posted on January 29, 2001 08:22:48 PM new
A couple of days ago I won an auction, and yesterday morning I received the EOA email from the seller. Only problem was that he states that if I want to use paypal I have to add $.25 and $.55 for Billpoint.
I know surcharges are a no-no on eBay (thanx to this board! ), and sent a polite reply back to him saying what eBay's policy on surchaged was, with link so he could read himself. The kicker was that he advetised accepting on-line payments, but never mentioned the surcharge. I haven't heard back from him yet, and haven't forwarded his email to safe harbor yet either.
As a seller, I know the charges for PayPal and Billpoint suck, but they're business expenses. I don't pass them off to my customers, for the same reason I don't make them pay over-inflated shipping rates. I told this guy that I had planned on using PayPal, but would send a money order when he sent me the revised total (he also gave me a shipping rate that was a couple $$ more than the auction listed).
Should I report him to safe harbor right away? He'll just neg me, which I *dont'* want, even though I could explain it. Can I do something so he couldn't neg me?
~sanriogrrl (not on eBay)
[ edited by sanriogrrl on Jan 29, 2001 08:24 PM ]
posted on January 29, 2001 08:31:14 PM new
I would wait and see what he says first. He may not know that it's not allowed.
Last week I bought something and the lady wanted me to add $1.00 for a PayPal fee. I very politely e-mailed her and said I know the fees are a pain, But.....
She was ticked! She told me that I was mean, and that no one else had thrown a fit. Then she tells me not to bid on anymore of her auctions. Fun
People do not like to be told that what they are doing is wrong.
posted on January 29, 2001 08:31:48 PM new
Hi,
I don't want to tell you what to do..but posting the question here is a good start.
Okay..I will suggest something. I would not send payment..what he is doing sounds unethical and we honest sellers and buyers need to report and not put up with unethical Ebayers.
posted on January 29, 2001 09:28:48 PM new
I would not pay the surcharge either, but I think it's a little early to suggest the seller is unethical. When PayPal changed the rules and suddenly forced a lot of small sellers into the Premier/Business category (your benefits stay the same but now Paypal gets about 2.5% of your payment off the top), I think the first reaction of alot of people was to pass that surcharge on to the buyer. I didn't know it was against eBay's rules until a discussion in another thread over the week-end. Why not wait until you get his reply - if he agrees that eBays rules forbid him to charge the surcharge, well I won't say everyone's happy, but at least you both agree on what the PayPal amount should be. If he still thinks he should get the surcharge, well there's several suggestions ahead of mine!
posted on January 29, 2001 09:39:27 PM new
Thanks to all for the advice. Personally, I think the reason he didn't mention the charge on the auction is that it's been pointed out to him before and he thinks he can get away with it this way. But then I'm a very pessimistic person! I'm certainly going to wait and see what his next move is, before I do anything, I don't want to tick him off unnecessarily.
posted on January 29, 2001 10:05:22 PM new
On the new eBAy "form" for reporting an auction as "bad", is one that states (paraprhasing here) "Extra Charge for CC fees"...BIG eBAy NO NO!!!
Also, since the shipping charge was jacked,(unless you live outside the US, and seller stated that extra was charged for Int'l bidders) I have a very good suspicion that you can get out of this one.
BTW, Does the buyer have a recourse such as "NPB" that can be used? Maybe eBay should work on THAT instead of taking e-mail actions away!!!
JMHO
Keith
I assume full responsibility for my actions, except
the ones that are someone else's fault.
), and sent a polite reply back to him saying what eBay's policy on surchaged was, with link so he could read himself. The kicker was that he advetised accepting on-line payments, but never mentioned the surcharge. I haven't heard back from him yet, and haven't forwarded his email to safe harbor yet either.