Another eBay rant...

I do too.

The seller is meant to know to the pound what the postage is on items that he may be unsure of what the items weigh, what packing materials are going to be used and how it is being packed? Before he places a bid or buys it now...

I hate it when sellers state, oh you have a bargain anyway... that's not the point, if an items costs 10 quid to send, then charging 20 quid and then sending it using the cheapest method possible without due care in packing is taking the piss. It's a bit like a Taxi driver asking for a bigger tip as he didn't drive you as far....

Well if the vast majority of sellers can charge near enough what the postage costs are then I don't see why I should accept a few idiot sellers overcharging postage and then being rude about it saying things like "You got a bargain", "The postage includes my paypal fees", etc. I ask politely for a refund and if I don't get it then I report it and leave negative. I have had Ebay force a seller to refund me the difference as they charged me their Ebay fees when they are not allowed to do so.

 

Hi Jamtex, please dont take my post personally, as I guess we just have different opinions, but in response to some of your statements:-

I am not saying the seller does not know how much the item costs to post, i'm simply saying that they are overcharging a bit on postage to cover all their fees etc, and even though I know its not allowed on ebay I can totally understand why they would do it. I dont do it myself, but I can see where the sellers coming from.

Out of curiosity do you mind if I ask if you have sold items recently on ebay yourself? As its not the same place for sellers as it was years ago...

Inadequate packaging is a different matter entirely, and I totally agree that overcharging on postage plus awful packaging is a very poor service. If a seller overcharged and the item was poorly packaged then I probably would contact the seller like yourself, but then I would contact a seller any way if an item was poorly packaged. I also would not be best pleased if a seller stated they would send it by a better postal service and then used a cheaper method.

However, if the seller sent it well packaged and by the postage method they stated in the auction, then I really dont mind if they charged a bit more then they should have for postage, expecially since I was aware of their 'postage' costs before I bid/bought the item.

I think I probably felt more like you when I only used to buy items from ebay, but when you start selling a few items as well you start to appreciate the hassle sellers have to go through nowadays, and just how much the double whammy of ebay and paypal fees takes out of the final price.

As mentioned before, I guess we just have differing opinions, and I just wanted to put across another point of view - i'll just leave it at that :nod:

 

I usually find that I get burned a lot on postage when I sell, especially in categories (like say , oh, video games) where Ebay has suddenly decided to put unrealistic arbitrary postage caps on sales.

Plus, on those occasions where I do underestimate on postage, the buyer never offers to cough up the difference. Why should they? Yet when I go over suddenly I'm "ripping them off." I had a guy go nuts over 75 cents once.

This plus many other reasons is why I only sell small items on Ebay now, $50 or less, just too much hassle. It was so much better a decade ago, when the words "Buyer beware" actually meant something.

 

People on ebay are faceless. They have no shame and nothing to lose. That's why they try to rip you whenever they can.

On the other hand, When you deal with people on forums lot of the times these people are your friends; your community. How would you feel if you ripped off a friend? Or a good neighbour? People you might even hang out with for drinks should they be in the area? Not so worth while to burn bridges over 0.75c now is it?

I site an excellent example: People on Ebay were selling Buffalo Famicom pads on ebay at rip-off prices and shipping. I kindly asked if anyone living in Japan could help me out on figuring out the real cost, and perhaps snagging a few for me. Ccovell answered back and helped me out big time. He even shipped first (so I wouldn't wait) without even without receiving any money yet since he forgot to tell me his PayPal account. That's why community forums are so much better than ebay. Your doing transactions with "proper" people. And when others need a helping hand, your usually happy to give it!

 

Whats your ebay tag Jamtex?

 

Too bad, they have some killer deals on used Boxsters...

 

Quoted for the truth lmao