I was looking at buying a DVD from Amazon.com which would cost a total of $56 including shipping, before I buy it though, I wanted to check some other sights I use to see what the general price was. I checked E-bay, found the DVD for $38 but with the weirdest shipping charges ever.
Or maybe they’re not, but Ive never seen this before.
Basically the DVD is priced at $38, the DVD is a 4-disc box set, so shipping is $7 for the first disc plus $3 for each additional disk, so shipping becomes $16. So the DVD now becomes $54. And then because the price has exceeded $50, you must purchase insurance of $15.
Total DVD price = $69
Is this normal? It seems like a rip off, Ive bought stuff online many times, and thats the weirdest shipping policy Ive seen.
I understand that a lot of people on eBay make there profits through increasing the shipping costs but this is bizarre, how can it cost an additional $9 to sell an ectra 3 discs. Its not like they weigh that much!
I also understand a lot of people on eBay dont like shipping abroad for fear they wont get paid etc etc. and maybe the charges are a deterrent, I dont know.
Not normal. Total ripoff. I have never had to pay extra shipping charges for a boxed set, which is only ONE item regardless of the number of discs included.
Ebay’s fee structure encourages inflating shipping charges, and sellers inflate them to offset the ebay fees (which are based on the final bid which excludes shipping.)
In other words, lets say you want to sell something that goes for $150. If you set shipping at $1, you would pay ebay fees for a sale of $149 (perhaps $25), which is pretty steep. If you set shipping at $149 you will pay ebay fees for a sale of $1, which is in the range of $0.25
(I don’t knw what the real percentage is, but the more the winnign bid it the more the seller has to pay in fees (excluding shipping)
It’s not at all unusual to get a set rate of shipping on the first item, then a reduced rate for additional items, it’s very common that power sellers will have a different shipping cost for box sets (they are bigger and heavier than single DVDs, typically), but treating the individual discs of a box set as separate items for shipping is just… wrong… I don’t suppose it’s against eBay rules, but I wouldn’t buy from someone with such a policy for shipping costs.
As Mangetout stated I think that the three dollars is for any additional items that you may also buy from them. The seven dollars is for the 4 box set.
Plus, if it’s a domestic (U.S.) shipment, the total shipping cost wouldn’t be more than about $6 (and that’s if you send it priority mail with delivery confirmation and insurance). Obvious padding.
It sounds like the seller had a policy in place for individual (i.e., one-disk) albums, and applied it stupidly to a box set.
You should ask the seller. but as a rule, if the shipping is listed in the description, it’s up to you to play or walk. Ergo, it’s not really a rip-off.
eBay shipping is always screwy. Last week I purchased two items for a grand total of $0.02 before shipping-- which was $3 for items tossed in an envelope with a 37 cent stamp.
$15 for insurance? Run, don’t walk away. Even for people stupid enough to ship things by US Maul, insurance is only $1.30 for the first $100, and with UPS, it’s included in the shipping charges.
Well, for starters, the number of times I’ve had to drive to the post office to pick up the “priority” package, because they refuse to deliver it if I’m not there and threaten to return to sender if I don’t come get it.
Another reason for inflated shipping costs is that it makes your item appear to be cheaper than the other ones. One example is when you shop (exclusively) for BuyItNow items. If you sort the results by price, the shipping fee isn’t included, so you’ll get a lot of items selling for $1.99 or even $0.01 and with a shipping cost of $29. They just move the actual price of the item to the shipping cost.
An easy way to deal with it is to set up your account to display shipping costs next to the item costs and to just go by the estimated total. Still, I wish eBay would do that automatically. Amazon zShops, for example, uses a set shipping fee table so people won’t get ripped off by this stupid scheme.
That’s why some of us rent post office boxes in the first place. Well, that plus not having to give your home address out to some nutjob selling stuff on eBay.
Why not use the postal service? Reason’s right there in my nickname for it - US Maul. Our own experience has been that if it’s fragile, they’ll destroy it and be utterly horrid in settling up the claim.
FWIW, I use FedEx. They’ve only damaged one item - a very large (4x6 feet) poster in a tube got bent and when I entered a claim, they paid up the $65 plus shipping within a week.
And, as Dr. Noisewater says, the USPS can be stupid about getting things to you. Not saying the other shippers are 100 % perfect, but UPS and FedEx have no trouble understanding the concept of “deliver it to the apartment complex office if I’m not home” Our postman can’t grasp this and leaves notes. When we write on the note to deliver it to the office, two days later, we get the note back saying the office was closed. After confirming that the office is sufficiently staffed that they don’t even close for lunch, I can safely say the postman is a lazy liar.
Like Mangetout and AsecretK said, I thought the price was additional shipping was for when you buy more then one item so I checked it again and
[quote=Dodgy Ebay Seller]
INTERNATIONAL AIRMAIL SHIPPING $3.00 FOR EACH DISC AFTER THE FIRST (example 2 Disc Set $10.95, 3 Disc set $13.95) INTERNATIONAL ORDERS OF $50 OR MORE MUST ADD AN ADDITIONAL $15.00 FOR INSURANCE
