Ebayers/Im i wrong

[Fast1one 10+ year member]

I agree with prowler, it doesn't matter if your not an employee of some company, the fact is someone is going to package the item, and some form of compensation should be made. Those of you who know economics know that every item sold has an opportunity cost, i see no problem trying to compensate for the loss of time as long as its reasonable.

Look at it this way, if a seller charges the buyer a handling fee for UPS to package the item, what is the difference? The name tag and badge on the shirt? Everyone and their mother knows that the seller can package the item a million times better than any UPS store, so why not charge a reasonable 5 dollars or so to get the job done? Its not going to kill the buyer any...Better than paying 10-15 for UPS to do it...

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

I agree with prowler, it doesn't matter if your not an employee of some company, the fact is someone is going to package the item, and some form of compensation should be made. Those of you who know economics know that every item sold has an opportunity cost, i see no problem trying to compensate for the loss of time as long as its reasonable.
Look at it this way, if a seller charges the buyer a handling fee for UPS to package the item, what is the difference? The name tag and badge on the shirt? Everyone and their mother knows that the seller can package the item a million times better than any UPS store, so why not charge a reasonable 5 dollars or so to get the job done? Its not going to kill the buyer any...Better than paying 10-15 for UPS to do it...

Perhaps the disagreement is over the amount then. I do not feel adding on 5 bucks to the shipping cost is unreasonable, at all. Heck materials alone could cost you that. But I got the feeling we were talking about more than a 5 dollar compensation here.

In all honesty, what's it take to package the average item? 10mins tops? But if you want to start adding in gas money, trips to the post office, etc... Id start calling foul.

Again, the buyer has no control over the seller's situation. Im all for being fair, but Id hate to see this turn into paying the seller bus fare, 3 hours round trip (hey the bus system is slow in his town), $3 for a roll of tape, $2.75 for the cardboard, etc etc.

It all boils down to what was agreed upon, or said, before any bidding occurred. I dont care if its a $10,000 handling fee, if the bidder knows and agrees before bidding, all is fair. But its those 'added on charges' after the fact, for time and 'effort', gas, etc etc that I dont agree with.

The UPS thing is a tough call. Personally, if I was too lazy to toss the item IM selling in a box, Id eat the fee UPS charged ME to box up the item. I would not attempt to pass that cost on to the seller, but maybe that's just me.

 

[Prowler573 5,000+ posts]

Here's an example of paying for someone's time...

The eBayer justonemoreamp who most of us are familiar with even if we haven't ever made a purchase from him has an oldschool SoundStream Tarantula amp up for auction.

The listing clearly shows $40.00 as the fee for shipping.

Do any of us here think it would/should cost $40 to safely package and ship that amp out? I for one certainly don't.

Yeah, it's a rather sizeable unit but I still cannot see it being $40 to ship from him to his buyer.

Oddly enough the current bid on that amp is $600.00+ with time left in the listing.

Will the eventual winning bidder complain about being charged $40 for shipping or do you think they'll simply PayPal whatever the winning bid + $40 to justonemoreamp and then sit back and await the arrival of their new bigass amp?

I think the latter is likely going to be the case...

While it is true that $40 charge is stated upfront so it isn't the same as the OP's situation it still amounts to the same thing happening, doesn't it?

At the end of this I still believe that the OP should have inquired about the shipping fees long before he actually did. Once the listing is in its final hours and you've thrown your bid into the mix if you end up the winner? It's a bit late at that point to call foul IMO.

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

Here's an example of paying for someone's time...
The eBayer justonemoreamp who most of us are familiar with even if we haven't ever made a purchase from him has an oldschool SoundStream Tarantula amp up for auction.

The listing clearly shows $40.00 as the fee for shipping.

Do any of us here think it would/should cost $40 to safely package and ship that amp out? I for one certainly don't.

Yeah, it's a rather sizeable unit but I still cannot see it being $40 to ship from him to his buyer.

Oddly enough the current bid on that amp is $600.00+ with time left in the listing.

Will the eventual winning bidder complain about being charged $40 for shipping or do you think they'll simply PayPal whatever the winning bid + $40 to justonemoreamp and then sit back and await the arrival of their new bigass amp?

I think the latter is likely going to be the case...

While it is true that $40 charge is stated upfront so it isn't the same as the OP's situation it still amounts to the same thing happening, doesn't it?

At the end of this I still believe that the OP should have inquired about the shipping fees long before he actually did. Once the listing is in its final hours and you've thrown your bid into the mix if you end up the winner? It's a bit late at that point to call foul IMO.

I believe I already answered all those questions in the post just above that one.
Why would someone complain about a fee stated before-hand and that they knowingly agreed upon when bidding? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/confused.gif.e820e0216602db4765798ac39d28caa9.gif

Stated up front, anything goes. That would cover your ebay example.

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

the fact is someone is going to package the item, and some form of compensation should be made. Those of you who know economics know that every item sold has an opportunity cost, i see no problem trying to compensate for the loss of time as long as its reasonable.

If you're going to make that argument; then the buyer should be reimbursed for the expenses related to receiving the item. In some instances the buyer has to drive to the post office to pick up an item. If not they still have to carry the item into their house. Their time is money, they should be reimbursed for this. Also, it takes time to unpackage and open the item and examine it. This too should be a reimbursable expense related to receiving the item.

Sounds a little ridiculous doesn't it? Not any less ridiculous then the seller charging for their time in relation to willfully selling an item over the internet knowing full well the requirements for packaging and shipping the item beforehand.

Also; I just spent 3 minutes and 27 seconds reading and responding to your post. My time is money. You owe me $5 immediately for my time and stress related from pushing the buttons on the keyboards. My paypal is squeak9798@hotmail.com

If not received within 24 hours you will be banned until payment is received.

Ofcourse, the banning takes more of my valuable time, so upon banning the fee will increase to $14.76

In short; I agree with Audioholic. If you are going to be selling an item; your time for packaging the item and delivering it to the shipping agent is worth abso-****ing-lutely nothing. Packaging and shipping the item is your responsibility, not a reimbursable expense, related to carrying through with an internet sale of that item. You chose to sell it on the internet. If you don't want to deal with packaging/delivery.....stick with your local newspaper's classifieds.

 

[tmoney 10+ year member]

if i known the shipping was going to be 45 dollars i would have never bid on it. i will never do this again; lesson learn. i dont think anyone will pay over 30 dollars to have an amp shipped and 30 dollars is pushing it.

 

[tmoney 10+ year member]

If you're going to make that argument; then the buyer should be reimbursed for the expenses related to receiving the item. In some instances the buyer has to drive to the post office to pick up an item. If not they still have to carry the item into their house. Their time is money, they should be reimbursed for this. Also, it takes time to unpackage and open the item and examine it. This too should be a reimbursable expense related to receiving the item.
Sounds a little ridiculous doesn't it? Not any less ridiculous then the seller charging for their time in relation to willfully selling an item over the internet knowing full well the requirements for packaging and shipping the item beforehand.

Also; I just spent 3 minutes and 27 seconds reading and responding to your post. My time is money. You owe me $5 immediately for my time and stress related from pushing the buttons on the keyboards. My paypal is squeak9798@hotmail.com

If not received within 24 hours you will be banned until payment is received.

Ofcourse, the banning takes more of my valuable time, so upon banning the fee will increase to $14.76

In short; I agree with Audioholic. If you are going to be selling an item; your time for packaging the item and delivering it to the shipping agent is worth abso-****ing-lutely nothing. Packaging and shipping the item is your responsibility, not a reimbursable expense, related to carrying through with an internet sale of that item. You chose to sell it on the internet. If you don't want to deal with packaging/delivery.....stick with your local newspaper's classifieds.

i guess thats why he said to just drop it, because he wasted my time also.