Need a bit of auction advice

[Rosie]

Hi all! I need a few opinions on this situation.

I bid on and won an auction for a new phone that looks old (not the old phone I won about a week ago). Anyway, when I bid on the item after reading the page of course, the shipping was to be $8.00. Last night, the seller contacted me saying the shipping would now be $14.00 as this is what it would cost to ship to me. I explained to her, that isn't the way things work, she stated shipping at a certain price, and that's the price it should be. She says she didn't realize how much actual shipping would cost and I told her I would get back to her.

Now, I really don't feel I should pay the extra money for shipping. I'm not being cheap, its just GP. She should have calculated shipping costs before listing the item or listed it as 'shipping to be determined'. Am I being silly? Should I just pay the extra bucks? The item itself was only $4.00, it isn't a have to have item. Any and all opinions would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[raiderrescuer]

Seems odd that the Seller almost doubled the shipping.

From what I've seen Ebay has a policy of using actual shipping cost and actual packing cost so for the seller to be uping the cost just doesn't seem right...unless they are new and trying to ship it from Alaska and calculated wrong.

Could it be the item didn't sell for as high as the person liked ?

I wonder what the Sellers feedback reputation looks like.

 

[Twitch]

Rosie I see that high shipping versus cost of item often enough to realize that folks are definitely padding their profits. Perhaps in this case there was a mistake made on the part of the seller but $14 could be accurate on a heavier item shipped a long distance. I don't think so though unless its a 1st class type shipping deal.

Personally, I bought some vintage novelty reproduction auto tire air valve stem caps I REALLY wanted and figured the shipping was too much. You could have shipped them in a tiny bubble pack for the cost of 1 or 2 1st class stamps instead of $4 but I really, really wanted them so I paid up.[huh]

I think the bottom line is how much do you really, really want the item at $18 total. If you found it in a 2nd hand store at that price would you have bought it? I realize it's not the money but the idea.

 

[Rosie]

Thanks guys, you both raise good points. I'm thinking the item didn't sell at a high enough price. To answer Raider's question, their feedback was decent at about 96% positive. If I had seen this for 18 bucks, I probably wouldn't have bought it, it just isn't that "oooo, gotta have it". I'll think about it.

 

[nightandthecity]

actually Rosie 96% positive is pretty poor compared to most ebay sellers. Go into their feedback and check out a few of their negs and neutrals and see what you think. They sound dodgy to me.

Also, divide their total feedback by their negs and neutrals combined (neutrals are just polite negs) that will give you a rough idea of how often they have trouble with their transactions (ebay doesn't list the total of neutrals but you can work it out easily enough).

But ultimately the bottom line re postage is this: stated price is it, the end, period. You've both entered a contract and to change the stated postage is to break the contract. You might just as logically approach them and say "hey, i didn 't mean to bid so high, I'll only give you x bucks"

As a seller I've miscalculated postage in the past and I just shut up and paid out of my own pocket. That's business, that's keeping the contract, and ultimately its good practice as it shows you can be trusted.

The opposite situation also holds, if you bid on something and think the stated postage is too high: tough! You agreed to it when you bid, end of story.

Personally I would tell these guys as politely as possible that they must keep the contract or end the transaction by mutual agreement. This gives them a let out if they are really financially challenged. You'll lose the item, but its a golden rule of ebay that another will usually turn up. And don't leave feedback unless they leave it first. Keep the posibility of a neg over their heads, that will stop them leaving you a baddie.

Good luck!

 

[SinatraStyle]

Rosie,

It sounds to me like the item did not sell for as much as the seller expected, so they are raising the price. If you think that this is the case, here is a link that you can use to approximate shipping cost. It won't be perfectly accurate, but it should get you in the ballpark. At least you will then know if the seller really did miscalculate the initial shipping cost.

http://postcalc.usps.gov/

Good Luck!

 

[Rosie]

Thanks guys, I was actually about to write the seller, it being my break and all.