posted on September 30, 2001 12:03:57 AM
Never mind the whole topic of overcharging for shipping and "handling", recently I have won two items, specificaly a PC sound card and a hard drive (that the seller did charge plenty for s&h) and sent the items in UNPADDED manilla envelopes!!! I am in the process of building a new system so I am unable to test the items for a while. I just can't believe it. In both cases 2-3 day priority would have only been appoximately 50 cents more, and the boxes are included. What is wrong with the "new breed" of sellers on eBay?
posted on September 30, 2001 04:24:51 AM
believe me, it is not just the new breed of sellers.
I purchased a necklace and it came in a auto parts box wrapped in paper. the chain was hanging out one end of the box, they couldn't even put it in a sandwich bag first!
this seller had 4 pages of auctions running and over 1000 feedback, definitely not a newbie.
posted on September 30, 2001 08:21:25 AM
Maybe I have just been lucky lately, but all of my sellers have packed the items well. But if you are buying items like computer parts, jewelry etc. you might buy insurance because strangely enough I have never had to make a claim. It seems that people pack items much better when you buy insurance because they must go into the post office and the postal clerk is going to at least look at the quality of packaging. Some postal clerks won't let a person insure a poorly packed item, and will make them repack it.
This may not end up being completely true, but sellers who end up selling items for less than they expected seem to be the ones who pack items poorly. While it may look like a deal now, be willing to look at several auctions of the same item before bidding, as one person might charge more for shipping, they might also pack it better. But when they overcharge shipping it might also be a way for them to improve their profits... So that is not always a rule. For example, when buying a computer CPU or laptop, you should expect to pay $25. (That is the average of what I have seen for shipping on computers ~8.0 lbs) Any less and they are probably skipping on the cushioning, and much more they are probably trying to make a profit.
If an auction says "buyer pays actual shipping" and it lists a zip code and a shipper name, you probably will not get much padding.
Just get to know what shipping should cost and be aware of what padding/cushioning will cost and take that into consideration. Ebay can be like a giant garage sale, but it also can act like a discount chain. Some sellers know exactly what they are selling and others have no idea, and as a result they don't understand how to properly pack items for shipping.
"In pioneer days they used oxenfor heavy pulling, and when one ox couldn't budge a log, they didn't try to grow a larger ox. We shouldn't be trying for bigger computers, but for more systems of computers." - Grace Hopper
