20 replies to this topic

[ianoid]

I can't tell if I'm the jerk or the seller is the jerk. They wanted $28 to ship 10 boxed (not heavy) C64 games in the US. I use Media Mail as a seller, so that would cost like $7 (if it weighs around 8 lbs). So I wrote:

"Hi,

Shipping seems quite expensive. If you have an unmarked box, you could use Media Mail in the US, which should cost less than $10. Or at least Parcel Post which should be less than $15. If you can work with me on shipping, I'll be happy to bid.

Thanks!"

And they wrote back:

"Let's see shipping also is my time boxing the product paying for the packing and box and and the gas to drive to the post office. If ten dollars plus shipping is to high for you perhaps you should look else where"


Seller has 3 feedback. I don't get that $10 number, it's not totally clear what they mean. Seems like a bad attitude as a seller. "I should charge $0.04 for every key I have to hit to type this message to you."

[ACrystal2011]

Yeah, I think alot of ebay sellers charge to much for shipping. $10 for shipping is good but then add $18 for gas??? How far away is his post office???

[jtoubeaux]

That seller is definitely the jerk. I would question the price, too. I have passed on many lots (C64, for some reason) that were reasonably priced but the shipping was outrageous. The new breed of ebay seller (not defined by age, mind you) is a direct result of the new breed of ebay. They are both obnoxous, self righteous and indignant. They can do no wrong, their policies and procedures are "fair" and you can just go fly a kite if you don't like it. Some of the sellers will even advertise this (in not so many words) in their "policies". I'm not sure who these people are, but they seem to be growing in numbers on ebay. Unfortunately, eBay as a company encourages this because of their own policies and procedures. They do not protect good sellers anymore and bad sellers/buyers seem to flourish. Anyway, you are definitely in the right. No matter what the item is, it's never worth it to buy from that kind of seller (Don't encourage them!)

- Jon

ps - I love your .04 per keystroke. Brilliant.

pps - maybe they only have a rating of '3' and that horrible stink-pot attitude because they had to dump their prior seller identity and start a new one. Hmmm ???

[jetset]

Anytime a seller tries that "shipping costs include the gas to the post office" or other blatant non-shipping related costs they are the jerk or, more accurately the douchebag.
Best thing to do is report them for the violation, and find an honest seller who is offering the item you want. As was said it's not worth buying from such a scumbag.

It's a shame this community isn't more committed to protecting their own. We should have a thread dedicated to reporting violations such as this, But the "it does no good" attitude is the way of the world anymore and it's easier to look the other way than take action. Sad.

[bradjewell]

I'm not sticking up for this cat, cause he does seem like a peckerhead, however, I will say this...
A lot of post offices will not let you ship video games via media mail.. I know some will, but it says in the rules you can't and many, like mine, won't let you ship them that way
if they catch you.
Also, for those unaware, Ebay, while telling you not to add ebay feels in your pricing, charges you a final value fee on your shipping fee.
This is one of the final straws that might get me to just stop selling there altogether. It's getting really rediculous.

Most auctions, if the total cost is too high, I just don't purchase. That's the same way I treat standard vendors out in the world. I just look at the total cost of the item I want.

[ACrystal2011]

I agree with you Brad I add cost plus shipping to see if its worth it to me

[jetset]

bradjewell, on Sun Jan 15, 2012 11:51 AM, said:

Also, for those unaware, Ebay, while telling you not to add ebay feels in your pricing, charges you a final value fee on your shipping fee.

It's not (high) enough if sellers like this guy are still using it to trick people to pad their profits. Just another damned if you do damned if you don't move by ebay. They put in a policy to stop/deter violations of their tos and wind up looking like the bad guy.

[jtoubeaux]

bradjewell, on Sun Jan 15, 2012 11:51 AM, said:

I'm not sticking up for this cat, cause he does seem like a peckerhead, however, I will say this...
A lot of post offices will not let you ship video games via media mail.. I know some will, but it says in the rules you can't and many, like mine, won't let you ship them that way
if they catch you.
Also, for those unaware, Ebay, while telling you not to add ebay feels in your pricing, charges you a final value fee on your shipping fee.
This is one of the final straws that might get me to just stop selling there altogether. It's getting really rediculous.

Most auctions, if the total cost is too high, I just don't purchase. That's the same way I treat standard vendors out in the world. I just look at the total cost of the item I want.

Agreed. It's a hit and miss for the media mail allowables. Ebay was once a fabulous place to buy and sell. Not anymore. The added fee for shipping was a low blow (I think they did that because people were selling $100 items for $1 and $99 shipping - thus avoiding ebay's fee gouging). Anyway, I think the problem with this person is that #1 - the bids for the items may end up at a reasonable value without the shipping, but the severe overcharge for the shipping puts this one over the 'a good deal' mark. Also #2 - they are either unintelligent about shipping, trying to make a profit on shipping, or just plain rude - or maybe all three!

[Mirage]

With Media Mail, it's not just the post office that you send it from that you need to worry about, but also the receiving/delivering post office. Once it's already been accepted, if they know it's not an allowed item, or if they inspect it, they'll charge the person getting the delivery. Some dolt once sent me a bike wheel via Media Mail, that was very obviously a bicycle wheel, and I had to pay I think it was about $10 extra for it. You might get away with it, but it's not a good idea, and you technically can't do it. No video games whatsoever on any form of media. If you ship stuff to people that way, you could very well really p1ss someone off who receives it and has to pay extra than what they had been told or charged. This problem has gotten way worse now that people can print their own postage at home, because the idiots just see it as a way of getting cheaper postage on whatever they send, then their buyer gets hit with the extra charge. And yes, it matters a lot if something is sold as "$x.xx shipped" (i.e. free shipping).

Just sayin'. But yeah, in this case, the other guy is definitely the jerk, not you. $28 to ship 10 boxed games? That's ridiculous.

Edited by Mirage, Sun Jan 15, 2012 2:56 PM.

[bradjewell]

jetset, on Sun Jan 15, 2012 12:38 PM, said:

bradjewell, on Sun Jan 15, 2012 11:51 AM, said:

Also, for those unaware, Ebay, while telling you not to add ebay feels in your pricing, charges you a final value fee on your shipping fee.

It's not (high) enough if sellers like this guy are still using it to trick people to pad their profits. Just another damned if you do damned if you don't move by ebay. They put in a policy to stop/deter violations of their tos and wind up looking like the bad guy.

Any fee on shipping charges is too high, especially for an honest seller.

The only way to make people charge less, is to not buy off of them, and maybe, they will lower prices. Maybe.

As long as people purchase off people who charge more, they will charge more. Evidentally, there are some people who will buy from them if they sell.
not matter what.

As for ebay, it's a smack in the face for seller when you say you can't charge for our fees, but we will hit you up with them. It would be like state sales tax being collected, but not the sellers not being allowed to charge it to the customer.

Edited by bradjewell, Sun Jan 15, 2012 3:16 PM.

[jetset]

bradjewell, on Sun Jan 15, 2012 3:16 PM, said:

jetset, on Sun Jan 15, 2012 12:38 PM, said:

bradjewell, on Sun Jan 15, 2012 11:51 AM, said:

Also, for those unaware, Ebay, while telling you not to add ebay feels in your pricing, charges you a final value fee on your shipping fee.

It's not (high) enough if sellers like this guy are still using it to trick people to pad their profits. Just another damned if you do damned if you don't move by ebay. They put in a policy to stop/deter violations of their tos and wind up looking like the bad guy.

Any fee on shipping charges is too high, especially for an honest seller.

The only way to make people charge less, is to not buy off of them, and maybe, they will lower prices. Maybe.

As long as people purchase off people who charge more, they will charge more. Evidentally, there are some people who will buy from them if they sell.
not matter what.

As for ebay, it's a smack in the face for seller when you say you can't charge for our fees, but we will hit you up with them. It would be like state sales tax being collected, but not the sellers not being allowed to charge it to the customer.

Yes I agree. It's truly sad for the honest sellers. And the fault does ultimately lie with ebay, since they have the power to do something about it. I don't see how they can't put in a better system to stop the shipping theft. I'm not saying it'll be easy, but they were able to fix the feedback system, so it's just a matter of effort and thought on their part.

[Zwackery]

The USPS is very explicit about what can and can't be sent via Media Mail, and has since revised the restrictions to clear up the old grey area regarding video games (the old language seemed to disallow cartridges but allow for disk games and other non-cart media).

Taken from https://www.usps.com...media-mail.htm:

• The material sent must be educational media. It can’t contain advertising, video games, computer drives, or digital drives of any kind.
  
• Media Mail can be examined by postal staff to determine if the right price has been paid. If the package is wrapped in a way that makes it impossible to examine, it will be charged the First-Class rate.

So, that's pretty much the end of all video games going via MM. Yes, it is up to each PO to enforce the rules, and this appears to be rather haphazard, but given the way that the USPS has been losing money, I expect tighter adherence to the rules. In my own personal experience, my previous town did not care about video games going MM, but where I live currently, every single MM package is being inspected.

[kheffington]

If the postage is out of line, just pass on the items. But don't blame someone for not shipping media mail if the item doesn't qualify for media mail.

As has been pointed out, Video games can not be sent Media Mail. Doing so rips off the post office and risks getting charged postage at the receiving end. You should not be asking someone to mail items via media mail that are prohibited from being mailed by media mail.

If the post office opens the package and hits it with additional postage when you receive it are you going to accept it and pay the postage or reject it? Surely you would not be happy to receive a package with several dollars postage due.

[Chris Leach]

IMHO That seller has every right to charge as much as they want to for shipping within Ebay guidelines.....but you should just pass this seller by and give them an add to block finger! They are clearly out to screw people and you dont need what they have for sale.....

You can prob find it with free shipping elsewhere....

[save2600]

On the subject of what the post office does with Media Mail... I just had an Amiga productivity package sent back me with an explanation that it does not qualify for the media mail rate. What a bunch of BS. No games were sent. Only thing I figure is that there was some old/obsolete promotional material included from the early 90's. Point being.. they didn't actually deliver it to my customer. Instead, they chose to send it back to me, so I lost the cost of original shipping and then had to resend at double the original shipping cost. <sigh>

[boxpressed]

I've had to pay postage due on two parcels sent to me via Media Mail because the seller was not shipping media but consoles! One of the parcels was opened and inspected, then resealed. If you've got a problem with customs inspecting your sealed or minty games from overseas, you should be very clear that you do not want the items shipped domestically via Media Mail.

Edited by boxpressed, Mon Jan 16, 2012 2:28 PM.

[jetset]

Just going by the forums on ebay (and personal preference) I don't think most buyers have a problem with paying a little extra for shipping if they are paying the actual cost of shipping (yes including the loose change for the box and ink to write their name/address on the front of it). I don't demand media mail shipping, but if that's what the seller uses that's what I expect to pay for. If I pay $6 bucks for a single cart and instructions (for example) my assumption is that it's coming priority, not media mail, or even first class with a $3 and change stamp.

[Mirage]

save2600, on Mon Jan 16, 2012 12:51 PM, said:

On the subject of what the post office does with Media Mail... I just had an Amiga productivity package sent back me with an explanation that it does not qualify for the media mail rate. What a bunch of BS. No games were sent. Only thing I figure is that there was some old/obsolete promotional material included from the early 90's. Point being.. they didn't actually deliver it to my customer. Instead, they chose to send it back to me, so I lost the cost of original shipping and then had to resend at double the original shipping cost. <sigh>

The way the rules were recently re-written, if they're going to follow the rules to the letter, then if it's not specifically "educational", they can reject it. Or it could have been due to advertising contained, who knows.

Media Mail was originally intended for libraries and schools, from what I understand, and it seems to be going back to that purpose primarily. At the same time as schools and libraries are going to more digital (non-physical) media!

[AtariLeaf]

The problem I have in Canada is actual shipping costs ARE high. To send a CIB Genesis game, even in a bubblope, costs $10+ for airmail. This is why I don't bother trying to sell certain things online anymore. No one wants to pay the shipping costs and I don't blame them, especially if the game is worth less than the cost of shipping.

[IntellivisionDude]

AtariLeaf, on Mon Jan 16, 2012 7:01 PM, said:

The problem I have in Canada is actual shipping costs ARE high. To send a CIB Genesis game, even in a bubblope, costs $10+ for airmail. This is why I don't bother trying to sell certain things online anymore. No one wants to pay the shipping costs and I don't blame them, especially if the game is worth less than the cost of shipping.

And what i find interesting is, i live in Tennessee and it's cheaper for me to ship to Canada then California. It's cheaper for me to ship to Vancouver Canada then it does to ship to Seattle Washington just below it.

And that is anything up to 4 lbs. Anything over 4 is cheaper to ship in the US.

[AtariLeaf]

IntellivisionDude, on Mon Jan 16, 2012 7:28 PM, said:

AtariLeaf, on Mon Jan 16, 2012 7:01 PM, said:

The problem I have in Canada is actual shipping costs ARE high. To send a CIB Genesis game, even in a bubblope, costs $10+ for airmail. This is why I don't bother trying to sell certain things online anymore. No one wants to pay the shipping costs and I don't blame them, especially if the game is worth less than the cost of shipping.

And what i find interesting is, i live in Tennessee and it's cheaper for me to ship to Canada then California. It's cheaper for me to ship to Vancouver Canada then it does to ship to Seattle Washington just below it.

And that is anything up to 4 lbs. Anything over 4 is cheaper to ship in the US.

Well a great example is a trade I did with Thomas3120 last year. He sent me a Tandy Coco game and it cost $2 and change. I sent him a coco game back, using the exact same box he sent his game in and it cost me almost $10. Unbelievable.

Edited by AtariLeaf, Mon Jan 16, 2012 7:57 PM.