Buyer upset about shipping cost

[SeashellnBubbles]

Hey all! I sold a toy on eBay and the person is from Germany. I sent them the total for their bill which included $12 shipping. They got in touch with me and asked why there was $12 shipping when it said "Free Shipping" on the ad? I have a very extensive section in my written ad talking about the cost of shipping and to contact me about the price to your country etc! I've sent them a message being sympathetic, and this is what I wrote:

I don't know why it said free shipping on your end. I've sold to people from Germany, Russia and European destinations and they've always asked about shipping prior to bidding....I never asked them what it said on their end. I will next time to see what it says. My ad states to contact me about shipping costs to each individual country, and eBay is notorious for having incorrect shipping quotes.

I don't know what more I can do? How can I ensure that the price quote that eBay posts is correct? How can I keep this from happening again, and how can I better deal with this person? Thanks all!!

[Miss_Pompon]

I'm sorry for you  If there was no price, maybe the buyer thought it will be free because I don't know why ebay will say it's free 

Next time, you could give an estimation for the shipping cost directly in the add such as CDN $, US $, others $. No need to be precise, but add just a little bit more just to be sure.

Shipping costs in France are up to a certain weight and I use the ebay tools so I have registered all the possible situations (letter up to 20g => parcel up to 2kg), and I just have to select the one I need for each auction.

[Ringlets]

It seems they prolly got confused.  Were you offering free shipping in Canada / your own country?     
What I think may have happened if that was the case is this:
You hadn't listed a specific price for international buyers, just to contact you , right?
  So  option 1.) because the person was searching internationally (not buyers who ship internationally but international listings) or on just your own ebay rather than ebay DE then that is when they would see your auction, and it would only show the cost to your country (free shipping) . It wouldn't show anything about cost of shipping to their country if international postage was not specified as an option (other than in the writing in your listing, but not an actual quote).
Or  option 2.) if you did have international postage as an option they didn't see those costs , only the "free shipping" to your own country - they didn't check to see if this applied to international buyers and so got confused that way

hmm sorry if I'm not saying this clearly - its one of those days...  either way the buyer has got confused and it is not your fault   I always work out the shipping costs for international buyers and add them to my auction listing when I list the item - that way it always shows the correct shipping cost. I don't ever use ebay calculators..
If an item is really big and heavy and needs to go by special courier then I only list it on ebay UK and mention in the listing that the item can be sold internationally but that you have to contact me for the cost first.
I don't think there is much else you can do other than that
Things might be a little bit different in other countires- this is how it works on ebay UK. Maybe another Canadian or a US member will be able to give you more insight?

[SeashellnBubbles]

I don't offer free shipping in my country (that would KILL me...it's super expensive to ship in country here ) So I don't know what happened (they could be making it up for all I know) Anyway, I offered to refund $3 off the price of the shipping and they seemed happy with that. I also added in my listings that eBay shipping calculations are often wrong in a big underlined section, then the stuff about contacting me for shipping. I think this was a good way to deal with it...they only had 11 feedback, I just figured maybe they were new and slightly confused We've all been there

[bluerose9978]

I do the same as you for shipping. I state shipping costs within my country and ask international buyers to contact me for a shipping quote before bidding.

Apparently at checkout after they have purchased the item while they are waiting for the seller to plug in shipping costs, before you send an invoice to an international buyer it will say free shipping. That is what your buyer saw. I don't know why eBay does it that way. It should just say "wait for seller to enter shipping costs" or "costs vary" or something like that. EBay has to be difficult sometimes!

[Skeen]

I do the same thing, bluerose!  It says no international shipping in my auctions but I have a note that says I'm happy to do it, I just can't estimate postage for every possible country and to message me before bidding/paying so I can get an accurate price for the buyer.  Their shipping calculator is so awful! 

[bluerose9978]

Exactly, skeen! That postage calculator is more often wrong than it is right! That is why I do it the way I do! I have had no problems but have had international buyers ask me why it says free shipping when they purchase an item before I send them an invoice.

[Skeen]

Exactly, skeen! That postage calculator is more often wrong than it is right! That is why I do it the way I do! I have had no problems but have had international buyers ask me why it says free shipping when they purchase an item before I send them an invoice.

You know my plushies?  Shipping calculator says it costs $5 to ship them.  Anywhere.  Even if the box is huge.  Even if I say the thing weighs like 4 pounds.  Yeah. 

[bluerose9978]

I don't know what more I can do? How can I ensure that the price quote that eBay posts is correct? How can I keep this from happening again, and how can I better deal with this person? Thanks all!!

You state that international buyers should contact you for a shipping quote before they purchase the item, right? That's all you need to do. EBay should have your back if a future buyer should have a problem. You do not state in your auction anywhere that you have free shipping so there is no reason that you are in the wrong. It's an eBay thing that "free shipping" even comes up before you send them an invoice. Until eBay changes that, there's really nothing else you can do other than plugging in a fixed price for international buyers or using their broken calculator.

[Libelle]

I have a very extensive section in my written ad talking about the cost of shipping and to contact me about the price to your country etc!

If it's clear from your ad that only shipping within the US is free, it's the buyer's fault for either not reading thoroughly or not understanding correctly.

Would you like me to have a look at the auction (or, even better, another auction of yours which has the same shipping info in it)? I'm from Germany as well and would be able to tell you what kind of shipping quotes ebay gives.

[nhal039]

Seashell I know what has happened. For some reason when viewing auctions on a mobile phone many listings come up as free shipping. I think its a glitch with ebay, it has been happening for some time and I have heard many people complain about this as they never had free shipping! I will see if I can find more links to inform about this ok She would have seen free shipping although you never stated it, it will only happen when buying from mobile phones

Post Merge: February 13, 2015, 07:57:39 PM

http://community.ebay.com/t5/Tools-Apps/Why-is-shipping-showing-up-as-FREE-when-it-s-not-Its-on-a-Smart/td-p/2921084

you will find lots about it if you google it

[LittleSpiffy]

I had someone in Singapore see that I had free shipping.  They sent me a message just to make sure.  When I told them "no," they refreshed their page and the correct shipping came up.  *shrug*