posted on September 10, 2001 08:32:58 PM
I hope this post does not contain anything against the rules since sometimes lurk but have never posted.
I want to know if there are any Ebay rules on overcharging for shipping, and if I am being reasonable in my expectations and calculations. Here is the situation:
I was high bidder (not to mention only bidder) on an auction for a large lot of romance books. The listing clearly states $100 for shipping. Well I thought that was kind of high since I have done deals almost this big before and I estimated book rate shipping would probably be around $60. I bid anyway because the list has quite a few books that I want. I bid a maximum of $35 (50 cents a book, not bad. Auction came to close, final price is $27. Got this e-mail from seller:
"Hi my name is XXXXXXX and congradulations on your win of XXXXX Romance Books for XXXX. With shipping everything comes to $127. My address is XXXXXXXX. So I will expect either cashier check, money order, or personal check. If you are paying by check it will take 5-6 business days for it to clear and once It does then I will ship everything to you. and please send me your address."
I e-mailed back asking if she accepted PayPal, (since in my experience some newbies either forget or don’t know about it) and if not I would put a money order in the mail. Finally heard back today with two separate messages. The first one read:
"I am sorry but I don't accept PayBall or any credit card s. Money order is a better choice for payment because with a check it takes 5-6 days for it to clear and I will only ship it once it is clear. I'm sorry but I calculated wrong for shipping, well you do the math, everything is 135 pounds, (because 10 books comes to 5 pounds) and 1 pound is $3.50, so 270 books divide by 10 is 27 and times that by the 5 pounds is 135 pounds so times that by $3.50 it comes to $472.50. My mistake was that I timesd the 27 to $3.50 and I did't see that until to late. So eneything should come out to be $499.50 that includes the $27 winning bid and the $499.50 is what I will be expecting from you. Sorry for any trouble this causes you."
Needless to say, my jaw hit the ground. The next message, sent a few minutes later reads:
"If you so someone you know lives close to me you can or that person can pick it up for no shipping cost."
Well, no, since we live on opposite coasts.
First thing I did was to check into the USPS web site. For the new media mail (book rate) even two boxes at 70lbs each would only be $22.93 per box, or $45.86 total. Now the add does state $100 shipping, and even though I knew from the beginning it’s very high I did agree to that by placing a bid, so I can live with this. However there is no way in hell that I am paying nearly $500 for shipping. Also, I highly doubt that nearly paperbacks weigh 135lbs. 10 paperbacks do not come to 5lbs. I tried weighing 10 large paperbacks and could never get past almost 3lbs, and I am talking thick paperbacks which most of the listed books aren’t. I figure that this many average size paperbacks should weigh around 85lbs. I also realized that I may have made a bad assumption in that I think all the books are paperbacks.
I sent the seller an e-mail (trying to be as friendly as possible) saying that I agreed to the terms in the listing and no more, and pointing her in the direction of the USPS web site explaining about postage. I stated in my last paragraph:
"I bid on your auction under the stated terms. As per your first e-mail, I will send you $127 payable by money order, and no more. As it is, you are making more on the shipping/handling than you are on the books if you send them book rate as stated above. If you do not want to go through it with these terms let me know. I will send you my address if you are willing to ship."
The fact that she didn’t take PayPal is not an issue, I don’t mind paying via money order. What do you think? Are my calculations more or less correct? How should I handle it if she says no, and wants over $500 (which I refuse to pay)? Does Ebay have rules against something like this? I am also afraid that the seller may pack badly and I may receive a mess. Whatever advice you more experienced souls could give would be welcome. Thanks.
[ edited by mariel9898 on Sep 10, 2001 09:52 PM ]
posted on September 10, 2001 08:47:21 PM
Seller is clearly in the loony bin!! No way would postage be that much for paperbacks.
I would not have bid on such an auction without finding out if the seller really understood the concept of postage, but as you have, I still would not be willing to pay $100 for postage (even if mentioned in the auction). She sounds quite incompetent, really. Not sure what to advise. The worst you can get is a neg for not following through....
posted on September 10, 2001 08:49:25 PM
Hello Mariel9898,
The auction you are referring to was easy to find, and since discussion regarding specific auctions is prohibited, some of the most identifiable information within your post needs to be removed.
Specifically, if you could remove the category it was in, and the specific number of books, and the ending price, it will probably fit within our Community Guidelines.
I appreciate your giving thought to what is allowed in the User Agreement.
posted on September 10, 2001 09:17:13 PM
i sell books and i deal with many publishers and whoelsalers and even retail booksellers,sounds like your seller has been smoking something funny.
most of the books i ordered are big hardcover and i have never paid over 100 dollars for them,in shipping.
if she cant check usps website,just ask her to go to the post office with all these books in a box (boxes) and weigh them and get back to you.
posted on September 10, 2001 09:23:58 PM
This has got to be about the most bizarre story I've seen here. If you can't get the books for $127.00 and no more, neg him and move on. Heck, even if you can end up getting the books for the stated price he doesn't deserve a positive feedback.
posted on September 10, 2001 09:27:30 PM
That is insane.
If she won't take your initial payment of $127 (which is still too high for shipping IMHO but anyhow...) then I'd say forget it, take the negative, leave a response to it and move on.
posted on September 10, 2001 09:27:51 PM
Seller is clearly a newbie to selling books. If seller cannot comprehend media rate, simply ask seller to box books up in two boxes. Send the seller the $27. Call up UPS and pay for shipment with credit card. They will do a pickup at seller's location and even slap on the labels.
USPS media mail is clearly cheaper. I am not sure how much UPS is since it is a zone rate, but it should still be reasonable since these boxes are so heavy. Just request the cheapest ground. I had shipments as large as yours and it was quite reasonable.
By the way, I think UPS increase the weight so it may be possible to do one box. However, it may too heavy to handle.
posted on September 10, 2001 09:42:23 PM
I would send the seller a note and tell them that the stated terms of the auction were $100 shipping, and this is what you agreed to pay, not almost $475.00. I would also point out that since $100 was stated as the shipping cost I could insist on paying only $100, but being an understanding soul I would let the seller off of the hook for eating so much shipping and cancel the transaction. I wouldn't get into a "this is how much it really costs" conversation with this person.
I would also save all of the correspondence and risk the neg.
posted on September 10, 2001 11:17:00 PM
The seller apparently plans on mailing the books in 135 separate one-pound priority mail packages. That's the only way to come up with her numbers.
I just hope I don't end up standing behind her in line.
posted on September 11, 2001 02:09:23 AM
When I began selling books three years ago, I discovered how truly CHEAP it is to send books, practically anywhere in the world. FYI, It would not cost nearly that much to ship those books to Japan!
My Lord.
Does the woman live on the East or West coast?
I am in NC and would be willing and happy to both pick up the books and ship them to you at media mail rates. Seriously. Of course, I would have a great big man accompany me, cuz this woman sounds like a fruitcake.
posted on September 11, 2001 02:14:31 AM
If this seller is not a complete fraud then she made the mistake of calculating costs on a single 135 pound box, which would apparently need to be sent freight, since I believe there is an 80 lb limit for the Post Office.
posted on September 11, 2001 06:22:09 AM
OMG! This story is unbelievable!
She must be absolutely clueless to attempt to tack on that much extra money after the auction. No advice for you, since it sounds like you're doing everything right. Good luck with this loon!
posted on September 11, 2001 08:15:53 AM
I don't even think the books are worth $27 but that's enough for another thread. For the amount she wants, she should deliver them herself.
