Pet Peeve about Ebay shipping

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Posted By: <b>Rick McQuillan</b><p>Hi, I know that this has been talked about many times, but it happened again and it really burns me. I purchased an Elberfeld Washington Portrait on ebay. I was happy with the price, the shipping time, and the card was exactly what I expected. The sellers shipping instructions were "$10 shipping with insurance included". That's fine. I don't have any problem with ten bucks to ship this card - the insurance alone would cost $5.50 through the Postal Service. So I received the card, and the thin padded envelope has 41 cents postage. No insurance, no delivery confirmation, and 41 cents postage. <br /><br />I contacted the seller about the problem, but I haven't heard from him yet. Oh well, the card arrived safely, so that is the important thing, but the seller should have followed through with his promises for insurance.<br /><br />Take care!<br />Rick<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g9/buymycards/41.jpg"><br /><br />edited title to be more specific

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Posted By: <b>Frank Wakefield</b><p>Seller owes you $5.50, and is fortunate the card arrived.

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Posted By: <b>jay behrens</b><p>Your best recourse is see if he will refund some money and if not, drop a negative on him and make sure when you do the star part of the feedback that you give one star on the appropriate areas. Don't be afraid to get a negative. I've given over 50 in the 10 years I've been on eBay and only gotten 2 in taliation. As buyer, negs are no big deal, especially if you already have several hundred positives. <br /><br />The most important thing is that you leave the feedback so that future buyers are aware of what the seller is doing. If people don't leave appropriate feedback, then the system is a failure.<br /><br />Jay<br /><br />The richest person is not the one who has the most, but the one who needs the least.

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Posted By: <b>Tony Andrea</b><p>I agree with Jay. I to used to be reluctant about leaving a negative on a sellers feedback if I wasn't satisfied, <br />worried that he might retaliate out of spite. Now though, if they have it coming it gets left.<br />You owe it to the next person that deals with that seller to leave it if they do not respond and make it right.<br /><p>Tony<br />

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Posted By: <b>barrysloate</b><p>And what would have happened if the card got lost in transit? Would the shipper reimburse your cost in full? I highly doubt it.<br /><br />I think it is irresponsible to send an expensive card in the mail without fully insuring it.

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Posted By: <b>Eric B</b><p>Are you sure it wasn't self-insured? In other words, if it didn't arrive you would be reimbursed.

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Posted By: <b>leon</b><p>I self insure and have given a few refunds....but I have almost 1300 perfect feedback so it works...also, I generally charge under $5 for delivery....

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Posted By: <b>Chris</b><p>Ebay rules prohibit self insuring as well as charging more than actual insurance rates. Just for everyone's information.

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Posted By: <b>Matt</b><p>Why would they prohibit self insuring; all the self insured auctions I've seen are at no additional cost to the buyer; so why would ebay mind if the seller offers to add value for no cost to he buyer?

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Posted By: <b>Eric B</b><p>Thanks Chris! I did not know that. Here are the link and sentences about insurance.<br /><br /><a href="http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-shipping.html" target="_new" rel="nofollow">http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-shipping.html</a><br /><br />Insurance: Sellers offering insurance may only charge the actual fee for insurance. No additional amount may be added, such as “self-insurance”. Sellers who do not use a licensed 3rd party insurance company may not require buyers to purchase insurance. This is a violation of state law.

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Posted By: <b>Matt</b><p>Oh good - so there's no problem with self insuring; just an issue with charging for self insuring. That makes more sense.

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Posted By: <b>leon</b><p>I never charge for any self insurance. As a matter of fact if I were to buy each and every insurance, the shipping costs I would have to charge would be much higher. I just eat the fees myself and cross my fingers we have honest buyers....regards

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Posted By: <b>Jimmy</b><p>My policy is that I include insurance and tracking for items 50.00 dollars or more for free - that way it covers me and the buyer - weather the buyer wanted insurance or not. After the post office lost a few packages I thought I needed to make a change and it has worked for me.<br /><br />Jimmy

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Posted By: <b>Richard</b><p>I wish there were vintage sellers that offered free shipping. That would make everything a lot less complicated.

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Posted By: <b>Andrew S.</b><p>There is one seller that has free shipping, but they only list a few cards a week and according to the auction descriptions it's supposed to be from the collection of a guy who pulled the cards right out of packs at the turn of the century.

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Posted By: <b>Red</b><p>Free shipping is a rip-off if you're buying multiple items from the same seller through Ebay fixed prices. In order to give you free shipping the seller simply adds his shipping charge to the price of every card he lists. If you buy two or more cards you're really paying the full shipping price on each and every card with no discount given to you for multiple purchases. You really should be asking the seller for a discount on the free shipping. That should go over real well. It's probably cheaper to buy the cards from a seller who charges for shipping and adds a small amount for additional cards purchased.

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Posted By: <b>Andrew S.</b><p>Red, you're absolutely right unless we're talking about auctions. The seller I mentioned is running auctions that start at $1 and offers free shipping. It's difficult to out snipe the bidders on them, but I've gotten lucky a few times.

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Posted By: <b>Richard</b><p>Andrew, could you please email me that seller's ID? My email address is richardbenson6@hotmail.com Thanks!

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Posted By: <b>Anonymous</b><p>If someone clearly ripped me off in this manner I would wait a week or two and then inform him that the card never arrived. If he makes good on paying me back I would send him back the refund minus the $5.50. If he does not make good I would report him to ebay or paypal or whoever. If I ever got a refund after that I would do the same as I would do if he sent the refund in the first place.<br /><br />If I was really peeved I might just keep the card AND the refund : )

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Posted By: <b>DJ</b><p>Oh man, this thread hit me this week. <br /><br />I bought nine items from a seller and it was clearly stated .50 after the first item. The total for the nine low dollar items was $15. I was charged $9.50 shipping and it cost him $1.60. <br /><br />These were index cards and I sent an e-mail questioning it (of course it is my fault) and basically got the "tough s--t" e-mail, you don't want to buy from us, that's fine. <br /><br />I guess I won't be buying... <br /><br />DJ

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Posted By: <b>Brett</b><p>I've been charged $5 for shipping before on ebay and when i get the package, it says something like 40-ish cents, ot maybe $1. It doesn't sound like much to you guys, but it adds up after a while.