Any guidelines on eBay purchases?

[akpoff]

Another area to watch is shipping. High shipping can mean:

1) New sellers who don't know how to save the buyer money on shipping,
2) Sellers who don't care since the buyer pays,
3) Sellers who make extra money on shipping costs.

I ran into 1 and 2 recently. In the first instance the seller didn't shop around. When I asked whether ground was an option she found the price went from $80 to $35! However another seller wouldn't budge on UPS Ground because he didn't want to drive to the Post Office, which suggests I would've paid for pickup at his house.

BTW, I've had good luck messaging sellers and asking them to offer more shipping options. I usually add a comment that I'm fine with slower if it saves money. USPS Expedited is always higher than regular USPS First Class. Media Mail class is great for books but shouldn't be used for magazines because of the ads, but a lot of sellers will offer it for vintage mags anyway.

#3 is a special category. I've seen listings with reasonable purchase prices but really high shipping costs ... ratios of 1:3 and worse. I think the goal is twofold: 1) make money on shipping, and 2) discourage returns.

Lastly, I was talking to a family member who sells online. eBay offers discounted pricing to sellers. What you see quoted isn't necessarily what the seller pays. But, sellers can pass their discount through to the buyer ... if they know about it.

High shipping prices and inflexibility on shipping method are red flags for me.

Cheers,

--Aaron