Argh!!!!!! I'm super frustrated! I've found an auction that I'd really like to bid on, but the seller has the shipping price listed as $20!?!? And the kicker is she only lives an hour away from me.

So I politely wrote her a note asking:

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Hi! I was wondering if there were any less expensive shipping options. ^-^ I'm about an hour from you, near the Twin Cities - zipcode XXXXX and the shipping price is showing $20 for me. Is a flatrate box an option? Or maybe shipping without the case?

And her response to me:

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Hi..with the auction starting at .99 cents I am not negotiating on the shipping! Thanks!

Doesn't this violate some sort of ebay policy for shipping???

Help!

She's recouping her cost of listing the item for 99 cents. You're not really going to pay 99 cents for whatever you win or a $1.00, etc. She's listing her auction at 99 cents and figuring her profit in the shipping. Probably also to avoid the fee.

Ask if you can do a pickup if you win. You can also report her to ebay but..

1) It will be glaringly obvious it was you, especially after you questioned her shipping
2) It might take forever to get addressed by Ebay

Just figure out what you're willing to pay SHIPPING included and make a decision from there. I always include my shipping in a budgeted item. Say I want to buy a Big Brother pony at around $20.00. That's not 20.00 PLUS shipping. That's 20 flat for me. If I can't find an auction that suits my budget and capacity of want for that item, I wait. It sucks, but I wait.

Yes it does. Report her. Ebay states "It's against our rules to provide unclear or misleading shipping information or to charge unreasonable fees for shipping and related services." At the bottom of this page there's a link to report items pages.ebay.com/help/po...tices.html

StoryDreamer wrote:

She's recouping her cost of listing the item for 99 cents. You're not really going to pay 99 cents for whatever you win or a $1.00, etc. She's listing her auction at 99 cents and figuring her profit in the shipping. Probably also to avoid the fee. Ask if you can do a pickup if you win.

Ebay charges fees on shipping now. Of courwe we know WHY she's doing this, to try and make a profit, but that is against ebay rules. And the gas to drive and pick it up will cost way more than shipping the item.

For the amount of ponies that she's listing (around 6 plus tons of accessories), I anticipate it going higher... So I'm thinking it will end up being around $20 for the auction anyway - but I'm not willing to bid that if I'm going to have to pay the same amount in domestic shipping.

I don't think pickup will be an option. I could ask though.

NoDivision wrote:

Yes it does. Report her. Ebay states "It's against our rules to provide unclear or misleading shipping information or to charge unreasonable fees for shipping and related services." At the bottom of this page there's a link to report items pages.ebay.com/help/po...tices.html StoryDreamer wrote: She's recouping her cost of listing the item for 99 cents. You're not really going to pay 99 cents for whatever you win or a $1.00, etc. She's listing her auction at 99 cents and figuring her profit in the shipping. Probably also to avoid the fee. Ask if you can do a pickup if you win. Ebay charges fees on shipping now. Of courwe we know WHY she's doing this, to try and make a profit, but that is against ebay rules. And the gas to drive and pick it up will cost way more than shipping the item.

Oh it does?! Dang. I haven't listed things in more than 5 months.

Yes, it will.

Well, I've sent another message to her, I don't want to threaten to report yet, because I do want to bid on her ponies. But if she's completely unwilling to work with me I'll state ebay's policy and contact them I suppose.

Here's my response -

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Thanks for the response. My concern is I would really like to bid a decent amount, but I won't pay $20 shipping when they will fit in a flat rate box for $10 - and they're only going an hour. I think your auction will go higher than the $1 mark, but I'm unwilling to bid if the shipping price is over-priced. Is there some way to reach a middle ground?

You know what, I bet you listed them for 99 cents to get the free listing deal.

Once you run out of free listings for the month, you can still list them for free if they are under a $1. This is the only explanation I have since fees don't matter anymore. They charge on shipping too.

Why don't you ask her to list them for the actual amount that she wants? Like charge actual shipping and then start the bidding at a real price? She's obviously not going to sell them to you for a dollar. When this is all said and down, after the fees & such I bet she is only going to make $5 on this action as it stands (Total: $21 - $8 to ship + fees = about $5).

Do you have the title keywords so that I can find the auction? I'm interested to see what the items are :-)

Blargh...got a response from her and I'm so torn on what to do. =/

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Hi..the way is see it is determine the value of the item and how much you are willing to bid. Subtract the shipping and that is the figure you arrive at. You are still paying the same price whether you pay 1.00 plus 20 for shipping equally 21 dollars or 11.00 for the item and 10 dollars to ship. It's the same thing. I am not lowering the shipping and I am not raising the opening bid. It will go to the highest bidder even if it is .99 cents but there saying the shipping and handling are clearly stated and not negotiable. Thanks!

So...she's trying to make money off of shipping. I really want to ponies (one in particular - I don't see her that often), but with the amount that shipping is, it wouldn't be a good deal I don't think. *sigh* I think I'll have to report it and forego bidding on it. I just can't rationalize spending $20 on shipping when the pony is an hour away!

I saw the lot. It's actually good to me if it's what I think it is. And the biggest thing in there..it would be a little hard to ship and not be crushed.

That's why I'm curious to see the auction and see what she is actually shipping...

StoryDreamer wrote:

I saw the lot. It's actually good to me if it's what I think it is. And the biggest thing in there..it would be a little hard to ship and not be crushed.

That's why I asked her to not include it to give an accurate shipping quote. =/

Sorry RPB, I won't disclose it until it's ended. I'm still undecided on what I'd like to do anyway.

You could always bid and then when you get it file a pay pal claim for the difference. I have had money returned to me because it was more than twice the actual cost of shipping

xeevee wrote:

You could always bid and then when you get it file a pay pal claim for the difference. I have had money returned to me because it was more than twice the actual cost of shipping

That is an option, but it seems like a lot of trouble to me. I wrote her a quick note explaining that it's against ebay's listing policies, and that with the fees on shipping she's still getting charged. We'll see.

Hmm thats a toughie if you want the ponies i would be annoyed at the shipping price too, and it is against ebay policies.. but then again you dont want her to block you if there is something in there you reaally want to bid on...
I guess just see how she responds to your last message and we'll go from there

I hope things work out for you!