OT: Rant - eBay Sucks ! Shipping Calculator

[threeneurons]

I've been having a little (losing) battle with eBay lately, on about international shipping. I've been shorted on 4 transactions, in the last month. Their customer service reps are totally ignorant of their own policies. In the modern age, that, sadly, seems to be the norm. I've made 4 calls. On the middle two, the reps, looked at the transactions, and noted the difference, between what the charged, and my actual costs. They acted as if they would reimburse me, my shortfall. Today, I noticed a buyer, in Japan ordered two supply kits, but was only charged $6.97. The post office will charge me $13.50. The first flunky, today, told me that I setup my shipping parameters incorrectly. Which is an off-the-cuff blame the seller excuse. I eventually managed to get to his supervisor. He told me two very important things, none of the past calls provided: (1) No reimbursements period. eBay Policy. (2) The shipping cost was not based on my shipping parameters, but the minimum US Postal Service price, for an ENVELOPE, containing tangible merchandise (not just paperwork).

I cancelled the transaction. Changed my setting to "no international shipping", on that one item. The lower flunky, told me international buyers, can still put the item in their shopping cart, but need to contact me, in order to pay for it. So then, I can properly invoice them. His supervisor told me, to click "off" combined shipping, again, allowing me to invoice the buyer, once they see the "sticker shock" shipping charge.

I ONLY SHIP IN BOXES --- PERIOD !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe, some replacement parts, in an envelope, but never a KIT.

From the US it cost me: $9.50 minimum, to ship to Canada.

It cost either: $13.25/$13.50/$13.75 minimum, to ship to any other country (outside the US - I have to include this because too many Americans, are a little thick). Don't even ask about: UPS, FedEx, or DHL. All way higher !

Also, if any of you know a lawyer, that's in the "class action" business, put in your 2 cents. eBay really should have an option of making the seller, the final arbiter, of setting the price, before the buyer can pay.

I have, and always will, refund excessive shipping charges paid.

[alb.001 alb.001]

I sold some cables recently and it clearly stated shipping to USA lower 48 states was $20.  The buyer showed me the invoice he got from eBay and it indicated "shipping free".  The buyer refused to pay shipping and wanted to cancel the sale. I bit the cost and lost money on the transaction.    I hate their shipping calculator. The system should just wait for an invoice from seller who can properly figure postage to wherever the buyer is.

Also postage in Canada and USA is wayyyy too expensive compared to overseas    - shipping from China costs seller practically nothing (price + shipping = $0.99  - how do they do that?  simple, the buyers country subsidized the shipping. Thanks all you citizens for supporting China Post and Hong Kong Post etc.

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[Charles MacDonald]

On 16-09-19 07:03 PM, alb.001 alb.001 wrote:
> I sold some cables recently and it clearly stated shipping to USA lower
> 48 states was $20. The buyer showed me the invoice he got from eBay and
> it indicated "shipping free".

E-bay has wonted to become more like a store and less like an auction
site. The one that gets me is the "Global Shipping program." a US
seller lists an item and if the software recognizes it, it shows up on
e-bay canada with global shipping. this starts at about 20 dollars. if
I win, ebay tells the seller to ship to Pitney Bowes in Kentucky. (I
get to pay them for US shipping for that) There they cut open the
package to verify that it looks like the listing (hopefully not damaging
the item too badly) and forward it on, with the opening taped up and a
big E-bay Sticker added... Small Items under 20 dollars are just put
back in the USPS mail, (but of course I have already paid twice once to
get it to KY and again to mail it to Canada, so I have paid more than if
the seller just shipped it direct)

If over 20 bucks they ship it to Toronto where they mail it, but I get
to pay the retail sales tax at 13% just like I got it from the local
store. rest assured that Pitney gets a good cut. there are some items
where they can save me money, but on small items it just adds expense.

and latly I get Brethless e-mails with important news when the item
arrived in KY, is shipped and when the post office delivers it. All
Don’t have the name of the item in the subject so I have to read them
though to find out what they are about and can't search them alter if I
am missing an item.

> I hate their shipping calculator. The system should just
> wait for an invoice from seller who can properly figure postage to
> wherever the buyer is.

As I buyer, I have had situations in the old days where I thought I had
a good idea of what it would cost to ship somthing and had sticker shock
when the seller used a gigantic oversize carton, or sent with the most
expensive service because it was crossing big water (lake Ontario)..

(also got stung a few times where they declared a high value "in case it
got damaged in shipping so I could make a good claim" (unless perfectly
packed as long as the box and or its contents get to you their is no
claim, and did I metion the 13% sales tax --- On the declared value)

I would love to have a choice in shipping.

The other thing is that the seller now has to used "tracked" shipping to
avoid a claim of Non delivery. so many things that should be Small
packet are instead sent Priority at 4 times the cost. I don't know how
many items I have "watched" for a week, and decided not to bid as the
bid plus shipping would be more than the item was worth (to me) even
though the bid itself was reasonable.

>
> Also postage in Canada and USA is wayyyy too expensive compared to
> overseas - shipping from China costs seller practically nothing
> (price + shipping = $0.99 - how do they do that? simple, the buyers
> country subsidized the shipping.

You have to wonder why the China Post can get away with such low prices,
I just wish USPS and Canada post had simalar ones, then I could bid on
more ebay items. Mind you the China Post service really does seem like
a slowboat from China as 30 days is typical.

--
Charles MacDonald Stittsville Ontario
cm...@zeusprune.ca Just Beyond the Fringe
No Microsoft Products were used in sending this e-mail.

[ZY]

The GSP really sucks. I also ordered from Canada while living there for a short while and something for ~$5 came with $20 shipping and other fees.

[SWISSNIXIE - Jonathan F.]

The GSP is als crap for the buyer sometimes. I ordered two small vaccum tubes from the same seller at the same time, the gsp didnt let him combine shipping, ending up in a value of 54$ in shipping, the item value was aroun 10$, to the irony of it, the total would have been 64$, which is over the tax free limit of my country, so thy wanted to charge me another 12$ for "tax processing"!? Gladly the seller just cancled the order and i made a direct payment for the second tube.

Another point is their tax system. I know they need to tax the value by law, but their fee for this is way to high. Switzerland has 8% sales tax. So for a order of 300$, i would pay 24$ tax. GSP charged me 58$ :(

If i can i always try to make a off-ebay thing :)

[Dekatron42]

I've had a lot of problems with GSP over the last few years, similar what other people describe here but it gets nasty when they loose objects in the shipment along the way, not the whole shipment but probably when someone forgets to put all things back when they open the package for inspection (stealing?) or if they destroy something while checking it - they don't take any responsibility at all for that and neither do they reimburse you for missing or damaged items. In all cases they claimed that the items were all there when they shipped it and that they weren't damaged, needless to say they could never prove that with photos or documentation. Even if I could prove that things were missing or had been damaged before reaching later shipping destinations like the Swedish Customs they wouldn't take any responsibility at all - no matter what their policies state. I've lost part of shipments since the GPS people didn't tape the packages shut after their inspection so things fell out during the later transports.

So every time I look at an auction I always ask if it is possible with direct shipping, with tracking and insurance, as that is cheaper and also works a lot better without any problems like with the GPS and things arrive a lot faster.

I don't mind paying shipping costs as long as they are reasonable for what is offered in terms of insurance, tracking and speed when delivering but the costs for GPS and the poor service is ridiculous.

Ebay has become a worse place to sell and buy from over the last few years after some of their changes, fortunately the sellers and buyers haven't changed as much, you can always talk with people and usually you can come to a good agreement after explaining the facts, but sometimes there are people who just won't understand that Ebay isn't infallible when it comes to how their listings work with shipping and other details.

Cheap shipping costs from China is not a good thing if you buy something valuable that gets lost or damaged as those cheap shipments aren't usually insured, good sellers will ship you a new item if they can but some won't. I've been bitten by low shipping costs from China, and other countries too, and have had to use Ebay buyers protection or Paypal to get my money back as the shipping wasn't insured fully but it is a tedious process even if it usually works out well.

/Martin

[Keith Moore]

This is helpful information. I am frustrated by eBay shipping in general even just with incidental stuff I sell from home.   I am considering using other selling options based upon your comments. 

[gregebert]

Thanks for the heads up; I expect to be shipping a PC board to Eric (Netherlands) very soon. 

Fortunately the boards I shipped in the US went flawlessly using USPS-flat-rate-padded-envelope thru Ebay's shipping process.

[Luka C]

eBay's Global Shipping Program is just terrible. I purchase stuff from the U.S. all the time (I'm in Croatia) and it's typically marked as "International Priority Shipping By GSP" in the description.

1. I'm not sure what "priority" means because it first has to go trough the whole U.S.A. to arrive in Erlanger, KY. After that, it's shipped to the U.K., which is followed by Germany where it's taken by some commercial shipping provider (GLS, DPD) and transferred to Croatia. I should mention that, once it reaches Europe, all further transfer of the item is done by trucks, not by plane which is kinda strange for something called "priority"? Anyway, shipping times are terrible, a typical USPS First Class Intl Mail arrived at the same time, if not sooner.

2. The shipping costs are just ridiculous, as somebody mentioned earlier, shipping typically makes around 50% of the total price I pay for the items shipped by GSP.

3. They claim to act as a "customs broker" for you and charge you with customs fees in advance. I believe this is a pure scam since there has never been any evidence that Croatian Customs Service received any money for my incoming packages (they always need to provide you an invoice of the customs procedure when importing goods, it's give to you along with the package). What I believe is that they illegally accept packages in the U.K. (they don't have to report them to customs there because they're intended to continue their journey to the destination country - Croatia), they then relabel them as if they're coming from the U.K. (no customs fees in the European Union) and transfer freely to the destination and customs never even realizes the true origin of the package, so they make 100% profit on the "calculated import costs".

All in all, it seems they provide the lowest and cheapest possible service so they can take most of the money for themselves which has been bad news for the international customers since the day it was introduced.

[Alex]

I have two anecdotes to add here.... 

First, I recently listed a CRT monitor on there, a fairly classic collectable analog input retro desktop one such as you would use on an amiga or vic 20 (or a games console etc). It sold quickly, via Buy It Now, for £150. It was going to be a pain to ship, so I had quoted £20 UK and £40 for a couple of European countries that I knew were reasonable to ship to. They buyers address came through as a USA account - before a buyer pays their address you see as a seller is the account registered address. I received no contact from the buyer but got quotes in and sent an invoice for £98 shipping (it was around that for the weight, with a bit left over for the ludicrous packing needed). 

The buyer paid, still no contact, but now their shipping address specified in their paypal account had taken over and ebay was demanding I ship to that one - In South Korea!

Quotes were nearly £300 for shipping alone. 3 emails, 12 days and still no contact later I ended up pushing the cancel button. It will of cost me a couple of quid in fees but I am sure they would of spoken out eventually, probably via eBays "resolve a problem"...

The second is around GSP, which I am very fond of as a seller. eBay often quotes a buyer a price via GSP without asking or knowing the weight from me. This means often something I ask £8 for UK 10-15kg postage gets quoted to European buyers as about £18, which is often far cheaper than I can do it for. Plus, as long as it pings in at the UK place, ebay then take over and you are resolved of any problems with it getting lost in the post (plus you assume that it wont get bounced or held in a sorting office because they are out at the pub etc). I once had someone buy something off me via GSP and then buy a load more via eMail, the shipping cost was the same to me domestically but it more than doubled the weight, so I would bet the international shipping would of been much more if I had been picking up the tab!

I did not know they actually opened stuff though, most of my stuff is wrapped up in triplicate layers so that must keep them busy!

[Dekatron42]

I think they must open the package to check its contents when they handle the Customs tax - I would open every package anyway so that I was sure that people didn't shipp illegal stuff.....

/Martin

[Roddy Scott]

Bob,

I bought one of your kits recently and live in the ROI, the postage costs you charged were very reasonable compared to others. 

I got shafted by Ebay on selling a guitar when I specified that insured shipping was extra and would be the buyers responsibility to choose which method, cut a long story short, I ended up losing $70 on the deal.

Charlatans!

.