Are ebay sellers charging more $$$ then suppose to for shipping?

Most charge more for shipping than they should. Its wrong, but you can kinda work it out yourself ... I bought a book on Ebay and the shipping was $2.95... The book arrived and the actual shipping was $0.80 + the cost of an envelope.. So MAX of $1.20...

Basically its tough for sellers to make money one ebay for alot of reasons!

1 ) People are cheap and want everything rock bottom price
2 ) Ebay fees are extremely high ... You sell something for $20 and $2 of that goodbye to ebay .. Another $1 or so for paypal and you just lost 15% of your auction ... People recoup this by over charging for postage.

why are ebay *****ey when it comes to imports,ive been trying to sell some of my original dreamcast and ps2 imports that i have bought off the net and every time ebay cancels my auction for some stupid reason,yet loads of ppl get away with selling backups

actually thats how some sellers make their money, they would charge crazy shippin prices for them to get some kind of profit. I mean really, why would ya need to pay 8 bucks to send from cali to ny.

since ebay owns paypal why don't they charge one price for listing, the 10% lisitng fee is a pretty ripoff

I undercharge often. Sigh. Sometimes people find out what I paid & mail me the extra money :-)

Sellers often overcharge but sometimes it isn't thier fault. Even within the same country the price can vary quite a bit. However I have seen numerous occasions where sellers try to charge $30 to ship something that would never cost more than $10-$15 (and no they aren't shipping it by overnight express). These people are clearly trying to trick people into buying thier item cheap and then making money off of the shipping costs which is the same as a scam in my opinion. Just try to be conscious of approximately how much the item you are bidding on would weigh and how big it is and you should be fine.

One old scam was to sell a ps2 on ebay for $5.00 & shipping $275.00. lol

Originally posted by handyguy
One old scam was to sell a ps2 on ebay for $5.00 & shipping $275.00. lol

So does that mean if I don't require shipping and I only live locally I can buy it for $5.00 ?

I can't stand ebay with a passion because it is just too questionable.

I always use my golden rule "ebay means upay"

Originally posted by Insomniac
So does that mean if I don't require shipping and I only live locally I can buy it for $5.00 ?



To prevent Insomniac from doing so, many sellers would have a fine print saying "on-line order price only, no local pickup, no will call, ...". Yep, I've seen it a lot on pricewatch.com.

Well thanks a lot Van. :)

There goes your Christmas present. :laugh:

People selling on Ebay often exaggerate the shipping price to cut down on Ebay selling fees, which are a percentage of the closing cost after a certain amount. The lower the price they sell for, the less the Ebay fees. So they make up their money through shipping costs. I personally think that it's awful. I've had Ebay sellers try to justify it by saying that they are paying for their gas, car insurance, and such to the post office. :rolleyes: All I can say is NEVER bid on anything where you don't have predetermined shipping costs. I always avoid anyone who insists that the shipping costs will be determined later.

And good one Van... :D :laugh:

Originally posted by john80y
Most charge more for shipping than they should. Its wrong, but you can kinda work it out yourself ... I bought a book on Ebay and the shipping was $2.95... The book arrived and the actual shipping was $0.80 + the cost of an envelope.. So MAX of $1.20...

I also want to add that I've sold several books on half.com. When you do so, you have absolutely no control over the shipping cost, as they predetermine it for you. They give you what they think you should deserve. If you pack the book well, 9 times out of 10 you will come out a bit short on the shipping cost.

Sorry guys, but I still don't get it.

What if I want to purchase an item, but I really don't require shipping?
Can sellers dictate two different prices or only buyers that meet certain criteria??

Someone please educate me as I have never used, nor intend using Ebay. I'm just intrigued by this two tiered selling sytem, that's all.

If you are in the same area you can agree to meet with the seller and avoid the shipping charges. Ebay is different from half.com in that the seller has more control over what goes on (they set the shipping charges and ebay plays no part in that).

However you really need to arrange this before you bid on anything. If you don't contact the seller first, you are basically at their mercy.

Many sellers will only agree for you to pick up the item if it's very large and/or heavy. You HAVE to contact them BEFORE you bid on anything as it's a binding agreement.

Otherwise, who knows what they might charge, and by bidding, you've already agreed to it. There's no recourse.

My local shipping place, like a mail box usa sort of thing, uses a multiplier. e.g. if actual shipping is $100, they multiply that by 1.2 = $120 you pay.

If you use paypal though, they can print a UPS shipping label & you pay at the same time & just drop the package off at a UPS pickup point.

I never charge shipping on anything I sell, and I always get better bids because of it. Most times I end up getting more than I expected, and definately enough to cover the shipping on top of it.

One thing that really pisses me off about Ebay sellers is they advertise as located in the UK yet they ship it from abroard they do not even have a base or depot in UK as the small print warns about customs charges

I sold a lot of my stuff on ebay before coming over to Aus. I always charged about 50% more than i thought the shipping would cost me, just to cover the ebay fees and be sure of making a bit of money. BUT - I started all my auctions at 99p, so at the end of the day its down to the buyer to factor in the shipping cost into the total that they pay and decide if they want to buy.

Inso, I had a couple of people contact me and ask if they could collect and not pay the shipping, and I very kindly said yes :) but its at the sellers discretion, by bidding you are "agreeing to the terms of the sale", and one of those is that you meet the declared charges.

Ebay is a good market if approached with common sense and awareness of all the buggers out there that are out to rip off the trusting/naive/down-right-stupid.

paypal tolls is the big scam, mailing cost is just shooting foot

Originally posted by lazymaze
paypal tolls is the big scam, mailing cost is just shooting foot

What?

So they don't charge you mailing if they can shoot you in the foot??

You can buy off me anytime you want, free mailing.

BTW, what happens to you if they have to send a courier?