OT: Excessive shipping - does ebay care?

[Rookiemonster]

I've seen a card that was 5 miles away from me and charged 12.50 for shipping . When asked for a lower shipping price because of how close by I was or for a pick up if I win he said no . Because everything is certified mail only . People are just weird

[JustinD]

In the past sellers used to use shipping costs as a way to get around ebay fees as ebay would not charge final value on shipping.

There were many auctions with a .99 cent win and a 60.00 shipping charge. PayPal stole that as they take their cut on the whole kit and kabootle.

Ebay then cracked down on that as it was wrecking the double dip of fees they were normally doing.

They want their cut on the front and back.

[D. Bergin]

In order to reign in S&H fees, Ebay started to take a cut of S&H fees (= to or higher then the percentage taken for final value fees on the actual item). In order for sellers to not lose their shirt, they have to raise S&H fees.

EBay is a snake swallowing its own tail.

[drmondobueno]

Too much lawyer speak here for me, so will say this. I factor in my bid with the shipping prices in mind.

If the card does not meet description, or if the seller offers no description, and creases or some such are not apparent in the photo but are obvious when the card is in hand, the grade is nowhere close, etc, I decide to either return or eat the card. If I eat the card, and the transaction is blatently misleading, the seller gets a neg. If I eat the card, but the card is marginal, ie, VG vs Ex, the decision is described in comments with a neutral. Having never returned a card, I keep all this in mind during my buying decision.

If shipping is described to justify a price, and the seller does not do as described, the seller gets a neg. No hesitation. I've done that twice in twelve years.

Cheat me, you get a neg. Mislead, you get a ding. The seller or eBay does not make that decision, I do.