Ebay Cocks w/ Excessive Shipping $$

[RobertK]

I found this computer local to me in Knoxville as a matter fact the guy is less than 5 miles from my house but refuses to allow local pickup and says he does not offer that option. I told him to meet me somewhere in town.. hell.. meet me at the FedEx, UPS, or Post Office he plans to ship it from. Still says no. Wants $99 to ship this computer >5 miles. This is against Ebay policy if I'm not correct.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8809705662&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1

People like this should be banned from eBay.

[Ryan Stewart]

Appears it clearly states that its 99 shipping, says nothing about local pickup.

[Dave]

A lot of sellers use a high shipping price to get aorund some of the fees.

For example, sell it for a buck, but charge 50 bucks to ship - you pay fees on the $1 sale price.

No doubt the guy is wanting to profit on the shipping.

[Rigmaster]

Like Dave said, this is becoming more common as people try to find ways to minimize Ebay fees. It's gotten ridiculous- Ebay has a virtual monopoly in the online auction biz, and most people use Paypal to pay for their auctions, so they get that much more $$$$ from that.

As long as the guy clearly states the shipping cost, there's nothing in the Ebay rules that says he has to allow local pickup. You should have asked before buying if he would allow local pickup. Maybe you could offer to pay like 1/2 of the shipping if he will agree to meet you somewhere locally???

I agree it sort of sucks, but in this case, the charges were clearly stated, and it's up to you to find out BEFORE bidding if local pickup is OK.

Bret

[RobertK]

Appears it clearly states that its 99 shipping, says nothing about local pickup.

Regardless, The guy lives in the same zip code I do. He can meet me somewhere or setup a time to pick the item up.

$99 is excessive by Ebay's standards. I went ahead and reported him to Ebay.

[Rigmaster]

Regardless, The guy lives in the same zip code I do. He can meet me somewhere or setup a time to pick the item up.

$99 is excessive by Ebay's standards. I went ahead and reported him to Ebay.

Got a link to that Ebay standard??


Just curious- cause I don't recall seeing a rule about this.


You're missing the point. The guy is obviously trying to make some of his $$$ on s+h fees. He's got that right, no matter how much it sucks.

[RobertK]

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-shipping.html

They recently started cracking down not only because you can avoid their fees but also because sellers can get away with giving buyers just the selling amount back as a refund if there is a dispute.

As far as shipping it could be argued that you he never stated anywhere that he does not allow or offer local pick up. If he can get it to the local FedEx or UPS store then he can just as easily meet me at one to exchange monies and items.

[HST]

Dude it comes with " Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 6.0" fuck yeah!!
Not everyone is as nice and reasonable as you are RK.... $280 still ain't bad.

[1991 318is]

So what!

Just don't pay or withdraw the bid. Loss of ebay priveleges for life is sort of like please don't throw me in the briar patch. Just about everything on ebay is like this. You can buy it down on the corner for less than ebay plus shipping.

[AdironRider]

Hey dumass, your the guy who didnt check things out before your bought the damn thing. Now that its not working out as you like your pissed. Deal with it. It clearly stated that it was 99 bucks to ship and no option for pick up. I think ebay isnt going to listen to much to you as you bought the thing and are now complaining about it after the fact. Lesson learned.

[RobertK]

Hey dumass, your the guy who didnt check things out before your bought the damn thing. Now that its not working out as you like your pissed. Deal with it. It clearly stated that it was 99 bucks to ship and no option for pick up. I think ebay isnt going to listen to much to you as you bought the thing and are now complaining about it after the fact. Lesson learned.

Show me where he says anything about NO LOCAL PICK UPS in the auction? Because I can show you where eBay says that excessive shipping charges to avoid eBay fees is against their policy.

And tell me you don't honestly believe that $99 is fair for shipping a computer >5 miles? The other problem is if it turns out to be a bad computer he only has to refund me $180 for eBay to recognize that the transaction was refunded instead of $280. Not very honest if you ask me.

[JRowe]

Ebay clearly has a policy against this type of excessive shipping. People should read thier policies and cut ritalin some slack. I'd be pissed too. I understand what the seller is trying to do - make more money on the transaction and avoid fees. What he should do is simply price the computer higher and charge reasonalbe shipping and handling that cover only his expenses and trouble. That is ebay's policy.

[AdironRider]

How is that any different from an online retailer? Ive bought items from a major company that was defective and had to eat shipping charges. Its the way it works. It doesnt change the matter that you waiting until after you won the auction to figure everything out. Shipping wouldnt be cheap (not 100 bucks though so I agree it is overpriced), as with fedex and ups, etc. they send it to their central processing unit in Iowa or wherever and then send it out to be delivered. Not sure if that procedure changes when its just local or not.

It doesnt change the fact that you neglected to ask the required questions first. Next time Im sure you will.

[RobertK]

Please tell me kind sir.. where is it required to ask for local pick up? If it's not a service he's willing to offer then it needs to be specified in the auction as common sense would tell you that there is no need to ship an item to a buyer less than 5 miles from your home or business.

BTW.. if you were smart about your defective equipment you would have charged back the shipping fees with your bank or CC company. I've done that many times. Visa & MC merchant rules state you cannot charge a consumer if goods are not recieved or services are not rendered. This is why you can also charge back restocking fees.

[Rigmaster]

RK, I understand that you're pissed, but there are plenty of folks who sell on Ebay that do not allow for local pickup- you cannot ASSUME that they will offer it- it's up to you to ask ahead of time. It may not be the case with this guy, but plenty of people sell stuff that they don't even have possesion of, and probably never see- they just have it drop-shipped from some warehouse somewhere to the buyer. I don't think you'll have a strong case arguing that $99 is excessive shipping- but post back if you hear anything other than a canned reply from Ebay about it.

The way I see it, you have a couple of options:

1- bail out on the auction, the worst that will happen is that you get 1 negative feedback and a non-paying bidder strike- not really a big deal IMHO.

2- negotiate with the seller, ask them if local pickup is totally out of the question- offer to pay a reasonable "Handling" fee for his time + trouble, maybe $50 (??)... See what he says- I would use this option if at all possible- make it as easy on the seller as possible.

3- Bite the bullet, pay the $99 shipping and chalk it up to experience.



Bret