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

[Luvchefmic]

Where can I find a phone number for eBay, to talk to a live person ? I've got about $15.00 sitting there ( long ago seller way before PayPal was the norm) and get a statement every so often telling me I have a credit but no way to reply to that email I can't find any number on the site Can anyone help ?

To the OP, my "gut" says get out of the sale If the seller is blaming everyone else, than I think the seller is going to be hard to deal with if the item arrives with a problem

 

[ellone]

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.

The only thing it may do is block him from buying from sellers who have their buyer preferences set up. Like block buyers who have 2 or more strikes in the past 6 months. But as for eBay, they do nothing with the strikes.

 

[MinnieLovesMickey12]

Sellers can NOT leave negative feedback for buyers, no matter what happens.

You cannot change the shipping charge after a sale, you must honor your shipping charges in your listings.

The Ebay rep didn't know what they were talking about.

The seller can open a non paying bidder case but when the buyer tells her side of the story, that the seller upped the shipping by $10 they will close the case with no strike against the buyer.

Having strikes doesn't mean anything anymore. They absolutely do NOT close anybody's account over it. I think you have to have a TON of them in a short amount of time before they even send you a warning.

But they also can't FORCE the seller to eat it on shipping charges.

Seems to me like the seller is trying to charge more for shipping to help pay his Ebay fees, not because the item actually is going to cost more to ship it.

I would back out and tell the seller he needs to relist the item and that you won't be paying the additional shipping.

You can also go ahead and pay for the item with the original shipping...the invoice that Ebay sent you right after the auction ended should have the original shipping in it. You can pay that and then if the seller doesn't ship it, YOU can open a case against THEM.

If this is a one of a kind item that you will never be able to find any place else then you may have to just pay more and pay what he is asking.

I had a similar situation happen to me one time, which is why I don't ship internationally anymore. I had Ebay calculate the shipping fees and it charged WAY TOO LOW so when I went to print a shipping label it wanted me to pay 3 times more than the buyer had paid.

I simply emailed the buyer and told them Ebay didn't charge the right international shipping fees and that they could either pay the difference in shipping or we could cancel the sale and I would relist the item. I wasn't going to eat it on $25 extra worth of shipping charges on a $40 item.

They paid the extra and I shipped it.

I stopped shipping internationally because Ebay never calculates the shipping right.

 

[tzeitel]

Personally I would not trust this person. I would just tell them that since he raised the shipping after you won the item - which is against Ebay rules - it is now more than you wanted to spend on this item and that you would rather cancel the transaction.

No one can force this person to sell/send you the item so just let it go. But I would leave negative feedback.

I have been in his position (sort of) - I screwed up a listing and put that the item weighed 1lb instead of 10lbs . Plus the winner was from Canada making even more expensive. The shipping was more than what the item sold for. I apologized and begged for the buyer to let me out of the transaction - she was super nice and actually bought the item when I relisted it with the correct weight. I think the big difference is that by then I had over 500 transactions under my belt and owned up to my mistake - the buyer knew it was an honest mistake.

 

[bigblock396]

Well, I got another nasty note from the seller. Basically he said take the increased cost or he was going to cancel the listing. He said he was an old man, didn't understand computers, limited Social Security, etc. Finally realized there was no reasoning with him. Just for my own piece of mind, I called eBay again. Got a much better representative (one I could understand) but still no luck. She said I could cancel the auction without any "dings" on my account for non-payment and that yes, a seller is not allowed to change the shipping but they could not make him change the shipping back to $15.02. So what good are the rules if eBay won't enforce them. Can you imagine the things some sellers could do with shipping charges based on what I was told.

Her suggestion was to pay the bill and then after I received the item, to open up a case against him and that I would probably get the $10 back. I don't hold much hope of that happening but I might. Kinda depends on when the item gets delivered and if it's in perfect condition or not. Probably will just chaulk it up to getting screwed over for an additional $10.

 

[ellone]

Well, I got another nasty note from the seller. Basically he said take the increased cost or he was going to cancel the listing. He said he was an old man, didn't understand computers, limited Social Security, etc. Finally realized there was no reasoning with him. Just for my own piece of mind, I called eBay again. Got a much better representative (one I could understand) but still no luck. She said I could cancel the auction without any "dings" on my account for non-payment and that yes, a seller is not allowed to change the shipping but they could not make him change the shipping back to $15.02. So what good are the rules if eBay won't enforce them. Can you imagine the things some sellers could do with shipping charges based on what I was told.

Her suggestion was to pay the bill and then after I received the item, to open up a case against him and that I would probably get the $10 back. I don't hold much hope of that happening but I might. Kinda depends on when the item gets delivered and if it's in perfect condition or not. Probably will just chaulk it up to getting screwed over for an additional $10.

No, you can't open up a case after you receive the item to get your $10 back. Cases can be opened up for item not received or not as described. This doesn't fit into either of those. You are getting some awful customer service reps.

Truthfully I would walk away from this one. Is this really something you can't get elsewhere?

 

[VMKYouAreMissed]

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

I echo this.

 

[bigblock396]

No, you can't open up a case after you receive the item to get your $10 back. Cases can be opened up for item not received or not as described. This doesn't fit into either of those. You are getting some awful customer service reps.

Truthfully I would walk away from this one. Is this really something you can't get elsewhere?

Totally agree with you on opening up a case. It sounded kinda strange. IMO, once I paid, it means I agreed to the additional shipping. I looked at the resolution option and I noticed there were very limited options for filing a claim.

As far as walking away, this item was a collectors edition that you can not go out and buy anywhere. It's rare to find this exact anniversary model in such great shape. Luckily I did get it for a reasonable price so I'll just swallow the $10 increase but I'm still not happy. I'll reflect that in the feedback after I receive the item. Hopefully if he tries to sell anymore items, other buyers will be aware of his shady practices.

 

[sbtrfly74]

I guess ebay can only keep up with so much. They have to deal with scammers 24/7 not saying he is but I wouldnt buy the story either. I had a guy once who was reselling the same Autographed Album that arrived smashed over and over and would take so long with the resending it back to him the 30 days of getting money back from paypal would run out... lesson learned.

I wouldnt pay him, let him relist it with the proper shipping and put him on your favorite sellers list. Watch for it and rebid if you really want it.

ETA just saw your above post.

 

[bigblock396]

Well, I got a surprise email today. I paid last night just so the entire situation would be over and we would get our item. This afternoon I get an email from the seller saying he was sending back the $10 with a note explaining why. Assume that he was sending the $10 with the item. Will wait and see. Boy, this sure surprised me after the nasty message he sent me last night.

 

[Imzadi]

Well, I got a surprise email today. I paid last night just so the entire situation would be over and we would get our item. This afternoon I get an email from the seller saying he was sending back the $10 with a note explaining why. Assume that he was sending the $10 with the item. Will wait and see. Boy, this sure surprised me after the nasty message he sent me last night.

He probably did his own research. Found the policies that state he canNOT change the auction or raise the prices/shipping stated after the auction is over. And he learned he cannot give negative feedback, meanwhile you can.

However, I'd keep an eye on when/whether the item will really arrive. He's a NEW Seller, with a one of a kind collectible, then he raises the shipping? So you pay another $10.

I'm kind of the suspicious type. I'd be worried that the item arrives at all, and he didn't' try to walk away with as much money as possible. I hope you paid with PayPal, where you can get the money back if the item never arrives. And he's not just stalling you by now sending a nice letter.

 

[sbtrfly74]

If you paid with paypal just watch the timeline... if the item takes too long to ship or dont receive a tracking number asap then after about 2 weeks I would file a claim.. jic like the pp said he is new and seems a little suspicious.

Grats on your new collectible.

 

[bigblock396]

Thanks for the great advice. Checking the tracking number on eBay this morning and it shows the post office has posession of the item. Yep, I paid through PayPal.

In my gut, I don't feel like he was trying to do anything underhanded or sneakey. I just think since he was a new buyer, he didn't know what he was doing. He was a "crotchity old man" and didn't understand the fees involved with eBay or how to ship items and he expected to get what he paid for his item when he bought it. Since my item was a very large box and he just used eBay's shipping calculator, that screwed him up. Since he was selling 3 different versions of this collectible, I'm wondering if the other 2 buyers realized that he raised the shipping price and how did they handle it. Oh well, thankfully it's almost over now.