why do ebay buyers do this to sellers?

[Hawaiian BamBam]

out of curiosity, why do some ebay buyers ding a sellers star rating for shipping, when then know BEFORE bidding or buying an item what shipping costs are up front? my thought as a buyer and seller, is if you dont like the shipping costs before buying/bidding, then simply dont buy it. but why buy it/bid on it and then ding a sellers shipping after the fact? that just doesnt seem cool at all.

elbert

 

[mrmopar]

Just because it's upfront doesn't make it fair, reasonable or right. I have never personally done that to a seller, but it's in your right as a buyer to grade a seller on those categories, including how reasonable shipping costs are. If a seller is one of those guys who charges $6 for a single card and it comes in a PWE, YES, they deserve 0 stars even if they are up front about it. That is not reasonable, but maybe the buyer was willing to suffer the fee to get something they needed/wanted.

Same goes for any excuse: "I can't ship item for 2 weeks due to my college finals schedule." Well guess what...maybe you shouldn't have listed it now and perhaps waited until you were done with your finals and able to ship quickly.

"Card may not grade the same for you as me, because I am legally blind in my left eye." So, that gives the seller the right to offer something with an inflated grade and have no penalties?

My examples are ridiculous, but it proves a point. Sellers need to be responsible to earn a positive reputation. Many have done it and still do. It's not hard to do when you are reasonable and professional.

 

[GotMelky]

Kind of piggy-backing on the above - if you charge me $4.00 for a couple of cards and stuff them into a penny sleeve together and put them in a single top loader, throw them in a bubble mailer without taping the top, and wait a week to get the card out. You are going to get dinged...

 

[Hawaiian BamBam]

true, those are some great points, now that im thinking about it. i paid $3.00 for shipping one time and the seller put the card into a bubblemailer and sent it with no penny sleeve, no top loader, no cardboard protecting git, just the card placed in the bubble mailer.(i also had someone do the same thing with a pwe once) i remember also one time some one sent me a message saying that they are going to give me 3 stars for shipping because i charged them $3 to ship in a bubble mailer with delivery confirmation(card was nicely secured)

elbert

 

[GotMelky]

There are also folks out there who will never be pleased no matter what you do...

 

[cubsfan203]

When I pay $3 shipping, I'm expecting a card in a bubble mailer, with a penny sleeve and top loader and delivery confirmation. When I pay outrageous shipping charges and the seller sends me my Hank Aaron vintage card in a PWE with a soft top loader and no tape and it shows up only half way in the top loader then they get the 0.

 

[metsman1986]

It's like grading trades if you think about it.................My lower grades are for trades that are postage due...............It's not the $.24 cents that got shorted, it's that I have to stand in a line for 30 minutes to pay the one PO teller, when there should be three, to get my cards that I should've received on friday, not monday when I'm picking them up......................Sorry for the rant..............

 

[cletus_83]

I think you will see less of this now that eBay will be taking a cut of your shipping as well... a lot of people probably did this to get around some of the eBay final value fees, but if the final value fee will now include shipping, what's the point of trying to make money on the shipping?

 

[dp33]

I don't think ebay's new policy will have that effect. If I now get charged a 9% fee on $2 shipping, how am I going to make up that 18 cents? Charge $2.50 for shipping. Still doesn't look completely unreasonable to a buyer, yet now I've made 25 cents more on my auctions than I used to. Anyone charging $3 or more for shipping is probably already getting dinged for shipping ratings, so I don't see this new policy discouraging them from just raising their shipping rates higher.

 

[abeabe]

I think $3 or under is generally accepted as fair shipping rates for a card, I think once people start asking for $5, they are just killing their owns bids. Many, many buyers wouldn't bid on that card on principle. Hence that same seller having a $3 shipping rate would sell his card for more, because he'd have more people fighting for same card vs few who are willing to pay $5 to have a $2ish shipment.

 

[Hawaiian BamBam]

just got something in the mail from ebay today, looks like they are pushing HARD to convert sellers to offer FREE shipping. i think in the next couple years we will see a transformation in our hobby where FREE shipping is the norm and expected. just my gut feeling on the way ebay is seeming to lean toward.

 

[RyanL24]

I can understand why people do it. The shipping is $3, and you know that before you bid, but you don't know how the card will be shipped until you receive it. There is a certain card I love, there are 25 in the world and I'm trying to get all 25. One showed up on ebay, but the shipping was $7. I did not feel this was a reasonable rate to charge for shipping, but at the same time I want all 25 so I didn't want to let this one go. I bid with the intention of knocking his stars down a bit. It's kind of like taxes... I knew I would have to pay them before I got a job, but I can't just not have a job just because of taxes. None of that removes my right to complain about taxes.

Anyway, in the end, my card was shipped in a screw down in an Exquisite box, which was put in a priority mail box, and insured. It almost cost the seller $7 to ship the item. I gave him 5 stars, because he totally made the shipping worth $7.

 

[mintman2]

There are also folks out there who will never be pleased no matter what you do...

AMEN !!

I sent cards to the wrong person and was unable to track down their cards so I offered full refund including postage to ship back to me and they left some 1's.

The one before that the buyer said they were unhappy with card condition so I apologized for any inconvenience, immediately issued a complete refund AND told them keep the card. Guy proceeds to leave me a neg and all 1's on stars.

 

[RyanL24]

dang mintman, that second story is sad. For the first story though, I think if they leave you a positive and some 1's, you can get the 1's removed...

 

[mintman2]

dang mintman, that second story is sad. For the first story though, I think if they leave you a positive and some 1's, you can get the 1's removed...

unfortunately it was a neutral and 1's

 

[theplasticman]

I kinda think it should be broken out into:

Shipping price
Shipping quality