eBay listings



I have to bring this thread to new life to point this out. This guy is the Titan-Games sort, selling the items at a price and then overcharging for shipping.



I made a purchase from him, a single light module, and paid $15.40 for shipping. It was the cheapest option (first class mail), the other two were Priority Mail for $25 and Express Mail for $35.50. I am used to paying a shipping price around 5 and 10 dollars for a single module purchased from the US with Priority Mail, so I had the impression the prices were overbloated, but since they were the stated prices I paid without objecting.



When the item arrived (after a LOOONG time, since the shipment was the cheapest one), the postal stamp had a price of $5.40 written on it, ten whopping dollars less than the seller had asked me. When I asked for explanations, this is the reply I got (excerpt):

The item shiping is under the price billed for shipping the item. It doesn't include new packing materials and I also personally charge $5 for completing Customs Declaration and standing at the post office.

Be warned if you want to buy from him.

Alexander1968 wrote:He charges $5 for standing at the Post Office???    This is perhaps the most idiotic remark I have ever read    

yes i agree. part of doing business that if you ask me.

Al

I remember the small IT days. 3 minutes=$75. 20 minutes=$75. 1 hour 2 minutes = $150. I graduated to large-scale networks and haven't regretted a day of it. It's not in my nature to pork people.

guerret wrote:When the item arrived (after a LOOONG time, since the shipment was the cheapest one), the postal stamp had a price of $5.40 written on it, ten whopping dollars less than the seller had asked me. When I asked for explanations, this is the reply I got (excerpt):

The item shiping is under the price billed for shipping the item. It doesn't include new packing materials and I also personally charge $5 for completing Customs Declaration and standing at the post office.

Why don'y you report them to eBay for excesive shipping and enclose the reply that you received. Maybe eBay will do something about them.

Alexander1968 wrote:Don't get me wrong: I agree with people saying you must factor in all costs associated in doing business - I don't charge exact shipping costs, for example, in my eBay sales because I have to include personnel, shipping rates, packing materials and so on - but this is simply obscene. I can 'understand'    a company milking people's wallets (and losing soooo many customers in the process...), but not individuals. I have had some clashes with overseas sellers thinking that having foreign buyers is a license to print money (I mean sellers charging FOUR TIMES actual shipping costs....). But, nonetheless, the far biggest part of my overseas (US & Canada) transactions has been very pleasant. I like Americans   and - this is a sad note - I trust them more than my countrymen  

I've always felt strongly that you don't rape your customer with excessive shipping and try to play it fairly close with my sales; as long as my materials and other fees are covered I'm happy.  But I'm always amazed at what people do charge for shipping - and they get it!  I can't imagine it brings a loyal customer and regard this as bad business in general.  Probably the worst candidate for the shipping fiasco scenarios are the sellers who don't list their charges, get an actual bidder and say in the auction 'shipping will be determined at auction's end'.  Admittedly, by far things go reasonably, but every once in a while....well you all get the idea I'm sure.  

Peace.

Joe

Tonya getting hammered at BoardgameGeek ... note especially how her insane email rantings to her soon-to-be-former customers haven't changed one single bit:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/300096

Xaxaxe wrote:Tonya getting hammered at BoardgameGeek ... note especially how her insane email rantings to her soon-to-be-former customers haven't changed one single bit:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/300096

Does anyone want to fess up to this quote?   :

Tonya King is to be avoided like a leprous hooker. In addition to being a mean-spirited, spiteful, comically immature loser, she is the very definition of the eBay rip-off artist.

We've actually devoted entire threads to Tonya over at The Acaeum, a site for D&D collectors where I hang out quite a bit (www.acaeum .com, if anyone is interested).

It's simply baffling why Marcus King would want his pathological offspring anywhere near his business. His reputation has taken a lot of hits with serious D&D collectors who are completely disenchanted with Tonya's abuse of her own customers.

In Tonya's defense, her insane shipping prices, and clear disinterest in shipping anything out of the country (evidenced by the sky high shipping charges), are clearly marked on her auctions. I really don't have a lot of sympathy for those that cannot be bothered to read the auction terms before bidding.

Mike B.

Badmike wrote:
In Tonya's defense, her insane shipping prices, and clear disinterest in shipping anything out of the country (evidenced by the sky high shipping charges), are clearly marked on her auctions. I really don't have a lot of sympathy for those that cannot be bothered to read the auction terms before bidding.

Mike B.

Quite right - a few of the posters on the BGG site have said similar.
Build the postage into your bid, then if you win you can f**k her with a one star rating!!!

(Just had a thought - with the hidden bidder thing ebay have now it might just be possible to be user "f**k" - how cool would that be?  

I think the matter is completely the buyer's fault.  The shipping charges were clearly labeled and he could have easily just sent a message asking about the shipping before he bid.

That being said, Tonya was very rude.

As an aside, I find high shipping prices to be completely counterproductive and lead to less money and less revenue in the long run.  As a seller, my mission is to get repeat buyers and buyers who purchase multiple books and games at the same time.  High shipping or free shipping tends to discourage multiple purchases even if the base price is low.  Take the following scenarios:

1)  High initial shipping cost plus high per item costs.  Let's say $10 for the first module plus $8 each additional module.  Even if the seller starts all modules at $1, he's probably not going to get many bids.  And unless the modules are something special, he's probably not going to have too many people purchase more than 1 off him at the same time.

2)  High initial shipping plus low per item costs.  Let's say $10 for the first module plus 50 cents each additional module and a starting price of $1 per module.  In this case, what's likely to happen is that the buyer of the first module now has a huge competitive advantage over other buyers.  His marginal cost for the next additional module is $1.50 whereas the marginal cost for other buyers is $11.  What's likely to happen is that one buyer buys lots of items at $1 or close to that and the seller takes a bath on his sale.

3)  Free shipping.  This works fine for an auction format, but not really for a store.  The seller has to raise his prices high enough to compensate for the free shipping, and that's a turnoff for people who want to make multiple purchases.  For example, if he has a bunch of items that normally sell for $5 plus $3 shipping, he has to list them at $8 with free shipping.  Someone who might have purchased several items at $5 with a reasonable combined shipping policy probably won't do so if every item is $8.  Now it's possible that the 15% discount that a seller gets for high DSRs might lower what he charges, but almost certainly not enough to make up for the shipping.

4)  Reasonable initial plus reasonable additional shipping costs.  This is the best of all worlds.  People have no hesitation in purchasing from you, they have incentive to purchase multiple items at once, and they're happier overall.  Auctions will still be competitive since the reasonable initial shipping cost doesn't freeze new entrants out of the bidding.

Of course the art of being a seller is to determine what constitutes "reasonable" shipping.  Every seller has to make that determination for themselves and see what works best.  I usually charge for media rate $3 for a softcover, $3.50 for a hardcover, or $4 for a box set plus 50 cents for each additional softcover or $1 for each additional hardcover or box set.  This is roughly enough to cover my costs.  Although the recent ebay fee hikes plus the upcoming post office postage increases might force me to raise them a little.