Is this cheating???

[SayItWithCards]

What the seller of the slippers was doing seems kind of immoral somehow.

[suestreasurecloset]

Don't bite the hand that feeds you! It is INDEED a way to cheat in my eyes too. Now the seller may not be aware of what kind of LONG TERM problem that this could have on EBID. I hope the seller who did this is reading this because just think about it for a minute. THIS SITE EBID has really done us the SELLERS and BUYERS a justice in that they are trying to keep fees reasonable & are SELLER friendly (BUYER too) I have done both so I am very happy with what they are trying to do. I KNOW that EBID needs more traffic but your backwards thinking will look bad on you. People aren't stupid. Shipping being so HIGH actually makes people NOT want to buy from you. Just take this for what its worth and do yourself a favor by just being an honest person, honesty does pay EXCEPT at GREEDBAY. Please lets help this company out so that we can put GREEDBAY at BAY once and forall or at least give them competition. Sincerely, Suseen Longley at SUESTREASURECLOSET
http://us.ebid.net/stores/suestreasurecloset

[JaBek1]

Excessive postage is somewhat of a subjective area. What constitutes excessive has been debated constantly and the fact remains that there are too many variables to set a hard and fast rule.

In this case, however, the inclusion in the listing of the statement regarding eBid not getting a portion of the postage would put this particular incident in the realm of intentional fee avoidance which, if I'm not mistaken, violates eBid rules and should be reported as such. Excessive postage has nothing to do with it in my opinion.

Dennis

[Rubysafira]

I'm primarily a buyer and get completely turned off if I see a low cost item with a very high shipping charge.

[JaBek1]

I'm primarily a buyer and get completely turned off if I see a low cost item with a very high shipping charge.

As a seller I whole heartedly agree with you. I really hate to see shipping companies making more money on my merchandise than I am. Unfortunately, I have very limited control over shipping costs. Where as the amount of the price of an item sold at auction is dependent on what bidders are willing to give for the item.
Dennis

[Rubysafira]

As a seller I whole heartedly agree with you. I really hate to see shipping companies making more money on my merchandise than I am. Unfortunately, I have very limited control over shipping costs. Where as the amount of the price of an item sold at auction is dependent on what bidders are willing to give for the item.
Dennis

Yes but that's not what I meant. For example, a .99 cent item with a shipping cost of 10.00 LOL There is no .99 item I can think of that would cost 10.00 to ship anywhere in the US.

[JudesNiceThings]

As a seller of books - sometimes I sell a book for 75p and the postage comes to £3+.

In that case, I put the weight of the item in the listing, so that buyers will know I'm not cheating!

[JaBek1]

Yes but that's not what I meant. For example, a .99 cent item with a shipping cost of 10.00 LOL There is no .99 item I can think of that would cost 10.00 to ship anywhere in the US.

Since a 99¢ starting bid can result in a 99¢ selling price. (Not quite what a seller selling at auction likes to see.) It could very well happen that an item sold for 99¢ ends up with a shipping cost of $10 which is about the cost for flat rate box Priority Mail if I'm not mistaken.

Of course, if the bidding went to $99 for the item the shipping cost would be the same. The price the item brings at auction doesn't relate to the cost of shipping the item which is determined, in large part, by the carrier. The actual price of the object is determined by the bidders. If only one person wants the item then it's the sellers misfortune, but the shipping cost still remains the same.

Dennis

[SalusLibrorum]

I've had a 99p (yes I was hoping it would go for more than that, but it didn't) auction of 40 tatty old sci fi paperbacks that cost £7.26 to send by courier. It would have been over £8 if I'd posted it by Royal Mail.

When you have heavy items, sometimes the postage is massive in relation to the cost of the item. It's a pain, but there isn't anything we can do about it.

[deltadelta48]

Buyers and sellers know the approximate cost of item and shipping. When they see $2 slippers with $15 shipping they do the math. Maybe slippers are light, so figure cost $3 or 4 to mail, so slippers should be worth about $10-11 by themselves. If they seem worth it, people will buy.
.
Absolutely wrong to pull this to get out of ebid fees but hard to prove. UNLESS of course, the dope actually confesses to the practice right in their listing! Gosh he did!!!!! How dumb is this guy? Are we supposed to snicker and buy to get back at "the man" (ebid management) because he will give us something in return? Shameful.

Even the US IRS (Internal Revenue Service - they collect our income taxes) is on to this trick. After all they caught Al Capone on income tax evasion. The $17 is considered income AND only the actual shipping cost (receipt) can be deducted.

No, they are not really $2 slippers that cost $15 to mail.