Is this allowed on Ebay? What happened here?

[Pierlala]

Hello,

I just made an offer on a listing on Ebay, for Ringlet Brush 'n Grow. The Buy out price was 15 dollar. But there was a "make offer" option so I put in 11 dollars. It got declined within minutes. I really wanted her but I thought I'd give it another try and try to go a little higher so I went to 13 dollar. She messages me after a few minutes. She said:

"Hi,

The offers you are making for the Ringlets auction show the US shipping price. Previously I did not have an international shipping option for this auction. I have revised the auction to include an international shipping price now. I am not sure what the shipping would be, but it will definitely be more than $2.63".

I responded to her that I already saw the shipping price in euro's from the beginning. She then responded with a message saying:

"Oh that is so strange. It is showing me the offer is + 2.63 shipping. I will accept the offer then. I didn't want to accept it if the shipping was so low".

...I mean...so that means that she's profiting from shipping costs? Is that even allowed?

I haven't paid her yet. I will soon. Since it's with Paypal it has a few days delay. Getting my money again on monday

Anyway, what do you guys think?


[moving to TS ~ kiwi]

[LadyMoondancer]

The way I read it, she was afraid that eBay was showing you a price of $13 (or whatever) + $2.63 shipping.

Shipping to another country will be muuuch higher than $2.63 so she was afraid she would be losing money.

How much is the shipping cost you can see?  If it's about 2.33 Euros or so, then you ARE seeing the "domestic" shipping price--just converted into your currency.

I don't know what country you're located, but recently shipping even a single pony outside the US has cost me at least $15.  (Except for Canada.)

[Pierlala]

No, I saw the 11,95 euro shipping price. I mean, she can also see that I live in the Netherlands, right?

[Taffeta]

On her screen it will show the cost within the US, because that's where she is. Unless she meddles around with her settings or specifically asks it to show her the other rate, it won't come up with anything but the domestic US shipping cost. Of course, in your case, you being in the Netherlands, you'll see it in terms of shipping to your location automatically. It's the way Ebay works now. It didn't used to be that regionally efficient

around 12 Euros is loosely about $15 so that sounds about right?

Last thing I had shipped from the US that wasn't MIB was $14.50 and that was to the UK so that makes sense?

[LadyMoondancer]

Ah, okay.   It sounds like she's new to international shipping.  Some people find it very confusing and intimidating.

But to answer your question, I do not think the seller is pocketing extra money.  It just costs more to ship internationally, and therefore an international buyer pays more in shipping than a domestic buyer. 

[Pierlala]

I just checked another listing of hers which I was interested in. It shows 20 euro shipping...

[LadyMoondancer]

There are a couple reasons shipping might cost more.

1.  The other item weighs more, therefore the shipping cost is more.

2. The item doesn't weigh more, but requires a larger box.  Sometimes larger boxes (one side over 12" I think) are more expensive to ship.

3. The seller has changed their method of shipping from First Class International to something else. (Unlikely, though, since Priority International mail to Netherlands would be more like $40.)

4.  The seller has added a handling fee.  This is completely "eBay legal."  eBay doesn't care how much sellers charge for shipping, because they take 10% of the shipping cost as part of their fees.

Basically, just consider the shipping cost to be part of the overall price.  If the overall price is satisfactory, then bid.  Otherwise wait for a better deal.

Although in this case it might be worth it to ask the seller if she will combine shipping on multiple items.

[Pierlala]

It was a pony as well. So that basicaly exclused the first few options.

I have another small update where I caught her in a lie. Because I asked her, "Was that the reason you declined my 11 dollar bid ?" She then said "No, I set my offer to automaticly decline at 11 dollar". Which was a lie because, first of all...the offer wasn't instantly declined. It took several minutes. I know it's instantly normally, because I've had it happen to me several times. Second, she gave it away by saying: " I will accept the offer then. I didn't want to accept it if the shipping was so low". (read the first post I made).

I just hate it when people are being dishonest.

[Taffeta]

I'm not sure that's a sign of dishonesty. Sometimes ebay's server is slow. And, either way, if she didn't want to accept the 11$ bid, then she doesn't have to. However it happened, its still her item and she has the right to accept a certain price on it.

Shipping prices keep changing and I have to keep changing the shipping on my auctions because of this; it's a pain and a half because it's so much extra work. Also, GSP shipping is usually in that kind of price bracket. She hasn't invoked Global Shipping on her items, has she? Because if she has, she's not profiting from the shipping. Ebay and their third party people will be in handling the international side of the transaction.

It's worth a thought if international shipping is new to her. GSP is horrible, but an easy option for a seller who finds themselves completely confused by all the different tarifs to different places.

[LadyMoondancer]

From your first post, it sounds like "I didn't want to accept it if the shipping was so low" refers to the $13 offer.  Because she though eBay was showing you a shipping price of $2.63.

[kitkatvintage]

Unless a seller changes their settings, eBay will add GSP to a listing by default (for US sellers at least). It's very likely that is a factor in the seller's confusion. Your view shows the shipping cost you will be charged by eBay, but the seller's view is showing the shipping amount she will receive to send it to the GSP center in the US. The balance of what shipping you would pay would go directly to eBay's shipping program (and the seller may have no idea what that amount is as eBay calculates that behind the scenes).

[bluerose9978]

I've heard that eBay has been glitchy lately, so that could have lead to the calculation error on her end. I know when I have the calculator set sometimes it shows free to Canada and it's actually like $9. I really don't think your seller is trying to pocket any extra shipping money, just trying to make sure the shipping calculator doesn't make her pay out of pocket.

[Tak]

The way I read it is she doesn't want to pay for the extra shipping costs.

[silverdawn]

It looks to me as though you're trying to find a reason to vilify an innocent seller because she didn't take your $11 offer.

1. A single ounce raises international shipping costs from $13 ish to $20 ish.  This IS enough to make a difference on a single pony.  Big Brothers are over 8 ounces in small a box, a regular pony is 6 to 7, babies and newborns are less. That one ounce makes a difference and is not a seller making ANY money on shipping. 

In fact, she'll be losing money because she has to pay 10% fees on whatever it costs to ship to YOU.  By shipping internationally. The seller is making less money.  For example, on a domestic $3.00 shipping charge, I pay ebay 30 cents out of pocket.  To ship a 9 ounce package to you for $20, I pay $2.00 out of pocket.  This is one reason people don't ship internationally, because it ends up costing more as a seller to send it.  Then you have to deal with people accusing you of pocketing extra money when in reality you LOSE money on shipping.

2.  You accuse her of lying about her reason for not accepting your $11 bid because that response took a few minutes and the other one didnt.  Ebay offers can be set to automatically decline below a price point while at the same time allowing higher offers to still be sent to the seller for consideration. Even automatic offer rejection emails are NOT instantaneous and can take a few minutes to get to you.  Lord knows I've had automatic ebay responses take a couple hours to get to me, in some cases.  Regardless, it's still the seller's decision to accept or not accept offers.

Truthfully, you're lucky this seller is willing to ship with the chespet international first class at all.  Most won't ship unless it's priority tracked mail or through the global shipping program, which will cost you $30 or more per pony in order to retain seller protection.  When sellers are put through the ringer with international sales, especially when they're unfamiliar with the process, I can start to see why many are refusing to do international shipping at all.

[Pierlala]

It looks to me as though you're trying to find a reason to vilify an innocent seller because she didn't take your $11 offer.

Then you're seeying it wrong.

I'm not trying to make her look bad. I'm quite new to Ebay myself. Started buying Ponies from there just about 2,5 - 3 months ago. I have paid more then 30 euro a pony in the beginning incl shipping. Sometimes even more then 40 just because the shipping was so high. I didn't mind back then cause it was getting a bid addictive, so many new ponies. However. The way she said it just made me wonder. And to see different shipping cost on the same type of items (Ponies). Just made me wonder. And if there is a note that says "Seller may not ship to the Netherlands, etc" I always contact beforehand to see how much it would be and if it's worth it.

And no, I am not trying to find a reason to make her look bad just because she didn't accept my 11 dollar offer.