After many years buying on Ebay, I have to say that Postage Rorting remains my number one pet hate...and it's so obvious as to make it blatant......so why isn't ebay doing something...or are they the reason it's getting worse?.....
For instance, I notice that since RBA declined on Paypal fees being legitimately passed onto consumers openly, sellers are resorting to recouping their costs via postage rorts.....some are more honest than others.....I won't 'out' anyone here, or report a seller until I've clarified why their postage is so high. I've found that it usually helps to email about the postage cost and tell the seller you use Bank deposit...you'd be amazed how many reduce their listed postage cost then.....mmmmhhh!!!! What would that indicate?...lol
Anyone else with similar examples should email the seller first and ask why they are charging such exorbitant postage....If in breach of Ebay's postage policy...then do us all a favour and report them to Ebay......here's a few examples.
Wholesale Sterling Silver Pendants & Rings Current bid: AU $6.50
Postage: AU $20.00RegisteredThis is 10 items only, and would ship for $5.00 or less regular plus rego = $7.80 at the very most. This seller is charging $11.20 on top of the real postage price and his listing then states:
"Sorry No Postage discounts!!!" I've emailed this one to ask how he can justify such a huge postage cost. Can't wait to hear what the justifications are......
And this one.....
Silver Necklace
Starting bid: AU $5.00
Postage: AU $8.00PrePaid Parcel Post Satchels 500g She's quoting $8.00 regular 500 gram prepaid satchel...and well, we all know there is no such bloody thing don't we.....?...meanwhile the item listed is so small as to cost no more than a few bucks to post...I know this because I sold online for 7 years.......Like since when would it cost 8.00 to post a small necklace ????????.....and since when has 500gram, prepaid satchels gone up to $8.00?....say anything......so I emailed her to ask whether it might be a mistake...stand by for the usual justifications for postage rorting to follow I'll bet....maybe not....I'll let you know what she says....I asked...
Hi, I was going to bid on this item and then noticed the
postage cost....thought you may have made a
mistake.....500gram prepaid satchels are 5.00, not 8.00...so,
just wondering if this postage price is wrong?...Cheers. Finally, at least one seller I found this morning is actually honest about a postage surcharge being imposed for Paypal use..... (oh, but BTW, only one necklace is actually Silver...lol....so the title is misleading to say the least)
6 lovely silver necklaces Starting bid: AU $4.99
Postage: AU $8.50Registered Small 6 lovely necklace 1} small ball one is STERLING SILVER
2}.blue diamonti glass stone avon 3}large clear sliding
diamonti 4}ballerina with clip at bottom for charms 5}clear
plastic with flower 6}sliding heart with small diamonti ALL
IN GREAT CONDITION POST FOR BANK DEPOSIT $1.10
POST FOR PAY PAL $8.50 pickup welcome Clearly then, this seller is prepared to mark up her postage cost by a massive $4,60 on the true cost of registered post Australia Wide, which would be $3.90 based on her B/deposit postage rate....see how that works? I'd say she's a typical example of a seller adding Paypal Fees to the postage cost openly.....
If you find similar cases of blatant postage rorting, post them here....don't necessarily 'Out' the seller, just give an example,
(As above Item, Listing price, Postage) and if it breaches Ebay policy, then it would be appropriate to report the listing and see if it's removed or amended....I've included the Ebay Excessive Postage Policy and the link to report sellers in breach of postage policies (not that it's easy to find or connected to the listing).
I found this information which seems to speak for itself as to how Easy Ebay don't make it to report listing violations...round and round and round we go....the word 'Locate' is operative here.
To report a policy violation:
1.Locate and review the policy page that deals with the
breach.
2.Click the “Report” link at the bottom of the page. For example,
see Excessive Postage and Handling policy.
3. Enter the item number(s) of the listing that you wish to report.
4.Click the Send button to send your message to eBay Customer
Support.Sound Easy?...lol....there's also a report link in each listing but conveniently it has no option for excessive posting violations that I could see....lmao....They don't want to make it easy do they?...or Ebay's Policies would have to walk the way they talk....
Here's the policy page on excessive postage and right down the bottom you'll see a 'report' link that will take you to a complaint form to report any listing you find in violation of Excessive Postage Policies..
REPORT EXCESSIVE POSTAGE RORTERS HERE:
http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/policies/listing-shipping.html