Heads up on shipping costs when bidding on ebay

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 21 May 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

yve	21 May 2004
For many of you who are still new to e-bay, I just wanted to offer some important advice. If there is an item you are interested in bidding on, if the shipping cost is not directly posted, make sure you e-mail the seller and get a shipping quote before you bid! Most sellers are honorable, but there are a few who are not. They will exaggerate the shipping costs to include exaggerated handling fees. Now although e-bay does have a limited protection policy on overinflated shipping (as they lose out on fees when most of the money the seller makes on the item is in shipping costs) they will not enforce this unless the shipping/handling fee is considered outrageous (as in the case of the seller who was charging next to nothing to buy a OOP, rare deck, but then charged $125.00 shipping!). I learned this from experience when a seller charged me $10.00 shipping/handling on a deck of tarot cards that only cost $1.99 to buy. I paid it, realizing I had been taken, but felt I was bound to the terms of the purchase agreement when I won the bid. When I recieved the item, saw the actual shipping cost to be only $2.70. They made $7.30 profit on the shipping/handling alone! When I e-mailed e-bay to complain, they wrote back and said that the seller has the right and option to charge whatever they feel is fair over and above the actual shipping cost to cover handling fees. So, I learned to always, always, e-mail the seller and request a quote before I bid. If the seller doesn't reply, then I take this as a warning sign not to trust what they will charge for their handling fees! E-bay does offer some protection, but in reality it it very limited, difficult to enforce, and not applicable in most cases.

HudsonGray	21 May 2004
I second that. I purchased some fur (old collar) for $9 and the guy charged me $8 to ship it. No insurance, nothing else on it--he sent it in a recycled used envelope that cost him $1.29 postage. When I asked him why, he said he had to make a trip to the post office to mail it....... He lived in a large city. I left neutral feedback on him & check in advance now on shipping. I'll even check to see if the image is the accurate photo for what they're selling me, not a copy of something else. A lot of times they use an old photo of a different item, or even 'borrow' it from someone else's auction. I've had a few people tell me the item was not the actual one represented in the photo they had posted.

janomalee	21 May 2004
OK, now I understand why people charge inflated prices for shipping (to reduce their ebay fees). I try to charge as close as I can to the actual shipping fee when I sell on ebay. I even bought a good postal scale so I could weigh my packages accurately.

contrascarpe	21 May 2004
Yes, I agree it is important to look closely at the shipping costs advertised. I also will typically not purchase from someone who has not had much feedback or many negative responses (will go as far as finding the negative posts to see what was said, as not all are fair). However, I just had a good experience. I was lucky enough to get all three volumes of the Tarot Encyclopedia for fifty US dollars. The advertised shipping costs were fifteen. It actually cost them over 23 ...... it was nice to see that they were upright enough to ship them even though it cost more than advertised.

ScarabFlight	22 May 2004
Thanks for the heads up.

VGimlet	23 May 2004
OH yeah. Always check the shipping cost. I always e-mail the seller for an estimate if they don't have the cost listed before I bid. It's saved me a few times from wild shipping fees. Sometimes, if I am getting a stellar deal on something, I don't care if shipping is a bit high, but I *always* make sure and check.

Dakota	25 May 2004
I second all of the above. Always be sure you know the shipping cost befor you bid. If it is not available on the watch list, you can add it to your notes to keep it in mind. I also do my research before I bid and find out how much I would have to pay for the same item elsewhere. Then I figure my absolute max bid and add that to my notes too. Keeps me from getting carried away (usually). Also, if a seller has any negatives at all, I read them to see what the problem was. I almost never deal with anyone whose rating is lower than 99%. contrascarpe96, I am SOOOO envious! I have searched a bit on eBay for volumes of the Encyclopedia but have yet to actually find one. I will have to give that another try........ :D

The Heads up on shipping costs when bidding on ebay thread was originally posted on 21 May 2004 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.