Thread: Venting About Auctions. Feel free to join me.

Originally Posted by Caledonian

The difference between what some stores do, and charging substantially more than actual packaging and shipping costs on eBay, is that eBay sellers sign an undertaking not to do it, as a condition of using the service.

Right, but that's something between ebay and the seller. Of course, any buyer is free to shop anywhere they want and avoid any seller they don't want to do business with, but if you click on the 'report item' button and ebay doesn't bother to enforce its own policy, you ask yourself how much is that policy worth.

In any case 15% overhead on the actual shipping cost is just the cut ebay and paypal collect. The rest I think is mostly philosophical question - you can hide the shipping in the item cost, or charge it separately. It appears that if one wants to take advantage of the buyer's psychology the first option is the way to go. May not be too different from advertising various 'discounts'.

Originally Posted by gugi

Right, but that's something between ebay and the seller. Of course, any buyer is free to shop anywhere they want and avoid any seller they don't want to do business with, but if you click on the 'report item' button and ebay doesn't bother to enforce its own policy, you ask yourself how much is that policy worth.

In any case 15% overhead on the actual shipping cost is just the cut ebay and paypal collect. The rest I think is mostly philosophical question - you can hide the shipping in the item cost, or charge it separately. It appears that if one wants to take advantage of the buyer's psychology the first option is the way to go. May not be too different from advertising various 'discounts'.

It's between the person who pays the money and the person who gets it, and someone taking money for which he does nothing is not a philosophical concept. Paying fees to eBay and Paypal is just an overhead the seller has signed up to allow, and which the buyer is already paying, as part of the selling price, since the seller is allowed to recoup them in no other way. Set one sum against another, when the buyer is paying both of them? Not to him, you can't.

Last time I checked the buyer is free to pick any number he likes and then click the 'place bid' button, or not. And as long as all fees are disclosed at this point, he's on the hook to keep what he agreed to.

I've read the section about 'excessive shipping fees' that I agreed to before I was able to list things on ebay. It's policy against something that's not well defined, so it's entirely up to the ebay's discretion whether any specific case violates it or not. So the buyer has absolutely no involvement whatsoever in this particular part.

Originally Posted by gugi

Last time I checked the buyer is free to pick any number he likes and then click the 'place bid' button, or not. And as long as all fees are disclosed at this point, he's on the hook to keep what he agreed to.

I've read the section about 'excessive shipping fees' that I agreed to before I was able to list things on ebay. It's policy against something that's not well defined, so it's entirely up to the ebay's discretion whether any specific case violates it or not. So the buyer has absolutely no involvement whatsoever in this particular part.

Yeah I have to agree. It's hard to argue with a shipping cost that you've agreed to pay for and that is clearly shown on the face of the auction. This is why I just avoid the high-shipping auctions now so I don't get frustrated or angry when it arrives.

Originally Posted by ats200

Yeah I have to agree. It's hard to argue with a shipping cost that you've agreed to pay for and that is clearly shown on the face of the auction. This is why I just avoid the high-shipping auctions now so I don't get frustrated or angry when it arrives.

That is right, for there is rarely any purpose in arguing with it. But if eBay were unlikely to take action over a complaint, feedback and low DSR ratings remain, and are intended to cover areas of discontent which aren't even policy violations at all. In fact the suggestion that eBay doesn't care about excessive shipping is more than we know. Very few violations will cause a member to be sanctioned in one. Far more common is for there to be a numerical threshold, with warnings preceding action if a number of complaints is reached.

eBay already disable the Shipping and Handling DSR star rating if free shipping is used, and there would be no difficulty at all about doing the same if the S&H specified in the auction is paid. But they don't. That strikes me as better than conjecture on what they want done.

The shipping and handling costs link in the Selling Practices policy (Selling practices policy) authorises no charges but those for expenses paid, i.e. none for the seller's time and trouble. Still, I've already said that most of us would consider a small amount added as a handling charge to be no violation. But when profit on S&H amounts to more than trading profit, it is. There is also no doubt about what actually claiming entitlement to be paid for gasoline and time in the post office is.