Been ripped off by postage on ebay?

Shipping isn't just postage. Depending on what I ship items in I have to purchase packaging materails. As another commentor mentioned, some pad a little in the price to cover time spent going to the post office or UPS or whatever. If you see a huge shipping amount on an item (like 5 times more than what it should cost from your example), the seller is likely trying to cheat ebay and/or the buyer. It is against ebay rules to charge unreasonably high (mostly because they don't want you dodging their fees/revenue source)... Here is the ebay policy (including examples of violations of the policy): http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-shipping.html

Very often sellers will charge large amounts for postage so they can list their item for a small "buy it now" amount - say 99 cents to lower their ebay charges. It doesn't bother me - i always check what the postage is before bidding. Also I always assume that the seller adds a bit to the postage for their trouble.

They jack up the shipping to avoid paying the expensive ebay fees. For not only starting the auction up but also the final selling fees (and they just went up again). I always take the shipping costs into account. If I feel that it's too much then I'll buy from another seller. I sell on ebay and I know what most things should cost to send. Now if the price for the item is really low then that's different. I usually know about what I want to pay for an item with shipping included and go from there. And I over charged really bad once when I first started selling on there. As soon as I got home I sent them a refund for the overcharge. You can always leave neg or netural feedback telling why if you want.

Can you imagine, if you were a seller on e-bay and you were selling a few things, let's say 45 items in a week. Now, you COULD opt to go with the USPS priority mail and send items out reasonably quickly, within 3 days of close of sale, and have your items picked up from you house. OR you could opt to allow the buyer to choose their method of shipment. You end up with 15 different methods of shipment going all over the place. Wouldn't that be FUN to keep track of? Now, I have dabbled in selling on e-bay and I can tell you that shipping is the LEAST fun part of the whole process. And I can tell you with absolutely certainty that I would NEVER offer options on shipping. I have my preferred method, which I list very plainly for buyers in my auction listings and I tell them exactly how much the shipping and handling charges are in advance. And no, I have never charged 20 bucks for shipping something that would cost me 3.95 to ship and anyone would an ounce of scruples wouldn't either. The lack of scruples with sellers is the problem there. It's not about shipping options, its about people not having any qualms about ripping people off. In my research on e-bay I've often found that sellers will bottom line their starting price and include their costs plus a small profit margin in their shipping and handling charges and then list their item for .99 cents, making it look like their giving someone a great deal when they're just using that minimum bid to lure people. E-bay is very much a buyer beware market. I once was browsing through e-bay for hand bags... I'm a total junkie, especially for pink bags.... anyway, I came across this really cute bag that was made from Rolling Stone magazine covers with Angelina Jolie on them. The starting bid was .49 cents. The shipping and handling, however, was 49.99!!! I was so apalled that I wrote the seller a huge nasty-gram about ripping unsuspecting buyers off. That, in my mind, is just dirty business.

Well, I don't have any horror stories, but those hefty shipping prices on ebay is one reason why I don't shop there anymore. The teaser auction price gets you in, but after bidding, then postage, I find that I don't always get a good deal. So unless the item I want is so rare that I can't find anywhere else, I don't shop at ebay.

but is this not to ensure the seller gets a fair price for the item, i once saw a brand new pc being auctioned off at 1p but then i noticed the postage to be about £499, obvously it doesnt cost that much to ship, but you dont expect to get something like that for 1p

That is the biggest reason why I don't ever buy anything on ebay anymore. I used to get a good amount of stuff, but then the increased shipping happened. I remember the good ol day of ebay when you would buy something. And I am talking about something small nothing over 10 pounds. And you would only have to pay for priority mailing through the US postal service. $3.20... you were told you would pay $3.2o in postage and that is what you did. Now a day you buy the same thing for the same price and you will have to pay $10 in shipping andthey still ship it the same way... so that means $10 - $3.20 = $6.80 in the sellers pocket... what a crock!

Its the biggest scam on Ebay. I usually just don't bid if I think the seller is charging to much for postage. I think they place the bid really low, and up the postage to compensate for the shortage. When I list an item, I list it for what I think is the value, instead of trying to compensate by overprice postage.

You do have to watch the shipping prices on ebay...many are too high so you know they are shifting the tiem's cost to that shipping fee. I think you SHOULD be able to request a specific shipping carrier to control that. I have started looking for free shipping first, then limiting where my searches focus. I think I might start doing comparison pricing on what is listed as the shipping cost and then wha te price is on the UPS, FEDEX or what ever site for the shiping method that's listed. Then send a little note to the seller about the difference!!!

hi, i sell a lot on ebay, and i buy a lot! i am from holland and i buy a lot from the U.K. i always look at the postagecosts, and i decide what my maximum is and i never buy something when they ask too much for sending! so if you are smart you keep a list of postingcharges, and if somebody asks too much you can always ask him before you bid why he/she is asking so much shippingcosts! one person said to me: well don't bid if you don't want to pay it! so i didn't!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I buy and sell on ebay. When I am buying something I always check the shipping price before bidding. NOw I do know that you have to pay other charges for shipping. Like when I'm selling sometimes I may have a box but sometimes I dont, So sometimes I have to make the shipping and handling more because of the cost of materials. I dont mind paying more for shipping than the actual cost as long AS IT IS NOT TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much know what I mean?

Ohhhh yeeeeah! Now, I realize that many call it shipping and handling...and that they have more expenses beyond the actual price to mail...such as gas to drive to post office, stocking/storage fees etc. I don't get angry when they increase the shipping by a nominal amount to cover those types of expenses. What burns my buns is, for instance, the time I bought ONE BASEBALL card for my husband. The seller charged me $5.95 to ship the card. So I assumed (and yes, I know what happens when one assumes) it would be shipped priority mail and be in my hands in a few days. The card arrived 2 weeks later via MEDIA MAIL...with postage charged clearly marked as......Seventy-nine cents!!!!!! I was so angry I could have choked a bear!

It doesn't bother me either - you have to look at it before you bid and add that in to the purchase price - that way you aren't supprised when you get the bill.

People do this to avoid the final value fees ebay charges on all auctions. It is against policy however, and if reported ebay will reomove the auction, and depending on their status, warn or suspend the seller. If the difference isn't too big, then you must also remember that they are also charging for the box, packaging materials and their time and gas to get to and from the post office.

My husband and I order off e-bay all the time and yes sometimes the shipping is higher then what they pay. But not as high as you show. I just look at it as shipping and handling. Thing is most forget that boxes envelopes have to be bought. Also if they are wrapped in bubble wrap then there is the gas to take it to the post office many things are involoved in mailing one package.

I hate when sellers do that. I'm a fulltime ebay seller. I buy all my supplies, at my own cost pretty much. Every once in awhile I may make $1 on postage, but it's never really a dollar. After my supplies, it's more like $0..Even though from the label it may seem like I made something. The reason sellers do this is because Ebay is charging way too much money now. They keep raising the fees, so this is the workaround solution people have come up with. Ebay has finally implemented a rule that you can report what you consider excessive shipping. They may, or may not, do something about it. All you can do is report and see. Always check similar listings to see what their s&h charge is, and never be taken by someone who doesn't write the s&h in the listing.

I am sure you will enjoy my first selling experience on Ebay. I sold my laptop for parts and I had a winning bid by this guy in England and wanted me to ship it too Nigeria. He sent a fake paypal page stating that I had $180 for my laptop and $200 for the shipping. It all seemed sketchy to me so I called into paypal and they informed me that the email was a fake and that the guy hacked into someones ebay account. I would have been out a laptop and $200 bucks!Finally I sold it to another legit person and I stated the the shipping would be $30 when it cost me approx $20 with bubble wrap and all. I believe in Karma so I sent my buyer the difference and he was very appreciative. It would be nice to recieve that same treatment.

the ebay site have been ripped off the amt at their price of sale is 2 much heavy and shipping charges xtra

I have gotten ripped off on shipping one time on Ebay, and that was the last time. Now, I check shipping rates BEFORE I bid, and if I think they are too high, I will not bid. Also, if the seller does not post their shipping rates, I will not bid, because I do not want to get inflated shipping rates after the auction ends.

People do this to avoid the final value fees ebay charges on all auctions. It is against policy however, and if reported ebay will reomove the auction, and depending on their status, warn or suspend the seller. If the difference isn't too big, then you must also remember that they are also charging for the box, packaging materials and their time and gas to get to and from the post office.