Exorbitant Shipping Fees

UPDATE:

She refuses to refund any of the excess money that she will pocket at my expense.

I want to leave Negative feedback against here on this. Do you think I should or not? Your opinion is very important to me and may effect my decision on this. Thanks

You have 273 positives, no negatives and you haven't left any negatives. The seller has 16 positives and no negatives. Can you handle getting your 1st negative? Perhaps if you had left some negs and had received a few, the seller would have taken you more seriously. Perhaps. On the other hand, if $25 was stated in advance, then so be it. Because of your high number of positives and the seller's low number, others would tend to feel you're opinion is to be respected. But if having a perfect feedback is very important to you, you might want to lick your wounds and move on. I think a near perfect feedback is important for sellers. I don't see how it's that important to buyers, after they've reached 100. It's very stressful to leave/receive your first feedback. Do you want revenge? Do you want to warn other buyers? Do you want respect? Do you want your money back (that ain't going to happen)? Your call.

Comments are always welcomed as long as you agree with me.


"Success is going from failure to failure without lost of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill

You have some great thoughts there.

As far as the feedback goes, she already left me positive feedback, so she can not retaliate against me. Also, I don't want to do this because of revenge. If I leave negative feedback, it is because I feel that the Ebay community must be made aware of her warped set of values which somehow justifies her charging an excess $18.00 and putting it in her pocket, unashamedly.

Furthermore, I sent here several emails trying to appeal as kindly as I knew how until it got to the point where it was obvious I was getting nowhere. It was at that point that I gave her the ultimatum that if she didn't at least refund a good portion of that money, then I would post negative feedback. Then I gave her a deadline of 5:00pm today, but she remains stubbornly defiant.

So the worst she can do is to respond to my feedback in her profile, but then I will post a rebuttal and still get the last word (or so it would seem)

Berean01, has it occurred to you that the $25 was not only for postage and packing materials, but also for her time and effort in packaging the (heavy) items? She's entitled to charge for what she thinks her time is worth, and besides, she might have a hernia.

If she hadn't said 25 bucks shipping up front, then you might have a case. But you were willing to pay $25, why do you care where it went so long as the items arrived unharmed? You bid on and bought the item knowing it'd cost you $25 for shipping, so kwitcherbellyachin'. Sorry, you're not justified in posting negative feedback in this old-timer's opinion.

I appreciate you thoughts. I am indeed happy that the items arrived unharmed, but I have to disagree with you in that she does not have the right to charge for her time over and above what is usual and customary. Surly you can not justify in any stretch of the imagination charging someone $18 for handling, can you? Any Mail Boxes Etc. could have done a better job for half the price of what she did -- and they aren't cheap. Besides, she has no right to profit off of a service which she does not provide; namely the shipping.

I could care less if she did have a hernia or only one leg, no car, a starving dog, what have you. Those are not my problems and I should not be expected to pay for them in any regard. I am bidding on auction goods, not her welfare. When you go into any fast-food resturant or department store or grocery store, you don't pay any handling fees of any kind. Those costs are all figured into the final price of each item. If she needed more money for her items, she should have made her opening bid higher. It's not my fault if the market won't support what she thinks the items are worth. She has no right to gouge 'a little extra' out of me by calling it a handling fee. Price gouging is unethical and it stinks!! And that's exactly what she did.

Furthermore, I disagree with you assertion that she has the right to charge for her time. I'm not bidding on her time. I'm bidding on her item. Besides, all she did was to litteraly throw the items in the box, stuff a few dirty, oily newspapers around them, tape the lid shut with two feet of tape, and walk one block to the post office -- total time: ten minutes. For $18.00??? That's damn good wages if you ask me

[This message was edited by berean01 on December 16, 2002 at 10:18 PM.

[This message was edited by berean01 on December 16, 2002 at 10:20 PM.]

Although the seller did quote you $25 up front, a handling fee of $18 is ridiculous and I would definitely demand a refund like you did. If the seller refuses, just leave a neutral and state your reason why. When buyers see this retard's handling fees then they will steer way clear and this moron will realize that his/her business practices won't cut it. Do us all a favor, suck it up, get some balls, and tell the truth. You did the right thing by contacting the seller before jumping to conclusions, but we all know that this seller likes pocketing "handling" fees now. A handling fee of $1 is fine or for heavy items can possibly be stretched to $3 if the packing is bomb proof and mailed out within 48 hrs.

I accidentally overcharged a buyer of mine by $2.50 recently and issued an immediate refund via paypal. I was upset b/c he didn't contact me first before leaving feedback. I also was a little upset since he requested that I send the package to an unconfirmed paypal address which is a big problem since I wasn't protected if somethig happened. I even shipped it out the same day! Ungrateful, but anyways...

I've dished out a ton of negatives and still have zero negatives on my record. You can check it out for yourself. Here's my ID:

http://cgi2.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback&userid=speedjunkies

[This message was edited by Rickdogg on December 16, 2002 at 11:20 PM.]

Thanks, everyone for your thoughts and opinions. They were all very helpful.

Rickdog, I took your advice and grabbed for the ankles. lol However, I felt that this issue was serious enough that I decided to leave Negative feedback. Surprisingly, I feel good about it. I have a clear conscience and I'm glad I did it!!

If it had been ten dollars or less, I would have been more inclined to leave neutral feedback or just ignore it altogether. However, this was almost $20. Had she been more understanding and empathetic, I may have been more inclined to downgrade it to Netural. However, her greedy attitude surfaced and she resorted to calling me all kinds of names like "disturbed" and "harrasing" and "slanderous". It's amazing how a little ill-gotten money can distort one's view of others.

At any rate, if anyone wants to see how I handled it, please check out http://cgi2.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback&userid=lorifoy

I am still interested in yours and others' opinions. Please let me know what you think. Thanks.

[This message was edited by berean01 on December 17, 2002 at 08:26 AM.]

I agree that the $18 charged is excessive, given the fact that there was no real packing effort done. Based on THAT ALONE, I would leave negative feedback, so that other members might be warned. The fact that positive feedback was already left would be a further advantage, given the fact that many sellers won't leave any feedback until they have already received theirs.

BUT, BUT, BUT, as has been pointed out, the auction listing DID list the $25 shipping charge, which you agreed to pay. Granted, the packing was nowhere near what should have been done, but that is after the fact. Since you did agree to pay the fee in advance and the items did arrive intact, then I would leave neutral feedback and take it on the chin, resolving that next time I saw such a high shipping charge and/or knew that the items should be packaged in a special way, I would confirm these details prior to bidding.

In fact, I do this. I sometimes notice that a comic book or magazine will have $1.97 media mail shipping from one seller, but another lists $5.00 for shipping. When asked, the latter says the 9x12 manila envelope is a buck and the magazine comes wrapped and with a cardboard sheet to keep it flat. With that extra weight and first class shipping, $5 is not unreasonable. At least the second seller wants to be sure the item arrives undamaged. But the point is that I ask in advance when I see high shipping rates posted, or none at all. If the seller does not respond to my inquiry prior to the end of the auction, then I take that as a warning sign and do not bid, no matter HOW MUCH I want the item.

Thanks for your comments!! You make some good points.

I have to admit that I had mixed feelings about this, as well. You are absolutely right in that I did agree to pay the $25 (which I did). However, like I said in one of my earlier entries, I didn't receive anywhere near $25's-worth of packing and handling. And that, to me, is just plain deceptive. It's price gouging.

Your point is well taken that it might have been more advantageous to ask in advance. However, my past experience with that has not yielded positive results. Plus, a lot of the time, I don't find these types of auctions until it's really too late to engage in any conversation with the seller.

And, as I had said earlier, I knew that package would be heavier and would probably need about $25 worth of shipping and handling, so it didn't seem all that unreasonble -- albeit still a bit much. Had I known that I could have gotten by with less than Seven Dollars, I would certainly have made a more concerted effort to try to negotiate that down. However, in hind sight, I know that would have been a fruitless effort.

But the main reason I decided to leave negative feedback, more than anything, was due to the arrogant and deceptive attitude of the seller and the fact that she had no moral problem with the excessive overcharge on this. If she had been gracious and kind to me in her emails, then I would definitly not have left negative feedback. But since she showed me her true colors, I felt that the Ebay Community had a right to know what kind of a person she really was.

Well, berean01, what do you suppose the EBay Community's opinion of *you* is? Negative feedback can cut both ways.

Looks like you had already left negative feedback before Steve's or Rickdogg's first posts.


"A basic principle of education is that you cannot learn anything from someone with whom you agree." - from James Gunn's "Kampus".

yup he/she sure did. Kind of overboard IMO, but it was his/her transaction.

Thanks for all you replies and opinions. Even tho I have already chosen to leave the Negative feedback, I still value your opinions. Hopefully this will be the last time I ever have to do that, but you never know -- so your advice will be helpful for the next time, if there ever is one.

Steve:

You are correct in that feedback, whether positive or otherwise, does go both ways. I didn't do this just for myself, but for the whole Ebay community. But I can't live in fear of what others think of me. In fact, I'm confident that I have nothing to fear. All they have to do is to look at my profile history to form an opinion. I think it speaks for itself.

Rick:

I really liked the quote you left. Very true! Thanks

Rickdogg:

I'm a 'he'. (he he)
Believe me, if you saw some of the nasty emails she sent my way, you would have left negative too.


Great thoughts, everyone. Keep 'em coming!

VAL


"Sometimes people say they want advice, but what they really want is someone to agree with them." - Rick

Berean01, let us know if the seller posts a response to your negative feedback. She's entitled to do that, you know.

Rick, thanks again for the quote. Another good one. Hopefully, I have been looking for more than just mutual agreement. While confirmation is great, it's also beneficial to see the other side, as well, especially when you can't quite see it, yourself. And that's really what I was after. I was looking for legitimate reasons to NOT do it, but so far, the overwhelming majority of comments supported my position.

Steve, as far as retaliation goes, she had already left positive feedback for me. She can't retract it (although, I'm quite sure she wishes she could, now), and she can not post further feedback, so all my bases are covered, there. But that's really a moot point because I would have still left the negative feedback anyway, whether or not she had done so. :

She cannot post further feedback to your record, but she can post a rebuttal of your negative feedback on her own feedback record. That is where you should look.

A suggestion: One should consider the potential consequences of leaving their user ID on a forum when they also leave the user ID of someone they are slamming. There are some people that relish getting others upset, and would enjoy telling this seller what has appeared about them on this forum. eBay feedback is one thing; what has happen here has taken it to a higher level (although AS might get a new member). If the seller was nasty because of the feedback, what would be their response if they knew about this? You can see it happen on eBay's forum. It's not fun. Also, I wonder how much the Andale Counter on this auction has gone up since the above links were posted.

The seller could also leave a "follow-up" on the feedback they left the buyer. Not likely, but they could.


On a visit to England, Gandhi was asked, "What do you think of Western Civilization?" He thought for a moment and replied, "That would be a good idea."

When this happened to me, I left neutral feedback. I was mad at myself because I didn't notice the high charge when I bid. I left the comment, "Item arrived promptly and as described. Extremely high shipping/handling charges. Buyer be aware."

I felt that I had given both an honest comment on the service and an alert to other buyers.