Anybody else's pet peeve???
Greedoguy
Posts: 147 ✭✭✭
You win multiple ebay auctions with the same seller. Request combined shipping (charges are $4.35 per auction) and come to find out....nope, don't combine shipping. Okay, cool.....until all 10 cards come in a single mailer at first class mail pricing. I'm fine if you don't want to combine shipping.....but I want all 10 of my packages....separately.
Rant over.
14
Comments
Instead of going off on the person I had this encounter with over the weekend, I'm going to vent here with a pet peeve of mine. Seller is offering vintage mid-grade cards of the #1 baseball seller - you can probably figure out who that is but their initials are MM. I check SMR via the PSA website and make an offer to purchase several items above the highest amount the cards have ever sold for. Seller says they are offended by my offer. OFFENDED BY MY OFFER....I'm offering more than the card has ever sold for!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't understand people that want 4X what the current rate is? I think some people get attached to their items and really have no intention of really selling or perhaps they have some type of mental illness.
Did you already pay ??
Are you sure your pricing is accurate? Because if someone offered me SMR level prices right now for Mickey Mantle cards, I might be offended, too.
Just one example?
I have a nice looking 1953 Topps #82 Mickey Mantle in PSA 2
SMR: $1200
Several Recent Auctions (Also PSA Provided via their APR tool):
This is only me trying to be helpful and not me ‘calling you out’ in any way. This market is crazy right now and prices are a little all over the place: the SMR is not the tool it once was, bottom line.
Good luck
ETA: cards make threads better 😉
Curious about the rare, mysterious and beautiful 1951 Wheaties Premium Photos?
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/987963/1951-wheaties-premium-photos-set-registry#latest
Are you referring to actual cards sold for pricing or are you strictly using the SMR ? The SMR is in my bathroom and not necessarily for reading. It's there just in case something else runs out. LOL.
If they don't list it in the sale description then you should ask ahead of time.
My gripe is when I'm trying to win 4-5 auctions from the same person and only end up with 1, then getting stuck with $5 shipping or something ridiculous for a single card instead of averaging it down.
I would have a major problem with that. I would contact the seller to give him a chance to make it right first. if they didn't, I would blast their name all over the web
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
Did you ask, wait a day or 2 and then pay or pay individually immediately and then ask ?? The reason I ask is that I have guys who will pay individually for 20 seperate items when I don't have immediate payment required. They then ask me after the fact and ebay is not so nice in refunding any fees. I always combine and have it in my listings. EBAY does actually make some of this a challenge for the buyers and sellers though.
Thanks for those who responded. I am using the PSA site to look up SMR and what the recent auction sale prices have been. I have no problem paying market value and will even go a bit higher if the card has centering that in my opinion deserves a premium. I just get annoyed with people that waste my time. I'm not going to pay someone twice or three times what the most recent price is because the seller feels there card deserves a special value because of whatever magic fairy dust they've sprinkled on their oh-so-special PSA 6 with a population in the thousands. Vent over,
I think the reason people (or me) are confused by your post is that you keep referencing “recent auction sales,” which is the correct and accurate way to do things, but then you keep referencing SMR, which doesn’t show any individual sales data and is wildly inaccurate. Are you trying to say you’re using PSA’s “Auction Prices Realized” tool? If so, that’s the way to go, but that’s not SMR. Not picking on you, just seeking to clarify.
Yaz Master Set
#1 Gino Cappelletti master set
#1 John Hannah master set
Also collecting Andre Tippett, Patriots Greats' RCs, Dwight Evans, 1964 Venezuelan Topps, 1974 Topps Red Sox
Whether the seller offers combined shipping is irrelevant to the OP's complaint.
If he paid for 10 shipments, he should receive 10 shipments. Whether he wanted the extra envelopes for making confetti or whatever the case may be. If he paid for them, he should receive them in 10 separate shipments.
Did you ask for combined shipping directly with a question? or did you use ebay checkout and click on ask seller for total.
ex. Probstein will come up as does not combine shipping but when directly asked he always does.
1948-76 Topps FB Sets
FB & BB HOF Player sets
1948-1993 NY Yankee Team Sets
If a seller combines shipping it will sometimes be in his listing description.
If it isn't in his listing description then a potential buyer can click on the tab that is on every eBay listing that reads "shipping and payments" and see if the seller has mentioned combined shipping in that tab.
If the potential buyer still does not know if a seller combines shipping then at this point he/she should click on the "contact seller" link and a list of answers to potential questions will appear and one of them will be related to combined shipping, (it is possible that there may be no answer provided).
If after these 3 things a potential buyer does still not know if a seller combines shipping then he/she should click the contact seller bubble under the list of possible questions and submit his/her exact question to the seller and wait for the seller's response.
If after a reasonable amount of time the seller does not respond to the potential buyers question, then the prudent thing for the potential buyer to do is walk away.
If a potential buyer doesn't follow all the steps described above, and still buys from this seller without knowing for sure if the seller combines shipping, then he/she has to live with the results because it is on him/her and not the seller.
Is the seller a dirtbag for charging what he did? Yes.
Did the OP take all the steps listed above before making the purchases? Unknown.
I did inquire about combined shipping. Always do. His auction profile said no combined shipping and then was told after I bought them, that, no, we don't combine shipping. Fine...you answered my question. However, after telling me no and then shipping all the cards in a single envelope....well, that is stealing.
I don't believe it's stealing, but it certainly isn't good customer relations. I, too, would have a bad taste in my mouth if I paid $43.50 for shipping and got one bubble mailer that probably cost them less than $5. You should have the ability to leave (10) feedbacks. I would certainly think about giving him (10) neutrals.
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Successful transactions on the BST boards with rtimmer, coincoins, gerard, tincup, tjm965, MMR, mission16, dirtygoldman, AUandAG, deadmunny, thedutymon, leadoff4, Kid4HOF03, BRI2327, colebear, mcholke, rpcolettrane, rockdjrw, publius, quik, kalinefan, Allen, JackWESQ, CON40, Griffeyfan2430, blue227, Tiggs2012, ndleo, CDsNuts, ve3rules, doh, MurphDawg, tennessebanker, and gene1978.
Oh, it's definitely stealing.
It's not stealing. It's manipulation, but it's not stealing. If it was, you should report him to ebay or even the cops.
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Successful transactions on the BST boards with rtimmer, coincoins, gerard, tincup, tjm965, MMR, mission16, dirtygoldman, AUandAG, deadmunny, thedutymon, leadoff4, Kid4HOF03, BRI2327, colebear, mcholke, rpcolettrane, rockdjrw, publius, quik, kalinefan, Allen, JackWESQ, CON40, Griffeyfan2430, blue227, Tiggs2012, ndleo, CDsNuts, ve3rules, doh, MurphDawg, tennessebanker, and gene1978.
I don't think it's stealing, but it might warrant a complaint to eBay for shipping charges that have no relation to actual costs (not sure if they still police that) and negative, not neutral, feedback. You agreed to pay $43.50 shipping when you bid/bought, but should be very unhappy to learn that it was what, $35 more than it cost the seller. Shipping is OK to make up expenses. It shouldn't be a major profit center. Future customers deserve to know.
So if you are bidding on a card with a low starting price, say .99 cents and win it for $1.50 and the shipping is $4….
That means someone else was willing to buy it and pay the shipping, for a total of $5.50….
If you win 10 cards that way, that means there were other buyers willing to pay as well.
We all know that shipping is another way to help cover costs on selling those low priced star/insert/HOF cards that have ungraded list prices in the $5-$20 range. Otherwise there is no reason to even try to sell them as you would just be giving them away or losing money.
Why is it fair for a buyer to grab all of those for $15 and only expect to pay $20 for the cards if other folks were willing to pay $5 per card (including shipping?
I get the OP’s frustration.
That said, it’s really hard to make money selling cards and margins are narrow; I imagine the cost of card savers comes into play with cost of shipping, too.
I think everyone hustling wants to save everything they can and make everything they can.
On the rare occasion where I auction a few cards, I’m always rooting for multiple buyers because of that little bit extra but when asked, I am always happy to work with a buyer.
Treat people fairly and they often return the favor 😉
Curious about the rare, mysterious and beautiful 1951 Wheaties Premium Photos?
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/987963/1951-wheaties-premium-photos-set-registry#latest
The point is that if 10 individual buyers bought those cards then the seller would be out the costs of 10 bubble mailers, 10 postage fees, 10 times the amount of packing materials and 10 times the amount of time/effort to pack/ship. Instead the seller just used one envelope, one stamp, and packed up one envelope, it's shady. I get the frustration of the OP and the seller should have made some sort of compromise, it's bad business practice on their part.
Pet peeve - going to a card show and sellers that don't have their cards organized
No one is saying that the buyer should pay $20, just that it should be far, far less than $55. A fair price would be, IMO, between $25 and $30.
And I am not saying it should be the way I am describing, it’s just complicated…if the seller says they don’t combine, their sales will be their sales, what I hear does happen is that people say they don’t combine, then folks buy and they say “oh man I don’t look at shipping until after I buy”…same as people that don’t read the description on a flawed card despite the seller saying to read it and disclosing the issues….
It’s tough as a seller even when you disclose everything….
Just factor in shipping within your starting price and offer free shipping. So instead of .99 + $3, it's $3.99 with free shipping. Then if someone buys multiples, you don't have to have this conversation with them, especially if they pay for each item individually.
Except in this case the seller did combine shipping, and at great cost savings to himself. He didn't give the OP any sort of discount for the combined shipping. If you'll reread the original post you'll see that the OP wasn't so much complaining that he had to pay full shipping on each card but that the seller helped himself to a discount. It's not an unreasonable position to expect that if you pay ten (full) shipping charges that you should receive ten separate packages.
If the seller writes in the listing that they don't combine shipping.....I believe them. If they say they do combine shipping I want to know the price. If it's not really clear....I will send them a message if I really want multiple items. I also do all of this before I make the purchase and pay. Not afterward. Seriously, is there another way I should be looking at this situation ?? I'm sure that I could make rocket science out of this; but I try to keep it simple and understandable for myself.
Last time I looked eBay’s terms of service said you can only charge an amount for shipping equal to your cost of shipping (i.e. you can’t make a profit of shipping). This seller is clearly in violation of those terms (assuming they haven’t changed). By using eBay he agreed to those terms and the OP therefore has every right to expect to either be charged just for one package or to receive ten packages (I often reuse bubble wrap and other packing materials so there is some benefit to receiving multiple packages). If the seller says he doesn’t combine shipping he is obligated to send multiple packages. I would consider his actions to constitute fraud or theft.
If that’s the terms and conditions of the listing, I don’t have a problem with it.
Kiss me twice.....let's party.
Can you show me where this is in their terms of service? I don't believe it's in there. I've never heard anything like that before. I sell a lot of lawn mower parts and I typically guess on the shipping. Sometimes I'm high and sometimes I'm low, but it probably evens out. On a similar note, about 15 years ago, ebay started charging their sellers fees on the shipping costs.
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Successful transactions on the BST boards with rtimmer, coincoins, gerard, tincup, tjm965, MMR, mission16, dirtygoldman, AUandAG, deadmunny, thedutymon, leadoff4, Kid4HOF03, BRI2327, colebear, mcholke, rpcolettrane, rockdjrw, publius, quik, kalinefan, Allen, JackWESQ, CON40, Griffeyfan2430, blue227, Tiggs2012, ndleo, CDsNuts, ve3rules, doh, MurphDawg, tennessebanker, and gene1978.
Check out the fourth bullet point: https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/default/shipping-policy?id=5035
That is what I was looking for last night and could not find. Thank you.
Funny because eBay takes their final value fee off of shipping cost charges
If the buyer pays for multiple individually-listed items before the seller has a chance to send a single combined invoice that reflects all items shipped together, then it is very easy for the seller to subsequently credit back a partial refund for the shipping cost difference. I always issue such a refund without being asked. Some sellers do. Some won't bother unless the buyer requests it. Definitely send a message requesting it.