posted on October 2, 2000 08:27:13 AM
On Sept 20th I won the bidding on some ceramic molds. Finally 12 days after the auction ended and after 2 requests for shipping info the Seller send me an e-mail asking $8 packaging,$135.55 shipping/insurance for a total of $151.55 on this $8 item. He said they totaled 7 boxes and 159 lbs!! I went back to the Item description and read it again.. and yes it did say They were heavy but not 159 pounds heavy!! Am I stuck with this item???
posted on October 2, 2000 08:52:50 AM
Depending on the from/to location, you might do better shipping by truck. A minimum charge would apply, but should be nowhere near that amount.
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That\'s Flunky Gerbiltush to you!
The fact that the final bid was only $8 really is irrelevant to the final shipping cost.
And it hardly takes "flying out personally" to get to a total of $150 for 7 packages weighing 160 pounds. Going to the UPS web site, a quick perusal of a 22 pound (roughly the average weight of a package) going from the east coast to the midwest costs $11 - $25 to ship, ground, depending on the size of the package, etc.
So, getting rid of the emotional part of this discussion, since the quoted costs actually could be quite reasonable (given the number of packages and weight), the real questions are:
Is what they are selling you what you thought you were buying? In other words, was the description clear? Could these molds in fact take up 7 boxes and weigh that much?
Are you OK with a possible negative if you don't follow through on this? If these are cheap, common molds, but incredibly heavy, then shipping them is just not worth it. On the other hand, if these are rare, "i got a great bargain" kind of molds, then you may want to go for it.
Depending on how the above questions get answered, you could respond with anything from "the deals off, you didn't describe these well" to "how about if I just pay for your ebay fees and we call it a day".
posted on October 2, 2000 09:16:20 AM
That story reminds me about the little old grandma up in Seattle, Washington a decade ago that went to her first auction. The auction was for some used hospital equiptment. This grandlady bid sight-unseen on a microscope for $50. She said she figured that she would have nice, professional microscope for her grandson who was interested in science.
To make a long story shorter, after the auction was over and on the appinted pick-up day, she drove over to the warehouse where these things were stored with her little Nissan sedan. When she got there and handed them her paper, a forklift began to bring out crate after crate of goods. Needless to say, she was bewildered.
Turns out that what she had bid on and won was a fully-functional Electron Microscope!
She ended up hiring a truck and movers and put it in her garage where she then sold it for some unbeliveable amount in the tens of thousands of dollars range.
There are two points to this story: 1) always check out what you are about to bid on; and b) the Final Bid Amount is not always anywhere near what the frieght costs may be. So, DO YOUR HOMEWORK FIRST!
posted on October 2, 2000 10:01:23 AM
Frankly, I think the seller had a duty to indicate an approximate weight for the entire shipment, not just say these were "heavy." Unless that type of weight is typical for this item, it would strike virtually any buyer dead with shock.
My items have never approached this weight, but if they are heavier than the average item of that type, I always indicate the weight so that buyers can estimate whether the shipping price is worth it."Heavy" can mean anything from 8 ounces (very heavy for one piece of silver flatware) to 20 pounds (very heavy for a book), to god-knows-what.
posted on October 2, 2000 10:18:19 AM
A phrase I see here quite often:
Did you email the bidder before the EOA to have any questions answered?
When I sell an item, I assume the bidder is familiar with size, weight etc, unless they ask beforehand.
If you have to have them ante up. If not, offer to pay his fees ( I might even include the winning bid if it was only 8.00) and cancel the transaction.
posted on October 2, 2000 10:41:36 AM
LADYCOWBOY, I ship heavy items also like boxes of screws for 10.00 bid but my be 27.00 in shipping costs. My suggestion if you bid on a heavy item. You should e-mail the seller to find out dimensions and weight to find actual shipping cost ahead of time. On my auctions the bidders can click on IShip line and enter there zip code and find out the costs upfront. This is not as much for your info but may be a good thing to pass along to the seller. I have received lots of good feedback because of it. If I really don't want something I bid on, I try explaining the situation to them on e-mail or exchange phone #'s to talk to them personally. Typically they will contact the next highest bidder and and sell the item to them with out you getting a negative feed back. But the short answer version to your question from what you have posted is "yes" you win it, your obligated. Good Luck!
posted on October 2, 2000 10:53:08 AM
I have seen and handled ceramic molds. They are incredibly heavy. I can hardly lift them. They are as heavy as cinder blocks. And they are fragile.
ladycowboy--Do you do ceramics? If so, you already know how heavy the molds are.
Edited to add: Also, buying ceramic molds brand new are quite expensive. $8 for these was a steal.
posted on October 2, 2000 11:03:29 AM
Since heavy is such a vague and relative term,perhaps both parties should have taken appropriate steps before EOA Seller should have written the total weight in the listing and if not, bidder should have inquired prior to bidding.
Ceramic molds are heavy by nature, so it would seem to follow that as many as bider purchased WOULD incur quite a shipping charge...
It looks like bidder might not wish to accept those terms, as no weight was listed, and brace him/herself for a NEG at most, or a NEUTRAL at least...
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Shosh
posted on October 2, 2000 11:30:49 AM
You might try emailing the buyer. For eight bucks I wouldn't want to be bothered packing all that stuff up and hauling them to be shipped. He/she may be thrilled that you would like to cancel the transaction. Worth a try....
Teresa [email protected]
posted on October 2, 2000 11:54:46 AM
I checked this sellers feedback and he has 1 negative ( in response to a neg he left) where he did the same thing. Sold a item and charged high shipping and they refused to pay it. I have e-mailed him and asked to aabsolve the sale peacefully and that I am willing to pay his e-bay charges. If that is refused I will offer to pay the $8 for the item. After that I will take the neg feedback and leave some of my own.
To answer a couple of your questions. No I did not realize these would be so heavy. I ASSUMED( something I don't usually do!!) they we 20-30lbs "heavy" not 159!! I also feel he should have stated this in the description. Also..since it took him 12 days to get the info to me don't I have the right to back out of the sale anyways???
posted on October 2, 2000 11:58:13 AM
Ebay "rules" state that "buyer and seller should contact each other within 3 business days" or something like that. Often, this initial contact is used to get the buyer's shipping address, with a follow-up contact for actual shipping costs. On something as large/bulky as this, while 12 days might be a bit long, it isn't unreasonable to expect some time for them to prepare shipment, get the item measured and weighed, etc.
So there isn't some rule that you can quote to get you automatically out of this.
Hopefully, you and they should be able to come to some resolution on this $8 item.
posted on October 2, 2000 12:15:23 PM
A simple (and inexpensive) solution would be to pay the seller for the items (the $8.00) and tell him that he can give the items to charity.
I think that $8.00 is an INEXPENSIVE lesson to learn,
ALWAYS ASK ABOUT SHIPPING PRIOR TO BIDDING!!
posted on October 2, 2000 12:45:40 PM
I just wanted to add, for those of you who checked, I am NOT Ladycowboy on Ebay. She had all negative feed back until some of my positives were accidently posted there. thanks again for all the advise!
posted on October 2, 2000 01:43:43 PM
igolf--That idea sounds perfect! $8 to get outta this mess is cheap. Personally, I'd pay it. Ceramic molds tend to weigh 20 lbs or more each, depending on the molds. I've seen molds that cost $20 to $100 and more each new. But, I've also seen used ones in garage sales that they couldn't give away. Go figure.
posted on October 2, 2000 09:30:16 PM
I have a question about heavy items. Where do you take them to be weighed? Does the P.O. have a large scale in the back?
I ask, because, today we bought a cast iron pitch game which must have come from a carnival. It's a clown with a big open mouth, dated 1969. We only payed $25.00 for it and it's way cool. Just couldn't pass it up even though we don't know what to do with it. LOL
Shosh, do you know anyone in our area that collects carnival stuff? I could put it on eBay local San Francisco I guess. Right now he's sitting in my driveway.
posted on October 2, 2000 10:05:17 PM
I have 3 nice sets of Indiana glass I'm afraid to list. They weight 7 lbs each, which will be expensive to ship to east coast, cheap to send to west coast.
posted on October 2, 2000 10:22:30 PM
chococake - They make nice little platform scales that have a strain gage in them that is read electronically. I have one about a foot square that reads 400 lbs x 1/2lb. It cost about a hundred bucks I think. Some office supply stores have them or of course ...eBay
posted on October 2, 2000 11:01:43 PM
This does't really relate EXCEPT it's a "shipping" story. Years ago when I was in RL retail, I had a slick salesman come around selling "branded" styrofoam coolers. They were sooooo cheap, and would be branded with our store name "free" AND they were really BIG ones! I couldn't pass up the deal, so I wrote out a check for a couple of hundred $, chose my "design" and was told I would just pay the "freight" when they were delivered. Didn't really bother to ask 'cause styrofoam is LIGHT! Well about 4 weeks later a big freightline truck pulls up and a guy comes in with a freight bill for my styro coolers. It was OVER $400! Turns out that when something is really LIGHT, but takes up a lot of space, they charge by the cubic foot! My coolers took up over 1/2 that big 'ole truck's hauling space. They unloaded box, after GIANT box, until my parking lot was 1/2 full! Had to go and rent one of those storage sheds to stack them in! All-in-all, I finally figured out those little $1.50 coolers cost me about $10 each!!!! I learned to ask about freight from then on! So remember, LIGHT can cost as much as HEAVY!
While I'm on the subject of size vs quanity vs cost, I just wanted to add, if you want a dozen of something be sure and DON'T order a gross OR you'll need to rent ANOTHER storage building! Learned that the hard way too!
[ edited by sulyn1950 on Oct 2, 2000 11:23 PM ]
posted on October 6, 2000 04:33:15 PM
I e-mailed the seller on the 2nd about absolving this sale and have not received a reply from him yet. How long before I should stop worrying about this?? I really hate unfinished business. Should I e-mail him again or just let it go and assume that no news is good news?
NOT Ladycowboy on Ebay
posted on October 6, 2000 10:16:25 PM
Welcome to my comedy club..tickets are $20...please send payment via Pay Pal .....don't forget to add 1.9% Pay Pal fee!! ~
posted on October 7, 2000 06:48:33 AM
If I were in your shoes--I'd have to tell seller to go pound sand. Ship costs that exhorbitant on $8.00 items should have been weighed & ship cost should have been included in terms & stated UP FRONT.
I Would welcome a negative post on my user name as a deadbeat before ever ever ever considering to pay that incredible ship cost!
12 days to notify on total is ridiculous as well, and I agree with some of the earlier posts--send him the win bid amt w/o ship costs & tell him to resell to someone else & NOW THAT he has the total on weight--ought to be interesting to see how he words his re-list!
~