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EBAY shipping charge rant.

Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2006 7:58 pm
by douglas vincent
So I won an auction for some heads. $81

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... Q%3AUS%3A1

I get the shipping charge included on the invoice.

$230!

OK, my fault for not asking how much shipping is...But..... I am not paying it. In his correspondence he says. "it's 50pound each i know it's alot that's why i sold it so cheap"

Sorry buddy, I aint paying for your stupidity to not post a reserve and trying to make up for it by tacking on outragous shipping costs..

I offered to pay $75 for shipping, which is more than it should come to via UPS.

Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2006 8:05 pm
by scuzzy
I had my engine crated for $50 and shipped to me through r&lcarriers for $175, 450lbs total.


he's full of shit.

50lbs each? I doubt it. 50lbs together maybe.

Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2006 8:10 pm
by douglas vincent
Forgot to mention, he is in British Columbia, but that doesnt make any difference when it comes to an $81 declared value.

Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2006 8:20 pm
by scuzzy
douglas vincent wrote:Forgot to mention, he is in British Columbia, but that doesnt make any difference when it comes to an $81 declared value.
he's also on your side of the continent though, so shipping shouldn't be bad.

Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2006 8:25 pm
by douglas vincent
Yeah, if you do the UPS website calculate time and cost, 60 pounds shipped is less than $70 from Burnaby (outside of vancouver) to Portland

Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2006 8:33 pm
by vrg3
He didn't sell it cheap. The auction ended at whatever the final bid was.

Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2006 8:57 pm
by entirelyturbo
That's f'n bullshit.

I had 4 old-gen wheels shipped to me from Washington state (I'm in FL) for $68.

That could have been a commercial price, I dunno, but still. That's insane.

Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2006 10:55 pm
by thefultonhow
Yeah, they haven't been shipped yet, but I calculated that four WRX wheels (40 lbs a piece) shipped by DHL from WV to UT in two separate packages would cost a total of $95 or something like that. I'm pretty sure this guy is trying to screw you.

Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2006 11:13 pm
by Manarius
230 seems a bit high to me..but that's me.

Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2006 1:19 am
by LaureltheQueen
a bit?

Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2006 3:02 am
by douglas vincent
He's down to $160, with no insurance......

Says a 1999 2.5 head weighs in at 41.6 lbs each.

Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2006 3:04 am
by snowboarded
Yea, thats definately too high. He's trying to scam you. I wouldnt doubt that if you did pay him that he would either not ship it or sends something different.

Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2006 3:17 am
by thefultonhow
Take a look at his feedback... he has 9 feedbacks from buyers; five are positive with no issues, three (including one positive one) complain about shipping issues, and one complains about an incorrectly advertised item. This guy is a bit sketchy.

Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2006 3:21 am
by evolutionmovement
41.6 lbs.! Really? Then I must either be a house or they're twice as heavy as 2.2T heads.

Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2006 6:29 am
by scuzzy
first of all, the fact that he's gone from $230 to $160 means he's full of shit.

secondly, that scale he's using sounds like it's loaded with a few cinder blocks, there's no way in hell those heads weigh 41.6 EACH.

Even if they weighed 75 lbs each, keep in mind it cost me $175 to ship 400 pounds 700 miles over five days to my fucking door step. shipping 150 pounds worth of stuff wouldn't cost anywhere near that assuming it's not an extraordinary size (like a hood)

I wouldn't even deal with him, period, just tell him you're not interested. It's not worth risking your money.

Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2006 6:35 am
by scuzzy
Oh, also, on his second negative feedback (uppermost one on the list)

guy says a ripoff, he paid $90

look at the auction end, it was for $60, so apparently the seller charged the buyer $30 in shipping.

red flag much?


took a long time to get, didnt get acutal shipping price

Never got our item. No answer to emails. DO NOT BUY FROM THEM!

supposed to be powder coated, instead its spray painted what a rip for $90.00

Had Shipping issuse from canada. But, Refunded money Thank You!

Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2006 6:49 am
by thefultonhow
All I know is, that's not how I run my eBay auctions.

Granted, I generally sell smaller computer items, but if I know I'm going to get a decent amount for my item, I just say in big bold letters, "FREE SHIPPING!" It's obviously not free, but I pay for it -- I figure shipping is only a few dollars and I'm more likely to get higher bids if I add that extra feature to my auctions.

The most time I've ever waited to send an item after I received payment was a week -- and I felt really bad the couple of times I did that. I usually send within two days.

I sold an expensive laptop and although it worked fine when I tested it a few days before shipping, the buyer emailed me and said the battery didn't work and he wanted his money back. I said, sure, why not, as long as I get the laptop back. Another time I shipped out some processors and they got lost in shipping -- I fully cooperated with the buyer so that he could file a claim and get his money back.

IMO, good customer service is part and parcel of selling on eBay. If you're not willing to go out of your way to make your customers happy, you shouldn't be selling.

And that's my rant for the day.

Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2006 9:23 am
by douglas vincent
The latest.

His response to my questions.

"i must say you not sounding like a jerk...and i dont know how much you thought it would have been to ship these heads...but i hate to say cross border freight is stupid...they charge me a 15% fuel surcharge to anything going across the border...i'm sorry if you dont believe my rates..but sometimes i dont understand either.That's why i dont do much cross border transactions..And the heads are comin from calgary, aB to me in BC vis WestArm freight and then from me to you..and when i say no insurance i should have explain that it comes with 100dollar insurance threw my company but none threw the shipper "

OK, If he is telling the truth, I understand. And I might even pay.

Is $260 a good price for ported and polished heads?

I kinda want to say fuck him, but at the same time, maybe this is going to still work out?

?????

I still want to walk away. I was prepared to spend $150 total.

Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2006 10:14 am
by vrg3
Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but it sounds like he's asking you to pay for shipping from Alberta to British Columbia and then from British Columbia to Oregon.

Doesn't seem right to me -- isn't it his own responsibility to make sure that whatever he's selling is in his own possession, unless he plans to drop-ship it?

Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2006 10:20 am
by douglas vincent
Yeah, hes a fucktard. But I still wonder if its worth it.

Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2006 10:25 am
by vrg3
I don't know whether the heads are worth the money or not, but I'm concerned about the risks. There's a lot that could go wrong in this kind of transaction, and it already looks like the seller has trouble with responsibility/service/respect/what-have-you.

So... what are the chances that you're going to just lose these two hundred and sixty dollars? For example, if they're 25%, then I'd say the heads have to be worth at least $260/(100%-25%)=$346.67 to make this worth doing.

Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2006 11:11 am
by 206er
$260 is a pretty good price if the heads arent ported all wrong and are in good shape. 260 would be an ok price for the heads stock.
WTF? there is a pic of the heads on a flowbench but he doesnt give the flow specs from porting.

Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2006 2:33 pm
by free5ty1e
It sure does seem like he's an OK ebayer to sell to from his feedback... but when he's selling, it looks to me like he's just looking for ways to scam a quick buck. I'd say it's not worth it, you can find heads elsewhere with much less risk attached.

Edit: Doesn't eBay have a place for reporting just this sort of shipping charge abuse? I could have sworn I saw something like that on their site.

Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2006 6:40 pm
by scuzzy
as a BUYER he's a good guy.

As a seller, he's shitty, and his feedback proves that.
remember, feedback is left if you're a buyer and a seller, most of his feedback has been for products he's bought, not sold.

It's not your responsibility to pay for the shipping if the heads aren't in his possession.

is it worth it? simple answer: NO


EDIT: And remember the shipping details on the auction, he says he'd ship to north and south america, the fact that he failed to list on his auction how much he's charged on fuel and that other bullshit is just another reason why I wouldn't deal with him at all.

Apparently, by the sound of the auction, this isn't the first time he's shipped cross-border, don't fall for this scam. the Nigeria scammers go a long way and have alot of conversation to try and convince you to give up your money, too.

Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2006 4:21 am
by douglas vincent
I think I am done with it. He wants to relist. I told him to go ahead, I wouldnt leave anyfeed back, positive or negative.