OT: Excessive shipping - does ebay care?

[tschock]

Does ebay care anymore about excessive shipping fees? I know they used to have a policy on it, but since they are now taking a cut of the shipping charge as well, do they care?

More to my point, I thought I would report such a case to ebay. The item was almost 40 smaller-than-tobacco sized cards. Open bid of $9.99 not even met with about 1 day left. Expedited priority shipping listed as $15.60 and oh yeah, $15.55 for ECONOMY shipping for something that can VERY SECURELY shipped in a small, flat-rate priority box seems a bit... excessive (IMO).

I went to use the "Report item" link, but it doesn't seem that you can use this to report anything about shipping. I can see why ebay doesn't care since they now get their cut, but I thought they still had a policy against charging excessive shipping costs.

[munsonman]

Since the shipping is clearly stated, it is up to the bidder to determine whether or not it is excessive. If the bidder feels the shipping is too much, then they do not bid. If they think it is fine, then bid away. I am not stating that the shipping is the right price, just that everyone knows what it is before the auction ends. Some people think $2.50 or $3 is excessive for one card sent in a padded envelope. The fact is-That is how much it costs to ship it. Moral of the story, "if something bothers you about the auction, Don't bid."

[1952boyntoncollector]

Originally Posted by munsonman

Since the shipping is clearly stated, it is up to the bidder to determine whether or not it is excessive. If the bidder feels the shipping is too much, then they do not bid. If they think it is fine, then bid away. I am not stating that the shipping is the right price, just that everyone knows what it is before the auction ends. Some people think $2.50 or $3 is excessive for one card sent in a padded envelope. The fact is-That is how much it costs to ship it. Moral of the story, "if something bothers you about the auction, Don't bid."

right bidders factor shipping into their total bid price...

I actually think if ebay takes a cut from ACTUAL shipping then that's unfair...I wish there was a way to have real shipping authenticated which will allow ebay to not take a cut from the shipping.......ebay takes a cut from shipping so you don't see a card for 1 cent and shipping 100 dollars...I understand that ..but if shipping was authenticated price wise, I don't see why they should charge the seller on that part

[PolarBear]

They do not.

[glchen]

Shipping charges on ebay are like Buyer's Premium for auction houses. You know what it is before you bid, so you should build it into the bid.

If you are still unhappy about it, you can always ding the seller's shipping rating for that item, or even neg the seller. However, unless the seller is trying for Top Rated, even that won't help.

[munsonman]

I do not think that a neg for the seller is appropriate. You knew the price upon entering the contract. If the item was $25 with free shipping, no one would have a problem. So $10 with $15 shipping is the same thing. Just factor ALL costs before placing a bid on an auction. It is like a buyers premium in a quality sports auction. If you can afford or think a $100 bid is your max, you don't bid $100 you adjust the max bid for the buyers premium. I do not see why the seller is being persecuted, it is his terms and if you do not like it; don't bid. The seller did nothing wrong, illegal, or immoral so reporting him to ebay or leaving a neg feedback is not justified.

[tschock]

Thanks for the (obvious) opinions on taking account shipping costs when bidding. But I think I found the information I was looking for with the applicable details:

Here's what we found for "A seller may be overcharging for shipping costs"

If you think an item's shipping cost seems excessive, try to find a better deal. You can also use our Shipping Calculator to research shipping rates.

It's against our rules to have unreasonable shipping charges in a listing, or to provide unclear or misleading shipping information. Learn more about our selling practices policy.

Sellers are allowed to:

Charge actual shipping costs.
Include the cost of packaging materials, insurance, and delivery.
Include delivery confirmation or extra services in the handling cost.


Sellers aren't allowed to:

Charge more than the maximum shipping costs in categories with shipping caps.
Charge a separate fee for insurance.
Charge for business-related fees such as employee wages or gas mileage.
Include contradictory or confusing shipping terms in your listing.


When dealing with the Global Shipping Program, remember that:

A seller only has control over the domestic shipping cost; the cost of international shipping and import fees is determined by the Global Shipping Center.
All costs are paid for at the time of purchase; no payment is needed upon delivery.

Regarding sellers not being allow to "Charge more than the maximum shipping costs in categories with shipping caps." This only seems to apply to 'media' type listings such as books, DVDs, etc, specifically found in this link: http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/maxi...g.html#maximum

So it is against their "rules" to have "unreasonable" shipping charges (with "unreasonable" being the operative word).

The reason I had asked this? Because at one time ebay would not even ALLOW you to list something if it violated the maximum shipping price, and I just wondered if that was still in effect. I didn't THINK it was (based on the lack of option for reporting this), but I just wanted to KNOW the actual answer.

But I still believe they do take their cut out of shipping as well. This was a recent (last 2 years or so?) change to collect from sellers who would list cheap BINs with outrageous shipping. Unless that has now changed as well.

[buchner]

Originally Posted by munsonman

Since the shipping is clearly stated, it is up to the bidder to determine whether or not it is excessive. If the bidder feels the shipping is too much, then they do not bid. If they think it is fine, then bid away. I am not stating that the shipping is the right price, just that everyone knows what it is before the auction ends. Some people think $2.50 or $3 is excessive for one card sent in a padded envelope. The fact is-That is how much it costs to ship it. Moral of the story, "if something bothers you about the auction, Don't bid."

+1

[slidekellyslide]

Does ebay care about shipping charges? I wish they cared that you can't send magazines and catalogs media rate. They put a cap of $4.00 on the Catalog and magazine category. Try shipping a 5 lb Sears catalog for $4. Try shipping more than one magazine for $4. I've notified them a couple of times now that the USPS does not allow these items to be sent media mail, but they don't seem to care.

[vthobby]

One easy way to get around that limit is to simply list the Sears catalog under a different category. Any category will do. I really do not believe people search items based on category anymore. Just my 2 cents. For example, list it under "Collectibles, Advertising, Household".

Mike

[Jewish-collector]

Go to card shows instead and pay no shipping.

[Tabe]

Originally Posted by vtgmsc

One easy way to get around that limit is to simply list the Sears catalog under a different category. Any category will do. I really do not believe people search items based on category anymore. Just my 2 cents. For example, list it under "Collectibles, Advertising, Household".

Mike

Or to have it "calculate" the shipping for you instead of setting a fixed rate.

[tschock]

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

Does ebay care about shipping charges? I wish they cared that you can't send magazines and catalogs media rate. They put a cap of $4.00 on the Catalog and magazine category. Try shipping a 5 lb Sears catalog for $4. Try shipping more than one magazine for $4. I've notified them a couple of times now that the USPS does not allow these items to be sent media mail, but they don't seem to care.

Dan,

I remember seeing some discussion somewhere regarding USPS 'relaxing' some of these regulations. Something around magazines/catalogs/etc being able to go media IF the advertising was obsolete. So magazines from the '50s and turn of the century Sears catalogs would still qualify. But that was probably just chatter and never made it into regulation.

In the handful of times I've done magazines, I just went with a higher starting price and free shipping. Even though many people factor in shipping in their overall purchase price, and the net money out of pocket is the same, there is something about 'free' shipping that seems to attract bidders.

[ALR-bishop]

I am strictly a buyer on eBay. As long as the shipping charges are clearly stated I do not care what a seller chooses to charge. It is an economic decision I can make for myself if I have the correct info before bidding

When I started on eBay I think sellers had the upper hand...and some sellers used it as a club. At some point eBay decided to switch the power to the buyers, I assume because they thought it would improve their business. As a buyer at first I thought that was a mostly good thing, but the rules seem so one sided today that I know many good sellers who have stopped selling on eBay, and that is a bad thing for me as a buyer

eBay, like any business should operate to make as much money as it can for it's shareholders. But to be successful over time they have to treat their customers, both buyers and sellers fairly. If they fail to do so, the business will decline. No business does that on purpose. They may make mistakes, or may go through a period of poor management, but they obviously don't set out to screw customers. They need them.

Sellers have so few advantages on eBay today, the amount they charge for shipping does not bother me if stated clearly up front .

And I do not own any shares in eBay