What Would You Do? Ebay Scenario 3 3

[comicginger1789]

1 hour ago, kav said:

If I didn’t notice and the seller had a flat rate of $50 on a $5 book I would politely ask to decline buying. Thing is I might get hit with an unpaid item strike.

I know better for next time and didn’t look like I normally do to see it was a flat rate. I asked but didn’t get a clear answer and I still wrongly assumed it was ebays weird quote it sometimes gives.

Still tho I feel if I don’t get tracking and it comes in an envelope that the seller paid maybe $6 to ship, I can be a little miffed at his practices.

[Lightning55]

2 hours ago, comicginger1789 said:

So we are both in Canada.

The book in question is raw, bought for $5. Prior to bidding I asked if he shipped to Canada and if so what postage would be. Response was “hey I live in Canada so that’s not a problem”. So I bid.

After winning, it’s $35 to ship. For shipping I was expecting $10-15 at most with tracking. I politely said asked if there was a way we could work together on shipping and he says “I use a flat rate. Sometimes I wil sometimes I lose. It’s always $35”. But then he agrees to lower to $20.

Which ok, and technically he did post a flat rate but I can’t help but feel it is definitely gonna arrive cheaply shipped with no tracking and he will be profiting off it as I’m sure he does from others. 

Is this something I should leave feedback on? Or just take my books when they arrive and not return to buy in the future without much fuss because again technically was my error.

In your situation, how is it that the shipping isn't clearly spelled out if you are both in Canada?  You had to ask if he ships to Canada???  Is he shipping from the US, but lives in Canada?

I am saddened to hear that $20 is a normal shipping rate in Canada for a $5 comic.  In the US, you could use a Gemini mailer with up to 4 comics and ship First Class tracked for around $6 give or take.  Or put up to 12 in the mailer, then put that inside a Legal Flat Rate Envelope for under $8.

There is some confusion over how many books are involved.  You say "the book in question is raw".  Later you say "Or just take my books when they arrive and not return".  With this problem going on, I would think you would be crystal clear about how many books were involved. 

[kav]

4 minutes ago, comicginger1789 said:

If I didn’t notice and the seller had a flat rate of $50 on a $5 book I would politely ask to decline buying. Thing is I might get hit with an unpaid item strike.

I know better for next time and didn’t look like I normally do to see it was a flat rate. I asked but didn’t get a clear answer and I still wrongly assumed it was ebays weird quote it sometimes gives.

Still tho I feel if I don’t get tracking and it comes in an envelope that the seller paid maybe $6 to ship, I can be a little miffed at his practices.

reading thru blocked bidder list unpaid item strikes-no matter how many you accrue-dont seem to do anything.

[comicginger1789]

18 minutes ago, Lightning55 said:

In your situation, how is it that the shipping isn't clearly spelled out if you are both in Canada?  You had to ask if he ships to Canada???  Is he shipping from the US, but lives in Canada?

I am saddened to hear that $20 is a normal shipping rate in Canada for a $5 comic.  In the US, you could use a Gemini mailer with up to 4 comics and ship First Class tracked for around $6 give or take.  Or put up to 12 in the mailer, then put that inside a Legal Flat Rate Envelope for under $8.

There is some confusion over how many books are involved.  You say "the book in question is raw".  Later you say "Or just take my books when they arrive and not return".  With this problem going on, I would think you would be crystal clear about how many books were involved. 

He has a US address posted on eBay but actually lives in Canada. I have similar as I live on a border city and usually ship and have stuff shipped stateside as it is cheaper for me. However due to COVID, that option is gone. His appeared the same but he actually lives in Canada.

As for shipping, there are cheaper options which would fall in the $8-12 range for one comic (with tracking, you could do without for a couple bucks but why take the gamble of losing a comic in the mail). The flat rate box that Canada Post sells is $20 and can safely fit 20 raw comics. It’s a great deal for bulk but to ship one comics is a bit overkill. 

[comicginger1789]

26 minutes ago, kav said:

reading thru blocked bidder list unpaid item strikes-no matter how many you accrue-dont seem to do anything.

Really? I was under the impression some sellers can block people with strikes 

[kav]

3 minutes ago, comicginger1789 said:

Really? I was under the impression some sellers can block people with strikes 

I think you can block ppl with 3 or more strikes in the last 6 months-others can correct me if I'm wrong.  Not that many sellers seem to set their preferences to that tho because the blocked bidder list is full of deadbeats.  A single non payment strike I believe you can do 2 non payers every 6 months with no ill effects.

[miraclemet]

3 hours ago, comicginger1789 said:

So we are both in Canada.

Oh well thats different. You cant even buy one sled dog for $30!

[StillOnly25Cents]

wait until it arrives and notate the true cost listed on the postage

from there you should be able to determine what handling and packaging costs were and if they are within reason

[Turnando]

It was not a $5 book it was a $40 book.

When you buy something remotely the TOTAL price is what matters, not the item price.  Everyone who looked at that listing calculated the shipping as part of the deal... Except you.  

By backing out of the deal after the fact you are breaking the calculation that everyone else used, including the seller.  By asking for a discount after the deal you are breaking the deal. 

Anything the seller agreed to for a discount after the fact was to make you go away and not waste $35 worth of their time.

I agree with others that sellers who gouge on shipping are bad people but it's right there on the price tag, bro.  Don't buy something without looking at the price tag. Now you are the bad guy if you don't pay $40.

This is why I don't sell my stuff.  One incident like this is like an hour lost and my hours are worth a lot more than 5 or 10 or 40 bucks to me.

[SuperGrover]

10 minutes ago, Turnando said:

It was not a $5 book it was a $40 book.

When you buy something remotely the TOTAL price is what matters, not the item price.  Everyone who looked at that listing calculated the shipping as part of the deal... Except you.  

By backing out of the deal after the fact you are breaking the calculation that everyone else used, including the seller.  By asking for a discount after the deal you are breaking the deal. 

Anything the seller agreed to for a discount after the fact was to make you go away and not waste $35 worth of their time.

I agree with others that sellers who gouge on shipping are bad people but it's right there on the price tag, bro.  Don't buy something without looking at the price tag. Now you are the bad guy if you don't pay $40.

This is why I don't sell my stuff.  One incident like this is like an hour lost and my hours are worth a lot more than 5 or 10 or 40 bucks to me.

[kav]

[Lightning55]

1 hour ago, Turnando said:

It was not a $5 book it was a $40 book.

When you buy something remotely the TOTAL price is what matters, not the item price.  Everyone who looked at that listing calculated the shipping as part of the deal... Except you.  

By backing out of the deal after the fact you are breaking the calculation that everyone else used, including the seller.  By asking for a discount after the deal you are breaking the deal. 

Anything the seller agreed to for a discount after the fact was to make you go away and not waste $35 worth of their time.

I agree with others that sellers who gouge on shipping are bad people but it's right there on the price tag, bro.  Don't buy something without looking at the price tag. Now you are the bad guy if you don't pay $40.

This is why I don't sell my stuff.  One incident like this is like an hour lost and my hours are worth a lot more than 5 or 10 or 40 bucks to me.

All of this would be true IF he knew ahead that the shipping would be $35.  The seller never gave him a firm figure.  The OP stated "Prior to bidding I asked if he shipped to Canada and if so what postage would be. Response was “hey I live in Canada so that’s not a problem”.  So indeed it wasn't a problem for the seller, just for the buyer, at $35.  The response implied "no big deal", or could be interpreted as "won't be much".  That was the problem, not pinning down what the amount would be. 

Probably many of the competing bidders were from the States, so the stated shipping visible on the listing was likely much less for that destination.  And that number didn't even apply to the US to Canada situation, so not part of the "price tag".  People were bidding on various totals, depending on where they were in the world and if the seller shipped there.  It wasn't exactly an apples to apples comparison.

[iggy]

Canada, huh? Was it one of these?

[The Lions Den]

14 hours ago, comicginger1789 said:

So we are both in Canada.

The book in question is raw, bought for $5. Prior to bidding I asked if he shipped to Canada and if so what postage would be. Response was “hey I live in Canada so that’s not a problem”. So I bid.

After winning, it’s $35 to ship. For shipping I was expecting $10-15 at most with tracking. I politely said asked if there was a way we could work together on shipping and he says “I use a flat rate. Sometimes I wil sometimes I lose. It’s always $35”. But then he agrees to lower to $20.

Which ok, and technically he did post a flat rate but I can’t help but feel it is definitely gonna arrive cheaply shipped with no tracking and he will be profiting off it as I’m sure he does from others. 

Is this something I should leave feedback on? Or just take my books when they arrive and not return to buy in the future without much fuss because again technically was my error.

$35 for one comic seems exorbitant to me, even by today's standards. You were right to negotiate...

[comicginger1789]

I feel bad that it was my error but thankful the seller negotiated. As of right now, it is in the road to a very positive transaction. 

[stock_rotation]

18 hours ago, James J Johnson said:

This is important, because ebay takes a dim view of sellers profiteering on postage.

Ebay's only interest in postage was when they were getting screwed out of their cut back when they only took a percentage of the final sale price (such as sellers doing BINs for 1 cent with $150 postage). Now that they take a cut of whatever you charge for postage, they no longer care.

[Buzzetta]

I would ask the seller if there was a mistake in shipping prior to checkout.  There might very well have been a mistake.

 

If so:

Seller adjusts in your invoice and everything is great. In fact the seller might appreciate it since they might have built other listings around that one and might need to adjust those as the increased shipping charge might be keeping other buyers away.  This happened to me once as the seller and I was VERY appreciative of it.  I had built a listing for a GI Joe FIGURE off of a GI Joe VEHICLE listing and the weight was severely off.

If no:

You pay and learn and then just move on. 

 

Are there exceptions when not to pay?

Sure... I had messaged a seller once about shipping and if they combined shipping.  They said that they do.  I won three lots of legos at auctions.  Their definition of combining shipping was to put all of them into the same box and charge me 3x the rate of shipping.  That's not combined shipping.  We went back and forth and ultimately I took 3 unpaid item strikes and called eBay to sort it out.  I think something happened.   There was no way I was paying that person 3x the rate of shipping (which was expensive) after they told me that they combine shipping.   I watched the items resell for much less too when they listed them again. 

[comicginger1789]

13 minutes ago, Buzzetta said:

I would ask the seller if there was a mistake in shipping prior to checkout.  There might very well have been a mistake.

 

If so:

Seller adjusts in your invoice and everything is great. In fact the seller might appreciate it since they might have built other listings around that one and might need to adjust those as the increased shipping charge might be keeping other buyers away.  This happened to me once as the seller and I was VERY appreciative of it.  I had built a listing for a GI Joe FIGURE off of a GI Joe VEHICLE listing and the weight was severely off.

If no:

You pay and learn and then just move on. 

 

Are there exceptions when not to pay?

Sure... I had messaged a seller once about shipping and if they combined shipping.  They said that they do.  I won three lots of legos at auctions.  Their definition of combining shipping was to put all of them into the same box and charge me 3x the rate of shipping.  That's not combined shipping.  We went back and forth and ultimately I took 3 unpaid item strikes and called eBay to sort it out.  I think something happened.   There was no way I was paying that person 3x the rate of shipping (which was expensive) after they told me that they combine shipping.   I watched the items resell for much less too when they listed them again. 

I would have done the same regarding the legos

[wombat]

1 hour ago, Buzzetta said:

 

Their definition of combining shipping was to put all of them into the same box and charge me 3x the rate of shipping.  

[Lightning55]

1 hour ago, Buzzetta said:

Are there exceptions when not to pay?

Sure... I had messaged a seller once about shipping and if they combined shipping.  They said that they do.  I won three lots of legos at auctions.  Their definition of combining shipping was to put all of them into the same box and charge me 3x the rate of shipping.  That's not combined shipping.  We went back and forth and ultimately I took 3 unpaid item strikes and called eBay to sort it out.  I think something happened.   There was no way I was paying that person 3x the rate of shipping (which was expensive) after they told me that they combine shipping.   I watched the items resell for much less too when they listed them again. 

This is exactly why you have to pin the shipping down to a number, or at least a method (by weight or $ per added unit) when asking to be combined.  If you can't get a number, it's a bad sign.  You have found an unprofessional seller, or someone intentionally evasive, bad news in either case.  After exposing this situation, if you continue the process of buying from that seller, it is at your own peril.

Selling on eBay is not hard, but for some reason a lot of people can't do it right, or won't do it right.  Reminds me of the expression "urge to kill".