there's always arguments to both sides of dealing on ebay, whether you're the buyer or seller.
Sellers have a good reason to be cautious with non-verified addresses. if the purchase is paid for via PP, but sent to a different (non-verified) address, and the buyer says he didnt recieve it, guess what... the seller is out the $ AND the item. can you blame a seller for being cautious?
buyers have to realize that "postage" isn't the only expense included in with the shipping charges. there's a box, packing material, ebay fees (listing + selling), paypal fees, etc., etc. Is it fair for the buyer to pay these? well, I guess that depends on 2 things: 1) does the buyer want the item bad enough? 2) is the item price + the shipping price TOTAL, of both, worth it to buy the item? NOW, is it fair for the seller to pay these? Sellers are already trying to cut fees down in certain ways to be able to sell items to people who want them. Consider this: buyers need to realize that ebay makes it fees off of sellers. so, really, does it (or should it) make a difference to the buyer if, for example, he pays $1 for the item & $9 for shipping ($10 total) OR $10 for the item with free shipping? NO, the cost to the buyer is still $10 either way. BUT, now look at those same 2 from the sellers end: the 1st way costs the seller 5 cents as a selling fee. The 2nd way costs the seller 53 cents. Multiply this by 100 (or 1000) sales & its a HUGE difference in the sellers bottom line. So, if the cost is the same to the buyer, why should the sellers make ebay MORE richer than they are already? Next time you see a funky shipping fee with a cheap item price, THINK about why the seller is doing it this way (don't go telling the seller that 9 bucks for shipping is a lot! they already know that it is & now YOU know why they are doing it this way! - the seller cannot state this fact on their ebay ads). With that in mind, most sellers cannot afford to pay all the associated selling costs of doing business on ebay by deducting it (absorbing the cost) or adding it on (whichever the case may be) to the ITEM price, so it has to be tacked onto the shipping charges. Either the "total" is a good deal or its not, thats all you really should need to justify to make the purchase, or pass. I don't think its gouging on shipping for sellers to include ALL these costs in this charge. Just remember that if sellers are not allowed to cover their costs to sell an item, then eventually nothing will be for sale! Isn't that the way it works? If a buyer wants something the seller has, I'm sure the seller isn't going to PAY costs out of his own pocket just so that a buyer can get what he wants... what kind of business operates like that? So why should ebay be any different? Just because a buyer doesn't "see" the costs doesn't mean that there aren't any.
As a buyer, I know perfectly well that an item I just bought could be sent in a regular envelope to me for 41 cents, but the seller charged me $5 for shipping. Did I complain? No. Did I know the seller was going to ship it to me that way? yes. However, I bought the item for $10, so even with the $5 shipping charge (making it $15 total) the item was still selling elsewhere for over $25. So, $15 WAS a bargain, even with the (assumed) high shipping charge. $10 was saved on this purchase. THAT is what most buyers need to concentrate on, did they get a good deal OVERALL? Not just say, well, the shipping was overpriced. Of course it LOOKED like the shipping was a lot, but the deal in general was a good one. Don't just assume you're getting ripped off on shipping. You COULDN'T have bought this item cheaper elsewhere, or else you would have! Could the seller have charged less for shipping? Yes, but of course then I am sure the seller would have raised the ITEM price by the exact same amount (or more)! Different methods, but both result in the same price for the buyer.
If you look at most sellers feedback scores, for the shipping section, you will see that almost ALL sellers have the lowest numbers here compared to the other ratings that they list. NO ONE ever thinks that shipping charges are reasonable! Thats just the way it goes & the screwed up method that the p.o. has incorporated now makes it even worse. But as long as overall you feel like the total price you pay is worth it for the item, that should be all that matters, not how all the charges break down into what category.
As for the feedback comments - most sellers don't leave feedback first because over 75% of buyers don't leave return feedback at all - REGARDLESS if the sellers leave it for them first or not! As an ebay seller, I don't leave it first, but as soon as the buyer leaves it, it is left for them, ALWAYS. Also realize that some of us sellers are waiting for feedback to be left so we know that the item was received by you, its just an easy tracking method.
(for 2quik6 on your comment) if you pay by paypal, exactly "what" risk are you taking? none as far as I see. your PP payment is protected, if you dont receive it / if its not as described / etc - you can get your $ back. Thats pretty risk free as I see it! For the f/b comment, see above, (most of the time) it doesn't have anything to do with sellers fear of their product being bad. I, for one, don't believe in wasting my time leaving f/b for a customer who isnt going to reciprocate. thats only fair. And sellers don't know who is going to leave it & who isn't, so the only rational thing to do is to wait for buyers to leave it first. Those people who say sellers should have to leave f/b upon receipt of payment: perhaps then there should be a forced "leave f/b upon receipt of item!" Otherwise, as already stated, 75% of those buyers wont be leaving it at all. Ebay is based on feedback, so no free props to you if its not returned. Thats why almost all experienced sellers wait for buyers first. For bad items received though, I agree, leaving a neg f/b for the seller usually gets the same in return, but unfortunately the system isn't perfect and theres really no way around that. One bad comment left by a bad seller on your f/b can be responded to ("this is retalitory feedback") and although it knocks your numbers down, explains the situation to others. Plus, anyone whos really looking at the comments will surely look at the other ones and decide whether its a one-time occurance or do you repeatedly have these responses, then judge accordingly.
Canada shipping isn't much more difficult than to the U.S., just more expensive. As for waiting in lines at the P.O., why would you even bother doing that nowadays when you can do it all thru paypal (including filling out the customs forms)? All you need is the package weight. For manually filling out forms, your address, their address, description, value, date & signature are the only things you need for packages... whats so hard about that? Grab a stack next time you're at the post office then you'll have them for future use. Fill them out before you go & you wont be at the counter any longer than mailing to anywhere else.
Guess thats enough for one post! Hows that for a rant? sorry for rambling, but I've been on both sides of these issues... you can never please everybody no matter how hard you try. :smile:
guy said it must have gotten lost (ya I paid the $1 ins