Silly shipping problem

[imperialbari]

Case:

I win a smallish Eb from a defunct maker on Italian eBay. The auction page says explicitly that shipping to Denmark is 10 Euro.

I always calculate my bidding sums from the shipping prices provided on the auction page, or if nothing is told there, from the price told by the seller. When I buy from outside the EU I also incorporate VAT and customs in my calculations.

Now the invoice from the seller demands 75 Euro for the shipping and handling. I asked the seller about the discrepancy of 65 Euro (which add 30+% to the total costs).

The seller tells, that the 10 Euro shipping indication has been added automatically by eBay. However 75 Euro are the real costs of the shipping. I tend to believe him, but some sellers more or less include shipping in the sales price. In this auction shipping within Italy was free.

The auction procedure makes it clear that a bid is a binding contract. Hence I find the binding should go both ways and also count for the seller.

That is where the situation is landed for now.

Any ideas about a solution?

Klaus Smedegaard Bjerre

[bort]

Well, if he's selling on eBay to begin with, maybe he's willing to make a deal again... Offer him 45 Euro and see what he says. Not ideal, but better than 75 Euro...

[bort]

Contact eBay, Klaus. The ad clearly stated the shipping price, whether it was an error or whatever. It is a binding contract. The seller needs to be more clear; his ad was deceptive or very poorly presented if the shipping information was less than complete. Whether the deception was intentional or accidental, the price on the ad should be honored or the deal is off. EBay sorts this sort of issue every day - it is not unusual to quibble over the price of shipping. And the difference is not insignificant at all - €65 is a lot of money.

Heh, good point Wade, which I missed entirely -- if it's a binding contract, the seller is bound to the same contract that Klaus is! (I guess that's why I'm not a lawyer... )

[Dan Schultz]

I've had the same problem. I've had sellers openly admit that they made a mistake. Heck... I've made mistakes, too! (imagine that! ) From a sellers point of view, I have had to reduce my profit to complete the sale. From a buyers point of view, I've had to decide if I really wanted the item or not. If I would choose to not buy the item, I would think that would be completely within my right. Everything in life is negotiable.

[imperialbari]

I contacted eBay before posting here. They sent me a general mail about their fight against too high shipping prices. They would not give me a personal report on their findings. I replied to that mail with the specifics, but they have not come back to me yet.

The 65 Euro annoys me more for the principle than the actual sum, which I would rather have accepted, if we had spoken about a major find, which would have been a star in my collection. The tuba in question will not be such star, but it would add aspect to one of my themes, which happens to be British tubas. There is no way I could have a collection of 75 brasses, if I didn’t do some interesting finds at low prices. And I cannot afford costs to be raised by 30+% after a finished and well calculated win.

My intention is to ask the deal being done according to the auction presentation. But I will take a nap to cool down a bit before mailing the seller.

Klaus

PS: Part of doing a find is looking through absolutely impossible auction titles. The tuba is by none of the makers mentioned, but by the Salvation Army, which had their own factory until some 40 years ago:

[imperialbari]

After some thinking, I have come up with the draft presented below here without the formal identifications of the auction and of the seller. I have strived to avoid an aggressive approach, rather letting the seller suggest a solution:

“eBay makes it clear that bidding is the same as accepting a binding contract.

You as seller are also bound by that contract, and eBay makes the seller responsible for the auction presentation.

My bid of 190 Euro was part of a calculation, that the combined price of winning the auction and paying 10 Euro for shipping would be 200 Euro.

Now you demand a combined sum of 190 Euro for the auction and 75 Euro for flat rate shipping. Your combined demand is 265 Euro, which is 132,5% of the price according to the binding contract. This is not acceptable to me, as there were no disclaimers in the contract.

How do you suggest the situation shall be solved?”

Would this be a productive approach?

Klaus

[Dan Schultz]

I contacted eBay before posting here. They sent me a general mail about their fight against too high shipping prices. They would not give me a personal report on their findings. ...

Ebay is concerned about sellers overcharging for shipping for only one reason.... The seller makes a profit without having to pay part of it to Ebay.

[imperialbari]

The seller has suggested to cancel the transaction. I tend to agree, but haven’t replied yet.

This instrument wouldn’t become a core sample in my collection anyway, so I will survive without any scars. Yet I don’t like when sellers change the conditions during a transaction.

Klaus