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Post by rockjunquie on May 8, 2024 22:08:42 GMT -5
I know there are some here and some lurking.
I gotta say, it really burns my a** to see the shipping fees on some of these auctions. I buy almost exclusively on eBay. But, I absolutely refuse to pay 9 and up for a very small slab for standard mail when you could use priority at that price. If you are shipping by standard mail, then I want to pay for STANDARD mail, not priority. I know how much it costs to ship stuff and I know you get a shipping break through eBay and paypal, so don't ask me to give you my money for overcharged shipping. It's bad business and dishonest as hell, not to mention against eBay rules. And, don't tell me that you are charging for handling. That's part of doing business.
To all you honest eBayers... I'm happy to give you my money. Thank you for making buying rocks a little more affordable.
OK, I'm stepping down from my soapbox.
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hypodactylus
spending too much on rocks
Member since July 2021
Posts: 478
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Post by hypodactylus on May 8, 2024 22:44:00 GMT -5
Yeah. I also don't like it when sellers say they will combine shipping costs for multiple purchases, only to drag their feet, make you feel bad for asking, or tell you to "pay the amount and I'll reimburse the difference". Plenty of sellers use invoicing, so it must not be too difficult.
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dreamrocks
fully equipped rock polisher
I got lucky this morning and was able to post this no others since
Member since November 2018
Posts: 1,232
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Post by dreamrocks on May 9, 2024 1:26:18 GMT -5
I have bought a lot in the past on eBay and the one thing I noticed is you really need to read and pay attention to the sellers add page. Some sellers are honest then there’s the greedy s***bags making money on shipping & handling they think there a big box store.
Another thing to watch for is No returns or buyers pay for returns that to me is A Big red flag! I won’t even bother wasting time to see any further what they are selling. Something must be wrong like not as advertised?
Particularly when free shipping is not listed in the add, the other thing some of them do is hide shipping in there item description. Some of these s***bags are making way more off the shipping & handling then the item being sold. And more then it actually cost to ship.
Then there are honest crooks they list shipping right up front on the add page no need to click and look they are showing you there going to charge you extra.
Back in the day all shipping on eBay was free or figured into the sales price but it’s not that way anymore that really sucks because eBay is letting it happen unless you say something when it’s not listed then they can’t charge you for it.
I was also told once that eBay made changes that automatically separates multiple items and creates multiple shipping costs then you can combine them at the end. I dealt with that once and contacted the seller and told him to cancel my order I wasn’t paying all that shipping when they could fit in one box going to the same place. The remedy was contact the seller before making the purchase then there was only one shipping charge I bought a lot from that seller after clearing that shipping mess of charges.
I hope that was helpful some sellers you can deal with others are just crooks when it comes to shipping.
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hypodactylus
spending too much on rocks
Member since July 2021
Posts: 478
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Post by hypodactylus on May 9, 2024 11:33:35 GMT -5
I can understand not offering free shipping. I wouldn't want to just eat the cost as a seller if I was unable to factor it into the sales price. Since many items on eBay are sold via auction, you can't really build it into the price without discouraging bidders.
I can also understand having the buyer pay the return shipping, especially on a 'what you see is what you get' listing. That said, as a customer, I much prefer to do business with people/companies who make returns easy (and free).
I agree that it is unfortunate how there seem to be sellers who see the 'shipping' charge as a way to make extra money.
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Post by pebblesky on May 9, 2024 11:49:51 GMT -5
I purchase more on etsy. Their shipping cost seems to be calculated more reasonably based on the items' marked weights. Most of the time my order qualified for free shipping with $35+.
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Post by pebblesky on May 9, 2024 11:57:26 GMT -5
I think it makes sense to offer free returns for the US buyers, but if it is an order from Canada, I sincerely don't know how that would work out for relatively small orders. Not to mention EU countries which seem to be much more complicated to deal with shipping.
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realrockhound
Cave Dweller 
Chucking leaverite at tweekers
Member since June 2020
Posts: 4,483
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Post by realrockhound on May 9, 2024 12:52:10 GMT -5
Damn… I’m glad that I don’t have to buy rocks. I do browse eBay and have purchased a few steals. But yeah… that’s pretty messed up
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Post by Rockoonz on May 9, 2024 22:54:33 GMT -5
I look at total price shipped when I shop online, no matter where. When I did ebay for my car parts business I used their estimator, but increased the package size and weight enough that I didn't end up basically sending them a box of money. Then I refunded everything over my actual cost if the difference was more than a couple bucks. Heavy and bulky parts went by FedEx home delivery, Ebay didn't have them in their calculator so those buyers usually got a nice rebate. Back then seller fees were on the item price before shipping, and some sellers sold the $10 item for $1 with $9 shipping to bypass the fees, so now greedbay takes huge fees on the entire payment.
I recall a member here many years ago ranting that they only bought from "free shipping" sellers. When I asked if he would buy the item one seller had for $10 with $5 shipping, from another for $20 with free shipping he said of course it's a principle. They walk among us...
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Post by rockjunquie on May 10, 2024 1:44:00 GMT -5
I don't have to have free shipping, though it's nice to have. I just want to be charged for actual shipping pricing.
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Post by Rockoonz on May 10, 2024 8:51:15 GMT -5
I get it, especially with an auction where you have to remember that the 11 dollar bid is really a 20 dollar bid, back when we bought a lot online I kept a list with max bids so I knew where to stop.
Live auctions all do the "buyers premium" now, so between sales tax and the fee the price out the door is usually an extra 20% or more, and it seems that there is always someone bidding against you with bidders fever who forgot about the fees. About the only thing I get at the auctions is entertainment nowadays.
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Post by vegasjames on May 10, 2024 12:30:47 GMT -5
I get it, especially with an auction where you have to remember that the 11 dollar bid is really a 20 dollar bid, back when we bought a lot online I kept a list with max bids so I knew where to stop. Live auctions all do the "buyers premium" now, so between sales tax and the fee the price out the door is usually an extra 20% or more, and it seems that there is always someone bidding against you with bidders fever who forgot about the fees. About the only thing I get at the auctions is entertainment nowadays. It is not just people forgetting about fees. There are definite shillers on many Ebay auctions even though that is against the rules as well. I have had this happen to me as well. I get outbid, then the seller sends me a message claiming the winner, which was actually them, did not follow through, so I can have the item at my highest bid. They were just bidding on their own item to force the price up. They do not want to have to pay the Ebay fees for the auction since they did not make a real sale, so they then start contacting the highest bidders to get as much as they can for the item.
There are other variations of the shilling as well, but Ebay has made it much harder to prove the shilling by hiding the bidder IDs.
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khara
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2022
Posts: 1,979
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Post by khara on May 10, 2024 22:58:10 GMT -5
There is an element that is completely out of the sellers control and that’s eBay. eBay charges more than usps rates despite the seller accurately entering in the type of shipping and weight at the time of listing creation. I personally believe eBay does this so they make just a little bit more in fees on each sale, because shipping costs are included in their fee percentage. I almost always have to reimburse shipping fees and usually it’s a couple/few bucks. I wish eBay would just charge for the usps service that I say in my listing but they don’t. It is always inflated.. As a seller it takes me extra time during packaging to reimburse and it could potentially be losing me sales when people see the shipping cost. I ship all low weight items ground and only use priority for heavier items and usually use flat rate boxes. First class or ground rates by weight as well as flat rate costs are all published so I don’t know why eBay gets away with inflating the costs.
The sellers that lose me are the ones who have not done due diligence in learning how to ship more cheaply. Using priority boxes when they can ship ground or not knowing how to use the Tyvek bags, etc. If the buyer is paying shipping the seller should research and know the best and cheapest way to mail their merchandise.
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