Experienced Ebayers, a question....

[neebelung]

Alright, I'm not the MOST experienced Ebay buyer; I troll more than I actually buy and sell, so I've got a weird question:

I bought something the other day; shipping listed on the auction was $13.95, shipment via Priority Mail coming from San Francisco. The seller has a great feedback rating, and has sold many items of this variety/size before.

So I win the auction the other day, send payment via PayPal immediately, and I get an email from them confirming that it'll be shipping yesterday. Great!

So today I have an email from them today saying "Your item shipped out yesterday, but shipping ended up being more than expected, it actually came to $35.95, so we need you to pay the additional $22. Sorry for the inconvenience." Then they also sent me a money request via PayPal.



I'm thinking "WTF!" Sounds like they're just pissed the item sold as cheaply as it did, and they're trying to make up the difference in shipping. Or, if the item really WAS that expensive to ship, then hey, that's their problem, IMO... there's an option to have the buyer select the method of shipment and enter their zip code when they set up the auction, but they didn't do that, so I don't think I should be responsible for their mistake. Not to mention, they had already SHIPPED the item when they asked for the additional $22, so it's not like I had an option to say "Hmmm... no thanks."

So for you more experienced Ebayers, what're my options here? I only have a feedback of like 3 on there, so I don't want a negative feedback, but at the same time, I didn't do anything wrong, IMO.... do I have any recourse with Ebay or PayPal here?

[Rider]

It's a trick to get more money. Tell them no. Your kind of screwed in the feedback. They will give you negative feedback. Ebay does nothing to protect the buyers when something like that happens.

[6doublefive321]

It may also be someone phishing. Check with the seller and make sure that the request is real. Also, forward the request to ebay, and let them check it out. Most likely, it is a scam, and wasn't generated by the seller.

[Trip]

Buying something on ebay is a contract. They are responsible for calculating the shipping before they post it. Stand your ground and tell them to send the item or you will contact ebay. The are legally obligated to give you that item for the price you paid. You can actually sue them if they do not give you the item for what you paid for it.

[marko138]

Trip and Rider are right. DO NOT pay the extra money. Thats on them.

[neebelung]

Well they have already shipped the item; that's kinda the B.S. part of it... they shipped it, then realized how much it was to ship and THEN emailed me (they included the tracking # in the email). The message came through Ebay, and the PayPal money request came from the same email address I sent payment to in the first place, so it is the same person.

I sent an inquiry to Ebay. I'm not paying the addl $22 but I want to hear what they have to say on it as well.

[marko138]

I'd make sure the package shows up before you even reply to this clown.

[neebelung]

True, true... not a bad idea.

[Trip]

Originally Posted by neebelung

Well they have already shipped the item; that's kinda the B.S. part of it... they shipped it, then realized how much it was to ship and THEN emailed me (they included the tracking # in the email). The message came through Ebay, and the PayPal money request came from the same email address I sent payment to in the first place, so it is the same person.

I sent an inquiry to Ebay. I'm not paying the addl $22 but I want to hear what they have to say on it as well.

If they already sent the item. Fuck em. You got your item and deny the the request for money. Send them a reply saying "I am sorry for your miscalculation on shipping, but that is not my responsibility. I signed a contract stating this is how much I was willing to pay for an item and your agreement for that price was confirmed because you listed thecost of shipping and your reserve on the item when you listed the item. I will leave feedback when I receive the item and inspect it. I would appreciate if you do the same. It's not my mistake that you calculated the shipping wrong."

You can put it in better words and nicer, but something along those lines.

[marko138]

Originally Posted by Trip

If they already sent the item. Fuck em. You got your item and deny the the request for money. Send them a reply saying "I am sorry for your miscalculation on shipping, but that is not my responsibility. I signed a contract stating this is how much I was willing to pay for an item and your agreement for that price was confirmed because you listed thecost of shipping and your reserve on the item when you listed the item. I will leave feedback when I receive the item and inspect it. I would appreciate if you do the same. It's not my mistake that you calculated the shipping wrong."

You can put it in better words and nicer, but something along those lines.

I think thats about as nice as you need to be.