HELP - eBay "Combined Shipping Fees"? (1 Viewer)

ReallyGoodUsername

Royal Flush
Site Vendor
Joined
Aug 2, 2018
Messages
19,823
Reaction score
43,080
Location
Boston
Recently bought 3 items in auction from a decent sized/established eBay chip seller. Cost of each chip ended up being $0.99 and shipping was listed on each sale as $3.99. When the final item was purchased the shipping was listed as $11.97 (3x $3.99) and reduced by $4 to $7.97. Obviously high for first class USPS mail of 3 single chips. When I asked about the final shipping costs the seller said "If [you] sell on eBay, you should know eBay charge you everything 10% including shipping cost, and when you put combine items eBay charge seller more on shipping again."

I double checked a recent combined shipping sale I did myself and only saw a "Final Value Fee on Shipping" which was 10% of the total shipping cost after I combined shipping. By this I mean original shipping was something like $30, combined shipping totaled $13 so I was only charged $1.30 in shipping fees. I don't have a special account of any kind so I was wondering if this seller has a paid account (or is there any reason) does eBay really charge additional fees for them to over combined shipping or is this seller just bullshitting me on why I'm paying him $4 additional in "shipping costs" on $2.97 worth of chips?
 
I've always found this is avoided by contacting the seller directly for combined shipping orders and establishing the cost before making the purchase. To me this is preferable than trying to understand a complicated seller / site relationship.
 
Funnily enough I have started buying single chips in the past two weeks (I need to find something else to keep me busy). And obviously combining shipping makes a big difference. I found the majority of sellers either allow free shipping on chips bought within 24hrs or 3 days etc and so far on multiple purchases I have waited for the seller to send the last invoice and it combined all of the shipping to a single item shipping rate without a hitch. I avoid any sellers who don’t specifically allow combined shipping. I have t had any issues yet. Although I havent sold things on eBay in the volume I used to, I don’t recall any issues with being charged extra wedding combining shipping. I call BS too.
 
Agreed.
Another thing that struck me (and hit me hard) was to find out that eBay now is charging for taxes CONUS... for purchases from private individuals - what's with that?! Also, this wasn't even mentioned when I had sent my offer... :/
 
Agreed.
Another thing that struck me (and hit me hard) was to find out that eBay now is charging for taxes CONUS... for purchases from private individuals - what's with that?! Also, this wasn't even mentioned when I had sent my offer... :/
Yeah that's been a thing for awhile, the taxes are crap, I've almost stopped buying on eBay
 
$3.99 shipping huh.... I only know one seller that charges that! Bought 2 chips the other day from said seller and
Screenshot_20200623-073324_eBay.jpg

My shipping was split between the 2 but still adds up to $3.99
 
Thanks for the responses. It turns out it's complete BS.

First he played it off (per op) that it was just so he could break even. Then when I called him on it he switched his tune and said he has a policy that if you don't let him know prior to purchase he charges 50% of shipping cost of the additional purchases. I didn't know I was buying more at the time but even if I did, really? It wasn't a safe assumption that I wouldn't want to pay phantom/non-existent/additional shipping costs that the seller isn't even occurring? Imagine if restaurants charged more for utensils or napkins if you didn't say you wanted them before your meal came.

If that's your shipping policy and you already know it, write it in your description. It's one thing to add in a +$2/chip shipping policy (what if I'd bought 4, 8, 12 singles?) in the description for no particular reason, it's another to not even tell people upfront and make it a surprise they have to ask about to discover.
 
Last edited:
$3.99 shipping huh.... I only know one seller that charges that! Bought 2 chips the other day from said seller and
View attachment 480023
My shipping was split between the 2 but still adds up to $3.99
Not them, they're great 99 out of 100 times even when shipping tough number of chips like 30-40.
 

Create an account or login to comment

You must be a member in order to leave a comment

Create account

Create an account and join our community. It's easy!

Log in

Already have an account? Log in here.

Back
Top Bottom