Beware of bad ebay seller

[Findm-Keepm]

Originally Posted by miniman82

On the other hand, it's always smart to contact a seller if you have any reservations before making a bid. If that had happened, we wouldn't be hearing about it. Plenty of blame to go around here, but trying to get the seller to ship this thing for $15 was an exercise in futility.

Well said - I was an eBay seller from the early days (1997, when there were no shipping calculators or listing fees) and I wish to only add this observation - the playing field on eBay isn't what we all knew years ago. Distrust has crept in, profiteering by eBay has trumped the sellers, and the myriad changes just in the last year or so have made it very hard on sellers. Mind you that many sellers on eBay are casual sellers, but others, including me, used it to supplement income. To ask a seller to ship an item strictly for the actual shipping amount alone is unfair, as (good) packing ain't cheap. Sure, the seller could slap a stamp on your item and send it to you, but realistically, a decent box or boxes, along with tape, labeling and reenforcement material - they cost money. If the seller used a Pack-n-Ship place, even more, as labor now gets factored in. Bottom line - Miniman82 has it right above - contact, communicate, and agree B4UBID.

Cheers,

[jr_tech]

Several years ago, I was about to do a "buy it now" on a desirable TV item, but the shipping charges seemed to be way too cheap, so I contacted the seller to find out the details of the packing/shipping. The response that I received was very strange, and really gave me the impression that the seller had little knowledge of the item. Figuring that it was perhaps a scam listing, I did not buy the item. A few weeks later the seller was not on eBay. So it pays to communicate if something does not look right.

jr

[ctc17]

Originally Posted by Username1

I can't imagine people writing stuff like this, and never thinking to himself that the seller can be registered here, and reading these very postings.

I would bet someone already sent the seller to url to this thread. Its a good reference for the seller to use with ebay in getting that negative feedback removed.

Also, I know for a fact there is now a line of VKers waiting for the seller to re list that chassis.
$300 is a absolute bargain for just the transformers..

[DavidGoncalv]

The INTERNET has spoken! You are BOTH in the wrong!

[tubesrule]

One thing to keep in mind when dealing with UPS/FedEx is a thing called Dimensional Weight. Dimensional Weight is a factor they add on to the actual weight based on the size of the box and how much room it's going to take up in their plane/truck. Using 50# the UPS shipping calculator does come out to around $40 if you don't specify a box size. I don't know the size of a CTC4 chassis, but putting in 24" X 24" X 20" pushes the Dimensional Weight to 70# and the cost to over $50. Assuming you double box it and the package gets bigger, $60+ dollars is not far fetched.

This really becomes a problem when you need to ship something that is very large but very light. I just estimated sending an empty box that is a 24" cube weighing 1# to California and the Dimensional Weight came out to 84# with a shipping cost of $87.58!

Just remember actual weight means little when shipping a large item.

[Kamakiri]

I believe the seller is a member here, although I can't exactly recall who he is. I do know that according to his feedback, Eric H has bought from him, and I bought 5 TVs from him, as well I noted at least 3 other VK members that have had great experiences with him.

That said, obviously you needed the chassis, and the whole point of this thread was to bash the seller over "fleecing" you over what I calculate to be $13.12?!?!

So now you're out of a chassis that you needed, gave him negative feedback, and we're going towards page 3 of something that I see is based on some principle. But principle doesn't put the chassis in your hands.

On AudioKarma, we had a rule that people weren't allowed to bash eBay sellers. Never needed it here, but I think it's time we imposed the same rule. Closing this up.