I’ve only used eBay a couple times, so I’m not completely up on all the etiquette involved. I recently purchased an item for my son’s birthday. The seller offered two methods of shipment - Priority ($25) or Parcel Post ($16). I chose the Parcel Post and paid for my item + shipping via PayPal. Five days later, I hadn’t gotten shipment notification, so I emailed the Seller asking if the item had been shipped. Two days later, I received an email from the seller saying, Yeah, it’s been shipped and by the way, shipping was $22, you can just send me the money via PayPal. I have still not received any notification through PayPal that the package has been sent.
WTF? Is that allowable? If the general eBay etiquette is such that shipping charges are variable, then I’ll wait until the package gets here, verify what the seller is saying, and go ahead and send payment. But it seems to me that if the seller gave me a shipping price, that’s what I should have to pay. What is the general rule for that? (The seller, by the way, has 99+ positive feedback with over 1500 sales.)
A lot of sellers don’t use Paypal’s shipping services, so I don’t think that (lack of Paypal notification) has any bearing on whether the package has actually shipped or not.
If you’ve paid the $16, you’re playing by the rules.
IMO if the package arrives and it did indeed cost $22 to ship, it would be a “good citizen” thing to send $6 more.
Assuming it’s being shipped USPS and if the shipper is not using a PC generated mailing label you will be able to see shipping price on the mailing label.
If a flat $ 16.00 shipping charge was specified it’s not up to you to make up for the seller’s miscalculation. I ship quite a bit on ebay and if I miscalculate shipping I eat the difference. You might want to re-read the listing to make sure it’s being represented as flat rate shipping.
When I sell on eBay, I almost always pay more for shipping than I charge the buyer. Recently it cost $24 to ship an item on which I charged $6 shipping (I’m terrible at estimating postage). I have never asked the buyer for one dime more than I initially charged. I just eat the difference.
Use www.usps.com or www.ups.com shipping calculators and you should be able to get very close to actual shipping costs to US and overseas. Both have places where you can enter in oversize package dimensions if necessary.
Hmmmm. I guess I’m within my rights not to pay anything more, but I could if I wanted. I think I’m going to wait until the package gets here and assess the situation. I don’t mind paying the additional if that’s what she really paid. I’m worried she’s saying that it shipped, but that she’s really holding onto it until she gets a few more dollars out of me. She doesn’t have very many negative comments, but all of them relate to overcharging of shipping. I’m not going to reply to her email until after I have the package in hand. If it doesn’t get here, I’ll take if from there.
I think I’m going to stick to regular companies from now on.
I wouldn’t let this one slightly abnormal experience put you off - and yes, it is abnormal. As mentioned above, sellers don’t have the right to do this (except if you’d requested some shipping option or destination that wasn’t offered, then all bets are off) - and it’s unusual even for sellers to talk to their buyers about it like this (far more usual for them to either eat the loss, or make up some lame excuse not to complete the transaction).
If you do decide to pay the extra, I recommend making it abundantly clear that you’re sending it as a ‘goodwill payment’.
If someone offered to mow my lawn for $20 and asked for $30 later because it took longer than they expected, I’d give them $20. You agreed upon a set price, you paid it, now its their turn to fill their end of the bargain. A bid on ebay is a contract that goes both ways.
J Cubed got it right in the first response. And I disagree with anyone saying it’s OK to send more money. It’s not a “goodwill” move. It’s a “sucker” move. Sounds like this person makes a habit of ripping off saps on eBay (according to what was said about her feedback). Don’t let her get away with it. If you get the package, good. If you don’t, leave negative feedback and report her to eBay.