ebay , excessive shipping is not accepted by ebay

Swampy Steve

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Ok, I just started a different thread dealing with , the Vietnamese uke I "won" off ebay yesterday.
I thought about it & had decided to pay for the uke , but not for shipping. Figuring my integrity is worth more than 35.oo.
Called ebay this morn.
The words from their mouth were helpful
They told me that seller has put what THEY consider a excessive shipping charge. In this case 85.00

I told them I was willing to pay for the item,, they said do not.
Their instruction was ,,to send the seller a request to cancel order. If he agrees fine. If not he can file a complaint on me.
Which the ebay person said they would remove because this item had the excessive shipping charge. They said if I paid for the uke &not shipping I would violate , because I had not entirely paid for item.

The reason I posted this is we DO have recourse,,,, in this case It was my fault , but Im sure some of you have had problems , that were not your fault
.
 
I admit I haven't checked lately, but ebay used to have many less than reputable sellers that set very low prices on their items, then try to make it up with shipping. I mostly used to notice it on small cheap items like cell phone batteries, or cases. I think you are wise to move on when you see one like that.
 
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Wow that's a lot. can they close down sellers who are clearly trying to con people
 
Hm. I didn't realize eBay would side with the customer so quickly.

I'm glad it's all getting sorted out.
 
I admit I haven't checked lately, but ebay used to have many less than reputable sellers that set very low prices on their items, then try to make it up with shipping....

They do it for two reasons. First, Ebay doesn't take % fees out of shipping cost, a $1 item with a $20 shipping gets ebay a cut of $1, not $21. Second, if there is a problem and you need to return the item, only the cost of the item is refunded, not the shipping, so not only would you have to ship the item back, you'd only get $1 back, while they still pocket the $20. To be honest, ebay only cares because of the first reason, because it takes money out of their pocket, but because of it, they can be pretty fierce about enforcing it.
 
Slightly OT, but another favorite con on eBay is the shill bidder. That's a bidder the seller has bid up the price of the item. Ebay claims they closely monitor bids from the same IP as the seller, but it doesn't prevent them from asking a friend to bid it up. Often shill bidders will have only 1 or 2 recommendations. Ebay claims they also monitor bidders who are always withdrawing bids, and never buying anything to prevent this, but its still important to not get caught up in a bidding war with a shill. I can't stand eBays new policy of concealing the bidder's screen name, since I think it makes shill bidding more likely.
 
Yup.... I've seen some things sell for 2.99 with a 24.00 shipping charge from Hong Kong!!!!!!!
 
Slightly OT, but another favorite con on eBay is the shill bidder. That's a bidder the seller has bid up the price of the item. Ebay claims they closely monitor bids from the same IP as the seller, but it doesn't prevent them from asking a friend to bid it up. Often shill bidders will have only 1 or 2 recommendations. Ebay claims they also monitor bidders who are always withdrawing bids, and never buying anything to prevent this, but its still important to not get caught up in a bidding war with a shill. I can't stand eBays new policy of concealing the bidder's screen name, since I think it makes shill bidding more likely.

I agree with you. I think it's crap. I mean, I see why they're doing it, but fake bidders bother me more.
 
Slightly OT, but another favorite con on eBay is the shill bidder. That's a bidder the seller has bid up the price of the item....

This is the reason why I snipe. I know it's tacky, and buyers and other sellers alike hate it, but the fact of the matter is, that way nobody has time to react and bump a shill bid. I put in the maximum I'm willing to pay with about 20 seconds left on the auction. If I win, great, if not, somebody else wanted it more and that's fine, because now I can't be impulsive and outbid them when it's more than I'm willing to pay. Quite frankly sniping wouldn't work if people didn't put in shill bids to bump their own stuff, and if everybody could resist the temptation to bid out of competition.
 
This is the reason why I snipe. I know it's tacky, and buyers and other sellers alike hate it, but the fact of the matter is, that way nobody has time to react and bump a shill bid. I put in the maximum I'm willing to pay with about 20 seconds left on the auction. If I win, great, if not, somebody else wanted it more and that's fine, because now I can't be impulsive and outbid them when it's more than I'm willing to pay. Quite frankly sniping wouldn't work if people didn't put in shill bids to bump their own stuff, and if everybody could resist the temptation to bid out of competition.

I agree with you on the sniping. That is the way I usually do it, but I have also done it the traditional way, usually when I haven't bought anything in a while and don't have time (or am too lazy) to find or remember how to use my sniping program.
 
Is there really a sniping program,, or you pulling my leg? Seems I usually end up losing ,, by just a small amount. maybe I need some educating here..
 
Is there really a sniping program,, or you pulling my leg? Seems I usually end up losing ,, by just a small amount. maybe I need some educating here..

There are many. Some are free, some are not. Many of the free ones reside on your computer waiting to bid, some reside on servers (usually those cost money to use).If you use one of the free ones on your computer, its important to leave your computer on and synchronize your clock, since most successful snipes come in the last 30 seconds or less.
 
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Is there really a sniping program,, or you pulling my leg? Seems I usually end up losing ,, by just a small amount. maybe I need some educating here..

yup, I use jbidwatcher. It takes a little bit to get it set up just right, but as long as your computer is on, it will place the snipe automatically for you so you don't have to sit around and wait for it, plus its free. There are also websites that will do it for you, but most of them cost money to use, and I can't quite get the courage to give them my ebay logon and password. I've had great luck with jbidwatcher once I finally figured it out though.
 
I didn't know there were snipe programs. I only snipe if I really, really want something...and usually I want to know right away if I won or not so I don't mind waiting.
 
...why couldn't this thread have popped up on Monday? I may have won that cow print Fluke with this jbidwatcher!!!
 
Ok, I just started a different thread dealing with , the Vietnamese uke I "won" off ebay yesterday.
I thought about it & had decided to pay for the uke , but not for shipping. Figuring my integrity is worth more than 35.oo.
Called ebay this morn.
The words from their mouth were helpful
They told me that seller has put what THEY consider a excessive shipping charge. In this case 85.00

I told them I was willing to pay for the item,, they said do not.
Their instruction was ,,to send the seller a request to cancel order. If he agrees fine. If not he can file a complaint on me.
Which the ebay person said they would remove because this item had the excessive shipping charge. They said if I paid for the uke &not shipping I would violate , because I had not entirely paid for item.

The reason I posted this is we DO have recourse,,,, in this case It was my fault , but Im sure some of you have had problems , that were not your fault
.

Do you mind if I ask what is the name of the seller of the item you were bidding on? I had recently bid and won an ukulele from Vietnam. The shipping cost of $85.00 was clearly stated. I got the ukulele I was bidding on for $65.00. Hence....$150.00 for the ukulele. The reason I bought the ukulele in the first place to was see if I could squash any skeptisism by people giving opinions about this sellers items. I admittingly was taking a chance not really knowing what I would get, if what was posted was what I was going to get, how it was built or how it sounded. I just felt it wasnt fair for people to bash this seller without even knowing, but I figured that if I got something junk, then everyone would know the truth. On the other hand, if I got something that was good and on the up & up, GREAT. Long story short, the item I had bid on was exactly as shown. It was built very well. Very reminiscent of a Kala built ukulele. If you were to put up a $150 Kala or Lanikai against this Vietnam ukulele, I honestly would pick the Vietnam uke. It had nice inlays, aquilla strings, the action was good with no buzzing and this particular uke had a bridge where the strings tied on the inside of the body. $85.00 shipping from Vietnam may seem a little high, but hey....the auction did start at like $0.99. Would of been even greater if I won it for $85.99 but that hardly ever happens. In auctions, it basically, it comes down to total price. I kind of laugh when I tell everyone that the shipping was more than the item but hey, it came from HO CHI MEIN city. I have never tried to ship something that far before so I can't say if its extremly high or not. Would you have felt better of the auction ended at $85.00 and the shipping was $35.00? Again, if we were dealing with the same seller, $125 for one of his ukulele would of been a great deal.
 
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FWIW, years ago, my father shipped a small package to the Philippines. I believe the cost was $70 or $75 for a box considerably smaller than a uke box and prolly not much heavier. It was put on a ship and took weeks. I don't know what the shipping rate is now, but $85 does not seem completely unrealistic for something coming from SE Asia. It seems to me that a lot of things I've seen coming out of Vietnam (not on eBay) have a high shipping cost.

However, because it's not a big company, like Kala, I would be concerned that quality could vary a lot. I've looked at some supposed "luthier-built" ukes coming out of Vietnam and the Philippines. The shipping cost has always kept me from proceeding, since I have no way of verifying quality and I don't have the luxury of buying something just to see what it's like. Of course, if I ever go to the Philippines to see my dad, the local ukes are prolly the first thing I'll check out.
 
I bought a ukulele from Vietnam in December - it's most likely from the same Ebayer you committed to yesterday. The difference is my brother lives in HMC and I asked the seller if he could go by the factory to select and buy my uke. He agreed and my brother ended up buying three ukes from him (of course he got the better of three - brothers!). He was not allowed into the factory itself (common practice in Asia) but he could tell this operation does more than their own little EBAY business - read you may already own a uke built by them. Bruce Wei is the seller.

The tenor I got is sold koa and has some very nice inlay. The neck is a little thick which make it heavier than my other but it has a great tone. Overall it is a very well built uke.

Personally, I would pay for the auction as agreed to. I think you will fine the uke to be as advertised and worth the overall cost.
 
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