Scams Against Buyers
Part 1: Intro - Scams against Buyers
Part 2: The Empty Box Shipping Scam
Part 3: The "Expensive Phone Book Scam" or "Reach Out & Rob Someone"
Part 4: Shill Bidding
Part 5: Wrong Descriptions: The Old Bait and Switch routine
Part 6: Bid Siphoning
Part 7: The Overpriced Shipping Scam
The Overpriced Shipping Scam
One of the most unimaginative, sleazy and yet most common scams on any auction site is the over priced shipping scam. No, this isn't when a seller charges $6 or $7 dollars for a deal when the shipping costs $5.85. A certain amount of unintentional over-estimating will take place; and is par for the course.
Over-priced shipping is when the seller charges several dollars over the actual shipping amount- you are quoted $20 in shipping and the actual postage is $8.59. These same sellers usually won't 'combine ship' their items if you win multiple auctions either- Or worse, they WILL combine ship the items, and still charge you all of the full, separate shipping amounts. You only find out they are not willing to combine ship, only after you've bought three of their auctions.
Some sellers have a habit of doing this, and strangely enough feel it's a legitimate way to make a profit- it isn't, and this practice will earn negative feedback quickly. It can also get a seller in trouble with ebay and other auction houses, as it's a violation of their auction terms. This is why most of these stingy sellers do it- they sell an auction item worth $25.00 quickly for $5.00, and then charge $20.00 for shipping and send it media mail for $.89 cents. This seller then pays a lower listing fee as the item starts under $9.95, and they pay a substantially lower final value fee to ebay since the item sells for a lower cost- of course, it's the buyer who picks up the slack- they have still paid $25.00 for the item.
Any seller who routinely profits from overcharging for handling charges by several dollars per transaction, will not be in business long, and won't receive nearly as many bids from reluctant and educated buyers. That tactic may have flown in the mid 90's in online auctions, but it won't get off the ground these days. Plus, it's just unethical. If a seller wants 25 bucks for an item, they should start the item at a fair price, and use other sales strategies to do it.
The only time a seller is justified in charging more than the actual price for shipping, is if they put in a small, reasonable extra charge for packaging materials and they state this in their item description. Handling fees, though unpopular (and frowned upon by us here at BidLab) are not fraudulent if they are advertised in auction terms. The bottom line is the shipping charge should not be misleading- if the seller is tacking on any extra fees, the buyer should be made aware of these in advance.
To avoid being overcharged for shipping, and especially before buying multiple items from the same seller, you should contact the seller in advance of the auction close to ask about combined shipping. Also, check the seller's feedback rating. If they have a history of overcharging without advertising it, you'll see it indicated by other angry bidders.
On the flip side, to practice good auction etiquette as a buyer, make sure you scrutinize the seller's auction terms. If a seller states they charge $20 for shipping, because they live 60 miles from the nearest Post Office or they have to use special packing materials or whatever, that is their business and it's not bad behavior if they announce it openly. It's only a scam when there is a consistent pattern of an auction seller overcharging for shipping, while obscuring this fact to buyers until after the auction has ended.
For more on this subject, see our auction etiquette article:
High Handling Fees: Too much to Handle?
Back to Auction Fraud Part 6: Bid Siphoning
Read Auction Fraud Part 8: The Chargeback Scam
