A new low in Ebay stupidity.

[mainline]

i find it interesting that the Nathan's seller who apparently had no idea how the whole "free postage" thing happened on his listing, managed to work out the "request to cancel" arrangement, and refunding paypal payments in the blink of an eye. Almost as if he was hoping to send you an invoice but you got in too early and paid him first.

As far as some of the O/S guys are concerned, I paid Joe from Vintage Dirt and Trail $8 to ship a kickstart lever and pivot (which is an awkward size and has a bit of weight to it). While Speed and Sport (who I should say have been pretty good in the past) wanted $24.50 to ship a plastic front sprocket cover. Apparently the box instead of the package makes a big difference.

[LWC82PE]

plus many commercial companies will charge handling fees and or the shipping is just worked out at 25% of the cost of item

[frostype400]

i got a box of gt80 parts weighing a good 5 kilo for 54.95US i think that is pretty reasonable considering you see one part for 30US. you have to make sure that you ask before buying i have got stung for a few a parts because i didnt ask prior to auction end.

[Nathan S]

i cant find that page stew, where is it? link?

http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/policies/user-agreement.html

The important bit:

When you enter into a transaction you create a legally binding contract with another member, unless the item is listed in a category under the Non-Binding Bid Policy (located at: http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/policies/non-binding-bid.html) or the transaction is prohibited by law or by this Agreement or our Policies. You are responsible for ensuring that you comply with your obligations to that other member. If you do not, you may become liable to him or her.

And if you follow the link contained within that quote, you get:

Certain types of items cannot be sold through the auction or fixed price format on our site. Therefore, ... placing a bid neither constitutes a legally binding contract or obligates the seller to sell the item. The high bidder is not obligated to purchase the item either. If you list these types of items on eBay, the listing cannot result in a binding contract to buy and sell the item, but is merely a means of introducing interested potential sellers to interested potential buyers. Furthermore, insincere bidding is not permitted.

Violations of this policy may result in a range of actions, including:
    *Limits on account privileges
    *Account suspension
    *Forfeit of eBay fees on cancelled listings
    *Loss of PowerSeller status

Some Examples

The following types of items must be listed in the appropriate "non-binding bid" category (if such category exists), and may only be listed to solicit indications of interest for the item:

    *Real Estate (e.g., homes, real property)
    *Businesses (e.g., stock sale of businesses)

Mary is selling her house and has received many bids on the property. The listing closes with a high bidder and Mary is ready to close the sale. Unfortunately, the high bidder decides not to complete the transaction. Upset with this buyer, Mary tries to file for Final Value Fee credit through the Unpaid Item process. Mary, the seller, is in violation of the non-binding bid policy because bids on real estate are not contracts.

Example of a binding bid: Steve is bidding on a new rug for his living room and he wins the online auction. Later, he finds out that the rug is not big enough to cover his floor and he wishes to back out of the transaction, claiming the bid was non-binding. Steve, the buyer, is in violation of the Unpaid Item policy because the rug he was bidding on is not covered under the non-binding bid policy.

[oldfart]

That's the one .......ALL THE RULES   

[paul]

does any body remember the guy who ebay.d the aero plane and it sold under value or something  and he reneged on the deal, ebay took him to court and he was made to hand it over ,for some thing like 50 to 100 k under value

[cappra]

I have a lot of customers in Australia and I charge the actual mailing fee's only.  It cost enough
already to get parts down to you guy's!  I know that nothing makes a customer more angry than to
add on "handling" charges and the like.  It does me too!   I usually give the customer the actual
mailing weight and then direct them to the USPS mailing rate website, so they can see exactly
what they are getting charged.   http://postcalc.usps.gov/

[090]

As a seller , i find it hard to get postage right on a consistent basis. The problem with heavier packages is the weight and dimensions are a factor . I gave a postage fee based on the dimensions as well as weight which came to $44 approx. The lady behind the counter (she must have wanted me) just went on weight which always comes out cheaper. I will have to reimburse the buyer if not just for honesty sake, but if i had of missed it seeing as i was posting a half a dozen items at once, he would spew if he saw it was only $16 actual postage. Thats a huge difference.

[VMX247]

http://ircalc.usps.gov/


serve them one right back , I say

[Doc]

Brad the dimensions only come into play 'if' the item can be acuratley measured as a cubic measurement. If it can't be measured acurately then they can't charge you for space the item isn't using. Therefor don't place mudgaurds, tanks or exhaust pipes in boxes but instead wrap them as a weird shape and you pay for the weight only. Boxes are a no no if you want the cheap postage on larger items

[Quicksilver]

 . Some ebay buyers are never happy.  . They want to only pay with PayPal regardless of the fees and long wait for the seller to get the money into their hands. Only want to pay exact postage to the last cent. Never happy no matter what.
Then on flip side 95% of buyers pay how seller wants to paid without a worry, understand post can vary as much of $5 either way ( A lot of my buyers paid me less then it really cost ) Most ebay buyers are good. Some are total f*&%wits wanting all their way.
All buyers would up shit creek without sellers. Might pay to remember that.

[Rossvickicampbell]

and the reverse applies also - 99% of ebay sellers are great others not so................and without buyers look what happens to the global economy!

Rossco

[Nathan S]

Fair comments Quicky.
I've sold a bit of stuff lately, and made a bit of a sales point about sending stuff quickly. Everything went in the post the day after I was paid - many went the same day.
Still only got four-and-a-bit stars for postage time...

[VMX247]

No one is ever happy with Aust Post ,doesn't matter if its a hair pin or an axle. 

[Nathan S]

I should be careful here, 'cause the last time I praised AustPost, my entry went missing (turned up back at my place a forthnight after the event, for some inexplicable reason) BUT...

...despite being everyone's favourite whipping boy, I've found that AusPost is cheap, simple and reliable. And remarkably fast.

"It got lost in the post" is just an excuse for the seller being useless/lazy/greedy, 99.9% of the time. If AusPost was really responsible for losing even a tenth of the things they're blamed for losing, then they'd have had about thirty Royal Commissions by now...

I use either of two post offices (the one near home, and the one near work), and the staff are generally pleasant and friendly at both - the only hint of an exception to that is the sour faced old lady at the Belco PO, but you'd never call her rude or unprofessional.