hammerchick
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posted on July 25, 2003 06:36:16 PM new
This probably sounds petty to somebody else. I won an auction for a necklace for $3.99 and didn't know what the shipping was, didn't see the shipping calculator at the time, not until checkout. The shipping came out to almost $9 to ship an average lightweight necklace. So I decided to email the seller just to make sure that was correct. Auction said payment must be RECEIVED within 7 days or negative feedback left. After 3 days with no response from Seller I decided I must have made them mad and shipping was likely $9 and I'd better get my payment in the mail. So I sent full payment, then emailed Seller again and said please don't neg me if payment gets there a day or two late, I was waiting on a response to my shipping question before mailing payment. Seller emails back and says I won't neg you if payment gets here a day or two late, nothing mentioned about the shipping charges of course, especially since I had already sent the $9. Today I received the necklace and it is fine, just my outlook about it soured by the experience. What feedback should I leave? I don't feel inclined to leave positive, glowing feedback but yet it was my fault I didn't use the shipping calculator before bidding. If I said in my feedback that I liked the necklace but next time I would be sure to use shipping calculator before bidding, do you think that is being terribly snotty? Or should I just leave generic positive and move on? I sell a little bit too and know all about hidden costs, packing supplies, etc. but I would never charge anybody $9 to mail a necklace.
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rarriffle
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posted on July 25, 2003 06:40:19 PM new
well, IMHO, seller doesn't deserve a neg because you should have used shipping calcualtor. however, seller doesn't deserve a positive because he is ripping people off with his shipping gouge! i would leave no feedback at all and just move on...i would put him in my seller watch list though, that is how i remember to never bid on their items again.
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neroter12
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posted on July 25, 2003 06:56:15 PM new
I've seen Fb's that are generally positive, but do say, "shipping a little high". I wouldn't be threatened by paying a little late -- as posted all over here, sellers are fortunate to be getting sales right now at all. And you werent 2-3-4 weeks late or something! I can understand your fear of retribution, however, so my opinion also is dont leave any fb at all - and be more careful nex time.
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AuctionAce
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posted on July 25, 2003 07:19:03 PM new
In those cases I never leave any feedback at all and never buy from those sellers again either.
----------------------------------
-------------- sig file ---------------------------- Recent OTWA lament ----
I'm speechless; otherwise, I would say something profound.
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bigpeepa
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posted on July 25, 2003 08:42:51 PM new
Give the crook a big fat NEG. That jerk is the kind of seller that hurts good hard working sellers not to mention turning off good buyers. So you get a neg back no one will really care if you only have a couple negs on you record. If everyone gave this jerk a neg the numbers would mount up quick and a lot of buyers would stop buying from the crook. By the way is this jerk seller a man or woman?
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fluffythewondercat
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posted on July 25, 2003 08:43:16 PM new
seller doesn't deserve a positive because he is ripping people off with his shipping gouge!
No one ever wants to answer this question, but I will keep asking it.
At what point is shipping a "gouge"?
We already know you think $9 is too much, so choose one:
a) $1.00 shipping
b) $4.00 shipping
c) $6.00 shipping
d) $8.00 shipping
I am not a bathtub full of brightly-colored machine tools on Vendio.
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fluffythewondercat
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posted on July 25, 2003 08:45:51 PM new
sellers are fortunate to be getting sales right now at all.
There's nothing difficult about getting sales at any time of the year.
If the choices that sellers are making is making it difficult for them to complete sales, perhaps they should re-examine their choices.
I am not a bathtub full of brightly-colored machine tools on Vendio.
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bigpeepa
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posted on July 25, 2003 08:52:27 PM new
Fluffy, I am in between 1 and 4 dollars. When I ship a small item like a ring or necklace, I charge $2.00 or $2.75. I ship in a padded bag, with item wrapped in bubble wrap, plus I pay a few cents for Delivery Confirmation.
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sparkz
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posted on July 25, 2003 09:42:20 PM new
I'm in basic agreement with bigpeepa on this one. Whether or not to leave a neg is your call, as it would certainly invite one in return. I feel that if a seller can't make a decent profit on the product he is selling, and has to inflate shipping to show a profit, he doesn't belong on eBay. Any way you slice it, and I know it's one of the most volatile subjects that appears on these boards, gouging on shipping is nothing more than fraud, pure and simple. At the very least, I would report this jerk to Ebay and accuse them of fee avoidance. Nothing will happen of course, but if enough buyers did the same thing, sooner or later Ebay will start to pay attention to this sellers tactics. (climbing down off my soap box and going to get a cold one. 20th day in a row of 100+ degree temp and in no mood to coddle crooks). 
The light at the end of the tunnel will turn out to be an oncoming train.
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neroter12
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posted on July 26, 2003 01:32:49 AM new
Fluffy,
I think it becomes gouging when the shipping is padded over 50%. As a buyer and a seller, I dont mind some mark-up because I can understand it, but when you just buy and the postage is double what it really cost, it does start to feel like you've been defrauded.
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rarriffle
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posted on July 26, 2003 03:57:40 AM new
Fluffy,
Anything over $2.00-$2.50 is pure fee avoidance and ripoff! That would still give the seller $1.00 or more for handling charges.
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Twelvepole
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posted on July 26, 2003 05:20:44 AM new
Lets see we have a shipping calculator in the auction... not used...
So shipping price was available before item was bid on... oops bid and won anyway... sent money and received item... pleased with item, displeased with shipping...
Leave the feedback you really are wanting support for... a Neg for overinflated shipping.
Btw was the item shipped priority?
You also can send in a complaint to eBay about possible fee avoidance for shipping.
They usually nip that in the butt pretty quick as it does affect their bottom line.
AIN'T LIFE GRAND... 
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bigpeepa
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posted on July 26, 2003 05:30:22 AM new
To all the good sellers out there. You should make sure you post your shipping charges here just to make sure all the buyers see that there are a lot of good sellers on Ebay.
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neglus
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posted on July 26, 2003 05:34:17 AM new
I am not wild about being gouged for shipping but sometimes I bid anyway when those charges are disclosed up front. Using a shipping calculator in this instance is simply a way of hiding the fact that there is a huge handling fee associated with the auction - I'll bet the necklace was sent USPS padded envelope and the zip code makes NO DIFFERENCE whatsoever for domestic orders - IMHO the shipping was improperly (and maliciously) disclosed - the seller deserves the neg!
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neglus
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posted on July 26, 2003 05:41:36 AM new
bigp - i charge $ 1.50 to ship a postcard - usually postage is .37 - to that I add the cost of my envelope, rigid plastic postcard sleeve and the fact that i self-insure every package,.... if a buyer doesn't receive an item, i refund the ENTIRE amount.
My shipping/handling charges are plastered all over my auctions. I don't think I am gouging and certainly not getting rich on any overage in the s/h fee.
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Roadsmith
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posted on July 26, 2003 11:42:19 PM new
Fee avoidance and ripoff, pure and simple.
And, yuuuuup, here we go again. But even $4 to ship a simple necklace would be right on the edge, for me. Shady practice.
Some wise person said (and we who have been elected officials quote it often), "It may be legal but it ain't odor-free."
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hammerchick
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posted on July 27, 2003 05:36:11 AM new
Okay, I have decided to not leave any feedback at all. Where is the Seller Watch list which was mentioned? I couldn't find it in Help. Or did you just mean keep a physical list? If I can block myself from bidding on certain sellers' auctions I would like to do that but obviously don't know how. Thanks for all the great help and advice.
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mezuzas
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posted on July 27, 2003 07:25:31 AM new
I'd like to know what kind of shipping calculator would come up with $9 to ship a light weight item.
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kiara
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posted on July 27, 2003 07:38:20 AM new
hammerchick,
I created a folder in my Favorites and I called it Bad Sellers. Anyone that I have a problem with gets their name added to it.
Sometimes when I'm bored I check their IDs and most seem to get negatives or neutrals for bad selling practices. Some become NARU. Then I know for sure it wasn't just me that had problems.
ebay has a block bidder feature... BB. Maybe they should add a block seller one.... BS.
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stopwhining
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posted on July 27, 2003 07:42:13 AM new
is the necklace worth a lot more than 3.99??
are you the only bidder??
-sig file -------They may have ginsu knife,but we have DING KING!!!!
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ihula
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posted on July 27, 2003 07:48:34 AM new
My understanding is that there was no shipping calculator
"didn't know what the shipping was, didn't see the shipping calculator at the time, not until checkout"
I think anything over a $4.00 profit is gouging - it's easier to do the percentage, though. On very heavy items I may make over a $4.00 profit depending on their zip code - I quote a fixed price. Occasionally I may lose a small amount too.
On our videos, though we do $2.00 for media rate and $4.00 for priority rate - actual cost is $1.42 and $3.85.
Personally I would wait to see if they ever leave feedback first if this is a selling account. I made the mistake of buying with my selling account. 4 bottles of Avon Lotion. Paid $9.50 for shipping (this was her combined quote). She sent them media rate and paid around $2.00. The very flimsy bag that she sent them in arrived torn, but I insured them and they were all intact. Haven't left feedback yet because she hasn't. I just wish the post office would have nailed her since you could obviously see that what was in the package was not media.
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neglus
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posted on July 27, 2003 08:33:32 AM new
MEZUSA:
I was trying to adjust shipping price on an item in my store ( unfortunatey I have to do it through eBay because VEndio doesn't support yet..)
While there I saw you could select an "eBAy shipping calculator" and there is a place there to add a "handling" charge..you can enter your flat USPS shipping rate...ie .99 and then add a $8.00 handling fee and when a buyer goes to the calculator, he/she will see $8.99 shipping and handling fee!
[ edited by neglus on Jul 27, 2003 08:34 AM ]
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hammerchick
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posted on August 4, 2003 08:06:26 PM new
Well here we are several days later and tonight I get this email from him: "Please if you would, leave feedback. If you are not happy with the product, contact me. Thank you." He is making it difficult to sit on my hands -- somebody stop me! I really do not want to get my first neg as a retalitory over this silly necklace. Urgh. He has plenty of feedback already so it is not that he is a new person trying to get a record established. Someone here asked me since I thought $9 shipping was too high, what did I consider appropriate for shipping. My opinion is that anything over $5 to ship a lightweight necklace is excessive.
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neroter12
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posted on August 4, 2003 08:15:36 PM new
Hammerchick, Just leave fb something like this "item was very nice, but felt shipping a little excessive".
What neg could he leave you? That you Paid, but PAID LATE? So what? To any seller, that is better than being a deadbeat and you get to respond to that that you emailed, yada..yada...if he does leave you that, which I doubt anyways.
f/him! leave the postive with an exception that his shipping was high especially since he is bugging you for FB!
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mcjane
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posted on August 4, 2003 08:24:03 PM new
I charge 95 cents to mail a 2 x 2&1/2 inch rubber stamp, actual postage is 60 cents.
I am very happy with a 35 cent "postage profit" I also sell 90 to 95% of what I list & fair postage is certainly a factor.
You were totally ripped off. Some nerve, the seller begging for FB when he/she couldn't bother to answer your question about postage. Ignore the crook.
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AuctionAce
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posted on August 4, 2003 08:25:07 PM new
If your feedback totals are very low and your not a seller you can duck out of the deal and eat the negative and start over with a new account. I'm not advocating to do that but it is an option. That's what most buyers do anyway. You can return the seller's negative feedback as a parting gift to them before you start your new clean slate ebay ID.
-------------- sig file -----------Growing older is mandatory. Growing up is optional. .
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sparkz
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posted on August 4, 2003 08:38:25 PM new
Don't leave ANY feedback for him until he leaves it for you first. Do like another poster on this board and tell him you don't participate in the Ebay feedback system, but as a courtesy you will reciprocate for any that is left for you. If he leaves you a positive, I would suggest re-reading neroter12's last post. However, it's your call.
The light at the end of the tunnel will turn out to be an oncoming train.
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ahc3
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posted on August 5, 2003 05:45:59 PM new
If you have a buyer only account, why on earth are you worried about getting a negative? Do you think a seller is going to cancel your bid because you have a negative?
In this instance, I would not leave any feedback. While shipping seems high, you had the opportunity to find this out before you bid. If the auction said $3 and the seller tried to charge $9, then you have an issue.
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