Reporting Excess Shipping on eBay

[griffin]

I reported it. Considering how often people used to avoid ebay fees by cranking up the shipping amount, it didn't appear to be an option on the menu of reasons it was being reported. And I couldn't say why I was selecting "other", so ebay will either ignore it or spend a couple seconds looking over the listing to see what jumps out as obvious.

I wonder how successful you could be in getting it cheap with the "buyer protection" element of Paypal. As in, you buy it for the minimum bid of $1, and pay $300 in total, but then when it arrives with significantly less postage, you make a claim or complaint to ebay about excessive shipping charges.
I get the impression that buyer protection might only cover the item itself (and it's price), so any excessive postage might only end up with just being able to give negative feedback... so it might not be worth the risk on an item that isn't worth $300. If it were a total of $200, and you were desperate for it, that would be worth the risk, because even if you didn't get any money back, you didn't spend more than the current going rate of this figure (with shipping) anyway.

[Koroboo]

Ended bidding now, whether from expiry or reporting I'm not sure, I'll make sure I report all silly postage auctions in the future, I wasn't aware you could even do that...

[Jetfire in the sky]

I have been very interested in a number of items out of Honk Kong lately, I have family that live in Guangzhou (Mainland China) and HK. The family in GZ are more flexible when it comes to onforwarding items to me in Oz. So I first ask the HK seller what the price for shipping is to GZ, if it comes back to the price they are sending to the rest of the World then I am a little sceptical so then I send a follow up e-mail asking for either local pick up in HK or postage to HK address. When it still comes up as same price as Rest of the World it sounds more scammy than usual.
I had this happen a few months ago for multiple items that I bought from a HK seller, so we had an e-mail discussion that ended quite amicably. Pretty much ended with: "If you are locked into these postage prices for a HK address I will report you to e-bay" he replied, "How about we just cancel the transactions." Thanks mate :-)
Having had enough of this BS I have recently reported someone for pulling the same sheizer, lets see how it pans out.

[Bladestorm]

As someone with a little experience as a HK eBay seller I thought I'd share a bit of inside knowledge with you guys:
All destinations are not equal when it comes to shipping out of Hong Kong.
HK Post has a joint agreement for discounted postage with US/UK/Canada/Oz and NZ.
Some HK sellers (myself included - you must be registered to access discounted shipping rates) can use this shipping method that works out cheaper than standard airmail for parcels under 2kg. A parcel of just over 1kg works out costing around AU$20 to ship tracked with a 7 to 20 day delivery time (excluding packaging materials/fees based on todays exchange rate) to Australia.
Just as an example of how crazy it is: It is cheaper for me to ship something 200 gm in weight to Sydney or Auckland than to Singapore/Philippines by over US$5 - go figure!
I just looked up mainland China and it is more expensive than shipping to Sydney - AU$26-$27 to ship a 1 kg package there using HK Post.
So worth keeping this in mind if looking to redirect your shipping...
HK addresses however ARE significantly cheaper to ship to (AU$6.50 for 1 kg).

I have the same gripe about overcharging postage with Robotkingdom who charge me US international shipping when my home is only 10 km away from their warehouse as they aren't geared up to deal with local sales and won't budge on that stance (for me anyways).

I have been very interested in a number of items out of Honk Kong lately, I have family that live in Guangzhou (Mainland China) and HK. The family in GZ are more flexible when it comes to onforwarding items to me in Oz. So I first ask the HK seller what the price for shipping is to GZ, if it comes back to the price they are sending to the rest of the World then I am a little sceptical so then I send a follow up e-mail asking for either local pick up in HK or postage to HK address. When it still comes up as same price as Rest of the World it sounds more scammy than usual.
I had this happen a few months ago for multiple items that I bought from a HK seller, so we had an e-mail discussion that ended quite amicably. Pretty much ended with: "If you are locked into these postage prices for a HK address I will report you to e-bay" he replied, "How about we just cancel the transactions." Thanks mate :-)
Having had enough of this BS I have recently reported someone for pulling the same sheizer, lets see how it pans out.

[Penetrator]

I have the same gripe about overcharging postage with Robotkingdom who charge me US international shipping when my home is only 10 km away from their warehouse as they aren't geared up to deal with local sales and won't budge on that stance (for me anyways).

Hey Bladestorm,

since you reside in HK, you might as well just go there to a local store and buy it. Not to mention the fun with haggling your price down. im sure you can at least get $20 hkd down :P

Its part of the fun when shopping in HK. Although its not quite the same story now as it use to be due to the flux in tourism and super-rich people from mainland china buying out everything without asking for any discounts.

[Bladestorm]

I do buy 95% of my items at local stores Penetrator, but some items never make it onto the streets here and local store pre-orders sell out fast so desperation leads to Robot Kingdom... For example the latest Asia re-issue MP-10 was impossible to buy on the street here and I was too late to pre-order it from local stores as they'd already sold out their pre-order quotas.

Unfortunately most stores selling the real licensed Transformers products won't haggle their prices these days. Be wary of stores that do and ALWAYS check they are selling the real thing. Not to say it doesn't happen but better to be safe than sorry if you're pedantic like I am.
(Sorry for hijacking the thread).

Hey Bladestorm,

since you reside in HK, you might as well just go there to a local store and buy it. Not to mention the fun with haggling your price down. im sure you can at least get $20 hkd down :P

Its part of the fun when shopping in HK. Although its not quite the same story now as it use to be due to the flux in tourism and super-rich people from mainland china buying out everything without asking for any discounts.

[bowspearer]

Bought a MISB Classic Tracks from johnb79.2008.

Actual postage costs: $7.60
Cost of Bx2 mailer: $2.40

Total shipping costs: $10

Shipping charge listed (which I presumed was him covering himself with an broad estimate): $45 - 450% of the actual shipping costs (a $35 "handling fee").

In addition to seller's poor attitude and terrible customer service, they are being incredibly difficult in terms of doing the ethical thing and refunding the excess - giving me the choice between either 50% of the shipping costs or returning the figure.

Then again, I shouldn't be surprised - even the eBay representative I spoke to over the phone on the matter, commented on his terrible attitude after seeing the sellers messages to me.

In fact, I think the most recent message says it all.

UPDATE:

When I raised the issue with him, he tried to weasel his way out of it over the course of 5 messages - at first trying to hide behind the listed shipping costs (as if they negate his contract with eBay when he listed the item - rather than his contract negating the charges), then insisting on either the return or only giving back 50% of the shipping costs (still a $12 "handling" fee), and even playing the victim at one point. I then drew a line in the sand- asking for the fourth and final time:

Are you going to refund the excess $35 which you charged in direct breach of eBay terms of use,or are you refusing to?

As I was tired of his weaselling BS, I added:

Just so we're clear, any response other than you agreeing to do the ethical thing here and refund the excess shipping, I will consider to be a refusal to do so.

I got a weaselling response back, so I responded saying that in light of my last message to him and his response to me, I was reasonably considering his most recent response to me to be a refusal to honour eBay TOU and would be taking further action.

This was his last message to me:

I tell u what I'll do: I'll offer u a 50% discount OR you may, at your cost return the item to me (eBay's rules, not mine) AND I will not invoice you an additional $60 for the time of mine you have taken.

(bolding emphasis mine)

I'm not even going to dignify it with a response.

Update 2:

Well it seems he wasn't too happy with my negative feedback - a comment of:

Contemptous attitude, terrible customer service, charged $35 "handling fee".

I'm basing assessment of his reaction on the following message I received from him:

Can't believe u left negative feedback - what a dirty keyboard warrior u really are. A snivelling grubby coward. Typical scum Aussie

[Jetfire in the sky]

I reported it. Considering how often people used to avoid ebay fees by cranking up the shipping amount, it didn't appear to be an option on the menu of reasons it was being reported. And I couldn't say why I was selecting "other", so ebay will either ignore it or spend a couple seconds looking over the listing to see what jumps out as obvious.

The option is there it's click on Report item (on auction in question's page)
First drop down box : Listing Practices
Second box: Other Listing Practices
Third: Postage related charges

Yes it is odd that postage fraud isn't one of the first main options

[Jetfire in the sky]

The auctions I reported were not taken down. Once again e-bay is happy to take buyers money and not worry too much about the price that they are paying for excess postage as they get a cut of it. Gotta love 'em.

[janda the red]

Edit... never mind