Observations of Shipping Cost Complaints

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Posted By: davidcycleback

This is not a complaint but an observation. I am both a seller and buyer, and I would complain if someone charged me $50 to ship an index card. There also has been no recent complaint about my shipping charges, so this isn't a self serving beef because some eBayer got up my nose.

I have literally sold thousands of items on eBay. I often ship large items (painting, book, oversized print/photos, jerseys) where I have to guess beforehand the shipping cost. I won't know the cost until I get the receipt from the PO. With large items I usually underestimate the shipping cost. These underestimates are no big deal and I count it as part of business.

Looking back at all my sales I have never had a buyer reimburse me or offer to reimburse me when I undercharge for shipping. I wouldn't accept extra money anyway, as the shipping was quoted as part of the auction description and it would be incredibly cheesy to ask for more $$ after the sale.

So my question is how many of those who complain about overcharges have ever, on their own, reimbursed the seller as they were undercharged for shipping? Has anyone ever paid $10 shipping, saw on the package label that the shipping was $15 so paypaled the seller $5? And if you have never done this, why should should your complaints about being overcharged for shipping be taken seriously?

As innacurate shiping cost is such a pressing issue for many buyers, it is my opinion that when someone complains about being overcharged for shipping (assuming the shipping cost is stated in auction, is within the realms of sanity and the item is packaged/shipped well), this person should go back through their purchases for the last three monthes and reimburse the sellers where the stated auction description shipping cost was less than the actual shipping cost.