Be Honest................

If the coin I ordered arrived as described within the timeframe promised and the total charge (item cost + shipping cost) was no more than what was agreed upon, I would not leave any negative feedback. I always factor shipping costs into what I will bid. TC

 

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I would email him, and ask him why you paid ??? for shipping, when he didn't send it like he said, but I would not leave any bad response, sometimes payback are a bitch

 

Why?

Seriously, anyone ever think that instead of paying the money to the post office, this seller is choosing to self insure? He charges a little more than actual costs, and is self insuring the shipments. Its a common business practice.

I simply cannot comprehend why anyone would even THINK of a negative on a seller like that. Did he tell you it would cost you $5.25 for delivery? Did he charge you $5.25? Did he get it delivered in one piece to you? End of discussion in my mind.

 

I would leave two stars. The shipping charge was unreasonable for the method he used.

 

Maybe I read this thread wrong...but I don't think it's about the cost of shipping as much as the method of shipping. Let me explain my thought process. Let's say the "$10 coin" is actually a $16 coin. I'm willing to pay $16 for the coin...with the price of shipping at $5.25, I'd big no more than $10.75 for it. If I win it for $10...I feel I did OK, total cost is $15.25 shipping which is acceptable.

I think the issue is more with the method of shipping.

Now, if that coin arrives in a plain white envelope with a 2x2 I'm not going to be terribly happy. I feel that coins need to be shipped a little more protected than that. Even if the shipping was free (and I still won the coin for $15.25)...I'd still be unhappy. I understand that the cost of shipping is built into the total price (with or without free shipping). I feel that items need to be shipped with an appropriate amount of protection.

Now, that said...if the coin arrives safely as described, I guess it's no harm/no foul. But, I would certainly think twice about buying from that seller again knowing his shipping methods out of fear for damage to other items I might buy.

 

If I like the coin, it doesn't matter to me if i'm spending 99% shipping, 1% coin fee or 99% coin fee, 1% shipping. It's the overall cost that matters.


eBay is supposed to keep buyers from listing exorbitant shipping costs though.

 

Part of the original question concerns how many stars you would leave for the Detailed Seller Rating ("How reasonable were the shipping and handling charges?").

Two stars means "Unreasonable". Three stars means "Neither unreasonable nor reasonable", four stars indicates "Reasonable".

If you think any shipping charge is reasonable because buyers always know the charge up front, then that's a reasonable opinion. But I think it was unreasonable.

 

This!!

As Peter Griffin says, 'It really grinds my gears' when I get a coin in a business envelope with regular stamps. Seeing that, you KNOW the seller is pocketing some of that $5.25 shipping charge you paid.

When I sell, I use Priority 'small box' ALL the time, and charge $5. Yes, it is a lot in comparison, but if there are multiple buys, I combine the rest for $0 extra ('if it fits, it ships'), so the buyer pays $5 flat. Add in insurance (I only use USPS forms, shipping supplies...I know, it's cheaper to use PP shipping, but I've had local mail carriers not scan the non-USPS labels), and the buyer can see by the total shipping cost I've paid, that he/she perhaps split it with me, but it is always seen that shipping costs way more than the $5 I charge. Just using Priority is more than $5, before any ins and sig conf (granted, if it's under $50, it comes with $50 free ins, but most of my sales are over that amount). When the buyer sees how well it's packaged, and how fast it gets there (I've had perhaps 3 shipments take longer than the 2-3 days avg receipt time for Priority), and knows I am not pocketing any $$, and sees I AM paying more than the $5, I still manage to hold a 4.9 DSR on shipping. I've had buyers compliment me on how I ship, and on how secure it is.

In the OP's example, for $5.25, I'd ding him a 2 or 3 on the DSR, depending on what the coin was. I've sent items back because they are shipped as described by the OP. NO WAY should a coin be shipped in a letter envelope. I had a PCGS slab sent to me that way, and as you could guess, it was broken/splintered, with plastic shards inside, on the coin itself, due to it's being subjected to going through the roller. IMO, if you pay that kind of shipping charge, you should, at the very ,expect it to arrive in a padded or bubble mailer. Anything less than a mailer, for a coin, is unacceptable, even with free shipping.

 

If I wanted the coin and it got to me safely I'd be happy. Being a seller I always give very good feedback to sellers that have good service. I once got a graded coin wrapped in a wad of paper towels. I gave all 5 stars BUT I do remember thinking, man, this guy is cheap. I can see where most would have a problem with this though.

How about this, Ebay says you can not give feedback as a buyer until you have sold 50 items......

 

I offer standard shipping and flat rate on my site. I would not be able to sleep good at night knowing I charged someone $24 + $5.8 shipping on a ASE when I could ship it for $2 or less.

 

Did anyone consider insurance? If I ship a coin, (I usually don't I am a hoarder), a part of my cost would be packaging, part would be postage, but a third would be insurance. Either I pay the PO to insure, or I self insure. Maybe the $5.25 is broken down by:

Packaging $1
Postage $.50
Self Insurance$3.75

I see nothing wrong with it since the buyer AGREED to pay the $5.25 End of story. If the coin showed up damaged, well then the seller would have to refund the money and "pay" for it out of the self insurance fund. I simply do not understand how others here think they are the "shipping gods" of Ebay and can dictate how everyone should handle shipping, handling, and insurance.

Maybe the OP can not like the protection the coin received in transit, but unless he spoke with the seller beforehand, its not really his call its the seller. In the end, the coin got there, right? Now, if the OP wished to contact the seller and educate him that maybe if he spends a little more on packaging he will reduce the number of potential broken coin claims, that is fine and I think its a nice hing to do for the seller. I honest to pete cannot understand negative feedback talk.

 

I see nothing wrong with it. If you didn't get the coin or it was damaged,you would get back the stated post charge and not the actual amount the seller spent, and he would be out the coin if lost. If someone doesn't like the shipping cost, then don't bid~ as others say, add it in as part of your bidding cost.

 

Also, I pay attention to the method of shipping. I cringe a bit when I see 'economy', as I know it is possible to see my item arrive in a said business envelope with a stamp on it.

Question for the OP....was there any indication of ins, or delivery confirm on it? I'd wager there was nothing on said envelope but the buyers name/address, and the return address. In this case, it IS unreasonable, and the seller deserves the hit. Anything less than a padded/bubble mailer, for a collectable coin, that seller is taking a hit on the DSR. Ebay has virtually made free shipping expected by most.

 

90% of the time - not free shipping gets 4 stars. If it was like you said it might get a 3. And I also figure shipping into what I will bid. The last coin I won you could tell the seller used a a corner from a previous card board mailer, but he sealed it and the coin nicely. The shipping was free, but I still would have give him a 5 if the cost was less than $5.

 

Are you serious?

 

I had a buyer, in the last few weeks, contact me to TELL me how to package the coin. I told him I'll ship it as I normally do. I admit, the buyer messaged me, basically threatening that if it was not packaged to his liking, it'd be coming back. When that buyer received the coin, I was told that it was shipped more securely than what he requested, and that he rarely sees sellers package as well/securely as I do.

As for 'self insuring', I see that as a way for the seller to 'get off the hook' for paying for any insurance. Yes, you want to/have to keep your shipping costs to a minimum when shipping 'free', but sellers are rolling the dice on whether it shows up unscathed, or at all. I understand other 'private insuring', but again, I see that as a way for the seller to keep shipping costs to a minimum w/out actually paying a fee for it (and I question a lot who say the DO use private insurance). A lot do ship that way, but, I don't. An ins 'tag' on the package is just another form of tracking, when using a USPS form. These days, the more proof you have it was shipped properly, the better. If there are no tracking/ins identifiers on a given package, an 'I never received my item' claim is bound to happen, always from buyers who know the shipping rules, and use that info to their advantage.

Don't get me wrong, ANY shipping costs, when you ship 'free', is not 'free' to the seller, and you DO want to keep it at a minimum, but there's a difference between keeping your shipping costs to a minimum, and shipping 'cheaply'.

 

Yes,

 

Yes, I would be annoyed. It's true that the buyer knew how much he was paying for shipping, but that's not the point. The point is that he expected the seller to spend somewhere near that amount to ship the coin. If I pay 50 cents for shipping, I expect it in a stamped envelope. If I pay $2, I expect it in a bubble mailer with tracking. For $5.25, I'd expect something like a priority flat rate box. If I'm paying the priority box price and getting it in the envelope, I'm not going to be happy. Recently I bought about 20 coins from one seller and he charged me $13 to ship. When it arrived it was packaged in a way that probably cost about $3 total. I feel like he was overcharging on shipping because he didn't make what he wanted on the coins. I didn't leave him any low ratings because I appreciated that he worked with me on the coins, but I wasn't happy and I probably won't buy from him again.

 

Dead serious, but don't worry Ebay will not do it........