Scams Against Buyers
Part 1:
Intro - Scams against Buyers
Part 2: The Empty Box Shipping
Scam
Part 3: The "Expensive
Phone Book Scam" or "Reach Out & Rob Someone"
Part 4: Shill Bidding
Part 5:
Wrong Descriptions: The Old Bait and
Switch routine
Part 6: Bid Siphoning
Part 7:
The
Overpriced Shipping Scam
The
Overpriced Shipping Scam
One of the most unimaginative,
sleazy and yet most common scams on any auction site is the over priced shipping
scam. No, this isn't when a seller charges $6 or $7 dollars for a deal
when the shipping costs $5.85. A certain amount of unintentional
over-estimating will take place; and is par for the course.
Over-priced shipping is when the
seller charges several dollars over the actual shipping amount- you are quoted
$20 in shipping and the actual postage is $8.59. These same sellers
usually won't 'combine ship' their items if you win multiple auctions either- Or
worse, they WILL combine ship the items, and still charge you all of the full,
separate shipping amounts. You only find out they are not willing to
combine ship, only after you've bought three of their auctions.
Some sellers have a habit of doing this, and
strangely enough feel it's a legitimate way to make a profit- it isn't, and this
practice will earn negative
feedback quickly. It can also get a seller in trouble with ebay and
other auction houses, as it's a
violation of their auction terms. This is why most of these stingy sellers
do it- they sell an auction item worth $25.00 quickly for $5.00, and then charge
$20.00 for shipping and send it media mail for $.89 cents. This seller
then pays a lower listing fee as the item starts under $9.95, and they pay a
substantially lower final value fee to ebay since the item sells for a lower
cost- of course, it's the buyer who picks up the slack- they have still paid
$25.00 for the item.
Any seller who routinely profits
from overcharging for handling charges by several dollars per transaction, will not
be in business long, and won't receive nearly as many bids from reluctant and educated
buyers. That tactic may have flown in the mid 90's in online auctions, but
it won't get off the ground these days. Plus, it's just unethical.
If a seller wants 25 bucks for an item, they should start the item at a fair
price, and use other sales strategies
to do it.
The only time a seller is
justified in charging more than the actual price for shipping, is if they
put in a small, reasonable extra charge for packaging materials and they state
this in their item description. Handling fees, though unpopular (and
frowned upon by us here at BidLab) are not fraudulent if they are advertised in
auction terms. The bottom line is the shipping charge should not be
misleading- if the seller is tacking on any extra fees, the buyer should be made
aware of these in advance.
To avoid being overcharged for
shipping, and especially before buying multiple items from the same seller, you
should contact the seller in advance of the auction close to ask about combined
shipping. Also, check the seller's feedback rating. If they have a
history of overcharging without advertising it, you'll see it indicated by other
angry bidders.
On the flip side, to practice good
auction etiquette as a buyer,
make sure you scrutinize the seller's auction terms. If a seller states
they charge $20 for shipping, because they live 60 miles from the nearest Post
Office or they have to use special packing materials or whatever, that is their
business and it's not bad behavior if they announce it openly. It's only a
scam when there is a consistent pattern of an auction seller overcharging for
shipping, while obscuring this fact to buyers until after the auction has ended.
For more on this subject, see our
auction etiquette article:
High Handling Fees: Too much to Handle?
Back to Auction Fraud Part 6:
Bid Siphoning
Read Auction Fraud Part 8:
The Chargeback
Scam
Click here
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