eBay Seller increased shipping charges after sale-eBay says its OK??

[bigblock396]

I just won a bid on eBay and when I went to pay for the item, I noticed the shipping was $25.02 instead of $15.02. I sent a message to the seller and he stated he had alot of eBay fees this week and it was very expensive. He called the Post Office this morning and found out what it was going to cost and it was more than he listed in the ad. He is a new seller, as of this week, so I sure he put information in incorrectly but should I have to pay for it now. He states in the third email that eBay figured it wrong. He's blamed everyone but himself.

I called eBay and they told me that I can't enforce the original listing and that the seller can change the shipping price after the sale. I found this ridiculous. They said that it's up to us to solve the problem. Unfortunately we really want the item but it irritates me that I should have to be more money due to his extensive eBay fees. Since he's a new seller, I don't think he had any idea of the cost of listing.

Does anybody have any idea how this should be handled. Do I just have to suck it up and pay the additional $10. He doesn't have anymore items listed so negative feedback won't hurt him.

 

[ohiomom28]

I would back out, but that's just me ;-)

Sent from my Galaxy S3 using DISBoards

 

[sam_gordon]

I just won a bid on eBay and when I went to pay for the item, I noticed the shipping was $25.02 instead of $15.02. I sent a message to the seller and he stated he had alot of eBay fees this week and it was very expensive. He called the Post Office this morning and found out what it was going to cost and it was more than he listed in the ad. He is a new seller, as of this week, so I sure he put information in incorrectly but should I have to pay for it now. He states in the third email that eBay figured it wrong. He's blamed everyone but himself.

I called eBay and they told me that I can't enforce the original listing and that the seller can change the shipping price after the sale. I found this ridiculous. They said that it's up to us to solve the problem. Unfortunately we really want the item but it irritates me that I should have to be more money due to his extensive eBay fees. Since he's a new seller, I don't think he had any idea of the cost of listing.

Does anybody have any idea how this should be handled. Do I just have to suck it up and pay the additional $10. He doesn't have anymore items listed so negative feedback won't hurt him.

I don't do much with ebay, so take this for what it's worth.

You called eBay. They said he's allowed to change the shipping price. Unless you can find something in their terms of agreement or something saying the shipping price can't change, I think you're stuck. You have three options that I see...

1) Offer an extra $5 (split the cost of the mistake). He'll either accept or not. If he does, you're done. If not, you're down to the last two choices...
2) Pay the extra $10 and get the item
3) Do a "no payment" and risk the negative feedback.

Now, I am curious... would you have offered an extra $10 for the item? If so, write this off as the cost it takes to get the item.

Yes, it sucks. But I don't think you have a lot of options.

 

[JessicaR]

If you can find the item for the price and shipping elsewhere do that. If not and you really want it just buy it. I don't see any other option. I guess you could offer to split the shipping difference with the seller and see if they go for that. I didn't know per eBay rules that a seller could change the shipping fee after the sale.

 

[sam_gordon]

Out of curiosity, was the $15.02 listed as an 'estimated' shipping charge or a flat rate? The .02 seems rather strange.

 

[lolainkent]

I've had a few eBay issues lately so I've gotten a bit familiar with their T&C's. I'm in the UK, but it clearly says this on the US site:

"Once the buyer has committed to purchasing the item, you can't change the terms of the sale.

Examples of prohibited behavior include:
Entering an amount for shipping costs when you're listing an item, and then indicating that you charge a different amount either in the item description or after the buyer has committed to buying the item."

I'd call eBay back and recite this to them, it comes from here: http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/selling-practices.html#policy - then click the Terms & Conditions link, it's right in the "What Not To Do" category.

 

[Albort]

I dont think they can just change shipping fees whenever they want...

If you absolutely need the item, its just $10. like what other say, see if you can do a split, $5, $5.

Check his/her feedback too and see if this is a user that commonly does this... and make sure you leave a negative review after receiving the item.

thats if, ebay doesnt do anything...

$25 seems a lot of money, but depends on what your shipping... i shipped a few ipads at upwards of $30 for UPS, and $19 for USPS... makes me wonder what the ebay seller would use and would ship the item at that certain cost. Amazon has a better shipping policy though...

 

[ellone]

A seller is not supposed to increase shipping costs after the auction. The ebay rep you spoke with was wrong. You probably spoke with someone overseas and they have trouble understanding what a person is asking them many times.


I personally wouldn't pay the increased costs. You can't make the seller honor the original shipping cost though.

 

[ColoradoMom!!]

If the new seller wants to sell again in the near future than I would think that he or she would be risking a lot to have negative feedback that reads "Warning - seller will increase shipping cost AFTER auction closes. STAY AWAY" or something of the sort. Of course they can leave negative feedback for you as well, but I don't think it would be as damaging.

I can't tell you the number of times I have eaten big $ on shipping because I under estimated it. BUT it was my bad, so I paid.

eBay wants you to try to settle yourself first - that's their #1 step, but if you call back and said you have tried, open a "case" and let them contact the seller.

BUT like everyone has said - if you want the item that bad, you may just need to do it.

 

[robinb]

The seller cannot raise the shipping price after the auction is over. Call eBay back.

 

[BlovesC]

Many sellers use eBay's built-in "shipping charge estimator" when they make a listing. They tell eBay the weight of their item and the zip code it's shipping from, and then it can calculate an 'estimate' based on the bidder's zip code.

These estimates are almost ALWAYS incredibly wrong. I've sold a lot of things on eBay recently, and every time I've used the shipping estimator for my listing, I've been underpaid. For example, the bidder checks out with an estimated shipping fee of $5.80, and then when I print a shipping label using the SAME weight, service, and zip codes used by the estimator, my ACTUAL shipping fee will be closer to $7, or over.

The safest way to avoid this, on a seller's end, is using flat rate priority shipping boxes. But very few people want to pay a minimum of $12 to ship cheap auction items!

Shipping is not cheap. I'm sorry you experienced an unexpected increase, but I don't think the seller was trying to scam you. If you're unwilling to pay, see if he'd be willing to relist the item and call it a day. I've forked out plenty of extra money in shipping fees, but I would NEVER pay $10 on one item out of pocket; between paying to ship the item I'm selling and eBay and PayPal fees, it wouldn't be worth a second of my time to auction anything.

 

[aggiemomx3]

I've bought from e-bay and have never encountered this problem. However, I would think that they would not be allowed to change the prices. It's a type of contract between you and the seller. This said you can rate the seller and warn others that the seller does change his prices. Ratings do count when shopping on e-bay. A bad rating may change his mind about charging you extra.

 

[Imzadi]

A seller is not supposed to increase shipping costs after the auction. The ebay rep you spoke with was wrong. You probably spoke with someone overseas and they have trouble understanding what a person is asking them many times.

I agree. The rep was either new, or doesn't know eBay's own policies.

I would just email the Seller back and state what this poster pasted below, with the corresponding link.

I've had a few eBay issues lately so I've gotten a bit familiar with their T&C's. I'm in the UK, but it clearly says this on the US site:

"Once the buyer has committed to purchasing the item, you can't change the terms of the sale.

Examples of prohibited behavior include:
Entering an amount for shipping costs when you're listing an item, and then indicating that you charge a different amount either in the item description or after the buyer has committed to buying the item."

I'd call eBay back and recite this to them, it comes from here: http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/selling-practices.html#policy - then click the Terms & Conditions link, it's right in the "What Not To Do" category.

 

[ellone]

I've bought from e-bay and have never encountered this problem. However, I would think that they would not be allowed to change the prices. It's a type of contract between you and the seller. This said you can rate the seller and warn others that the seller does change his prices. Ratings do count when shopping on e-bay. A bad rating may change his mind about charging you extra.

If you leave negative or neutral feedback but don't pay for the item and the seller opens a non payment case then the feedback will be removed. So this won't make him change his mind about shipping.

 

[aggiemomx3]

Of course the purchase would have to take place to make a rating. If he knows that a bad rating will follow the completed transaction, he may change his mind about the change of shipping charge.

 

[plummer925]

A couple people have said if you leave a negative that he/she would leave you one - sellers can NOT leave negatives on a buyers account.

That being said - I'd RUN away from this purchase.

 

[robinb]

A couple people have said if you leave a negative that he/she would leave you one - sellers can NOT leave negatives on a buyers account.

That being said - I'd RUN away from this purchase.

The OP *can* get a strike against her by eBay if the seller files a Non Paying Bidder case against her. She gets one free and then her account will be closed on the 2nd one. I would call eBay back and work it out so she doesn't get a strike against her if she refuses to pay.

 

[ellone]

Of course the purchase would have to take place to make a rating. If he knows that a bad rating will follow the completed transaction, he may change his mind about the change of shipping charge.

And how would he know? Any mentioning of bad ratings in eBay messages is threatening about feedback which easily allows the seller to remove the feedback with a quick call to ebay.


You as a buyer cannot mention leaving bad feedback if the seller doesn't do something.

Some sellers are even good about baiting buyers into mentioning feedback from buyers that seem as if the will leave a negative/neutral. They then get those comments removed.

 

[ellone]

The OP *can* get a strike against her by eBay if the seller files a Non Paying Bidder case against her. She gets one free and then her account will be closed on the 2nd one. I would call eBay back and work it out so she doesn't get a strike against her if she refuses to pay.

Not anymore. eBay hardly ever closes accounts with a lot of non payments. A strike really doesn't mean much anymore.

 

[robinb]

Not anymore. eBay hardly ever closes accounts with a lot of non payments. A strike really doesn't mean much anymore.

Well, that stinks. Some jerk stole $80 from me a couple weeks ago by agreeing to a Best Offer for some baseball tickets and then backing out because his schedule changed. I was at least hoping that he had a strike against him with I filed the NBP case. I can't even leave him negative FB to warn other sellers that he is a deadbeat.