Combined Shipping, what do you think?

[mrmopar]

I recently came across a seller who was listing cards at $0.01 each opening bid with $1.89 s/h per lot. Combined shipping was not allowed.

Now assuming each card sells for only 1 cent, the real cost delivered is $1.90. Each card sold actually costs someone $1.90. Assuming the seller listed 10 cards and they were won by 10 different people, the seller pays virtually no final value fees and if he can deliver the cards as cheaply as possible (PWE), he spends no more than $4.40 to ship them all clears a little over $1 per card with listing fees and misc costs built in as well.

Now let's say, one person grabs up all 10 cards. Total cost $19.00. Same theory applies for the final value fees, but now the seller can mail one package for say $1.50 and clear another $3 or so more.

Do you believe that no combined shipping can be a two way street? Each lot is treated as a separate transaction, right? No combined s/h, so the seller expects $1.90 for each lot but has no control over how many different buyers win lots and still must ship each lot separately, right? Can a buyer not expect 10 packages to be sent to him if he wins 10 lots?

I know this is getting nitpicky and we are only talking a few bucks, but still...it seems like more people are trying to find an angle to pay as little as possible in fees and make the biggest return they can (which I don't necessarily hold against them), but now in this case, at the expense of the buyer.

The incentive to buy more could be eliminated if the seller won't combine the shipments and save the buyer s/h costs.

What do you think about this, either as a buyer or a seller who could be using or running into this same scenario. I'd guess sellers generally agree with the seller in this example and buyers may likely agree with me.

 

[superpieman]

if i emailed him and he refused to combine shipping i would ask for each card to be shipped seperatly in a padded mailer. it may seem unreasonable to expect 10 packages but if hes going to charge me for 10 then i would expect 10 different ones.

 

[sandman43103]

I agree with any practice the seller chooses...as long as they lay out their policies clearly in the listing.

The only seller I have dealt with that didn't combine shipping said that each card was already packaged and ready to go in it's own envelope. Since I only wanted three cards from, I went ahead with the purchase.

I received all three cards in one envelope. Of course I complained to him about his lie and his response was "F%$&@ off."

I left him three negatives, and eBay refunded the shipping for two of the packages. The seller was only around for a week or so after, and he had 30 or so negatives by then.

 

[cubsfan102003]

Do you believe that no combined shipping can be a two way street? Each lot is treated as a separate transaction, right? No combined s/h, so the seller expects $1.90 for each lot but has no control over how many different buyers win lots and still must ship each lot separately, right? Can a buyer not expect 10 packages to be sent to him if he wins 10 lots?

In cases such as this, one way to jab back, is to pay for each item separately via PayPal. That will of course tick off the seller, and may turn into a very negative transaction in the end. But I personally would want them all shipped separately, and I would pay for them all separately, just to prove a point.

I know this is getting nitpicky and we are only talking a few bucks, but still...it seems like more people are trying to find an angle to pay as little as possible in fees and make the biggest return they can (which I don't necessarily hold against them), but now in this case, at the expense of the buyer.

It may seem like only a few bucks, but over the course of hundreds, or perhaps thousands of transactions, it's a lot more than just a few bucks. It's fee avoidance, and most other sellers don't do it, so why should a few be able to get away with it? I don't see it as being at the buyer's expense, because the card could be listed two ways and still cost the same thing. $0.01 with $1.89 S&H, or $1.90 with Free S&H, and it still costs the buyer the same either way. What it does, is rip eBay off. Not that I am a real big supporter of eBay, but it's a business that is designed to make a profit. If enough people avoid fees like this, they'll have to raise fees to make up for it, in turn hurting the honest sellers who do it the way it was intended to be done.

What do you think about this, either as a buyer or a seller who could be using or running into this same scenario. I'd guess sellers generally agree with the seller in this example and buyers may likely agree with me.

I'm primarily a seller, and an occasional buyer. I don't like to see it from either perspective.

Tom

 

[lprimus]

I believe that this is in violation of eBay's rules as this person is avoiding the FVF (Final Value Fee's). I would report him ASAP.

Jason