Charged $3.95 shipping, seller sent it in an envelope

[MikeysGrrrl]

I understand that you're upset, I think everyone here gets that. I don't speak for anyone but myself, I'm not a hypocrite, yes I'm a collector, if I ordered something and it arrived damaged I would definitely complain and be hoping for a partial or whatever.

However if I ordered something and it arrived in perfect condition, but I was overcharged shipping, or don't feel that packaging was adequate... I would send the seller a polite note letting them know that I received my item but that I was surprised that it was packaged so poorly, and relieved that it didn't end up being damaged.

I would then let them know that in the future they may want to price shipping more accurately and package things better to avoid worse case scenarios happening.

I wouldn't leave neutral or negative feedback (sellers work hard for their feedback), I don't even think I would consider dinging their stars, unless of course they were rude to me.

But that's my oppinion, I'm both a buyer and a seller on ebay. I have been in your position before, I chalk it up to human error, send a message and leave it alone.

I honestly don't feel that those of us who disagree with your oppinion or reaction are hypocrites at all, I think it's rude to imply that simply because someone feels differently. I actually think this discussion is a little heated, so I'm just going to back out now.

Best of luck in whatever you do, whatever the outcome.

[kitkatvintage]

the cost of shipping also includes handling. Your basing your bad feedback on a what-if situation- the stickers got there fine and undamaged, so, imo there are no complaints.

Envelopes cost pretty much nothing. I paid for a certain shipping method (First Class Package), so damn right I expect that to be used! These aren't just some random stickers from Walmart, this is a very old mint condition collectible. When I paid $3.95 for shipping, I expected it to be shipped in a bubble mailer with tracking. I did not pay $4 so the seller could pocket an extra $3 and risk destroying the stickers I have spent so long trying to find.


The seller refunded me $1 (so they still pocketed $2) and said its 'shipping and handling' and basically told me they overcharge on shipping to make up for fees. Isn't that not allowed, admitting to adding extra to shipping to cover fees? And implying they overcharged me to get gas money too? Should I report them, and if yes how?
"The purchase price paid for the stickers is $6.99 - on my end there are listing fees, final value fees from ebay, and yet another fee from paypal to receive money from each buyer every time I sell an item."
"I work 6 days a week 8-10 hours a day and still take the time to make sure purchased items are mailed the next day after payment, driving out of my way to the post office (gas is quite expensive these days) rather than leaving things in my mailbox to be mailed so I am sure they get sent out."


And thank you lunar_scythe! The hypocrisy of people here is shocking me. If a pony (or a pony sticker) were shipped this way, people would be upset. I cannot believe so many people (who aren't newbies!) in a community of collectors are telling me its fine, I'm overreacting, etc. :/

Based on their reply about "making up for fees" & partial refund, I would still give them a low star rating. I believe if you leave a low star rating, a window pops up next to it asking you to give a reason why (unless they recently changed this... I haven't left any low ratings for shipping in awhile).

I agree that I'm shocked at the amount of people saying that charging x3 the shipping amount is ok. I've noticed that a lot recently in Trader Support. Things that used to be a big deal, no longer seem to be a big deal in the eyes of some collectors, while in other threads people agree with making a huge issue over a relatively minor problem. If someone was charged $40 for a $10 package, people would all agree that it's wrong. Same difference here, but so many are saying "so what? it's only $3". Holy hypocrisy, Batman. 

I don't envy the TS mods one bit.

[ClosetAvalanche]

the cost of shipping also includes handling. Your basing your bad feedback on a what-if situation- the stickers got there fine and undamaged, so, imo there are no complaints.

Envelopes cost pretty much nothing. I paid for a certain shipping method (First Class Package), so damn right I expect that to be used! These aren't just some random stickers from Walmart, this is a very old mint condition collectible. When I paid $3.95 for shipping, I expected it to be shipped in a bubble mailer with tracking. I did not pay $4 so the seller could pocket an extra $3 and risk destroying the stickers I have spent so long trying to find.


The seller refunded me $1 (so they still pocketed $2) and said its 'shipping and handling' and basically told me they overcharge on shipping to make up for fees. Isn't that not allowed, admitting to adding extra to shipping to cover fees? And implying they overcharged me to get gas money too? Should I report them, and if yes how?
"The purchase price paid for the stickers is $6.99 - on my end there are listing fees, final value fees from ebay, and yet another fee from paypal to receive money from each buyer every time I sell an item."
"I work 6 days a week 8-10 hours a day and still take the time to make sure purchased items are mailed the next day after payment, driving out of my way to the post office (gas is quite expensive these days) rather than leaving things in my mailbox to be mailed so I am sure they get sent out."


And thank you lunar_scythe! The hypocrisy of people here is shocking me. If a pony (or a pony sticker) were shipped this way, people would be upset. I cannot believe so many people (who aren't newbies!) in a community of collectors are telling me its fine, I'm overreacting, etc. :/

I do understand your concern, however the stickers still got to you fine.

[tulagirl]

I don't think Taxel's complaint has anything to do with the stickers arriving damaged or undamaged.  It has to do with the fact that a seller charged her way more to ship them then she actually used and admitted that it was to cover fees.  That is wrong. 

Taxel I am a sticker collector myself and I am sorry this seller has done this.  The fact they admitted it was an over charge and why they were doing it really is not fair.  It was my understanding that those fees should be added to the starting price not the shipping.  Could you send me a pm with their name. I want to avoid that sticker seller.

[Taxel]

I'm a buyer and a seller too. I don't sell on eBay, but I do elsewhere. I would never treat a customer's purchase so uncaringly. I would never pocket $3 of shipping money I chose to overcharge, I would never ship anything in a plain white envelope, I would never ship a completely different and lesser method than a customer paid for, I would never overcharge on shipping to get gas money/fee money/etc. All of that is completely unacceptable and if I tried to pull that, I would deserve angry customers, bad feedback, and low ratings/stars/etc.

This is not a new seller, they have over 800 100% positive feedback and have been on eBay since 2005. Right now they have 114 listings, all of which are old retired collectibles, varying in rarity (they're mostly very rare because of condition). 90-95% of them are stationary type items (folders, stickers, notebooks, TCG cards, etc) and nearly everything is in perfect condition. If this is how they ship items, sooner or later they're going to end up with ruined items and extremely angry customers. I don't care if my stickers ended up fine, that was incredibly lucky. Usually plain envelopes arrive a bit more dinged up. But they won't get this lucky with every purchase. They know better than to do this, there's no way they don't with how long they've been on eBay and how much they've sold.


And as far is her "only" overcharging and pocketing $3, for some people that may not be an amount worth bothering with. But for me, and others in similar situations, $3 is a LOT of money! I don't care about the shipping being $4, IF I actually got the shipping I expected, wanted, and was willing to pay so much for.


Am I able to report this person due to eBay's rules, and if so how?


Edit: That was my understanding too, Tulagirl. I wouldn't have cared if the stickers cost a few more dollars, I was willing to try and pay up to $20 to get this set of stickers if I ever found them in perfect condition. I have absolutely no problem with sellers adding a bit of extra to the *price* of an item to help make up for fees, I do it too. But adding it to *shipping* (especially in the way this seller did!) is NOT okay.

[Sarahlacewing]

(Sorry if this is putting words in anyone's mouth) I don't think that most people are trying to tell you that it's perfectly fine to overcharge shipping.  But there was nothing wrong with your item.  So negative feedback without communication and dinging all stars would not have been appropriate. 

Now that you have talked to your seller and they have issued you a partial refund... 3.95 - 1.00 refund - .84 for the stamps leaves you at a loss of $2.11.  Shipping star ding- sure.  Report for a breech of policy-completely within your rights.

I think what's getting me is that you are super duper over the moon angry about it even though your package arrived fine.  I think when people say it's only $3 they are saying it would be best if you calm down a little bit about it.  That's just me though.

[tulagirl]

Sadly, I don't think anyone will do anything about it.  It use to be against the rules to overcharge on shipping to pay for fees. I have no idea what if anything they will do about it because, they seem to not do much about other rules that are broken.

[MikeysGrrrl]

I don't think Taxel's complaint has anything to do with the stickers arriving damaged or undamaged.  It has to do with the fact that a seller charged her way more to ship them then she actually used and admitted that it was to cover fees.  That is wrong.

I've heard other sellers say they charge a little more than what it costs to ship to make up for fees, some sellers state it in their listings, if it was wrong, they wouldn't be allowed to sell at least that's my understanding.

It's my oppinion that the seller shouldn't receive bad feedback, be dinged on all stars or be added to the bad trader list, the item is fine, they issued a partial (perhaps not the amount the OP wanted, but still better than nothing), from what I gather they weren't rude to her either, nor did they give her a hard time, at least based on what I read from the OP.

What bothers me is the name calling going on here now, no one who disagrees with the OP's oppinion is calling her names. So why are we being called names and being accused of things?
 
This thread really has gone from a discussion to a heated topic, I can see a mod coming in and giving a warning or closing it altogether if tempers continue to flare.

[Taxel]

Sarahlacewing - 99% of why I'm so angry is all the people being hypocritical here. I wasn't anywhere near this upset when I first posted this thread and opened the stickers. I was mostly overjoyed to finally have them and that they arrived perfectly. I wasn't even angry at all (upset and disappointed yes, but not angry) until I got flooded with 'you're overreacting', 'that's perfectly fine', etc. If this was about a pony sticker or a pony, people wouldn't be telling me to get over it. As a note, I have been nothing but polite to the seller. I know when I'm upset and I have made sure I'm calmed down and went over my message close to 30 times before I sent it.

I think neutral/negative (still not sure which I'll leave) is appropriate. These stickers are a rare out of print collectible, the same as pony stickers are, even if they're a bit younger (although they're still either 12 or 7 years old). This seller charged my $3.95 to shove them in a plain white envelope and drop them in her mailbox (although she claims she drove to the post office, that is not even required and she might not have done it). There is no 'handling' in that, no cost of packing materials and possibly no cost of gas/car wear and tear/etc either. I paid for a *specific* shipping method, and they sent it a completely different, and lesser!, way. They did not accidently forget tracking or accidentally had it sent a different package way, they *deliberately* chose to send it in a plain white envelope.


"What bothers me is the name calling going on here now, no one who disagrees with the OP's oppinion is calling her names. So why are we being called names and being accused of things?"
Saying someone is being hypocritical is not being called a name.

[ClosetAvalanche]

Sarahlacewing - 99% of why I'm so angry is all the people being hypocritical here. I wasn't anywhere near this upset when I first posted this thread and opened the stickers. I was mostly overjoyed to finally have them and that they arrived perfectly. I wasn't even angry at all (upset and disappointed yes, but not angry) until I got flooded with 'you're overreacting', 'that's perfectly fine', etc. If this was about a pony sticker or a pony, people wouldn't be telling me to get over it. As a note, I have been nothing but polite to the seller. I know when I'm upset and I have made sure I'm calmed down and went over my message close to 30 times before I sent it.

I think neutral/negative (still not sure which I'll leave) is appropriate. These stickers are a rare out of print collectible, the same as pony stickers are, even if they're a bit younger (although they're still either 12 or 7 years old). This seller charged my $3.95 to shove them in a plain white envelope and drop them in her mailbox (although she claims she drove to the post office, that is not even required and she might not have done it). There is no 'handling' in that, no cost of packing materials and possibly no cost of gas/car wear and tear/etc either. I paid for a *specific* shipping method, and they sent it a completely different, and lesser!, way. They did not accidently forget tracking or accidentally had it sent a different package way, they *deliberately* chose to send it in a plain white envelope.


"What bothers me is the name calling going on here now, no one who disagrees with the OP's oppinion is calling her names. So why are we being called names and being accused of things?"
Saying someone is being hypocritical is not being called a name.

On my blocked bidder list. Did you email the seller in the begining to ask them to send in bubble envelope? The stickers got to you in perfect condition and still you want to trash the seller. Seriously.

[Taxel]

On my blocked bidder list. Did you email the seller in the begining to ask them to send in bubble envelope? The stickers got to you in perfect condition and still you want to trash the seller. Seriously.

Wow, that is so incredibly rude. Why did you even need to publicly say that?

I did not ask them to send it in a bubble mailer. But when someone charged $4 for shipping, how do you expect them to send it?

[tulagirl]

Really all the OP stated she wanted to know at this point was whether or not she could report this activity to ebay since it was against the rules.   

[Taxel]

Can someone please tell me how to report this person so I can have this thread locked?

[tulagirl]

Taxel  you have to go into ebay seller policies where the rules are and there should be a way to report them. I will try to take a  look and see how its done.  I think you can start with clicking on that "report" that is on the auction.

[Taxel]

Thank you Tulagirl. I'm so upset and frazzled thanks to this thread I can't even think straight.

I found a 'Report item' button on the listing page, but it doesn't have the correct category (it only has a few and seems to not be for this sort of issue). I went to Recent Purchases and I only saw the 'Resolve a Problem', but I don't think that's right if I want to report them to eBay?