Beware of bad ebay seller

[ohohyodafarted]

Recently there was a CTC4 chassis on ebay. Starting price was $295.00. I was the only bidder and won the auction at what I considered a rather lofty price. It was no wonder that I was the only person that made a bid. The auction number is 290781748775

The auction clearly stated that the shipping was 15.45. And after I won the auction and paid for the item I received a note from the seller attempting to extort an additional $55.64 for shippng. I went to the UPS web site and determined that that the actual shipping would have been $42.52, so he was attempting to fleece me on the shipping.

My payment has been refunded and the transaction was canceled.

BEWARE OF THIS EBAY SELLER. I strongly advise that you refrain from bidding on this item under any circumstance. This seller uses deceptive selling practices. And is incredibly unreasonable.

[DavidGoncalv]

Sounds like he messed up the shipping calculator big time and was trying to account for a poor weight estimate, cost of packing materials at the UPS Store and bad calculator setup. No good.

Though, I would have asked the seller about the unusually low shipping cost before the auction ended - discounted shipping usually is advertised.

[Sandy G]

I can only imagine what kinda shape it woulda been in for $15.45...

[stromberg6]

Thanks. I also considered bidding on this, but thought better of it, dollar wise. Don't really need a chassis, but it IS an attractive item to have for spares. I sure wish I knew about the history of that "chassis-in-a-box".
Kevin

[miniman82]

Originally Posted by ebay ad

Please wait for me to send you an invoice with shipping for a total to your zip code before making payment

Just sayin'....

No way can a heavy chassis be shipped for only $15, that's the first clue. I thought you didn't need another one of these anyway, Bob? Remember I had a 4 chassis a while ago for like $250, and there would have been no shipping involved with that one. If I were in your shoes, I'd get a hold of the guy and see if he would entertain a deal for $250 shipped. That's about the most I'd ever pay for an untested chassis, though I may have to take that back at some point as I have a line on a spare chassis for the 21-CT-55... God only knows how much I'll have to pay out for that thing.

[Eric H]

Bob, you had to know it couldn't be shipped for $15.45 beforehand didn't you?
If you did and were expecting to take advantage of the mistake isn't that just as bad?

The details say "Expedited Shipping (USPS Priority Mail Large Flat Rate Box®)"
Clearly this won't fit in any Flat Rate Priority box.

Granted it's the sellers responsibility to get their listing right but they may not know what shipping cost is being displayed to what zone, i.e California may be more than Ohio or vice versa.

The difference between your $42 estimate and the sellers $55 could just be the size of the package, perhaps he double boxed it and went over the size limit, it's very easy to add $13 to the cost of shipping these days just by making the package a few inches larger or a little bit heavier.

I hear people (not you) complaining about how much it cost to ship things all the time, then when their item gets smashed they complain that it wasn't packed well enough, it puts the seller in a tough spot.

I usually write and ask for better packing and offer to pay more if needed, particularly if I know it can't be shipped safely for the price displayed by eBay's POS calculator.

[ctc17]

Ebay has created the false reality that the buyer is always right and driven all the good sellers away.

[jr_tech]

"Please wait for me to send you an invoice with shipping for a total to your zip code before making payment"

I think that says it all. The seller knew the eBay "calculated" shipping charge was likely incorrect. Seems as if an ugly situation could have been avoided by honoring his request. Perhaps a compromise can still be reached? Chassis looks NEW!

jr

[N2IXK]

Had a recent runaround with shipping charges on eBay myself.

Placed a winning bid of $42.50 for a Sencore VA62A, that was advertised as "Free Shipping". Before the auction ended, the listing gets updated to reflect a $9.75 shipping charge (which still wouldn't come close to covering the cost of properly packing and shipping it). Then once the auction ended, I get an invoice for $41 shipping, on top of the cost of the unit.

As soon as I initially saw the "free shipping", I was concerned, but bid anyway, because the price was really cheap, the unit was in nice shape, and most importantly, the seller was only a few miles away. I ended up just picking the thing up in person, but the last minute changes in the shipping costs would have provided a valid reason to void the transaction if he tried to insist on shipping it. Fortunately, he agreed to pickup, which I intended to do all along. Wouldn't trust the quality of packing on a "free shipping" deal on a unit like that.

I don't think that some sellers pay any attention at all when listing stuff.

[Penthode]

To be fair, I see that the seller and buyer have to be fair minded. I have also be in this situation. However my situtation was worse: the item was small and the shipping price was extortionate. I politely made mention of the fact that the price was a bit high and I received an abusive reply.

Your transaction seemed to be an honest mistake and even with the additional shipping cost, the transaction still seemed reasonable to me.

[John Marinello]

The chassis looks good, but it SMOKED. You can clearly see that a choke underneath nearly caught fire, plus it looks like there maybe tar dripping from the HV cage? That chassis was likely replaced under a warranty contract because it smoked the customer out of his house, and he raised some serious hell.

[ggregg]

I recently shipped a couple of Transoceanics to Canada and drastically unestimated the shipping charges. When I emailed the buyer and told him the sets were in transit, I told him what had happened. I also told him that I didn't require extra compensation because a deal is a deal however I asked if there was something we could work out. He asked what I would like. I said that if the sets arrived in good condition, and he was satisfied, to send an extra specific amount. He agreed. The sets were acceptable and he sent extra compensation.

The key is communication between honest buyers and honest sellers. This was totally my fault and many people would have said too bad, so sad, which I was willing to accept. But in this case, because the buyer was a decent guy, everything worked out fine. People just need to treat each other right and quit looking for ways to screw each other. When that happens, even a problem can be worked out to everyones satisfaction.

[ohohyodafarted]

I forgot to mention that I offered to make up the difference of what I had paid for shipping and what the actual UPS on line calculator said the cost would be, about $27 more. He declined to accept my offer. Here pasted below is the actual note I sent to him after he tried to extort unreasonable inflated shipping charges from me.

Good evening Phil,
I weighed one of my CTC4 chassis. It is factory original and it weighs in on a very accurate digital scale at exactly 45 pounds. Allowing 5 pounds for packing, I went to the UPS web site and had UPS figure the shipping charges for Standard ground service from Clifton Heights, PA 19018 to my residential address at 53211 and the cost is 42.52. Furthermore, your auction clearly stated that the shipping was going to be $15.45. eBay auctions have provision for the automatic calculation of UPS shipping charges that the seller can integrate into the auction. Advertising one price for shipping and then charging something else after the sale is completed is a deceptive practice according to eBay rules. To be fair to you, I am willing to pay you the actual UPS cost difference between what I already paid and the $42.52 that the UPS calculator tells me ground service will cost; $42.52-$15.45=$27.07.

Now as for those of you who feel that the seller was in the right, I will remind you that if a shipping charge is stated in the auction, the terms are binding and must be honored. eBay has a very good UPS calculator built into the ebay system. All you have to do is enter your fixed charge for packaging and the weight of the item and the eBay system will automatically calculate the proper shipping charges for each buyer based on his zip code. If the seller wanted to add shipping charges then he is supposed to us the Pickup Only option, and then advertise for the potential bidder to inquire as to what the charges are prior to bidding if the item is to be shipped.

Advertising a shipping price is a binding term of the auction and deviation from what is advertised as the shipping price is a deceptive practice according to the people that I spoke to at eBay.

On top of that $295 for a ctc4 Chassis is good money and I offered the seller to pay for "actual" ups charges, but paying in excess of actual shipping cost is nothing short of extortion. I was under no obligation to pay anything but what was advertised according to eBay rules.

So to those of you who think that I was taking advantage of the seller I ask you, When was the last time you paid more than the advertised price for something??????

[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.

[miniman82]

It's been my experience on Ebay that if a listing is jacked up, the seller probably doesn't know how to use the shipping stuff on Ebay. That happened to me recently, for whatever reason it refused to let me list the shipping the way I wanted to so I simply posted a $50 flat rate. If this seller had done that, we wouldn't be hearing about it. 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.