Lying jerkoff Seller

[Atari7800]

This may seem like small potatoes, but this sort of crap pisses me off.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3037339910&category=11040

The seller wants $5.75 to ship a loose Super Nintendo cart. Worse yet, he has the balls to say this...

"If you win multiple auctions I do not combine shipping, because shipping is based on thickness."

Perhaps I haven't been to the Post Office for awhile. Since when did they start to base shipping charges on the THICKNESS of the package? :hmm:

He's got 4 NES games, 1 SNES game, and 2 PC games for sale. If you bid on all of them, you get to pay $40 in shipping for 5 carts and two CD's!

He may have 100% positive feedback, but he's still a lying jerkoff.

I'm irritable this morning. :angry:

[Funk Buddy]

"If you win multiple auctions I do not combine shipping, because shipping is based on thickness."

I think is because of his "thickness"! :P

[chadtower]

That's the cop from Deuce Bigalow. :pimp:

[GrandAmChandler]

Wow, $5.75 shipping for a loose hyperzone cart.... BECAUSE IT'S SO THICK!!! I hate retarded sellers....

[1bigmig]

I shipped a NES map in between a folded piece of cardboard in a regular envelope and there was a small charge. I think it was about 12 cents because it was thicker than a "standard" (?) letter. However, in this case the seller is just a shipping profiteer. There is not some kind of sliding scale where you pay more the thicker it gets.

[Achika]

How about a bidder getting pissed when you "overcharged" by 20 cents. @_@

[Buyatari]

Hey as long as the seller lists these things its fair game.

The final price is based on bid + shipping price. Everyone can add this up. He has it listed in the auction so its fair game.

$5.00 item plus free shipping = $5.00 cost to you
$0.01 item plus $4.99 shipping = $5.00 cost to you

If he wouldn't list shipping and then hit you with this then yeah I'd say thats BS.

Adam

[norkusa]

And that $5.75 is only for shipping within Canada. He says that he usually charges another $2 to ship outside the country, bringing a s&h total for a $1 cart to almost $8. No wonder he hasn't gotten any bids yet....

[1bigmig]

I didnt realize he was in Canada. Maybe it's different there, but I doubt it.

[Mr-E_MaN]

To ship to the US from Canada the cheapest way is to send it by small packet. It costs about $3.50 US for surface and about $5.00 to send it air.
Then dimentions are 600X600X600 mm. (600mm is a little more then 2 feet I think) With a max weight of 1 KG I think (2.2 lbs)

In Canada it costs about $3-5 dollars US. (Depending on where you live).

Also: It's their auction. Let them charge whatever they want.

[bargora]

Yeah, that shipping is pricey, but he gives it up front, and it's not so bad as to constitute fee avoidance, methinks.

[mumbai]

That (fee avoidance) is precisely the issue. Even though I would agree that as long as everything is "up front" (as buyatari said) it's not as big an issue and just another thing to factor into bidding, severe s/h markup is not a good thing in the long run.

In this particular case it's probably not that big a deal given the mitigating factors. However, this is a rampant practice. I was just told by a seller that shipping on a loose cart at $6 for First Class was acceptable practice, first because he used a box instead of a padded envelope (when told it costs about $1.10 w/ envelope), then because he just sets an average price of $6 on everything to cover himself (when told it costs about $1.98 w/ small box).

Now, even accounting for potential costs for packaging materials, etc. it's still hard to look at somewhere between 3x and 6x markup and say there isn't a little greasing going on there. And yes, that probably is deliberate fee avoidance, and yes, seller's know where to cut corners to avoid paying out to eBay whenever possible. Some of it is legit, in other cases not-so-legit.

[Buyatari]

Many sellers used to charge for Paypal.

Then ebay started to cancel the auctions. They sent the sellers a little note suggesting 2 alternatives.

1. Give people who don't use paypal a discount.

2. Charge more for shipping and handling.

Well thats when the shipping went throught the roof. You've only eBay and Paypal to blame.

Adam

[mumbai]

As far as I know, it is *illegal* within many parts of the United States to add credit card surcharges, and the practise is discouraged or prohibited by most credit card companies. It has nothing at all to do with PayPal or eBay joining in some mad conspiracy. eBay is simply attempting to avoid legal stickiness.

And PayPal, though an annoying drain at times, alone cannot account for the inflated s/h charges floating around out there. It's not a huge cost relative to item value apart from extremely low-value transactions. But then again, so are eBay listing and FVF fees ... the latter of which can be avoided somewhat by inflating shipping charges ... vicious cycle ... lol

[jonjandran]

As far as I know, it is *illegal* within many parts of the United States to add credit card surcharges, and the practise is discouraged or prohibited by most credit card companies. It has nothing at all to do with PayPal or eBay joining in some mad conspiracy. eBay is simply attempting to avoid legal stickiness.




UHHHH I don't think so. Restaraunts (like McDonalds) and other places have added Credit card charges ($.69) for a while now. It's not illegal. A company can add just about any charge to things if they want. They just don't because other companies don't.

[omnedon]

Less than 20mm thick (2 cm) is cheap shipping in Canada. I sent a bubble mailer that was 25mm thick, and it cost me $5.50 extra across the country. $9 for a bubble mailer with a single video cable inside it. Had it been 20mm thick, it would have been three or 4 dollars. That said, shipping it to the southern US would have cost me half as much. @_@

Glad to be of service.

:D

[mumbai]

UHHHH I don't think so. Restaraunts (like McDonalds) and other places have added Credit card charges ($.69) for a while now. It's not illegal. A company can add just about any charge to things if they want. They just don't because other companies don't.

Until 1984, federal law prohibited merchants from assessing credit card surcharges on consumers (it was part of the Truth-in-Lending Act). Since then, several states have passed similar legislation now that that portion of federal law expired (about ten or so, among them when I last checked -California, New York, Florida, Massachusetts, and Texas - not exactly a small population group).

I don't think I've ever been to a McDonald's that added a credit card surcharge, or any restaurant for that matter. Like I said, it varies by state, perhaps you live in one without such legislation (or one with loopholes - it looks like you live in Florida)? Or perhaps I've lost touch with applicable laws?

Granted, this would only apply to PayPal transactions involving credit cards, but I think eBay is likely just trying to avoid the headache of separating the two with the added bonus of keeping PayPal competitive with cash/check transactions by removing a barrier to its use.

[Buyatari]

Ebay is not to blame for stopping the practice of charging Paypal users a fee. Ebay is to blame for SUGGESTING the shipping and handling charge be modified to include this fee.

Adam

[mumbai]

Ebay is not to blame for stopping the practice of charging Paypal users a fee. Ebay is to blame for SUGGESTING the shipping and handling charge be modified to include this fee.


Can't argue with that boneheaded move on the part of eBay. You're right.

That sellers went overboard with the "compensation" probably was to be expected, I guess, if eBay isn't going to put some teeth into their own fee avoidance policy.

[Atari and Beer]

I'd wait until you get the package, and see what it actually cost to ship. Then I would leave a neutral feedback stating you were overcharged for shipping. Its not a slap in the face like a negative response, but at least a poke in the eye. He probably wont retaliate with a negative then, and it gives future customers of his something to watch out for.

[omnedon]

Did anyone read my post?

[mumbai]

Did anyone read my post?

Is the correct answer yes?

[Buyatari]

Dude if you left me a neutral feedback for fees that were posted in the auction I'd slap you with a negative for sure.

Not that feedback means all that much but man I'd be pissed.

Adam

[omnedon]

My point was, in Canada, with Canada Post, if it's more than 2/3 of an inch thick (simplifying it for any metric illiterati), it goes on a much higher scale, and costs much more DUE TO THICKNESS. The seller is NOT LYING. Everybody get it now?

However, to an American buyer, he can ship it for about $3.50CDN, so he is still making money on the shipping. Making some money on shipping is no crime, but how much is too much is certainly open to debate.

[BigBoogie]

If hes shipping it insured, that will cost him about $9cdn for expidited, or $14cdn for xpress.

[SoulBlazer]

So another example of how oddball Canada does things, huh? :D

[omnedon]

It is truly bizarre. It costs me more to send a bubble mailer across the street (literally) than it does to Texas.


:hmm:

[Anonymous]

UHHHH I don't think so. Restaraunts (like McDonalds) and other places have added Credit card charges ($.69) for a while now. It's not illegal. A company can add just about any charge to things if they want. They just don't because other companies don't.
Are you sure you're not thinking of the surcharges for using your Debit card? There are charges up the bunghole for using an ATM/debit card, and places like McDonalds started accepting them and charging between 50 and 95 cents per use O_O

[Drexel923]

UHHHH I don't think so. Restaraunts (like McDonalds) and other places have added Credit card charges ($.69) for a while now. It's not illegal. A company can add just about any charge to things if they want. They just don't because other companies don't.
Are you sure you're not thinking of the surcharges for using your Debit card? There are charges up the bunghole for using an ATM/debit card, and places like McDonalds started accepting them and charging between 50 and 95 cents per use O_O

I know when I used to work in retail we had a minimum limit you had to spend to use either a credit or debit card because we got charged a little either way. It might be the same situation.

[Mr-E_MaN]

I know a bunch of places that charge service fees for visa... my own work is one of them. ($2.00 fee on all visa purchases)