Sellers still overcharging for shipping........

[westernstargifts]

.....and getting away with it.

Back up a couple of years to when eBay pulled hundreds of sellers' listings including my biggest competitor. They were the largest jewelry seller on eBay and had 3 stores at that time. They grossly overcharged for shipping, handling and insurance, had hundreds of negatives and.....they are back, and have been for quite some time by the looks of things. Their pics look fabulous but I am sure the quality is just as pathetic as it was before....I still have some of their product that I couldn't & wouldn't "give away".

I posted at the time something to the effect that the forest had fallen around me and I was all alone. That was the post from which another seller decided to sell the same products and copy me...I am sure you all remember that scenario.

Anyway, they are back selling their "white copper" rings. I ship rings for free. They ship from the U.S. to Canada at $5.95 to $6.00 plus $1.95 to $2.00 per additional item. And guess what!!.....Their DSR's aren't all that bad.

Amazingly buyers will still ding good sellers' DSR's for shipping charge when they give....FREE SHIPPING....but will reward the bad sellers by giving them great DSR's because they bought the item for a very low price.

May all of those buyers get what they paid for!!!!! And may eBay get the kind of sellers they are asking for with all of these ridiculous new rules.

[surplusdealdude]

You sound like you're having a bad day.

Perhaps, when you think it over, you'll decide to self-report this thread.

In the meantime - relax, enjoy, it's the weekend and life is good. -------------------------------------------------------------------

It is our similarities that make us all human - it is our differences that make us all interesting

[westernstargifts]

Actually I am having a most excellent day.:-)

Why would I self-report? There has been lots of discussion regarding sellers overcharging for shipping and handling in the past. To my knowledge, that is what this board is for and is not contrary to eBay policy.

The seller whose listings were pulled is located in the U.S., not Canada, and has nothing to do with anyone who sells the same product which I sell. I was in no way putting anyone down but making reference to a past issue simply to remind people of the time frame.

Granted, I do find that the DSR thing is frustrating. I have still received my 20% discount on all but about 2 months when DSR's dipped slightly at the time when they would be calculating it. It just seems that no matter how good or lousy of service that you give your customers, the results are the same and are completely subject to the whim of the buyers.

Have a great weekend.

Judy

[westernstargifts]

Just as an example....the seller whose listings were pulled charged $68 to ship a package that cost them $1.15 to send. I know because I was stupid enough, at the time, to purchase from them.

[surplusdealdude]

I don't know, it just sounds like you're down-in-the-mouth.

As far as the DSR's are concerned, I look at the discount as a bonus gift. If I get it, fine - if I don't, that's fine too. Not worth worrying about.

I don't bother with competitors - by the time the copycats catch up to me, I'm another mile ahead of them. -------------------------------------------------------------------

It is our similarities that make us all human - it is our differences that make us all interesting

[westernstargifts]

No, I was just a little ticked because that seller is back again, not because they are competition but because they were terrible people to deal with.

Communication was extremely poor. They insisted that you buy insurance for products that sold for next to nothing. When I asked who their insurer was, they wouldn't give me an answer but told me they could remove the insurance. They did so and before too long opened an UID. I contacted them to ask them why they did so because I had paid. They kept sending me emails telling me to "contact Ben". I told them that I had paid, it was their problem and Ben could contact me. They wouldn't tell me why they had opened the dispute. I finally filed an INR against them and that finally got me an answer from Ben.

The reason they had filed the dispute was because I hadn't paid for the insurance which THEY had removed. Then I received the merchandise which was absolute crap. It was dollar store merchandise with million dollar photos!

After all of their listings were pulled I still received newsletters from them. When I finally unsubscribed they sent me back an email saying "Na na". How likely do you think it would be that I would ever deal with them again with that mentality?

This same outfit, who sent out religious tracts with their packages, also lied in their listings telling people to email them directly because eBay limited the number of messages they could respond to in a day through eBay messaging. I have no objection to people sending out tracts, but when they do they are obliged to live up to the standards they are promoting.

The whole thing just points to the uselessness of DSR's. They are supposed to weed out bad sellers and I don't think PS discounts are meant to be their sole purpose. Obviously it isn't weeding them out when they can still charge excessive shipping. Maybe they have even received their PS discounts for giving such fabulous service!!

[surplusdealdude]

Well, with the record these guys have, I doubt if they're going to survive long this time.

This type of lunatic generally removes themselves from the business in short order by alienating their customer base.

At least this time, they can't use the insurance scam ( although I wouldn't be surprised if they don't try it through emails to the buyers after the sale, which will get them reported).

And, of course, they can't have people email them directly anymore - that's also a violation. You can get their listings pulled if they show an email address (that started a couple of days ago)

So I don't think they're going to be here for long. -------------------------------------------------------------------

It is our similarities that make us all human - it is our differences that make us all interesting

[westernstargifts]

It will certainly be interesting to see what happens. One of the stores has sold over 5000 items in the past 30 days alone and has DSR's of 4.9, 4.9, 4.9 & 4.8 in spite of high shipping charges.

When they make that much on shipping they don't have to be concerned about receiving a discount.

[surplusdealdude]

Well, perhaps that's a viable selling method in some niches - charge little for the products and a lot for shipping.

I wouldn't want to try it, that's for sure. -------------------------------------------------------------------

It is our similarities that make us all human - it is our differences that make us all interesting