Excessive handing fees after auction. eBay refuses to assist.

[black_antler]

I purchased a 12 x 6" tile in a frame from seller for $4.95. She is a new seller and since my auction has sold two items. Shipping is $37.65. She has arbitrarily added $20 handling to the cost. I asked her what it was for and she stated it was her standard fee. This is clearly excessive. 

A 35 minute call to eBay failed to resolve anything. A supervisor failed to call when she said she would. eBay basically told me she could charge any fee she wanted. Nothing was listed on the the auction page for handling fees. I have no recourse other than to pay the fee of cancel the auction. No amount discussion would sway the seller. She basically told me to take a hike and then opened an unpaid case. 

Any thoughts on possible recourse? Thanks.

[mcrlmn]

Buyer pays the shipping costs stated in the listing, unless otherwise agreed between the buyer and seller.

[momcqueen]

If the Unpaid Items reminder is not met with payment, you will have a strike on your account which may or may not make buying difficult for you. If you do pay for the items and receive them in satisfactory order, I would have to say clear, calm and FACTUAL feedback is your best recourse. A seller can't be given a defect for shipping changes any longer but you can still leave feedback on your opinion of the transaction and its handling. 

Was the $20 handling fee indicated in the original listing? A seller isn't allowed to add fees to shipping costs. That being said, there's nothing but fear of reprisal to actually prevent them from doing so. 

Personally, as a buyer, I feel any handling fee above about $2 is excessive. As a seller, I don't charge anything for handling but use 'handling fee' to round-out the miscalculations by Canada Post on the calculated shipping amounts in my listings. Mine are straight postage or less. Did you know there is a bug on the mobile version of ebay.com (not the app or desktop) that lets you see the hidden handling fees? Unless it has been since fixed.

Oh, and the moderator will obscure your reference to the seller ID; we're not allowed to name names on the board.

Good luck as you carry forward. 

[femmefan1946]

Look at the auction again.

Look at the shipping cost.

Does she list a shipping fee specifically for Canada? If she does not, and you did not enquire, and you bid anyway,  eBay deems that you agreed to pay whatever the seller believes is appropriate.

BTW, the price of the item has nothing to do with the cost of shipping. A framed tile would be fairly heavy and also fragile, requiring careful packaging. And the cost of shipping from the US to Canada with Confirmation of Delivery starts around $20.

(Domestic shipping isn't much better. It costs over $15 to ship a 17x10x3 cm /250 gram paperback from Ottawa to Fort MacMurray.)

Is she using the Global Shipping Program? There was a note on the listing about this-- which in eBay's usual sloppy way does not appear when shopping on mobile devices.

With the GSP, applicable duty and tax plus an approximate $5 service fee are charged at the time of purchase. If there is no duty or tax, there is still a service fee for confirming that. Not a brilliantly conceived program, but it was not done for the service of buyers.

Did the $37.65 show up when you agreed to pay? Did you click on I Agree the second time? Then you agreed to pay.

If you don't pay the UID, you will get a Strike. Strikes make it more difficult to bid and buy on eBay since thousands of sellers have set up automatic Blocks against bidders with Strikes.

[femmefan1946]

And no, if you lose the UID you can't leave any feedback.

[black_antler]

Thanks for all of your detailed responses. The actual cost of shipping the item is $37.65. This is established. I don't have an issue with this. The handling fee is an additional $20. There was nothing in the ebay listing about handling fees. The seller stated that this is her standard handling fee for everything, domestic or international. This is with two transactions under her belt.

I understand that sellers have the option to add a handling fee but I have only had this happen once in 154 transactions. I that case I was charged $25 for shipping materials which amounted to used cardboard and old newspaper. That was clearly unscrupulous.

A little backstory. The seller had a Buy-it-Now of $20 for the tile. I tried it but could not because the settings didn't allow Canadian bidders. The seller tried to change the setting but didn't know if it would work. Recall she is new to eBay. I just arbitrarily tried a bid and it worked, cancelling the Buy-it-Now for $20. She offered to re-post the item as a Buy-it-Now for $20 but changed her mind. Whatever. My bid at $4.99 remained the only bid. I believe that she is sour she didn't get more so is dinging me $20.

I asked the eBay representative during our phone conversation what is limiting handling fees -- could this person charge me $50 for a handling fee above the cost of shipping? She more or less to me there is nothing to stop a seller from charging anything they want for a handling fee. As I understand it, eBay no longer has an option to flag a seller with high shipping fees. I tried on multiple occasions for a policy statement with no luck. Thus, in my opinion there is absolutely nothing a buyer can do to protect themselves from after-the-fact handling fees.

Why not voice my opinion with negative feedback? Won't she just turn around and give me negative feedback ruining a perfect record.

As an aside, I had one other UID and eBay voted in my favour -- same reason as above, excessive shipping and handling fees. It must depend on who you get on the phone.

[black_antler]

An interim update: I finally reached an eBay representative that more fully understood eBay policies. After examining all of the evidence they have ruled that the seller has breached eBay policy. Handling fees have to be expressly stated on the listing.

The representative is sending an email informing the seller of this. However, they cannot force the seller to remove the $20 handing fee, which is very unfortunate. This essentially means that the policy is toothless. The positive aspect is that if I choose not to pay for the item the strike will be removed from my record by eBay. More to follow in a day or two.

[black_antler]

Another update: The seller had the same tile listed on two more occasions for $100 Buy-it-Now. The bidding was up to $32.88 before she had to take it down because I purchased it.

[black_antler]

I forgot to add that the listings were up when the listing I won was running.

[black_antler]

Thanks for your advise, I appreciate it. As noted in my updated post, the seller did not list any Handling Fees. eBay has ruled in my favour but unfortunately can't force her to remove the $20 handling fee after the fact. They have sent an email but I won't hold me breath. The Unpaid Item strike will be removed by eBay should I not choose to pay.

[momcqueen]

It's good that you persevered in getting an eBay Customer Service who understood your point. You are right, sometimes it depends on precisely who you are talking to. This also tends to depend on what time of the day and when in the week that you call. Outside our normal business day in North America, the calls are routed to different call centres around the world. Literally, around the world.

As an aside, sellers are only allowed to leave positive feedback for a buyer. While this is a sore point with some sellers at certain times, this change was implemented a number of years ago for the reasons you expressed: a buyer being afraid to leave true, negative feedback because a seller could do same in return. Furthermore, the feedback text must match the sentiment of that positive. The seller isn't allowed to leave 'positive' feedback for a buyer that says, 'Deadbeat buyer, harassed for 'lost' item in mail. Eyeroll. Yeah right!' because it would be removed on the buyer's request for violating feedback terms.

If you choose not to pay, you can't leave feedback and, as you now know, can certainly apply to have that Unpaid Item Strike removed. As to letting others know, I'm fairly certain your new, naive seller has now learned a thing or two. I highly doubt she will continue to make this mistake. You must be satisfied with that, I think. 

[mg152]

I'm in the us and it's showing $32.65 S&H to me. That's ridiculous! I'm glad you got it straightened out. I charge a handling fee to Canadian buyers because it's a little more work but mine varies between .50 & $1.00. I would & have waived that small amount if asked because I love Canadian buyers. They're friendly, polite & don't cause trouble.
Put this seller on a post it note on your computer so, you remember her.
BTW, her descriptions are terrible.