Gotta Love eBay

Alright, so I put a bid in on an auction on eBay right? And it was kind of last minute so I took a chance and went ahead and bid on it with my end bid only a dollar more then the beginning price.

So I won the auction. Thing is, I bid on it at around midnight and I wasn't going to be able to watch the auction throughout the day because it was a Drill Weekend. I did have a question about it, but I couldn't ask and get an answer in time to make it worht my while.

The question was, how much is shipping? See, no shipping charges are put anywhere on the auction. I took a look at the lot and thought to myself 'this will easily fit into a flat rate box' and I was thinking maybe a $10 shipping fee. At most.

So I come home and find the invoice in my inbox and it costs $20 to ship this thing. I'm going, what the hell?

So I email the guy, asking him how he got to that amount and the fact that this could easily fit into a flat rate box, and why it wasn't posted anywhere on the auction (because I sure in hell wouldn't have bid on it if I knew that the auction was that much, because the lot isn't worth that much to me).

So this is his response.

Shipping was not listed because it varies by location. It is based on weight, location, including shipping material costs and insurance and delivery confirmation. I can take insurance off which would decrease it a little if you want.

Delivery confirmation I can understand, most people on ebay charge for delivery confirmation. How much does delivery confirmation cost though? Fifty cents? Maybe more. But here's the thing. Insurance is usually optional on the part of the buyer. They specify whether or not they want insurance, and nothing in this auction is worth insuring for me. But furthermore, when I got my email stating I won the auction, it specifically stated that Insurance wasn't offered.

You know the beauty of flat rate? The post office will actually give you the box! And it self seals! So you don't have to use tape! You just have to provide a pen to write the address onto the package! I know, I'm a pro at Flat rate, I got used to sending home a lot of crap via flat rate when I was deployed.

This is a case of a guy putting up an auction and not getting as much money as he wanted for it. So he decided to make a little more money back by charging extra in shipping.

I sent him a link to eBay's Excessive Shipping Charges policy and hope he got the hint. I still want the auction, but I don't want it bad enough to pay $7.00 more for shipping then the auction itself cost.