Reporting Excess Shipping on eBay

[DarkHyren]

Still, even USPS Express Mail International is not that expensive.
A small gun like Verno pointed out would only cost $28.95 to ship to Australia, not $43.
You could even safely chuck it in an Express Mail International Flat Rate Envelope if you didn't want to make up a tiny box for the gun.

[kup]

1. You don't think sellers should protect themselves for an item of this nature.
2. You think sellers are protected even when using the the shipping methods you posted.

Like I said, we are arguing different things as I am not arguing neither of those points.

I do think that sellers should have the option to protect themselves for an item but that several take advantage of the Buyer protection requirements to charge absurd amounts to overseas buyers taking advantage of the situation for their own benefit at someone else's expense. Often these sellers don't honor the shipping cost they charge and send you the item at a much lesser cost than what you paid for - The gun seller seems like one of those.

I also believe that friendliness and accessibility to a wider market can benefit the seller just as much as the buyer. Several successful US sellers have proven that since they are highly regarded, in good business and with glowing feedback. Therefore it's also possible to charge a fair amount in shipping cost and still benefit regardless of Paypal buyer protection. I was recently quoted by one of these good US sellers that they will ship me a similar small gun for only $7.50

Now that this is settled and both our perspectives are now well documented, there is no need to continue derailing your own thread trying to score points.

[jaydisc]

A small gun like Verno pointed out would only cost $28.95 to ship to Australia, not $43.

I agree, and since you and I have extensively researched this (and publicly documented our results), we are aware that $28.95 would be the absolute minimum.

But as said, and will say again, to expect a fee of $5-8 is a completely unrealistic expectation.

[DarkHyren]

I understand sellers want/need protection too, but there should be a better way.
I do think buyers should have the right to have sellers ship in the method they wish.

Maybe a good compromise would be an automated system that the buyer could use (for those sellers that insist on Express) that basically has them waive any rights as far as the buyer protection scheme.
Only of course as far as delivery protection, if the item is faulty or the wrong one the right to claim on that should be left intact.

Of course in an ideal world Paypal would accept the standard Priority Mail confirmation every time, but such is bureaucracy ~shrug~

[canofwhoopass_87]

Still, even USPS Express Mail International is not that expensive.
A small gun like Verno pointed out would only cost $28.95 to ship to Australia, not $43.
You could even safely chuck it in an Express Mail International Flat Rate Envelope if you didn't want to make up a tiny box for the gun.

I'm under the assumption that the $43 quote was a generic value; not properly researched and calculated. If you let the seller know that it only costs $28.95 to ship express to Australia, they'd probably change the ebay invoice with the BIN.

I do think that sellers should have the option to protect themselves for an item but that several take advantage of the Buyer protection requirements to charge absurd amounts to overseas buyers taking advantage of the situation for their own benefit at someone else's expense. Often these sellers don't honor the shipping cost they charge and send you the item at a much lesser cost than what you paid for - The gun seller seems like one of those.

I'd like to keep this as an open discussion rather than let it escalate to a debate, but I think you've got things a little muddled here mr kup. You're putting this particular seller in the same class as other dodgy sellers and I don't think that's fair.

Seller A - $9.99BIN Armada Unicron. $90 Worldwide Flat Rate Shipping
Seller B - $14BIN Beastwars accessory. $43 International, Free domestic.

It's obvious seller A is being dodgy, but you're accusing (and have accused in another one of jays threads) seller B of also being "scum" and a "scammer". A only wants to dodge the fees and make more money, B is just ensuring paypals buyer protection policy is met in the case of fraudulent buyers. He really isn't doing anything wrong, probably just had some bad overseas apples. Remember, he ships for FREE within the U.S, so he isn't trying to gain additional profit by surcharging.

I also believe that friendliness and accessibility to a wider market can benefit the seller just as much as the buyer. Several successful US sellers have proven that since they are highly regarded, in good business and with glowing feedback. Therefore it's also possible to charge a fair amount in shipping cost and still benefit regardless of Paypal buyer protection. I was recently quoted by one of these good US sellers that they will ship me a similar small gun for only $7.50

The reason why this seller and others (such as wheeljackslab) have diminished their "friendliness and accessibility" to a wider market is bc of fraudulent claims in which they themselves have lost out. You can't blame them - after so many international buyers have received free items and taken their money, it's understandable that they now strictly ship express internationally with paypal payments.

There are indeed sellers such as therad who charge well under $10 for shipping on small parts, but they probably haven't been in the same boat as people like wheeljackslab.

[jaydisc]

DarkHyren, I think that's an excellent idea.

canofwhoopass_87, that's all perfectly put. Well said on all counts.

[SentinelPrime]

If you think its a scam or not, just pass it up.

[Mr Ed]

I've seen some Australian EBAY sellers try and rip people off with exhorbitant shipping fees....

eg - They were selling the big Bumblebee - Cost was $80, but postage was $60, making it a total of $140.

Or another case was the Soundwave's cassette's, they wanted $30 to send it, when it probably would have been $15.

He sold me stuff in Brisbane and I picked it up from him, and when I asked for
a quote of some TF's he gave me EBAY pricing with no discount and said if I dont like it, dont buy it. Needless to say I took his advice. He can collect all of that stuff!!

ALso, he had 3 G1 Megatron Re-issues and I asked to buy one, he said 'Since I am running low, I am not going to sell any". Same thing for the Hasbro Optimus Prime (cheap MP version)

Needless to say that guy is an idiot.

[SuspectimusPrime]

Ok, take this eBay auction for example. I was looking to complete a few figures and this seller had a few bits and pieces I needed but wouldn't budge on his postage price and policy. I told him that this would affect his selling to overseas bidders but he didn't seem to care.

Umm.. If it helps a fellow fan any bit... I managed to pick up a MISB BW Airazor (original and not the transmetal 2 monstrosity) for half the total price of the quoted foot/laser. This one had a typo in the listing. I've seen a few more go for similar prices since.

I do a worldwide eBay search for "Transformers Beast Wars" every week or so and go through maybe a week's worth of listing. Quite enjoy seeing the healthy and consistent number of BW auctions.

[griffin]

That's certainly a worthwhile option - buy a complete toy from a source that doesn't want/worry to protect themselves with expensive shipping rates, and then 'discard' the rest of the toy cheaply to someone else.