Greedy Bastards

[atomicbartbeans]

(written in E-Prime just for the hell of it)

So I'd like some scratch protection for my iPod mini. iPod socks present themselves as the ideal solution, because they fail to ruin the appearance of the iPod during use, only when stored away. Also... what can I say, I like anything with an Apple logo.

Rather than buying a whole case of iPod socks (half of which clash with the iPod itself), why not buy just one (http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Apple-iPod-Sock-Nano-Mini-Photo-Video-NOT-FAKE_W0QQitemZ5832294035QQcategoryZ48680QQrdZ1QQcm dZViewItem) on eBay? $5 USD seems quite reasonable, no?

Of course, until you read the details...

http://www.sitesled.com/members/atomicbartbeans/AppleNova/ebay%20ipod%20sock.jpg

So, you pay a minimum of 9 dollars domestic shipping for a $5 item? :err:

*blink*

Now think about the item in question... a sock... how much does a sock weigh? :rolleyes: I estimate 2 ounces at most, and it would easily fit into a standard letter envelope. According to the USPS, that should cost 60 fricking cents to mail, not 6 dollars. And $2.99 "required insurance"? usps.com says that this item should cost $1.30 to insure...

Wait a minute... how did we get on the subject of paying insurance for a sock? :confused:

This sounds like these people want to make $14 off a $5 item. This kind of ruins eBay, when one must pay more than the item's value in overpriced shipping and mandatory "insurance". :grumble:

[judeobscure]

Even though the item is listed as being in San Francisco the PayPal logo towards the bottom of the ad states that payment is made through PayPal in pounds sterling.
Also, the word colour has the "u" added which, is not the US spelling of the word so maybe the item is being shipped from Great Britain and not the US which might explain the outrageous shipping charges.

[Maciej]

Okay, explain that away fine.

But eBay does have some absurd shipping... it sucks yes. I agree I just paid 12 bucks of shipping for a 2 dollar item, and guess what, it was a replacement LCD for a cell phone.

[torifile]

Oh yeah. eBay sellers have learned how to get around some of their outrageous fees. They don't charge you fees on the "shipping and handling" costs. You've really got to jack up the S&H costs to make a decent amount. I HATE having to do that (worse, having to pay it), but eBay + paypal fees add up to about 8-10% of the item. It's ridiculous.

[_Ω_]

I was looking for a US$2 item. Shipping to NZ was going to be US$45. Even if you shipped domestically it was going to be about US$20.

I then realised I did not need the good as much as I thought......

[arnoct]

I was going to order a $.99 DDR Pad until I realized the shipper wanted $20 s&h. When I e-mailed him, he said it was his way of making the costs back!

[atomicbartbeans]

Gee, maybe I should email the seller, and ask him how he manages to get the sock to weigh 3 pounds (what USPS says $6.00 will ship). :lol:

[torifile]

Gee, maybe I should email the seller, and ask him how he manages to get the sock to weigh 3 pounds (what USPS says $6.00 will ship). :lol:
It's not just shipping. It's shipping and "handling".

[atomicbartbeans]

Ah... so pretty much what we're seeing here is a sneaky way to get much more money for something.

$14 for a sock is highway robbery.

[atomicbartbeans]

Well, I decided to play dumb and drop this guy a note. I am using my pen-name to ensure that this doesn't come back to bite me in the ass...


From: flavienrackinson(at-sign)gmail(dot)com
Subject: your eBay item
Date: November 23, 2005 9:46:15 AM EST
To: gr_1stcommandor(at-sign)hotmail(dot)com

Dear gr_1stcommander:

I am looking at your eBay item #5832294035 (New Apple iPod Sock Nano Mini Photo Video (NOT FAKE!)), and $5.99 shipping to mail a sock seems rather high.

According to the United States Postal Service's web site, an iPod sock should cost about 60 cents to mail, not 6 dollars. Perhaps you made an error when calculating shipping? I would appreciate it if you could simply mail it in a standard letter envelope, which would save both of us effort and money.

Furthermore, why is insurance required? It seems like an item as trivial as a sock shouldn't merit shipping insurance. I am willing to accept the risks inherent in sending the iPod sock cross-country, and would accept any loss should it fail to arrive; therefore I'd rather not buy shipping.

Yours,
Flavien

[SKMDC]

I think many eBayers just use a Default setting for shipping.
Insurance is probably included because if there is a problem it doesn't bite them in the ass. When I sell stuff on eBay I make insurance mandatory, because someone who doesn't get their stuff is a pain in the ass. On one tracking of shipment I'd found his roommate signed for it and didn't tell him. It was on the top of the fridge.
if their is a problem you just click a button to track it, and if it is lost it's the post office's problem.
But I think most eBayers count on people not checking the shipping charges, which is why eBay started putting them on the bid page which is cool so their are no surprises.

Many online stores do the same thing, I have two bicycle parts places I've ordered from, one charges shipping/handling by the amount of the purchase, the other by weight. Of course the one that charges by $amt. has a "club" that you can join to get a preferred shipping rate.

Amazon's shipping is a bit of a scam as well, many times when I've used the free shipping option they send it 2nd day Amex anyway.

[spotcatbug]

Reply that immediately occurred to me:

"Uh... OK... if you'll take all the risk of not receiving it, I'll send it out right now for whatever price you're willing to pay! I swear. I'm not just pretending that I'll send it to you. So, uh... when (oops, I mean, if!) it doesn't arrive, it's not because I didn't send it. Yeah... wait, as a matter of fact, I already sent it. You owe me whatever the amount was that you were willing to pay." :D

[Banana]

Seriously, this guy doesn't know what he's doing.

He forgot escrow service. That's very important™.

Then he didn't ask for return receipt. That's definitely a no-no©.

Then he had to blow it totally by not requiring you to register and certify the package. Stupid jerk®.

Seriously, he should be asking for $50, minimum. $100 would have been the going rate.

If I were you, I'd jump on this guy and rob him blind before he wise up! Serves him right for being a bumbling idiot®.

:no:

[Luca]

I thought it was ridiculous when I saw an Xbox game on eBay the other day for $5 + $38 shipping. Then my roommate told me about a $0.99 gaming computer he found, with a $2200 shipping and handling fee! I can understand padding your S&H cost a bit to help you make money, but there are limits.

eBay has made it easier to spot these people by displaying the shipping costs next to the current price of the item. That helps quite a bit, actually. The next step would be to add the shipping price to the current bidding price. I'd like that. Though the step eBay would probably like to take is simply including S&H when they take their cut. I don't know if that's legal but they could probably figure out a way to do it.

On another note, I did buy a game for my Xbox a little while ago where I was only charged $2 shipping. On the package, the shipping label was clearly marked as having cost $1.61 to ship. So not everyone rips you off. I left that guy good feedback.

[atomicbartbeans]

Yeah... I've never really understood the mentality behind screwing people with high shipping charges.

I've probably sold about a dozen items on eBay, and with every single one, I charged the buyer the exact cost I pay to ship it... not a penny more.

I guess I'll give up on eBay for now... anybody want to sell me an iPod sock? :lol:

[Kyros]

Personally I think it's ebay that's greedy, the reason people raise shipping costs is because they don't take percentages off that. So just assume the shipping cost is another way of making a reserve and just add up the price and see if you still want it.