**seller** 1270 negative responses

Halifaxbomber

I just wanted to warn fellow eBayers about this US site, reputedly the biggest on eBay. I bought 4 smallish books from them and the cost charged for postage was a masiive unreasonable $70 US. They do not combine postage but charge a flat rate. They rarely answer emails and when they do you get a standard response. In short they must make a huge ammount from what is effect a mailing scam. They have sold of 67650 items but have over 1270 negative responses. It speaks for itself.
They are going to get 3 more from me.
Regards to all!
Chris

Jay-Jay_4

Why would you buy items from a seller with so many negs and weren't the postage costs listed in the auction?

soolin

Why warn us when you weren't warned yourself?

ACtually I have removed the details of the seller from the post, but for others reading this thread the seller has 98.1% positive feedback and state a flat rate shipping charge and say the following about combined post and packing:

COMBINED DISCOUNTS:

We are offering a discount of $2.00 off the shipping charge for each additional item purchased for multiple purchases. This amount will be automatically DEDUCTED at your time of checkout

Soo

Moglex

soolin wrote:

ACtually I have removed the details of the seller from the post ...

:huh: Why?

If they've done nothing wrong, why should we not know who they are?

bleugh

erm.................if you knew the postage before hand, why bid?

4 books????, what books are they?, a volume of encyclopedia britannica could weigh 10Kg, and 40Kg from USA to UK at $70 is bloody cheap

weigh them yourself and price it up at https://www.royalmail.co.uk

also, tell me your user ID, if you're gonna whinge about shipping AFTER you win the auction, I'm sure lots will want to block you from bidding on their auctions!

soolin

Moglex wrote:

:huh: Why?

If they've done nothing wrong, why should we not know who they are?

This forum is not for naming and shaming and whilst adding user names sometimes is necessary just to get advice it serves no purpose in a pure name and shame and could be used maliciously, although I am not of course saying that is the case here.

Usually the whole thread would just be removed, but as I thought it might be useful to discuss the postage element and the question of whether poor feedback is a warning to buyers, or serves no purpose. It also rather nicely leads to a discussion about whether a buyer should expect a discount on postage when multiple items are purchased even when a discount policy is clearly outlined. I am particularly interested in buyers views about discounts, I sell quite a few items in 'lots' and my buyers are split 50/50 as to whether they ask me to invoice them and include a discount or whether they just pay in full, and I wondered what others have found.

Soo

jenniferpa

Well as a buyer if I was looking for 2 of one item I would prefer to deal with someone who would discount the shipping, all other things being equal. Mind you, I would also calculate how much postage would be either way - sometimes you see auctions where even discounted shipping would cost more than 2 lots of regular shipping. I think it also depends on the item. If it was large I would be more understanding about getting a discount.

morlandbanks

Have to say, I'm not with you on this one. If the postage was shown before you bid...buyer beware.

Personally though, I always calculalte the exact postage when I list something on Ebay. I weigh it in - or with - the packaging and check the Royal Mail website for the cost. I also offer the cost of 1st, 2nd and recorded delivery and let the buyer decide. It does take that little extra effort, but I've got 100% + feedback for my efforts so far. I only wish that everyone would do the same so that I can get a fair deal too! I'm sick of finding an item I want, only to see that the seller is chaging a fortune for postage. Just doesn't seem to be very fair.

And I don't charge my buyers for paypal either!!

(feel free to ask for my Ebay username!! LOL)

dodger65

I've always combined postage if somebody wins 2 of my items they get the second for free. I don't mention this on this listing I just do it when I invoice or refund if they pay immediately - leaves me a little out of pocket but only a very small percentage of sale price/profit.
But having been on this board quite a bit this week I've discovered that if you combine 2 items in one parcel a dodgy buyer can do a chargeback saying you only sent one item and you will only have proof of postage for one and paypal will refund the second one and there seems to be nowt you can do about this.
So probably will be rethinking that policy - although maybe only for buyers with little feedback.

Moglex

soolin wrote:

I am particularly interested in buyers views about discounts, I sell quite a few items in 'lots' and my buyers are split 50/50 as to whether they ask me to invoice them and include a discount or whether they just pay in full, and I wondered what others have found.

Normally I don't bother about p&p. I just deduct the stated p&p from what I'm prepared to pay and snipe the auction with that figure.

The exception is where you may be buying a lot of similar items from a seller and it would not be viable to buy them without the discount.

For example, banknotes, which often cost about 40p each and where the p&p is £1.50. Here it is not worth buying from a seller unless a) you wnat several items and b) they offer a discount. (Of course, in these circumstances, they would never sell anything if they didn't).

Generally, if you know the incremental cost of posting is very low compared to the 'starting p&p', it's a good idea to discount, otherwise some buyers will steer well clear of you.

JohalaReewi

I recently bought multiple items on a BIN. The seller was offering discounted postage on subsequent items. The seller also had compulsory insurance. When I went to put in the BIN bid for the items, Ebay told me the total (discounted) postage, and also the insurance. At this point, the insurance amount was simply the single insurance charge. I clicked OK and then went on to pay at the checkout. At this point, the total amount to pay had gone up somewhat because ebay was now multiplying the insurance by the number of items.

I queried this with Ebay who said I had to contact the seller because insurance was nothing to do with them. I pointed out it was Ebay software which calculated the values when making the BIN offer and also ebay software which calculated the amount at the checkout and I expected the values to be consistent. After a lot of emails in which ebay tried to claim it was the seller's fault, they decided that was how the ebay software worked and they were not going to do anything about it.

So, beware of compulsory insurance when buying multiple BIN!!