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The last fews times I have bought somthing on ebay the seller's have added on handling fee's. Now I feel that these fee's should be listed in the auction and not after the auction ends. Why do sellers get to charge whatever they choose, one time it was for $18.00 and another time $14.00 both times the charge was just as much as the shipping and my items required no special packaging in fact the one for $14.00 was put into an envelope. Grrrrrrrr
If I understand you correctly you're saying that a seller charged you $18.00 one time and $14.00 another time for handling fees in addition to the shipping charges ? I would have to leave negative feedback after I reported them to ebay...... unless I had bought a refrigerator. :gaah:
Yes that is correct, Ebay allows the seller to add handling fee's after the auction ends. I'm so fu**** sick of getting hosed on inflated shipping costs.
wow, that's the first time i've heard of such practices
mind you, i don't often buy on ebay
i usually just get charged with what they put down under shipping costs..
can't you dispute that and say to the vendor that there has been a miscommunication with the shipping & handling costs and negotiate with him?
Last time I refused to pay so the seller dropped his handling fee in half again I refused to pay I simply did not want to do business with them after pulling that. Took an unpaid item strike on that one.
I've never heard of that either. I thought all fees had to be stated. I once had a seller try to make me pay tax without the auction stating it - I protested and the seller dropped it. I had another seller tell me point blank that she jacked up her shipping to cover ebay fees, paypal fees, packing materials, and her time to go to the post office. She actually said something along the lines of "Is time free where you come from?" when I asked about the massive difference between the shipping cost I was charged and the postage fee on the box.
Imo, it's all BS. Buyers bid what they want to pay, sellers have to pay the "overhead;" if sellers don't like it they should set reserves instead of weasling more money out of the buyers in backhanded ways. Then again, I always consider shipping costs when I bid, and I only really have a problem with it when shipping prices are high and packing is substandard.
Just remember sellers can add these fee's after you have won their item. IMO they use this to recoupe Ebay's fee and paypal fee's or if the item ended and they didn't like the final price.
I had no idea sellers could add handling fees on ebay. Is this ebay usa or somewhere else?
Always good to check feedback on the seller
+1Quote:
Originally Posted by holli4pirating
it just happened to me recently as well
i got a ebay not paid notice, so i rang the seller and said i didn't want to buy this item anymore because the way he conducted his business
the non payment from ebay was removed
we shouldn't have to take this sorta BS
buyers have rights too :mace:
This is ebay.com
Quote:
Originally Posted by jimmyfingers
If I am not wrong the handling fees have to be incorporated in the shipping charges, at least that's how I read the rules.
If the fee is charged after may be you should open a dispute and see what eBay thinks of it.
My last time I had an argument was because an overcharge shipping. The listing had fixed shipping fee but the postage was 3 times cheaper, the seller told me the difference was for his time and gas to get to the PO. eBay decided that was Ok. I feel that all fees should be incorporated in the shipping fee listed, and also explained in the listing. In my case I am not sure why one would charge for their time when they are willingly selling items, no one makes them to do it.
[QUOTE=mainaman;567534]If I am not wrong the handling fees have to be incorporated in the shipping charges, at least that's how I read the rules.
If the fee is charged after may be you should open a dispute and see what eBay thinks of it.
Ebay allows sellers to add this fee after the auction, buy it now or whatever. The handling fee can be added on when they send you your total.
If I won an item and then the seller suddenly added more fees onto the end, I'd open a dispute and refuse to pay until the issue was sorted.
If I ended up having to pay, I'd leave negative rep..!
I agree with Holli4. Sellers should be up front about all costs and not try to shlack the buyer with additional costs after an auction ends.
I agree with all of the above.
An additionaly handling fee might affect me bidding on an item. I may not bid on it at all. Or it may put a lower ceiling on what I am prepared to bid.
I have a feeling that this fee is being added after the fact when the seller does not get as much as they wanted for the item. In which case, is just a shady eBay practice. Not unlike a seller that removes an item within minutes of auction closing so that they don't have to pay the listing fee on an item that isn't fetching a high enough price.
I refuse to pay for extreme shipping costs. And I refuse to pay for handling fees.
Adding non-disclosed fees AFTER the end of the auction is problematic. I don't think this is legitimate and would dispute it.
Other than that, if you bid based on your total cost, which I think is the only rational way to bid, then it shouldn't matter to you whether you pay $100 and free shipping, or $1 and $99 shipping. However it does matter to ebay and the seller as ebay doesn't charge fees on the shipping portion, so this determines how your money is subsequently split between ebay and the seller. I am pretty sure ebay now has something on reasonable shipping fees and will cause trouble to a seller who goes over them.
That is the new policy. Also insurance is now the seller's responsibility and the buyer is not supposed to be charged for it. A nominal handling charge is allowed but the shipping and handling charges are supposed to be appropriate for the item and the destination without being a profit making scam for the seller. Report him to ebay and you'll probably get a partial refund.Quote:
Originally Posted by gugi
Was there a "shipping" fee listed in the original listing?
If you click on see all details on the shipping amount
or "Shipping and Payments" there is a tab
"shipping and handling"... Also there is a change log
for each auction . If something changed between
your bit and the close of the auction....
I'm not disbelieving anyone specifically, however, I have a hard time believing that it's an allowable practice for a seller to tack on completely undisclosed fees after an auction ends and then force a buyer to pay said fees or be dinged as a buyer for not doing so. I'm not clear if that's what's being described here, but if true, why would anyone want to buy on Ebay if the actual price would potentially be unknown and the buyer penalized for not paying?
Chris L
I cannot find the original Ebay invoice or my correspondance sent to the seller as this happened just before Xmas I was able for find two of his responces to my complaint of him adding his handling fee after the auction ended. The shipping was listed in the auction and was borederline unreasonable there was no mention of any handling fee in the auction. I had the cost of shipping already factored it into my max bid. Here are his responces after I refused to pay and told him to make a second chance offer to the next bidder.
I 'm not sure of you're meaning...?
I have re-invoiced you for just your calulated shipping rates which were in the eBay ad....
Once your payment has cleared I will get the item to the post office ASAP & on its way to you safely insured.
Sorry for the confusion & happy holidays....
Thank you
I did not understand your one message.
Are you having problems paying for the item you bid on & won...?
Payment is due within 5 days after the auction close.
I sent you a new invoice & I took off our handling fee to lower your shipping cost and yet no word from you?
To be fair to you I will wait until 11:23 tomorrow to hear back from you.
Your follow through as a ebay buyer is in question...?
Thank you very much
It's a violation of eBay rules to "require the buyer to pay an amount beyond the final price and a reasonable shipping fee." eBay considers this a form of seller fee avoidance, and is listed here under "Offering or requiring additional purchases":
"You can’t offer or require the buyer to:
- Make an additional purchase
- Pay an amount beyond the final price and a reasonable shipping fee
- Sign up for a service with the purchase
- Take any unrelated action (such as pay for a hotel room) as a condition for receiving the item or its benefit (such as free or discounted airfare)"
There's always wiggle room for interpretation of "a reasonable shipping fee," but the seller's "handling" is baked into the very concept of selling on eBay: if the seller doesn't want to get off their behind, pack something, and take it to the post office to ship it, then they probably shouldn't be using eBay to sell it. The local Classifieds, Thrifty Nickel, Yard Sale, or Flea Market table might be an option for them.
If the seller wants to ensure their valuable time and effort is equitably rewarded by the final eBay selling price, they should simply set a reserve. Otherwise, it's a straight-up auction - you list it, folks bid, and you sell it for the highest bid you get. The allure of eBay to sellers is that they get access to a worldwide customer base to buy what they're selling.
In my experience, I think it still works like this: money = work :)
Heck, if there's no rules, I'll sell a CD and charge a $1000 "handling fee" to the buyer ;)
I gots bills to pay :roflmao
If it is against Ebay policy why does Ebay allow the seller to add handling fee's to the Ebay invoice? There is a box specificaly for handling and the seller can input whatever amount they wish.
This is an excellent question to ask ebay as they know exactly what boxes they provide for the sellers. I also think it would have been even better if you had done it when this happened, not many months after when you don't have access to the item or the invoices anymore.Quote:
Originally Posted by wuff
Feel free to update us on anything you learn.
I received an eBay seller invoice with an additional $60 charge on it last year. My response was to send a message to the seller that he had made an error and that I would not pay him that amount. I went on to ask him for a corrected invoice. He claimed that he did not know how to do this, so I e-mailed him again asking him if I could pay him with a money order via Priority Mail, for the purchase amount plus his stated postage. He agreed, I paid him, and eventually received the razor. He is not on my favorite sellers list, but it didn't get ugly, either. I actually gave him positive feedback, but not many stars. Had he attempted to report me as a non paying bidder, I had his e-mails and my money order confirmation and delivery confirmation as evidence that he had been paid the correct purchase price and postage, as stated in his auction.
FYI.. After contacting Ebay they have removed my unpaid item strike and the seller has been issued a warning from Ebay's trust and safety department for violating the excessive shipping cost policy.
Excellent, so it turned out the actual policies are not all crazy!
Thanks for posting, hopefully the next person it happens to will contact ebay and resolve this before paying.
Good to hear, nice work Wuff. :tu
nice one :tuQuote:
Originally Posted by wuff
good piece of info to tuck away for future reference
I bought around 100 shaving items on EBay for the last year and never heard about additional handling fees.