SELLER BEWARE (see photo proof) - eBay and FedEx are TAKING YOUR MONEY W/ EXTRA CHARGES ON INVOICE

[urbanrummage]

I have been having this problem on almost every invoice. The problem is when a seller goes to ship something via FedEx, using the eBay labels, we are shown the price they we will be paying. Then at the end of the month when you look at your invoice, on some transactions we are charged more money, with really no explanation. Sometimes the amount is significant. Or sometimes its a bunch of little ones that add up. And every time I call it in, spending way too much time on the phone explaining (time is money), and I have never ever got any of my money back. Not once. It makes me literally sick to my stomach thinking about how much money has been taken from me and my family with no recourse. Even when I am doing everything correct. Now I have picture proof of this.... You will see with my receipts below that on Feb 1st, I took my piece of artwork to be professionally packed at FedEx. The agent told me the exact dimensions and weight to use. Then I enter that info into eBay right there, and print my shipping label right on the spot. You will see the time stamps. 8:53am for my packing charge. 8:55am my shipping label is scanned. You will see that my scanned shipping label receipt tracking number matches with my tracking on the next photo, which I only cropped a little for other's privacy. The dollar amount of $189.44 is what I originally was shown that I would be paying for shipping this piece. The $221.83 is what I was charged on my invoice. A difference of $32.39 being taken from me when I do everything correctly, even when trying to avoid this problem by paying FedEx to pack for me. That is food for my kids, money to keep my business going during a pandemic, money for bills, whatever... And this is just one obvious transaction that I can easily prove. I haven't even gone line by line yet. This problem happens literally every month. Money being stolen back out of my account. And its been going on for who knows how long. I only recently caught onto it back in June of 2020 when I got an extra charge of $800+ on a huge piece of artwork. $800+ just stolen from my account. I fought it as hard as a could for months, and no one would help me. I had no recourse. And I did everything correctly.... Is it even legal for eBay to be taking money that is not agreed to?? In my  specific case below, I agreed to the charge of $189.44. I did not agree to the charge of $221.83. I was not informed that there was an additional charge for anything, nor did I give permission for the extra $32.39. eBay simply took it out of my bank account. I could see if I maybe tried to game the system by making up some new dimensions to try to save money, then it would make sense to charge more. But that is not what happened.... And I am just one person that this is happening to. Imagine the total amount of money eBay/FedEx are taking from sellers each month. It would have to be in the millions, just from this FedEx overcharge alone!! My question is how do we stop this from happening?!? And how can I get all my money back from all of the overcharges that happened over the years?? @Anonymous  ---- I'm not sure anyone other executives or higher ups I can tag here... Please pass this onto the right person if needed. Thank you.                                  Time Stamp Showing Packing & Dropoff TimeOvercharges that were applied to invoice afterwards. Tracking matches up with receipt

[urbanrummage]

Yes. The advertised price is what I go by, and its generally the best deal with the eBay discounts. Many times I sell larger more expensive pieces. For example, this piece in question with the receipts to back up my paying for the packing, was a larger piece of framed art. Too big for USPS if I remember correct. And if it coulda gone USPS, it would be even more than the overcharge I got. Also, many of the items on my invoice are right on where they should be too. Its pretty random when the overcharge happens. eBay should be telling us the correct amount we will be paying when we agree to that shipping label price, when its time to print our labels. I could see if I tried to game the system by making up dims & weight, and I got caught. Then charge more. But to do everything correct and have it happen? I really wonder if its even legal to do this. Name any business besides eBay, that is allowed to tell you how much you are paying for something, you click and agree to pay that amount, then on your bill you see you were charged more than that amount you were told. But you have no choice and they just take it from your personal/biz bank account ... If a biz said hey its going to be $10. You were like, ok I will buy that for $10. Swipe your debit card and the biz took $40 from your bank. You would be like what the heck?? Then there is no one that will help you get it back. It's not right!! Need to spread the word till it fixed!     

[urbanrummage]

I think it should be an illegal business practice. There are probably soooo many sellers out there who don't even know that it is happening to them. If you offer a price for something and a person accepts the price, the deals done.  I'm not allowed to do this within my business.  Hey this murano vase will cost you $60. You say ok, I'll buy it for $60. Thanks for the good deal! You give me your debit card and I charge $95 and just take that money. Then you are left unable to contact me nor get your money back. It's not right.... Spread the word!!   

[magicjohnsonsvariety]

Clear bait and switch. 

The gov't never enforces this law anymore so companies are now free to do as they please.

[urbanrummage]

I know. That is why I think this is not right of eBay to allow, nor FedEx to do. I blame eBay personally, I pay an eBay invoice, not a FedEx invoice. And many shipping charges are right on too when I go line by line on my invoice. Its really just random. If there are going to be surge charges, they need to be up front with what those charges entail. I am always going to choose the best shipping deal for my buyers and myself. If eBay cannot quote what the actual price is, then they should not be offering any price.... It would be like me saying hey you want to buy this Herman Miller chair from be for $150? You say yes, I'll pay the $150, thanks for the great deal. You give me your debit card and I charge you $200. Then my employees patronize you on the phone for 45minutes and you never get your money back. It's not ok for them to do!! Spread the word so others are not robbed! 

[firesteel_surplus]

Just for S&Gs...I opened up the FedEx site and input the dimensions and weight and shipped it to my zip code. I don't know where you shipped to, but I am in SD so about half way across the US.

For FedEx Home Delivery, I came up with $277....I have no idea how a FedEx OFFICE of all places could horrendously screw this up so bad. And that was for it to be packaged and ready to ship. You dropped it off for them to package and ship. I'm guessing you shipped somewhere on the west coast and the Misc1 amount of $130 was the packing charge.  So yeah...huge screw up on their part.

Mike

Firesteel Surplus

[somanypcs]

The Estimated Shipping cost shows Orig. Wt:  15.000 and Actual Shipping Cost show Bill Wt: 90.0.  It looks like the weight difference is causing the higher price.  When FedEx gave you the weight to use, was this written down someplace?

[urbanrummage]

Sure, I definitely would fold in the surge charges, but if you never know what those surge charges will be, how do you fold it in? For example, last invoice before this one, I had shipped a bunch of vintage posters. They all went into the same exact sized shipping tube.  All weighed the same. And each one was roughly around $8.50, give or take, to ship via FedEx. When I went line by line on the invoice, some of those posters were right on what I paid. Then others were charged around $25. I called it in and talked for 45minutes going line by line showing discrepancy. It added up to like $150 or maybe more. I never heard back after, nor did I see any credits on my invoice. So how can you know what the surge charges are going to be if its all random? And it never ever costs $25 to ship a poster in a tube measuring 30" x 3" x 3" ..... I think the responsibility falls on eBay. Think about how many other people this is happening to that don't even know. It's not right at all. And should be illegal. If my large piece of art I paid to have packed was going to be hit with surge charges, they should be calculated out after a sale before printing my shipping label. Preferably should be figured out once dimensions are put into eBay description.... If surgecharges are not calculated beforehand, then how am I to ever know what to correctly charge my buyer, or how to price  whatever I'm selling?

[urbanrummage]

It was a framed watercolor painting, so it was not 90lbs. Nor do I know how they come up with "Bill Wt. 90lbs", if that is something different than the actual weight... It would have been so hard to carry. I am not sure how they come up with that figure. It is probably some dimensional weight formula they calculate on their end, but don't tell you the buyer how it works, and they bill eBay, who then bills you. 

[urbanrummage]

Yep. I shipped just down the West Coast. I took the painting into FedEx, had my packer lady do what she does best. She tells me dimensions and weight. I punch it in on my phone, give it some insurance like I always do. I print it out the eBay label on their printer. She scans it, gives me the receipt, and slaps the label on. Done.... It's not right. It happens every month on my invoice. Many items will right where they should be, and others will be over charged a few bucks. The few bucks is whatever, cost of doing biz. Still completely wrong of them to do, but not worth my time on the phone fighting it out just to lose every time. It's the bigger discrepancies that drive a fury into me. A few invoices ago I shipped a bunch of vintage posters. All the tubes exactly the same size. 30" x 3" x 3". All cost around $8.50 to ship. Go line by line and some are right on, then others got charged $25. I wasted 45minutes on the phone hashing out the line by line thing which added up to over $150. Then never heard anything nor got any money back .... The worst was in June of 2020 when I first caught on. I was hit with an $800+ surgecharge. Luckily the frame of the painting broke badly in transit and I got a full refund on my shipping back, plus the cost of the painting... Dodged a bullet. But it is not right to be able to just take and extra $800+ out of my account without telling me or giving me a reason. That could break a really small tiny struggling biz, or cost someone a mortgage/rent payment, or whatever. Its not right of eBay to allow it, even if its FedEx charging it!! Should be illegal. Spread the word!! Let's get it to stop!  

[firesteel_surplus]

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@urbanrummage wrote:

Yep. I shipped just down the West Coast. I took the painting into FedEx, had my packer lady do what she does best. She tells me dimensions and weight. I punch it in on my phone, give it some insurance like I always do. I print it out the eBay label on their printer. She scans it, gives me the receipt, and slaps the label on. Done.... It's not right. It happens every month on my invoice. Many items will right where they should be, and others will be over charged a few bucks. The few bucks is whatever, cost of doing biz. Still completely wrong of them to do, but not worth my time on the phone fighting it out just to lose every time. It's the bigger discrepancies that drive a fury into me. A few invoices ago I shipped a bunch of vintage posters. All the tubes exactly the same size. 30" x 3" x 3". All cost around $8.50 to ship. Go line by line and some are right on, then others got charged $25. I wasted 45minutes on the phone hashing out the line by line thing which added up to over $150. Then never heard anything nor got any money back .... The worst was in June of 2020 when I first caught on. I was hit with an $800+ surgecharge. Luckily the frame of the painting broke badly in transit and I got a full refund on my shipping back, plus the cost of the painting... Dodged a bullet. But it is not right to be able to just take and extra $800+ out of my account without telling me or giving me a reason. That could break a really small tiny struggling biz, or cost someone a mortgage/rent payment, or whatever. Its not right of eBay to allow it, even if its FedEx charging it!! Should be illegal. Spread the word!! Let's get it to stop!  

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I have NEVER had that happen in any of my UPS shipments done over ebay. Nothing to that extreme. Sure...I get them off a few buck. I think the worst might have been $10 or so. I did my recon last week and out of the 6 shipments that showed up on my weekly payout stub from ebay, 2 were right on, 1 was lower by $1, and 3 were higher by $1-$2. For the most part, it all balances out.

That 90# was dimensional weight. UPS and FedEx both use that for lighter packages that exceed certain dimensions. Your package takes up a bunch of room in the truck...you get to pay more even though it doesn't weigh much...hence dimensional weight.

Why your phone didn't calculate this is weird...

I'm not going to be in any hurry to switch to FedEx now. UPS is working just fine for me.

Mike

Firesteel Surplus

[creeg1]

Isn’t it funny how the estimated price is ALWAYS lower than the actual price. It’s never the other way around. They never make mistakes in your favor.