MShipley88 wrote:     Yes....or rather, No:  There is no mention of a "handling fee" in the text of the auction or in the postage calculator.  It was attached entirely after the fact.

Mark  

So, the total postage is the shipping calculator fee, plus $4?

I would email him back and say, "I am confused...there is no mention of a "handling" fee in the auction. My high bid was based solely on the shipping calculator fees. I would have bid accordingly lower if I had known of the extra charge. Ebay sellers commonly list all fees up front so that buyers can adjust their bids accordingly."

Then wait and see what he says. At least this way, even if you do end up paying the fees because you want the item, he will know that he has caused you..."consternation".

Also, you could say something like, "However, I will gladly pay the extra $4 if you would be kind enough to autograph the item for me..."

For me the issue isn't the handling fee or the postage it's the fact that he got the charge after the auction ended. Its clearly an unfair charge but you have to pick your battles.

If you still feel like its a great deal even with the charge then take it. If you feel the $4 makes it a bad deal then argue. As long as I leave a purchase feeling good about it I'm okay.

Never look a gift horse in the mouth. You may not see another in this condition for another 20 years. Is 20 years worth $4?

zhowar wrote:He has 17 more auctions running.

Why doesn't everyone on the Acaeum ask him through Ebay about the handling fees? Something like, Question for Seller:

"I've heard that you charge unlisted handling fees after the auction ends. Is this true and if so, how much are these fees? Why don't you list them in the auction?"

sounds good to me. in the end $4 isnt really worth bothering with, but i think its the principle involved that someone just decides to do it, which i think is immensely unfair and i certainly would question it, unless i knew who it was.

Al

I actually had some snipes set up for his stuff. Gone now. I don't give a rat's ass WHO the seller is, I refuse to pay $4 for stuffing a freaking book in an envelope. DOn't want to hear whining about time, gas, blah blah blah. I do all that for free. I consider it a service to the buyer.
Tell him to screw off, man. I've seen at least 3 of those in the past few months. Another will come along.

If it is not in the listing, you are under no obligation to pay it. I know it is only $4, but it is pure padding. I have undercharged shipping way more times (overseas especially) and it sucks. But I have never asked anyone to pay more due to my miscalculation.

bbarsh wrote: I have undercharged shipping way more times (overseas especially) and it sucks. But I have never asked anyone to pay more due to my miscalculation.

Hmm, that sound very familiar.   You know, I have come to the conclusion that I will never be able to accurately estimate shipping. You would think after all the selling that I have done I would be good at it, but it seems the only time I do get it rght is when its a flat rate envelope or box.

Hold on a sec. If you calculate shipping on the present auctions, the $4 rape fee is pretty evident ($10 to ship Priority). Please don't tell me he added MORE?
A shame you paid for it. I had to wait till I got home to check, but the version I have is bound, and I'd have been happy to trade you for a stapled one so you'd have a complete set. My other 2 are bound as well, but I don't particularly care about a matching set. I looked thru mine once and socked it away.

If you read the Ebay gauge policy it is pretty clear that if you don't ask what shipping & handling is going to be before you bid and it is not stated, you should pretty much bend over and prepare to take it hard.

It says that the winning bidder is obligated to pay the shipping & handling where "A shipping and handling fee can cover the seller's reasonable costs for mailing, packaging and handling the item."  If you ask Ebay about this I am sure that they will say $4 is not excessive.  But then again Ebay will usually side with the seller on this stuff anyway.  

I won a number of less than $1 items and the seller wanted to charge $2 handling per auction.  The handling then became more than I wanted to pay for the items so I said I will pay the winning bid prices and just toss the material in the garbage (so there would be no postage or handling).  Ebay sided with the seller that as the winning bidder I was responsible to pay the shipping & handling to have it sent to me.

If it isn't listed in the auction it is still perfectly fine for a seller to charge a handling fee.  This may cause them to get more negative feedbacks but by no means is it against Ebay policy.  In particular a number of sellers do not list it because people will not bid if they know how much they charge for handling.

We talked about this somewhere else already too when I won 3 of his auctions.  Frank stated his opposition to the handling fee at that point too.
I won 3 of his auctions and although the price quotes from the auction listing included this handling fee he never actually charged me for it.  In fact the shipping for the 3 auctions I won came to less than any of the single shipping quotes.

unconnected to the original issue here with MS, but i wondered what y'all thought about this.

i just had a guy win 2 items off me. as mentioned in my auctions, i have combined the postage. one of his wins was a monster compendium thing for FR and he asked did i have one of the big binders for them to go in.

i replied saying THEY didnt have one but i did have another lying around doing nothing (was originally with MC2), so he could have it for free, so long as he was happy to pay for the additional postage (as you know they are not exactly light)....

you know what his reply was? "can't you just include it in with the postage for the other 2 items"        

well i have just replied and told him that he was getting it for free anyway and that it isnt exactly light. in the end i just told him to forget it - i will re-invoice for the 2 items and then we are both happy with the issue

feckin muppet  

Al