footing, but now the rules are geared towards protecting Buyers at the expense of Sellers.

Yahoo Auctions Japan, on the other hand, is a pure Seller's marketplace.

[Japan-Games.com]

This $4 maximum shipping aplies to US-Residents only?
I'm from Brazil and for me to ship something to the US costs something like $20!

The rules apply to anyone selling items on eBay.com regardless of where you are at. I ship from Japan but I still must have one $15 shipping option just like the guy selling right next door in the US.