My 2 Biggest Ebay Pet Peeves

[komics4sale]

Just had to post this.

Hopefully some sellers will read & make life easier for bidders.

(1)  Why do so many sellers not mention if they offer combine shipping in their auctions or not.

I don't mind if combined shipping is not offered, as I just factor this into my bidding.

However, this can be very important when items are relatively low priced & the shipping often equals or exceeds the items price.

I see this often in stamp auctions where the shipping cost component is such a large percentage of the actual cost.

I have sent hundreds of emails asking if sellers offer combined shipping & they always answer that it is offered.

(2)  Global Shipping Program (enough said about this)

I would hate to be an ebay rep that has to answer GSP complaints every single day.

[femmefan1946]

1) Although I can see no reason why sellers couldn't mention that they will combine and discount shipping, it may have something to do with the shopping cart which doesn't work very well. 

Or if a seller lists on multiple sites, she cannot combine purchases automatically.

2) Especially since most of the complaints are based on a thorough misunderstanding of Canadian import policy.

[komics4sale]

Thanks for your viewpoint on the combined shipping or no combined shipping for some sellers.

I don't think it has much to do with the shopping cart or the listing on multiple sites.

If combined shipping is offered, sellers should at least mention it somewhere in their listings.

I always mention it as it saves me a lot of time not having to answer questions from prospective buyers if I offer combined shipping or not.

Even if sellers list on multiple sites, they can still do the revised invoices making use of their combined shipping rules.

ie.  $x.xx  for the most expensive shipping lot & $x.xx for each additional extra similar lots.

If payment is from different sites, you can always revise 1 or both invoices so the end result is the same (that is, the buyer pays according to the stated combined shipping rules).

On a slightly different shipping question, just a couple of days ago, I asked a seller about their shipping....

They listed an item as $2.50 shipping within Canada , but reserve the right to increase the shipping if the package warrants the higher cost.

I asked them how they would ship the item & even suggested the 2 ways they could do it:

(1) put items (stamps) into small envelopes & place into a larger envelope (<1/4" thick)  with a cardboard backing. (cost about $1.80)

(2) put the items (stamps) into a small box (postage about $15)

The seller replied saying they will ship in a bubble envelope & it will cost about $15.

Am I glad I asked about shipping in this case.

Plus...the used stamps on paper being sold were probably worth about $3.

[mater721]

"They listed an item as $2.50 shipping within Canada , but reserve the right to increase the shipping if the package warrants the higher cost."

This is just wrong.  They can't alter the terms of the posting after an item is bought.

I certainly would not buy anything from that seller.

And if someone did that to me without notice, you can bet they get negative feedback with 1 star on shipping.

[johnparrina]

 Biggest pet peeves are the high shipping rates and import duties from US sellers. Many items that i would normally place a bid on i will skip due to those factors. Also noticed that many Canadian sellers will put Us prices on their merchandise and shipping and that also deters me from bidding on those items.I try to find buyers that charge a reasonable rate for shipping and with no import duties. It takes a bit of work to find them but to me its well worth it because sometimes the shipping and duties will cost more than the item itself. Im a coin collector and sometimes will become extremely disappointed when i see an item i want but due to the high shipping and duties i will have to pass on it. It just seems that some sellers over charge to ship very small items.

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@komics4sale wrote:

Just had to post this.

Hopefully some sellers will read & make life easier for bidders.

(1)  Why do so many sellers not mention if they offer combine shipping in their auctions or not.

I don't mind if combined shipping is not offered, as I just factor this into my bidding.

However, this can be very important when items are relatively low priced & the shipping often equals or exceeds the items price.

I see this often in stamp auctions where the shipping cost component is such a large percentage of the actual cost.

I have sent hundreds of emails asking if sellers offer combined shipping & they always answer that it is offered.

(2)  Global Shipping Program (enough said about this)

I would hate to be an ebay rep that has to answer GSP complaints every single day.

---

[komics4sale]

You've just reminded me of my 3rd ebay pet peeve:

(3)  Canadian sellers that list in US$ thinking that they are getting 26% more for their goods.

There are a few sellers that do benefit sometimes doing their listing in US funds.    Likely only when they are selling to people who don't realize how much they will be paying after winning an auction or if their primary sales target is to the USA.

Any time I bid on a US$ item, I always have to take out the calculator.  I add my bid price to the shipping cost & then add another 27% to arrive at my actual cost in Canadian dollars.  It was as high as 29% a few weeks ago.

A very annoying chore, but a necessary one to do.  Sometimes made even more complicated by adding Provincial taxes also....although this is not the fault of the seller.

Generally, the item will magically cost 2.5% more to the seller as Paypal takes 2.5% to do the exchange.

Later when the seller withdraws the US$ funds back into his Canadian bank, Paypal charges another 2.5% to the seller do the withdrawal.

To negate the Paypal exchange rate service charge, I tried opening up a US$ bank account in Canada but found out the Paypal does not transfer US$ to Canadian banks.   Paypal withdrawals are only free if your bank in in the US.

This unnecessary calculation ironically is often between a buyer & seller both living in Canada.

And how many times have you come across a seller who is in Canada, but does not ship to Canada unless further steps are taken.

[johnparrina]

I almost forgot one more thing that bugs the hell out of me. Those sellers that will not combine shipping and charge full shipping for each item or offer just a small discount on each one. Some even go as far as to ship all items in one package and still charge full shipping on each item. Then there are those that ship a very small item in a huge box. Another one i just remembered is the local seller that does not offer local pickup of items.

[maggiebvintage2010]

re: local pick-up: - NOT A GOOD IDEA

I would never offer local pick-up.  Aside from the inconvenience of agreeing on a suitable time, the no-shows and the people who want to "chat", there is the danger factor.  How do I know a buyer would not represent a threat to myself or my family?  Anything from assault, **bleep** or theft to murder and mayhem is possible - and has already happened.  Ask yourself, would you like to welcome a buyer into your home to pick up something you sold on line?  What if a very large, well-muscled man showed up at your door?  What if he was driving a very old vehicle, was poorly dressed, and looked as if he had recently been in a fight?  When he began arguing about the quality of the item, and used obscene language, would you feel comfortable with the transaction?  Would you want your teenage daughter to answer the door to him?  What if there were 2 of them?

Online venues like Kijiji and Craigslist have advised that any transactions should be completed in a public place without revealing your address, and that you should be accompanied by a relative or friend.  Why do you suppose that is? Because while the overwhelming majority of on line sales are between 2 honest people, there are scammers, defrauders and people who have committed violent crimes.  In some U.S. states, a rash of violent crimes associated with online sites prompted police to advise buyers and sellers to meet in police station parking lots to conduct their transactions.

[reallynicestamps]

Also noticed that many Canadian sellers will put Us prices on their merchandise and shipping and that also deters me from bidding on those items.

The issue of selling in US funds is complicated.

Full disclosure, almost all of my lots are sold in US funds and have been since I started selling here in 2001.

Canada is a very small part of Canadian sellers' market. In my own experience, only on this ID do I sell more than 5% of my products to Canadians. And that's basically because- Demographics. I sell Canadian stamps to collectors.

On all my other IDs, US sales run around 90% of sales.

And our dear friends to the south, well, bless them, they just don't understand anything but the US dollar. Meanwhile, Canadians and the rest of the world are quite capable of making the change.

It goes with being the world's largest economy.

To negate the Paypal exchange rate service charge, I tried opening up a US$ bank account in Canada but found out the Paypal does not transfer US$ to Canadian banks.   Paypal withdrawals are only free if your bank in in the US.

A Canadian bank can have accounts in US dollars (or in euros, or yen, or pounds, whatever) but when Paypal (and the US government) talk about a US dollar account they mean an account in a US bank.

There are two Canadian banks that are licensed in the USA. RBC owns Centaura and TDCanadaTrust owns TDNorth.

We have a Centaura account, but more for our public auction business. I doubt the costs would be worthwhile for most eBay sellers. Opening these accounts is sometimes easy and sometimes difficult. I have no idea if this depends on the bank branch, current US government policy, or what.

And yeah, it isn't Paypal that requires this. It's part of US regulations against racketeering.