Does shipping and handeling on ebay seem like it's getting out of control?

[aura of foreboding]

I too have seen all sides.  I have paid 25 bucks for shipping a number of times to get custom knives from the UK.  I don't complain but sometimes consider the cost of shipping into the item to see how high I want to bid and there are a few times that the shipping drives me away from the item. 

I have seen sellers underestimate the shipping too and with a few items I have had shipped to me here in the South Pacific I know a few dealers that have lost a some bucks on shipping.  I always appreciate them as they do not complain, at least not to me anyway. 

However, there is another side to that.  There are sellers who make money off shipping.  I live in Virginia and purchased several items from a guy in NC.  What he charged for shipping was double what ended up on the box.  I called him out on it and his response was he "averages" for all over the country.  I countered with so I am paying higher so some customer on the other side of the country can pay less.  Needless to say, he did not refund the difference as he should have and he lost a good well paying customer. 

The right thing to do is refund the few bucks to make the customer happy and keep that customer buying your products.   That is called customer service.

I saw something new recently though where, while paying for an item the shipping was automatically recalculated depending on which address I decided to send it to.  At least that is a feature some of the sellers have figured out how to use.  I don't mind that at all.  I will pay honest shipping as long as I am not gouged and find out about it later. 

When a seller pockets what turned out to be 7 bucks in the case I mentioned so he can "average" it then NO, that is not a fair business practice. 

It is also amazing how unintelligent some sellers are in that respect.  This guy actually thought he was making a reasonable assertion when it is as unreasonable as can be.  You can't charge one customer more so that another can pay less.  That is rediculous. 

Always look at the cost printed on the box when a package arrives and compare it to what you were charged.  I think you will find in some cases a seller might have underestimated and lost money and in other cases you might be gouged.  If a seller refunds the difference then they are demonstrating they are fair minded and reasonable.  If they don't, well, you make the call.  You can choose to never deal with them again and offer negative feedback. 

Most sellers try to be reasonable but there are those who will use whatever tool necessary to make extra money so buyer beware.

Good topic though. 

I have also experienced a Shill bidding scam that Ebay seems to be condoning in case anyone wants to discuss Ebay's stance on that.   

This is an honest question and not intended to be snarky:  Why would you not offer to cover the additional shipping charges when the sellers estimate low?  That would seem fair to me if you complain about paying too much when they estimate high... 

Honestly, if a seller doesn't know where an item is going, he has to make a judgment that is fair, where he doesn't lose too much or gain too much.  I don't know if the price your seller charged was a fair estimate for shipping within the continental US for your particular item, but the fact of the matter is sellers can lose or gain money on shipping depending where an item goes, and they do have to estimate and make their final numbers balance.  I think most honest sellers hope that their numbers balance in the end, without the sellers or the buyers paying too much or too little.  It doesn't always work, but I think that is the goal. 

And your own post is an admission that it does balance itself.  Sometimes sellers overestimate; other times, they underestimate.  Sometimes buyers get good deals on shipping; other times, they pay too much. 

Personally, if shipping seems to be within 4 dollars of what I'd consider reasonable, I don't complain or question it and bid on the item.  I pay the shipping that is listed, and I don't care how much it actually cost, because I agreed to that amount.  If shipping doesn't look reasonable, I skip it. 

[Wolf Man]

If at any time a seller complained to me that they misjudged the shipping I would gladly offer the difference.  I don't want to see them take a hit.  If they don't mention it then I figure they are fine with it or have made enough profit on the item to make it work.  I don't always notice as long as the shipping is close.   I have only complained once about the shipping and that was to the case I cited.  The reason was that it was not the first time I purchased from the seller.  He sells very expensive custom made knives.  Being a repeat customer, which means he knew exactly how much an item would cost to ship to my exact address and discovering the over charge on the shipping I brought it up to him.  Had he reacted with regret and offered to refund the difference I would have continued to search and bid on his items.  His reaction of "averaging" leaving me to make up the difference, a seven dollar difference for someone else who is paying less is not only unreasonable but ridiculous.  That told me a lot about his intelligence and character so I refuse to buy anything else from him. 

I also have never complained about the shipping being a dollar or two off.  However, it is the responsibility of the sellers to know what they are doing with "their" business and that also means the shipping costs. 

As I said, there is a feature that when you go to make payment it adjusts the shipping costs depending on which address you ship it to.  I have several addresses and when I chose to have something sent here and noticed a six dollar jump in shipping I made no complaint and actually admired the seller for using that program.   Other sellers who don't manage their business well or make mistakes I have a lot of patience with as long as they are reasonable and will make amends.  When they are stubborn, or blame one customer for something another did to them and make excuses then NO, they deserve to have their Ebay business fail, get negative feedback and have problems with customers until they are run off Ebay. 

Reasonable goes both ways and a person reaps what they sow.

[aura of foreboding]

Thanks for clarifying.  I am sorry to hear that that guy wouldn't treat you better since you had done business before. 

I agree that businesses should definitely know what they are doing in terms of shipping and handling. 

Most of the time, I don't deal with businesses on eBay, though.  I just deal with regular folks cleaning house, and I don't expect them to know how to use special calculators and whatnot.  But it is nice when those pop up, though they can be incorrect too!  So I just avoid the obvious gougers from the get-go and roll with the punches for everything else.  And I definitely take advantage of the "free shipping" when I can (usually from businesses).  That's always great. 

[houseoftheunusual]

 Even better a person list an item...Overprices the item, charges high shipping then sends me a copy from their color printer that has white bands on picture due to low ink or non printer head alignment. When I asked to fix problem the sellers said that she stated very clear on description it was a copy... Again I said yeah you worded the item in title in a way that I though it was real. she then gets back to me after I asked for a refund, that shipping will not be refunded? Talking about customer service. I told her I have been selling since 1997 and said you are wrong Paypal will refund me the total purchase... What really gets me going is that I stated " make it right go to any office depot or staples and make me a color copy and would even repay the shipping." Still the idiot does not respond...Looking to give her her first negative feedback and my first....Here is the kicker...SHE HAS A FEEDBACK RATING OF...14875 100% WoW!!! I am about to change that. I hate sellers that take advantage like that an eBay lets them.

[horror1o1]

This isn't really about the folks who miss judge by a buck or 2 it's really about the obvious. Here's a example. A month or so ago i bought a lot of figues that had 2 AHi  figures in it with 2 other  mixed dolls the shipping from scotland was like $11bucks give or take. The box got here in about a week so imagine it was some kinda priority. now recently i was checking out some other Ahi figures on ebay and many had prices that were similar to what i paid for something from scotland that  had more figures in there. And i realize it's only $5 bucks or so but when it seems more and more to be common practice to over charge it's not cool. And the only reason I even made this thread is I'm noticing it a lot. I wish ebay could really monitor this more to help people from getting taken advantage of sellers and buyers a like.

[horror1o1]

Even better a person list an item...Overprices the item, charges high shipping then sends me a copy from their color printer that has white bands on picture due to low ink or non printer head alignment. When I asked to fix problem the sellers said that she stated very clear on description it was a copy... Again I said yeah you worded the item in title in a way that I though it was real. she then gets back to me after I asked for a refund, that shipping will not be refunded? Talking about customer service. I told her I have been selling since 1997 and said you are wrong Paypal will refund me the total purchase... What really gets me going is that I stated " make it right go to any office depot or staples and make me a color copy and would even repay the shipping." Still the idiot does not respond...Looking to give her her first negative feedback and my first....Here is the kicker...SHE HAS A FEEDBACK RATING OF...14875 100% WoW!!! I am about to change that. I hate sellers that take advantage like that an eBay lets them.

with customer service like that sounds like she just got lucky till this point.

[Wolf Man]

When ever a seller says to read the description carefully that is a red flag for buyer beware.

[houseoftheunusual]

I sold an Ipad 2 to someone in Netherlands. I told them to pay $43.00 shipping since I thought that was enough since I wanted to have item insured for the $450.00 I sold it for...Turns out that the only way to insure for that amount to the location, I had to use Express mail...Total cost $76.43 shipping...$40.00 eBay fee about $21.00 PayPal fee and then eBay cans me because I suggested he pay me direct through PayPal. I was suspended for 60 days...YOU SEE EBAY GIVES THE WORD SUCK A NEW MEANING!!! Trying to keep the customer happy I lost over $100.00.

[houseoftheunusual]

Here is another eBay scam...They said in order to protect the customer they now also charge a fee on shipping??? Lets see they get listing fees, final value fees, PayPal fees, wait now also shipping fees. The only customer they help is their pockets. They could put other things to stop wrong shipping practice....But why should they it would only be the honest thing, but wait their pockets would really hurt. Its like if you and me charged !0% weekly on money we loan someone...We would be arrested, but wait a minute it is very ethical for companies to give payday loans and charge over 400% interest...WOW what  gives?       Where the heck is honesty now a days.

[aura of foreboding]

I know that eBay is becoming very unfriendly to regular folks, and the new shipping fees are just plain silly. 

[BigShadow]

I have an eBay store and sell items everyday.  I try to keep shipping costs as low as I can, but it always seems like the postal services keep raising the rates, especially for overseas.  And, as the prices go up, postal offices are closing and shipping takes longer. 
But, there are some sellers that have a ridiculous amount for shipping.  Some also use the trick of pricing the item very low and raising the shipping very high to cover the item price.

[BlackLagoon]

Shipping is definitely getting out of control!

The biggest thing I use ebay for is usually Hot Wheels or something monster related--basically small items inside the continental U.S. so shipping has never been a big issue before.....now I see what's going on. Sellers seem to be putting a BIN price that is fairly reasonable on the item...but jacking up shipping through the roof.

So 3 current, carded Hot Wheels are 10.00 to ship?? Are you nuts? Put the damn things in a bubble envelope and shipping is 4.00 at most. At the end of the deal you want me to pay $20.00 for three $.89 cars that I just can't find on the pegs right now?

Whatever dude, guess I'll have to miss out.

[horror1o1]

Shipping is definitely getting out of control!

The biggest thing I use ebay for is usually Hot Wheels or something monster related--basically small items inside the continental U.S. so shipping has never been a big issue before.....now I see what's going on. Sellers seem to be putting a BIN price that is fairly reasonable on the item...but jacking up shipping through the roof.

So 3 current, carded Hot Wheels are 10.00 to ship?? Are you nuts? Put the damn things in a bubble envelope and shipping is 4.00 at most. At the end of the deal you want me to pay $20.00 for three $.89 cars that I just can't find on the pegs right now?

Whatever dude, guess I'll have to miss out.

I've had several situations like that with small items.

[Gillfan]

I sell on ebay fairly regularly and I often lowball shipping. With Paypal, you are supposed to use tracking and they recommend insurance (although I skip it for items under $40), frankly it is hard to ship an item cheaply anymore.

[scorpio]

 i used to purchase 90% of my items from the u,s as we dont have most of what i want here in the uk
but the shipping from the u,s to the uk has got out of control  now so has made my collecting  not as enjoyable
as it was i find what i am looking for but cant afford to ship it crazy....