Oh no, here we go again. Brace yourself.

Do you expect the seller to lose money on these items.

All sellers who offer free shipping build the shipping cost into the sale of the item.

If the seller had not forgot to remove the tag you would have been happy with your purchase.

BTW,  did you have to pay a $8.50 handling fee and taxes on these earrings.

The only ones I see you bought were both over $20,00 so you should have be charged taxes and a handling fee by Customs.

Thanks, Pierre.  Excellent, helpful explanation.

there was a price sticker on them for $3.00 less than I paid.

As a seller of vintage paperbacks, most of my products are priced much lower than my asking price.

Your seller was sloppy in not removing the old tag, but it could be very old indeed. Some of my books have 35 cent or 50 cent prices printed on the covers.

But I didn't pay that for them (well, probably) and my buyers are sophisticated enough to know that these are ephemeral items that have to be grabbed when they are available, because they may not reappear for years.

Then there is arbitrage. There is a legendary US seller who peddles Secret deodorant on eBay.de (Germany) having learned that this is a cult product there. Her knowledge of German (and German culture) allows her to buy at drugstore retail and sell for a very tidy profit.

Is the entire price you paid reasonable? Everything else is blowing in the wind.

Just to add though......... for some very old items it's a BIG plus to see a price sticker for a dime ......... 3 cents.......or whatever.....

........like with comic books ........... that kind of thing.........

It only takes a little common sense to differentiate between the two types of items.

It was about 2004  and buyer bought a craft book for $7.00

Buyer left positive feedback.

Then she wrote a few days later... What was I doing selling a book for $7.00  when the cover price was $2.95?

My response... Book was published in 1979, and in 2004  that book would be priced at $14.95 or higher.  Making $7.00 a good price..

Would  one feel better is the tag price was $12  and the sale price was $6.00

I always remove any reference to the price I paid for a book.  No price tags ... no penciled prices...  nothing

I just cannot remember the last time  I paid retail price for a book....

Many buyers do not realize what it costs to go out and find the books sold on eBay.  I go out and make a circle of the city... cost  close to $10....   I find anywhere form 10 to 25 books each trip, resulting in a low cost per book

and then imagine someone going out looking for one specific book   and then not finding it  after 50 weeks....  That is a $500 search  with no results.

That is why  a book with a $50 original price  can sell for $195, why I can find a book at a  second hand sale for $4  and then sell it for $50 and more... because  I do sell books from about $12  right up to $150 and sometimes more....  That is business.

Seller left a $3 price tag on the purchased piece... should have been removed

.

Large corporations such as Walmart offer free shipping.... with the price not changing  from that found in a walk-in store.

They can do this  because ---

(1)  they do not sell everything with free shipping

(2)  Items with free shipping  come out of a warehouse.....  and he input cost out of a warehouse is much less than that out of a walk-in store.

(3) The cost of free shipping is carried by the total of all sales,  by WalMart

Large corporations do have to be careful how they apply the meaning of the two words... free shipping..

Yes, if the ones in Canada that have free shipping like futureshop did it by charging more for the itme then in their stores and calling it "free shipping' they would be in some trouble pretty quick.

Toby you may be overestimating the power of consumer protection to act. I notice frequent discrepencies on the retail shelves. As I worked in stores as a teen, I have somewhat of an eye for this sort of thing.

One day a store has a "sale", at a price higher than the regular price was a few weeks ago. This happens so often it isn't funny.

Not even going to mention the coast-to-coast daily miracles of the synchronized retail gas price ups and downs, as if magically controlled in some central office.

Of perhaps even more concern, the Harper Conservatives' recent decision to reduce food labelling inspection standards to (unrevealed) nil or less. (Interesting to compare various packages of seemingly similar products, say Asian noodles for example, some loaded with salt and fat - some with barely none, according to the label.)

So, I don't know if I would have a lot of faith in a big retailer "getting in trouble" over saying "free shipping'. Could happen, but hard to imagine there are actually inspectors out there checking this stuff or you would be hearing about fines every day.

dwnkei666 wrote:

Ebay just BLOCKED my bid to a previous seller because of there policy,ebay is trying too & has taken control over s/h,this"policy"has blocked me from using ebay at all,so S/H that ebay!CANADA!

Was probably the seller who blocked you.

Did you have a disagreement with him or leave bad feedback.

Maybe he is a US seller who has decided not to ship to Canada anymore.

I've only ever seen "Free Shipping" from one seller in Montreal and most sellers in Chine/Korea.  Never encountered one in the States.

Three statements... two from the Canadian code, and the third from False or Misleading Representations

(1) "Advertising" and "advertisement(s)" are defined as any message (the content of which is controlled directly or indirectly by the advertiser) expressed in any language and communicated in any medium (except those listed under Exclusions) to Canadians with the intent to influence their choice, opinion or behaviour.

(2) Advertisements must not contain inaccurate, deceptive or otherwise misleading claims, statements, illustrations or representations, either direct or implied, with regard to any identified or identifiable product(s) or service(s).

(3) Don't increase the price of a product or service to cover the cost of a free product or service.

The choice  of "free shipping"  is a seller's choice...

If a seller does not sell elsewhere with shipping stated, and

If that same seller lists all items with free shipping on eBay.

Then who pays the cost of shipping.

If the answer is the buyer... and price of the item includes the coast of shipping.

Then Free shipping is false advertising..

"...Then Free shipping is false advertising.."

You are reaching a conclusion based on assumptions.