I won two auctions on ebay UK, two boxed playsets. I bid on them from my mobile, it said in the shipping details "Free shipping" to the Netherlands. There where only 2 minutes left when I got to them, so I didn't read the description in full (stupid mistake afterwards). I paid for them the same day. Then later I got an message from the seller that shipping will be GBP 30!! I was a little confused, since shipping was free and messaged the seller that. She replied in a kinda rude way with:
"there is no way I could quote for EVERY country in the world to post, it clearly states in bold letters at the bottom of the listing to contact me for postage costs before you bid. I did this for a lady in the USA and e mailed her the price; do you really think i would quote postage for the UK and then do FREE postage abroad?"

It indeed did

What do I do now? Am I still in my right to receive the items without having to pay shipping?

You would really need screenshots of the auction to fight your case with Ebay- IF she hasn't edited it yet! Good luck...

Can you edit it AFTER it ends? -better to screenshot anyway!

But yes, usually when it's free shipping offered to one country it says so. I don't know if you are unable to select that on ebay.co.uk? If that was an option to her it's her fault. Yes, you should have read the description- but it was falsely advertised in part.

Hi yum yum. Since you seem to be active, I sent you a PM inquiring about the package I didn't receive. Your PM appears to be read, but I have no received a reply. Can you tell me if you ever sent out a new package , and when , so I know when to expect it.

And to answer your post, maybe she picked out a flat rate shipping to international countries by accident, not realizing that it was going to include Netherlands. (or maybe she didn't realize the free shipping was accidentally clicked). If she did ask people to MSG her about a quote to specific countries, I'm sure it was a mistake.
People make mistakes, and she was probably really shocked about it. Hopefully if you remain polite with her, you can work out a better deal on shipping.

But, she can probably just cancel the transaction and not send at all, so hopefully if you remain polite you'll work out a deal.

How about you show us a link to the auction?

I mean, in all seriousness I don't care if the auction did have free shipping checked, you have to read the entire auction. I'm not saying it's good practice to check free shipping and then charge, but seriously you can't just look at the outline of the auction.

And jeez, she can't change the auction once it's sold. So all this screenshot nonsense is just overkill.

RockinPrettyBeats wrote:

And jeez, she can't change the auction once it's sold. So all this screenshot nonsense is just overkill.

Good to know a seller can't edit things after the auction has ended.

banditpony wrote:

Hi yum yum. Since you seem to be active, I sent you a PM inquiring about the package I didn't receive. Your PM appears to be read, but I have no received a reply. Can you tell me if you ever sent out a new package , and when , so I know when to expect it.

Done


Here are the auction links:
www.ebay.com/itm/27083...598wt_1185
www.ebay.com/itm/27083...592wt_1185

I saw them on ebay from my mobile and both only had one bid and next to it said "free shipping" where the shipping is listed. There were only 2 minutes left. Internet on my mobile is a little slow, so I only checked the auction photo and quickly placed a bid (since there was only 1 minute left).
Free shipping is with me free shipping, I don't know why she selected it when it isn't free and judging from the message she send me it was her being lazy to list the appropriate shipping.

Would it be fair to offer her a 50%-50% deal on the shipping? We both made a mistake.

The auction links show £3.75 and £5.00 economy shipping for the items, no free shipping is mentioned in the description?

In any case, its entirely possible that the seller intended to offer free shipping to the UK and costed shipping to everywhere else which seems plausible.

Jem

The auctions show FREE Standard international postage for me (viewing from the US). I know when pulling up auctions using the Mobile Ebay Site, it doesn't immediately pull up the "description" section. I am leaning towards the direction that she needs to honor the free shipping.

cookhuman wrote:

The auctions show FREE Standard international postage for me (viewing from the US).

Same here! That's pretty confusing, honestly. :/ I hope things work out between the two of you.

Tropical_Sunset wrote:

cookhuman wrote: The auctions show FREE Standard international postage for me (viewing from the US). Same here! That's pretty confusing, honestly. :/ I hope things work out between the two of you.

if it says Free intl Shipping then she should honour that. if she had wanted a particular cost for intnl shipping she should have stipulated that. if a case is opened ebay will side with you.

Says free for me as well (in Iceland). She only states that people "overseas" should ask for the shipping quote, and personally, i wouldn't consider rest of the Europe as overseas but would simply go with FREE to Iceland/Netherlands as ebay says.

The way I see it, it´s her mistake and I´m extra annoyed that she was rude to you :S I suggest you do take a screenshot as it might be showing a different thing depending on the country, this way you can show her how it looked for you when you placed the bid ^^

Good luck!

Oh wow what a mess! its not actually showing up as free shipping when I first look at it (I'm in the UK, and there are 2 shipping rates offered as jem mentioned), but yes when I click on rates for the Netherlands it is showing as free shipping. She cant change the listing when its ended
It sounds like your seller made a mistake and offered free international shipping instead of free UK shipping I can understand her being a bit upset and shocked as those items are going to cost more to ship than she sold them for, but she certainly should not have taken it out on you and sent you that rude message . TBH I do think that you ought to have looked at the entire description as she does state to ask for international shipping quotes, but it was her mistake listing free shipping. I'm thinking your offer of going 50/50 on the shipping fair as you both made a mistake, but if she will not agree to work things out with you, or if she sends you another rude message , then report it to ebay and let them sort it out for you. Keep polite though, however she reacts

I'd say that splitting the cost of the shipping is fair. You'll get your item still, and she'll learn to double-check her shipping options the next time she lists something.

It shows up as free shipping for me too. :/