Sky high Shipping fees - Is it still against the rules?

[hippolyta]

I have seen some CRAZY shipping lately and wondered if shipping gouging (is that what you call it?)  is still frown up on by Ebay?  I was looking at a board game for $8  and the shipping was $75 usps.   Now I am not foolish I know shipping is high but for a board game I was thinking in the neighborhood of $15 to $20.   The craziest I have seen is the guy selling laptops for $25 and charging $1500 shipping. Y'all know that ain't right.   

I mean Fedex first overnight to ship my laptop from Oklahoma to my cousin's in West Virginia is roughly $250.  So $1500 is waaaaaaaay over the top. 

I just wondered if Ebay still actioned for it or if it's like virtual items and they just don't care anymore. 

[lamber9347]

That used to be an issue because eBay charged fees based on the sale. However, that was changed to fees being charged on the entire transaction several years ago. So there is no advantage for a seller to do this. I have no idea why these sellers are listing such high shipping, perhaps they are simple typos. Don't see anything that can be reported, but every listing has a report this listing button if you so desire. Best of luck to you....

[soh.maryl]

AFAIK, eBay makes no attempt to regulate what a seller charges for shipping.  It would be impractical for an eBay employee to check every listing for possible overcharging on shipping.   The potential buyer sees the shipping cost before buying and can simply hit the back arrow and find another seller.

Possibly that guy with the $1500 shipping for laptops has not actually read eBay's fee schedule and thinks he's getting away with something.  

[mudshark61369]

@hippolyta,

Because the USPS and other sites have raised rates and have started using Dimensional Rate postage which calculates postage cost by box dimension, not actual weight. The link below explains how the cost is calculated.  The USPS discontinued their Board game size box a few years ago.

https://faq.usps.com/s/article/How-is-the-size-and-weight-of-a-parcel-determined#:~:text=Dimensional....

The seller listing laptops for $25 w/ $1,500 shipping, is either very inexperienced at using ebay or possibly a scammer. In either case I would avoid buying from them.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@soh.maryl wrote:

AFAIK, eBay makes no attempt to regulate what a seller charges for shipping.....  

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Long, long ago, before eBay started charging FVF on shipping, they apparently investigated the feasibility of setting shipping limits.  They started with media categories, setting a dollar limit for the amount that sellers could charge as a flat rate for shipping books, DVDs, even items like journals and address books.  The rates were pretty low -- $4 for a book wasn't enough for shipping a heavy textbook, even back then.

The list of categories with limits on flat rate shipping still exists, but the limits have been raised so high, it seems that eBay has given up on enforcing limits but instead of abandoning the list (and thus having to re-write some programming) they decided to make the limits so high they'd very rarely be reached. The only posts I've seen recently were related to shipping lots of heavy books.

The whole idea was a nonstarter IMHO since the easy workaround was to set up calculated shipping, and a seller intent on overcharging could just enter an inflated package weight.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/shipping-items/maximum-shipping-costs?id=4655

[ed8108]

Because Ebay doesn't care, I would advise you consider making a purchase on the total cost.

Item cost + shipping cost

[campanaelia]

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@ed8108 wrote:

Because Ebay doesn't care, I would advise you consider making a purchase on the total cost.

Item cost + shipping cost

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Exactly, the total cost is all that matters.

For me, if 2 items have the same total cost. I buy from the seller with the highest shipping fee since my state does not charge tax on the shipping portion. The higher, the better. I hate free shipping.

[doc-holmes]

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@soh.maryl wrote:

AFAIK, eBay makes no attempt to regulate what a seller charges for shipping.  It would be impractical for an eBay employee to check every listing for possible overcharging on shipping.   The potential buyer sees the shipping cost before buying and can simply hit the back arrow and find another seller.

Possibly that guy with the $1500 shipping for laptops has not actually read eBay's fee schedule and thinks he's getting away with something.  

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I'm pretty sure they can report those listings. Here's ebay's policy on shipping charges:

What is the policy?

Sellers must ship items within the handling time stated in their listing, using the shipping service the buyer selected at checkout. They must:

• Review the cost and speed of delivery before offering a shipping service
• Specify clearly when the item will be shipped
• Ship items within the handling time specified in the listing
• Only include shipping charges that are actually incurred by the seller and are related to the cost of shipping and handling the items being delivered
  • Actual cost paid to the shipping service
  • Handling costs, including the cost of packaging materials and insurance
  • The actual cost of delivery confirmation or extra services, such as certificate of mailing, certified mail, collect delivery, delivery confirmation, registered mail, restricted delivery, return receipt, signature confirmation, special handling, or similar service

[12345jamesstamps]

Apparently not, what about those selling a stamp for $500.+ and it's only worth "0". Its good for laughs just like the high shipping rates.

[campanaelia]

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@mudshark61369 wrote:The seller listing laptops for $25 w/ $1,500 shipping, is either very inexperienced at using ebay or possibly a scammer. In either case I would avoid buying from them.

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If that seller was experienced with a good selling history and I wanted the laptop with a $1525 total cost, that seller would be my first choice.

Like I said earlier,  if 2 items have the same total cost. I buy from the seller with the highest shipping fee since my state does not charge tax on the shipping portion. That said, I would save about $120 compared to the same laptop for $1525 with free shipping.

Since the sales tax was started a few years ago for interstate sales, the shipping fee is the only way left for me to reduce the tax being charged. I especially don't see why anyone would want to report it, if the shipping fee doesn't appeal to you, just move on. No harm, no foul.