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 Replies: 52 / Views: 5,623 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4870 Posts |
I reported this auction: http://tinyurl.com/qwtb7Shipping was excessive. I contacted the seller about this shipping costs and here is my question and their response. ME: Hi, I am interested in this item. However I would like to ask about the S&H charge. Is this for overnight express shipping? I just ask due to the high cost. Just some food for thought though, I don't know if you know this but you can ship via USPS Priority Mail Flat Rate for only $8.10.... Seller: Hi , this item we ship by USPS 1st class mail , sorry shipping money that the only money we made to cover for everything thx Here is ebay's generated response I received after reporting this violation: Thank you for taking the time to report this listing for violation of our Excessive Shipping Charges policy. As you may know, ebay committed to enforcing this policy more aggressively starting June 19. It will take some time before this initiative is fully up and running -- in the short term, we've begun enforcing the most obvious and egregious violations of our Excessive Shipping Charges policy. Over time, our enforcement will expand to include more violations. Therefore, it's possible we won't immediately take action on the report you've submitted -- rest assured, however, that we plan to stop this practice on ebay, and that your reporting this violation is an important step toward achieving that goal. We very much appreciate your help in identifying sellers who you believe are charging excessively for shipping and would ask that you continue to report to us. We can only clean up this problem by working together. Thanks again for taking the time to report this listing to us. Regards, The ebay Community Watch Team |
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Valued Member
United States
380 Posts |
nds76, thank you for your post and your reporting of this 'excess' to ebay.perhaps with enough squeaking the wheel will get some grease.though... only time will tell. |
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
1295 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
4870 Posts |
What gets me is that on this auction the sellers wants nearly $20 for shipping and only going to send the package first class. A clear case of fee avoidance if I ever seen it.
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Moderator
 United States
23522 Posts |
The practice is taking from ebay's bottom line. You bet they'll make it happen. Meanwhile, they're defending thieves selling coins. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4870 Posts |
I hope ebay makes good on what they said about aggressively enforcing this. Sellers should just charge what they want for the product instead of sticking half of the product costs in the S&H so they only have to pay half of the ebay final value fee. For $20 for such a small item it sure better overnight express delivery, not first class! |
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
1262 Posts |
Good work nds76, about time something is done about this problem.
Who need coins wrapped in gold plated paper anyway.
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Rest in Peace
United States
2684 Posts |
I suppose we can count ourselves fortunate that ebay is cracking down on SOMETHING. Excessive shipping costs is as good a place to start as any. I reckon it's gonna take time to see if ebay does more than just give this new trend more than lip service. Fred |
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Moderator
United States
23543 Posts |
quote:
Originally posted by mnemtsas
It's coincidental you posted this today. I reported someone last night for excess shipping, my first ebay report ever.
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/2kilo-mixed-...gs_W0QQitemZ180002148769QQihZ008QQcategoryZ544QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
$60 shipping for 2kg of coins? How is he sending it? Pony Express?
Looked at this auction Postage is beyond belief- and the condition of the coins and banknotes- Just the way he/she has them set up for the picture tells me they don't know alot about handling coins. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
751 Posts |
Edited by texasmick
07/04/2006 4:46 pm
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Rest in Peace
United States
2684 Posts |
quote:
Originally posted by texasmick
I just reported an auction asking $30 to send two nickels via USPS. Got form email.
Edit: Auction #2 for the day. Here's a wheatie with $35 shipping. Or is it $6.50? I'm not sure. Good deal either way....
http://cgi.ebay.com/1944-1-One-Cent...ng_W0QQitemZ190003516142QQihZ009QQcategoryZ39457QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Yeah, such a deal. A ten cent coin for 99 cents plus $6.50/$35 shipping. It also weighs a pound and measures 2x2x5". I think the seller got his items mixed up. Did you send the seller an inquiry? I'd be curious about his response. If he didn't get his items mixed up, he's got an inflated notion of the value of 1941 cents. Fred |
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Valued Member
United States
95 Posts |
Just curious why you all are to vehemently fighting this? In doing so, you're really only serving the interets of ebay, not buyers. Well, if you're into the great system of cosmic justice, then I suppose your fight is placed right as well. I dont support law-breaking, but if you all want to jump on a noble cause, I'd work harder on getting rid of the counterfeit sellers, or ferret out those who misgradecoins (cough SGS) ... Going around willy-nilly reporting those who overcharge for shipping to me, is kind of like ratting out the kid down the block who is stealing music through filesharing. Against the rules, yes, but think about who the victim is. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
751 Posts |
Good question, Moose. Answering only for myself, I don't really see it as an attempt to enforce my ideal of cosmic justice. Nor do I see myself as a snitch who is trying to make sure ebay gets every last cent coming to them under the terms of their auction rules (but if one feels that ebay's fee structure is unfair, the proper thing to do is to use a competitor rather than try to circumvent the fees). In fact, I have bid on many auctions for halves with $.99 list + $3.95 s&h. These auctions usually go at--or a shade above--list. So I guess I'm part of the problem too (in fact, I just won an auction for one cent with $2.50 s&h--I guarantee you that'll come in a plain envelope with a first class stamp). Of course I know it doesn't cost $4 to ship a half dollar and that it is worth far more than a $1. In fact, I just wrote an email to one such seller asking for a discount on multiple wins. This is his response: "These half dollars typically generate little more than the opening bid so the full shipping & handling charge is necessary to ensure I gross a minimum of the melt value per coin (which is currently about $4/coin). "In most cases I'm taking a loss after my expenses so I'm sorry but I cannot offer a combined shipping discount on these auctions." Certainly I would prefer that he list his halves at $3.95 with $.99 s&h. That's the more intellectually honest thing to do. But for whatever reason, most sellers don't want to start auctions above a dollar. So sellers use inflated s&h as a kind of reserve. We all understand that. I should point out that another reason sellers might do this--aside from circumventing ebay fees and insuring against a loss--is to protect themselves against returns. Say a buy pays $1 + $4 s&h for an item valued at $5. If he has cause to return it, the seller might only refund $1, which is what it will cost the buyer to ship the item back to the seller. In other words, NO RETURNS. So while I disagree with the practice outlined above, that's not what I'm fighting. I'm fighting the weasel who offers a cheap item and hides a whammy in the fine print: $10, $20, even $30 s&h. The purpose of this isn't to guard the seller against a loss on the auction. Rather, the purpose is catch a less-than-careful buyer with a huge GOTCHA! The whole point of the auction is to offer a worthless coin in order to separate someone from his money. I will always stand against that. Mick |
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Valued Member
United States
95 Posts |
Good answer Texas ... I rarely win any ebay auctions, and the first one I won ended up being 15 rosevelt dimes for $6.99 with $14.99 shipping. I thought I was getting a reasonable deal until I got the total price! Since then, I always pay close attention to shipping. In general now, when I see what seems to be a "deal" that is ending soon, and has no bids, I realize there's gotta be a catch. Either the seller has bad feedback, excessive shipping charges, or theres something in the "fine print" of the auction detail that I didn't catch on the first read. I REALLY wish that ebay had an "ignore" seller option. ebay has released their API for developers to freely create their own applications around their software. Features like this could be easily incorporated into the software. If only I had the free time, I would love to take on an interesting project like that. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4870 Posts |
I feel this is a dishonest practice on ebay. S&H shouldn't be used for profit, but for proper shipping and related costs. Like you said if only the item price is refunded, the seller gets to keep the $4.00 shipping for which they probably used a .39 cent stamp. Clearly this seller is in violation. "These half dollars typically generate little more than the opening bid so the full shipping & handling charge is necessary to ensure I gross a minimum of the melt value per coin (which is currently about $4/coin). "In most cases I'm taking a loss after my expenses so I'm sorry but I cannot offer a combined shipping discount on these auctions." |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4870 Posts |
Hello, Earlier this year, I made a promise to the ebay community that I would address the problem of excessive shipping charges. Members have told us, and we agree - this problem has grown too big, and something must be done. Excessive Shipping is a turn-off for buyers. In fact, we just completed research that found that the NUMBER ONE reason buyers don't complete a transaction on ebay is excessive shipping costs. What's more, 54% percent of our top buyers on ebay believe that shipping fees are the most important part of an item's total price. In fact, half of the buyers surveyed would rather buy an item with a higher total cost than an item with an unfair shipping cost. They told us they trust sellers with reasonable shipping costs much more than those with high shipping costs - not surprising.These sellers aren't just taking advantage of buyers -- they're cheating honest sellers, too, by competing unfairly. They're avoiding ebay selling fees that the honest sellers pay. They're gaming search results. Most importantly, they're eroding buyer trust in the ebay marketplace . and that's bad for everyone. We do have a policy governing shipping costs - but to be honest, we haven't done a good job of enforcing it. We wanted to let the market decide. That's why, in September of last year, we improved transparency for buyers by adding a shipping cost column in search results. But for dishonest sellers, the lure of fee avoidance and search manipulation was too great - and this measure didn't have quite the impact we'd hoped for. It's time we take a firmer stand on excessive shipping, so starting June 19th, we began enforcing our policy more aggressively. We're doing this to re-level the playing field and regain buyer confidence. We've begun cleaning up the site, but it won't happen overnight. We're starting with the really outrageous abuses. You know the listings I mean - those listings, for instance, with a Buy It Now price of 95 cents and $50 in shipping fees for an item that costs only a few dollars to ship.If you're among the vast majority of ebay sellers who charge shipping and handling fees simply to cover your actual shipping, packaging and overhead costs, you needn't be concerned about this; in fact, you're going to benefit. But if your business model is based on under-pricing items and making up the difference with excessive shipping costs, you need to stop this practice immediately.We'll need to work together to correct this imbalance so that we retain a positive marketplace. I appreciate your support and cooperation, and I invite you to write to me at billcobb@ebay.com with your comments. Sincerely, Bill Cobb President, ebay North America |
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Replies: 52 / Views: 5,623 |
Posted 06/29/2006 7:47 pm
