> On Friday, December 10, 2004, at 05:19 PM, Randall wrote:
>
> > If packing charges were not mentioned in the auction under shipping
> > costs,
> > but the seller demands them, I believe you can report them as a
> > non-performing seller.
TeriAnn replied :
>
> I agree that lacking labour charges need to be mentioned but not actual
> costs of materials and postage.
eBay's stated policy for sellers is :
"Sellers may charge reasonable shipping and handling fee to the final price
of their item, providing that this fee is disclosed up front in the listing.
A shipping and handling fee can cover the seller's reasonable costs for
mailing, packaging and handling the item."
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-shipping.html
While that's still a bit vague (like most of eBay's policies), I read that
to say that any charges above actual shipping charge should be in the
listing. That would include packing labor and material.
Elsewhere, they encourage sellers to offer either a flat shipping rate, or
use a shipping calculator that allows inclusion of a handling fee,
presumably to cover packing material & labor.
Randall wrote :
> > This is unfortunately a common scam ... auction states "actual shipping
> > charges" but seller uses an extremely expensive shipping service,
> > possibly
> > one with kickbacks.
TeriAnn replied :
> I have yet to see USPS or FedEx provide a kick back to anyone.
I agree, and I wasn't accusing them of doing so. But I have had a seller
insist that he had to use a shipping service that I had never heard of, and
that the actual shipping charge for a $5 item was $15. When the small item
arrived, it had a USPS sticker on it for under $5 and was packed in a used
box with old newspaper (which was entirely adequate). Of course I can't
prove a kickback was involved (which is why I only said "possibly") but
there was sure something fishy about that transaction.
> I have learned to do this on
> anything from out of the country or domestically larger than a loaf of
> bread.
Certainly a good idea.
> You can also request certain carriers as well.
You can request all you want, but the seller is not obligated to honor your
request. Some don't.
> Just because a person charges more to ship an item than you think it
> should does not mean the other person is not out of pocket that amount
> of money to ship it.
True. But I feel they have an obligation (as stated by eBay policy) to
disclose unusual shipping charges. If they hide excessive shipping charges
in order to get a higher price for their item, then they are cheating
whether the shipping charges wind up in their pocket or not.
BTW, I've lost track of how many eBay auctions I've won over the years, but
I've got 373 feedbacks at the moment (all positive) and there were many
sellers that didn't leave me feedback.
Also, just for the record, I have no objection to S&H charges, as long as
they are disclosed up front. Here's an extreme example :
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7939446681
Randall
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