I'm curious to see what opinions you guys have about this, especially those who sell a bunch on eBay, and what you would do given this scenario. I just won a bunch of slabbed Presidential dollars on eBay, and the coins were a steal. Auctions started at $.01, and ended there since no one else bid on them, so I ended up with 7 PCGS MS67 coins for essentially 7 cents before the shipping - obviously far less than even the face value of the coins. Now, the shipping on each coin was listed as $5. After I won, I asked the seller to send an invoice with combined shipping, and he replied to the effect of "my slabbed coins didn't sell for what I wanted them to", and charged me the full shipping price, while I'm pretty sure they'll all arrive in a nice little $5 flat-rate box, to make up for what he "lost". Now, I honestly don't think I have much of a right to complain about this. I went into the auctions with the full knowledge of the shipping being what it was on each item, and I bid anyways. I won the items, and I have already paid the full amount requested without saying anything back to the seller. Ultimately I am fine with the total price of each coin being $5.01, I feel it's still a good price for what they are. However, it kinda rubs me simply because if I were the seller, I would have discounted it at least somewhat simply because I feel that would be the right thing to do. If you didn't want them to sell for so little, then don't start your auctions at a penny. Obviously, it can be said in the reverse that if I didn't want to pay for that much shipping, I shouldn't have bid. But, in general I've never had a problem with sellers combining the shipping when asked, even on coins I've won for as little as a buck or less. So, if you were the seller would you have done the discount? And, if you were me, what would you leave for feedback - positive, neutral, negative, and comments? If the coins arrive in good condition, I'm leaning towards neutral feedback with a comment of "items arrived as advertised, disappointed about not combining shipping".
Did the seller mention anything in his listings that combined shipping was available for multiple lots? Chris
"my slabbed coins didn't sell for what I wanted them to", A bid is a legally binding contract, even on eBay. Tell him if he doesn't honor the auction you will report him/her to ebay.
what he said above me. if the dealer doesn't state combined shipping, thats what it is. some sellers used to have high shipping because ebay used to not include it in the final value fee. if he did mention he combined shipping you can always ask he ships out each coin separately to be a pain. but i personally would leave it how it is
I really don't agree with the whole .01 starting price and high shipping fees but as you said you bid knowing the shipping prices. what did he do to get neutral feedback?Or negative?If he didn't say in the description or anywhere else he would combine shipping why would you just expect that he would? It would be the nice thing to do to reduce the shipping cost for you but its not what he HAS to do.A lot of my items do not sell for what I want to sell them for and that's the chance you take in an auction but if you still think you got a good deal with the shipping just leave positive feedback of "as described" or don't leave any at all.That's my 2 cents.
No, there was no statement either way on the shipping. I understand full well that he isn't obliged to do that, especially without explicitly stating it. He's the first one that's refused, however, when asked. I think the thing that just got me was his response - and I quote - "If the auctions had sold a little higher I would have been happy to offer a discount for combined shipping."
If he doesn't ship them in 7 seperate containers showing he used your shipping paid to actually ship, I'd leave him a neutral feedback just for being completely unwilling to at least reduce the fee since you won all the coins. I do understand he doesn't have to do this, but he also didn't have to have a no reserve auction starting a $0.01 for a common coin.
Then, this is what I would do..........if all of the coins arrive in the same package, then you have good grounds to file a complaint with both eBay and PayPal and ask for refund of the shipping for 6 of the 7 items. If eBay/PayPal side with you, then you can leave whatever feedback you choose. However, if they rule against you, then I would neg the SOB on the shipping, assuming that they all arrive in the same package. Chris
If you are happy with the overall deal of paying $35 for the coins, I would pay the money and then give him positive feedback but the lowest possible rating on S&H charges. I agree that he has done nothing to deserve a neutral or negative. If you are unhappy with the deal, then I would ask the seller if he is agreeable to cancel all of the transactions. What is his return policy? I offer free shipping on all of my E-Bay items so I would not start a coin like that at $0.01. I prefer to use BIN or BO listings and utilize the markdown manager for stale inventory. Out of curiosity, what is the current market value of a PCGS MS67 Pres Dollar?
If he did something wrong, you leave a negative. Neutral is what it means "of no distinctive quality, characteristics, or type; indifferent" to his overall experience with that seller.
If combined shipping was not mentioned,you could have asked the seller before bidding. Therefore they did nothing wrong. If the coins arrive as described,feedback should be positive.
I would leave positive feed back after each coin arrives in separate packages. I'd say ask that they are not combined because the auctions stated he would not combine winning auctions and he's charging you shipping for each item so you want to be able to track all of them separately. :thumb:
I paid within an hour of the invoice, without saying anything back. I think a general positive on the items with a low rating on the S&H is probably the best way to go. Looks like completed auctions recently are between $7 and $13 for them, so there's no doubt comparatively I got at least a decent deal.
Agreed upon asking, but I came across the auctions with not too much time left on them, so I just went for it. Upon checkout I used the "request invoice with combined shipping" function, and that's when he sent his response.
Because his experience with the seller was less than positive? That's my understanding of what "neutral" feedback is for; a less than positive experience that isn't bad enough to warrant a negative feedback. Personally I think anything less than fully satisfactory service doesn't deserve positive feedback. To be honest though unless a seller specifically states they'll combine shipping if you win multiple auctions from them, they're under no obligation to do so. However if they charge you way more than what it actually costs to ship I'd either leave a negative or rate them very low on shipping fees.
Ya know it is funny. I used to charge $2 per item for S&H and print the cost of shipping on the mailing label. The lowest cost without insurance is $1.64, but with the cost of corrugated safety mailers, mailing labels, paper for invoice, and padded bubble mailers, it is pretty easy to see how the cost is around $2 per item. I did this until browsing Cointalk one day and a guy mentioned that he would give any E-Bay seller a low S&H rating for a raw coin if the charge was more than $0.44, the price of a stamp. It was at that moment that I realized that reasonable S&H is like the weakest link in a chain. That day, I changed all my listings to free S&H to protect my detailed seller rating and preserve my top rated seller discount. In the long run, I believe that the 20% top rated seller discount in combination with the fact that most E-Bayers factor in S&H to their total bids more than overcomes my total S&H costs. Having said that, nobody can dispute that charging $35 in S&H for a single package containing 7 coins is exorbitant.
Single package=neutral rating or Positive rating with 1 star for shipping costs. Multiple packages=positive rating with full stars.
Yep, and that I think is my whole gripe, the $35 total for what is probably $10 worth of materials, postage, and even gas to and from the Post Office, rather justifying it because he's making up for the fact the coins didn't sell higher. I am not asking for free shipping on the $.01 item, that would be unreasonable to expect because then he'd be losing quite bad, basically paying me to take the coins.