Ebay buyers...do you understand the rules for Ebay sellers?
By spalladino
@spalladino (17891)
United States
October 20, 2010 12:50am CST
My husband and I own a motorcycle shop. We also sell parts and accessories both at our physical location and on Ebay.
Since Sept. 9th. I have been dealing with an uninformed, nasty woman in Canada who has only been a buyer (with a rating of 12) while we have been both seller and buyer (with a rating of over 900) over a pair of leather chaps which is something a motorcycle rider wears in bad weather.
I go to great lengths to describe the items that we put on Ebay accurately and to include many pictures that the buyer can look at. I include specific information...size, measurements...whatever is helpful to the buyer so that he/she can make an informed decision and I respond to all questions promptly. We have a decent return policy...contact us within 3 days of receiving the item if you are not satisfied and you can return it for a refund of your purchase price...but you pay for the return shipping and we do not refund the shipping charge you paid when you purchased the item. Shipping costs go to the Post Office or UPS...not to us.
The first issue with this customer was with our handling charge. We charge $5 domestic and $10 international because, with international shipping I have to actually go to the post office and spend my time filling out the customs forms. The charges are clearly stated in all of our ads. This woman initially accused me of offsetting a low auction price with an unfair shipping price. I explained the Handling fee, which Ebay allows, to her...telling her that we have expenses related to selling such as purchasing boxes, tape, etc. I also offered her a refund...twice...but she paid through pay pal so I sent her the chaps.
She left positive feedback on Ebay but said that the chaps were tight at the top. I left her positive feedback as well and sent her a message that they're supposed to be tight (to keep the rain out) and informed her that leather stretches as you wear it. The very next day she demanded a full refund of not only all of her money but the cost of shipping the chaps back to her AND she filed a dispute with paypal, accusing me of cheating her and claiming that the chaps were boys chaps which I auctioned off as men's.
I did not play with this person. I escalated the dispute to a full claim with pay pal because, as a long time seller, I knew that I could provide evidence by doing that. I uploaded the original invoice for the chaps when I purchased them from my vendor along with a lot of other evidence. In the meantime this buyer sent the chaps back to me since I'm assuming she was certain that pay pal would agree to refund all of her money including the return shipping by certified mail. Once I had the chaps back I uploaded pictures of my husband...who certainly is not a boy...wearing the chaps along with photos using a measuring tape to prove that the chaps were as described and were not little boy's chaps.
Needless to say, pay pal ruled in our favor and not only have our funds related to this purchase been released back to us but I am in possession of the disputed chaps which, technically, belong to this woman. If she wants a refund I will refund her the purchase price only...which I would have done before I was forced to deal with all of this drama. If she still wants them she is going to have to pay me for a second shipping and...yes...a second handling charge because I will have to, again, pack them in a box for shipping and go to the post office to fill out the customes form.
So, Ebay buyers, are you aware of the rules for sellers on Ebay? Do you understand Packaging and Handling charges...do you believe they are fair or legitimate or no? We pay for our supplies...order boxes from someone who we have to pay and buy tape, popcorn and bubble wrap for shipping purposes. Ebay works hard to protect the buyers, which is great, but sellers are sometimes the victims of unreasonable buyers. What are your views?
1 person likes this
6 responses
@paula27661 (15811)
• Australia
20 Oct 10
I was very interested in your post because, not only I am an EBay buyer but I have been thinking about possibly opening an EBay store. I have never had any problems as a buyer, in fact I once purchased a USB cord for my cell phone which did not work; the seller happily sent me another one at no extra cost to me no questions asked and I was not even required to send the original one back! I appreciate what is involved in packaging and posting items to clients and I know that postage costs are not cheap. It is all listed up front before the purchase is made so the customer should really not complain about those charges! I appreciate how frustrating it must be as a buyer to keep all clients happy because, having worked with the public I can vouch for the fact that it is a near impossible task! Would you recommend selling on EBay? I‘ve heard some say it is not worth the cut the site takes...
@spalladino (17891)
• United States
20 Oct 10
If you have a product that people will buy, paula, as stine said you can earn by selling on Ebay. But, as she also said, you have to have a niche and be prepared to deal with some oddballs. We do enjoy selling on Ebay and the fees aren't that high, unless we sell a motorcycle or frame but those are high dollar items. There is definitely a market for what we sell..especially overseas where Harley Davidson parts are hard to come by, which is why we sell internationally. We're actually doing more business through the auctions than the Ebay store right now but do have customers that buy directly from there.
1 person likes this
@spalladino (17891)
• United States
22 Oct 10
That sounds like a good plan stine. Yes, I like Ebay's seller specials. We recently had a 2 day special on picture insertion fees so we took advantage of that.
1 person likes this
@jesssp (2712)
• Canada
21 Oct 10
Any time you buy anything on Ebay the price and the shipping are always clearly displayed multiple times before you commit to purchase - if you aren't alright with the amounts then you don't buy the thing. The end. I hate dealing with people like that and I'm glad (although not at all surprised) that you won the dispute. Sometimes shipping prices on Ebay do seem inflated, and even that's fine. If you don't like the price and the seller's policies (or EBAY'S) then don't press the button!
@spalladino (17891)
• United States
21 Oct 10
Some shipping rates have seemed inflated to me, too, and I don't like when a seller doesn't give you options but insists on something like Priority Mail or UPS only. Some stores do that, too, and it's very irritating. I'm still waiting for her to contact me because I sure don't want to contact her! If I don't hear from her in a few weeks I'll have to contact Ebay and ask them how long I have to wait before putting them back on.
@dragon54u (31634)
• United States
20 Oct 10
I have always understood the charges even before I began selling, which I no longer do but eBay was certainly a wonderful place to offload some things and make some money a few years back.
Most people don't think. They think handling is handing it over to UPS at your door or some such thing. Most have never run a business and don't know how much money is lost when you have to drive to the post office or UPS. They figure you had the boxes in the attic and tape doesn't cost that much. Wrong!
The ones I won't buy from are the blatant overchargers--$5 for the item and $50 for shipping and handling. These mostly are items from abroad so who knows what their expenses are...many in the U.S. also do this and I won't consider them. A charge like yours is valid, their is not (in my opinion).
Sorry you had to deal with a person like that. Some people just aren't happy no matter what you do and you apparently went to great lengths to satisfy her.
@spalladino (17891)
• United States
20 Oct 10
I've seen those high shipping charges, too, and never consider buying items from people like that. Ebay's shipping calculator makes it convenient for buyers to see what the charge will be and some even opt for Priority over Parcel Post if the difference in cost isn't much.
In one of my email conversations with this buyer she told me that buying boxes was bullsh*t because I could pick up boxes anywhere like behind grocery stores. I think that's where she got the ratty little box she crammed the chaps into when she returned them to us but we do too much business to be dumpster diving for boxes! 
So, now that we have this woman's money *and* the chaps I guess I'm going to have to deal with her again. After that, she's going to be blocked.
So, now that we have this woman's money *and* the chaps I guess I'm going to have to deal with her again. After that, she's going to be blocked.
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
20 Oct 10
hj spalladino I thank you for the information about sellers as I was a little teed off at ebay for the large shipping and handling fee. I bid on a large package of Sue Grafton A to Z mysteries paperbacks.the price
the seller was reasonable and I thought this is great but the shippping and handling came to more than the paperback deal cost. But now I realize why the shipping and handling cost as they did. This is a great discussion
as it tells the whole story about buying and selling on E Bay.
@spalladino (17891)
• United States
20 Oct 10
Thanks Hatley...I'm glad I was able to share some information with you. Just make sure the handling charges are reasonable because some sellers are less honest than others and might try to overcharge you.
@millertime (1394)
• United States
22 Oct 10
I totally understand where you are coming from here. Some people just can't be reasonable at all. They just don't understand what's involved. That's one of the problems of being in business, you have to deal with unreasonable people once in a while. I have been spending a lot of time on ebay lately and for the most part, I have had great service from the sellers. I only had one slight annoyance from a seller that I bought two items from. I had done this recently with several other sellers and I had been given a break on the shipping charge because of shipping both items in the same box. I asked this seller for a discount on the shipping and he sent me a reply that said, "I checked with the post office and it is the same, regardless of qty. Sorry".
This basically says he could ship both items for the price of one but he was still going to charge me individually or basically double what it will cost him.
Now, I'm not going to complain and I'm not going to give him negative feedback. I just went ahead and paid the bill and the $20 shipping charge for two small items. After all, I did buy both items individually with the shipping charges listed and he's not obligated to give me a discount like every other seller did. I just won't buy from him again. All the other ones got saved in my favorite sellers list and I will do business with them again, but he lost my business. But hey, that's how business works.
Well, hopefully, your ordeal with your wacky buyer will be over soon and you can concentrate on your good customers. Send me a message with your ebay seller ID so I can check out your store.
This basically says he could ship both items for the price of one but he was still going to charge me individually or basically double what it will cost him.
Now, I'm not going to complain and I'm not going to give him negative feedback. I just went ahead and paid the bill and the $20 shipping charge for two small items. After all, I did buy both items individually with the shipping charges listed and he's not obligated to give me a discount like every other seller did. I just won't buy from him again. All the other ones got saved in my favorite sellers list and I will do business with them again, but he lost my business. But hey, that's how business works.
Well, hopefully, your ordeal with your wacky buyer will be over soon and you can concentrate on your good customers. Send me a message with your ebay seller ID so I can check out your store.
@EKOBERNIE (264)
• United States
30 Oct 10
I have been selling on ebay and I have also had problems with people. Once I returned the persons money and told them to keep the item but he still gave me a negative. I hate doing business with people with less than 100 rating because they still do not know how hard it
is to sell on ebay sometimes. I had 1000 positives and 1 negative and your rating is shot because some blank on ebay with a rating of 12 decides to give you a negative and ruins everything. I thing it is very hard to sell on ebay sometimes.
