Q on overpriced eBay shipping costs.

[Mongoose1983]

I just wanted to ask you guys about a recent purchase I've made, and something that I feel is not really a decent procedure by the seller.

I bought a lot of parts for an old RC vehicle. The seller in CA charged me $45 for international USPS priority shipping. I accepted, cause it was a very good price. Now, I received the box this morning, and couldn't help to notice the box was sent First class and the real cost for that was only $17.29. I even have the papers signed by the seller!

I know I accepted the shipping costs and paid them alright, but I don't think the seller taking my money this way is doing good. Not only because it's my money, but mostly because what he stated was not true. I have sold stuff abroad for almost two decades now, and would feel ashamed to do something like this. I don't care if it was ten bucks or two hundred bucks. To me it is a matter of integrity.

I kind of feel like writing a message to the seller and let them know I am aware of what they've done with the shipping charges. Or you'd say I should complain directly to eBay/Paypal? I don't believe things like these are common, but have you ever been had this way? If you did, what did you do?

Any comments/suggestions would be appreciated.

You all have a good Friday!

[Splitty]

You could report him.

You paid for Priority Mail shipping, and you didn't get it. That's cheating (and ebay's new rules are they want international packages to go Priority anyway because of tracking). Here's the report page, you can muck about and see if you want to do that:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/report-trading.html
Sometimes I like to look at their other feedback and see if they're generally a good seller or not before I decide drop the hammer, but you could probably report that under seller avoiding ebay fees, as is what happens when they overcharge for shipping.

Even if you decide not to report him, if he's unwilling to help you I would at least give him a neutral only with explaining text, as he just winked you out of over $20 extra dollars.

[Gorn Captain]

I've had the same thing happen to me a couple of times.
I sent a friendly message: "Hey, I noticed you managed to ship my item at a much lower cost, thank you! Could you please refund the amount you saved back to my Paypal account, which is "[email protected]", all the best!"

Well, that's not really my account, but I've always had a refund if the amount is significant enough.
Try friendly action first!

[Mongoose1983]

Just wanted to thank you guys for your directions. I managed to contact eBay and they pointed me to directly contact the seller and ask him about the price "gap". At first the guy reacted in a not so nice way. I stayed cool and basically asked for what I believe was right. In the end he refunded the extra money he was getting from me via shipping charges and just asked me to leave positive feedback and an all-five star rate for him in return. I did it, no problem and we are all cool now. I'm satisfied with how the system works to ensure clear sales and happy buyers and sellers.

[Gorn Captain]

He had no reason to react badly at the first.
If it had been like $3-4, I would have let it slide, but $28 is outrageous. He was trying to add to his profits with shipping.
Glad you got your money back!

[Mongoose1983]

Yes. But now I am happy about how things turned up, not only because it was a good purchase but mostly because I am getting a lesson from this, and from now on I'll check all of the shipping costs more carefully. Now we both have positive feedback and, as they say, all's well that end's well.

And yeah, there was no reason for the seller to react badly when I first contacted him. The line that really took me by surprise was: "Remember I run a buisness and I pay employees to pack it up and take it to post office as well! So there is some labor there that I do pay!". I did not replied to that. If that was the case he should have explained clearly on the eBay listing that not only you have to pay the shipping costs but also cover, say, the dental care of the son of your employee, and such.

I believe whether you're a seller or a buyer on eBay you have to make sure and check the shipping costs for your eBay items. As I see things there is really no reason for having bad experiences on eBay if you go ahead as the rules say. Now, eBay charges are definitely NOT nice, that's right, but that's another thing.

[Mego Magyar]

If he wanted to pay for his employees he should have added a flat "handling" charge which you can add. If you pay for Priority then he should have shipped Priority and if he was able to ship cheaper then he should have refunded money to you automatically. Glad things worked out.

[steelcouch]

I think a few dollars to add for packaging costs is ok, but to charge you for priority and send it first class is unacceptable. I have had this happen to me more then a few times and it really comes down to how badly you feel about the whole thing. I think you handled it well and if both parties are happy then thats great.