Challenged Seller On Perceived Excessive Shipping Charges. Should I Feel Bad?

[CrossingStar]

I won this RG neck on auction and the invoice came in with a $25 shipping charge which I thought was way too much. I've shipping entire guitars for $15-$16. MF only charges $13 for an item in the price range I paid. I felt I had to stand up. They relented and dropped it a few bucks. Now I'm thinking, was I wrong and/or stupid? I have images of them playing baseball with my neck now.

[fettouhi]

I don't really see why you should worry, there are a few people on **** that are trying to make an extra buck or two on shipping if the item doesn't at the expected etc.

Regards

André

[bob mclaughlin]

Originally Posted by fettouhi

I don't really see why you should worry, there are a few people on **** that are trying to make an extra buck or two on shipping if the item doesn't at the expected etc.

Regards

André

A FEW people??? Now that's funny!!

[CrossingStar]

To add, they did not list the shipping price in the original auction. It said something like "seller will calculate distance to buyer". So I emailed before, well before the auction ended asking what would shipping be. They said send zip code. I did. No response. I sent again. No response. I asked a differnet question. Response. Lo & behold the auction ends, I said to myself if it's more than $15 I am saying something. $25! I just thought something was fishy.

[frankfalbo]

Because of that, you did the right thing. If the shipping was listed in the auction at $25, or even $125 then you can't argue, because you know going into the bidding that's what it is. I know people are gouging on shipping lately, but you can also look at it as what someone thinks their time and effort are worth. For me, I only do actual shipping or sometimes I estimate. Lots of times I'll be too low, but I feel like they should be bidding truly on the item, not the shipping. But to a certain extent, it's really a waste of time to spend 1/2 hour packing and shipping something. So if someone wanted an extra $10 over actual shipping costs for the "handling" time, it's their right. But then I just might boycot the auction on principle.

[jemsite]

people charge high/excessive S/H so they can sell "lower". it's common in retail too... dirt cheap item to get a good froogle ranking and $35 S/H.

i don't see a problem with it - unless it is a total surprise upon winning the auction - but you should bid accordingly and inquire about EXACT S/H costs before bidding... glen

[Knightmeir]

Originally Posted by jemsite

people charge high/excessive S/H so they can sell "lower". it's common in retail too... dirt cheap item to get a good froogle ranking and $35 S/H.

i don't see a problem with it - unless it is a total surprise upon winning the auction - but you should bid accordingly and inquire about EXACT S/H costs before bidding... glen

I've seen acoustic guitars sell for $2.00 with a $40.00 shipping charge... of course the quality obviously isn't the best, but it's a good example.

[CrossingStar]

Yeah, I did inquire about shipping & $25 was a surprise. But like I said they wouldn't respond to that question ("How much is shipping?"). So maybe I should've blown off the auction because of that? I don't know. They have a 100% pos. rating and I just gave them the benefit of the doubt, thinking well, it will only be $13 or something.

[littlegreenman]

Where is he from? I assume the US, but something to keep in mind, if he's in Canada even, shipping rates are far higher. It costs me between $40 and $60 Canadian (about $32 to $50US) to ship a neck to the states depending on the state. One thing I do when I receive a package I've paid for shipping on is check the amount of postage right away, it's usually about 40% less than what I paid, people seem to think they should be paid for putting it in a box, at times that's true, but other times, not likely.

[CrossingStar]

They're from the U.S.
I guess I look at it differently. Some stuff I've sold, either through Jemsite here or auction I only charge what is actual shipping. So called "handling", I don't count that. What is that? Pretending it's a job and paying yourself what you think X amount of your time is worth to pack it? I suppose if you do it as a main source of income. Then again, just put it in the auction description : "shipping is this much, period." I just don't appreciate the way it was handled on their end, yes they knocked off a few bucks but the whole thing left me feeling like I was in the wrong.

[frankfalbo]

I'm definitely with you man, it's all about what's in the auction description. If they say it's based on location, then they should also say something like "actual shipping plus $x.00 handling. I've thought about that before, when its a pro guitar that requires lots of extra TLC to make sure it gets there safely. But then I think, why make it so complicated? So I just do like $25 flat ConUs or something. Sometimes overly complicated S/H details scare me off as a buyer, too.

[tobe]

Originally Posted by CrossingStar

MF only charges $13 for an item in the price range I paid.

I have no idea if you're in the right or wrong. But something many, many people need to understand is that commerial enterprises such as MF or whatever have COMMERCIAL accounts with UPS and Fedex, etc and get charged a different rate. After all they do quite a bit of shipping now don't they? and can get a better rate than if joe average guy goes down to mailboxes etc to mail something....just something to chew on later, Tobe

[CrossingStar]

Yes that's true. Still, I got the piece and what did the shipping sticker on the box say? $9.00. So that means they were going to charge me $16.00 for bubble wrap and their time. BS!

[fettouhi]

Originally Posted by bob mclaughlin

A FEW people??? Now that's funny!!

Regards

André

[gpenguins]

You are absolutely right to challenge him on the $25 if he never replied to your request for a shipping quote. I bought a pair of Edge anchors one time for something like 8 bucks, and the guy charged me another $10 to ship them, and he didn't even send them Priority Mail, I think the envelope said $.79 postage or something like that. When he first sent me that, I told him that was ridiculous, but he wouldn't budge, so I had no choice thanks to the fact that evilbay only protects sellers and not buyers (a whole other problem...). The funny part is that he then had the cojones to ask me to leave him positive feedback.

Which brings me to another thing. As you mentioned, the seller may only have positives, but that may be because these guys always do what I call feedback ransom. You complete your part of the transaction, you've paid in a timely manner and all, and they won't leave feedback for you until you do it for them. So, you know if you leave them negative, they will leave it negative for you somehow, so you don't bother, that's what I end up doing anyway. A lot of times people will ask me why I haven't left them any feedback, and they are surprised that I'm pissed that the "new" DVD I bought was a copy or something like that.