posted on April 27, 2010 12:18:18 PM new
Maybe it is me, but I was just looking at other listings on eBay and came across this sentence in the terms for one seller:
"a nominal fee of $3 will be added to the winning bidders total, to cover the cost of Insurance and Protective Packing Materials"
Seems like a double whammy. 1) Isn't this is against eBay's seller insurance policies? 2) considered fee avoidance since it is a fee applied outside of the auction which avoids ebay fees?
posted on April 27, 2010 04:11:33 PM new
It is not possible for Ebay to catch every violation,why dont you report him?
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There is no 'Global savings glut',only wild horses and loose bankers.
posted on April 27, 2010 04:17:32 PM new
That $3 fee would be considered a handling fee, IMHO. Not against eBay policy. They should leave the word "insurance" out of it though. I think that's the no-no here.
posted on April 27, 2010 04:56:20 PM new
You can only impose a "handling fee" if you use calculated shipping and it is hidden from the buyer. Ebay sends the invoices now, so how would the "handling fee" be included??
posted on April 28, 2010 02:18:46 AM new
There is still a space to include a handling fees and it automatically added to the shipping.
Clearly the mention of insurance is a no no.
posted on April 28, 2010 05:28:18 AM new
merrie - The invoice states "Shipping & Handling". You can spell out in the auction what your handling fee includes (excluding insurance). I think with all the other violations out there, this one is really quite minor and I don't think it's worth a second look. I would have just let it go. It's not fee circumvention.
posted on April 28, 2010 08:33:14 AM new
after closer look, the seller does already include the $3 in the shipping costs stated in the listing.
the wording makes it difficult to understand this though. it would be better if they either:
1) state the shipping fee includes $3 for supplies, etc.
2) don't mention it at all.
i would say #2 is the best option. my experience is that you draw attention to this and it hurts your DSRs.
one thing i also noticed was that the seller was dinged hard on feedback for one transaction. a buyer stated that he was charged $4 more than actual shipping. i am guessing the seller also isn't hiding their shipping rates on the packages.
the insurance wording is definitely against policies. ironically, the seller also states that International shipments only pay $1 since insurance is not available. Strange.
