Ebay US Shipping Question-I want your opinion

GearlessinSeattle · Jul 30, 2009

I recently sold a frameset on ebay US and told any international bidders to email first.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... SA:US:1123

Someone from France inquired, I told them that shipping would be "actual cost" to France.
In my listing I had shipping as $50us flat rate within the US.
This fellow from France seems to think that "actual cost" meant $50us and does not want to pay the $75us that it is going to "actually" cost to ship.
So...what does "actual cost" mean to you?
Was my wording misleading? Am I splitting hairs over $25us.
I did bring the shipping down to $65us, kinda splitting the difference.
Anyhow, any advice or opinions would be appreciated.

sancho · Jul 30, 2009

Tell him $50 shipping will get him the frame and $75 will get him both the frame and fork.

All kidding aside, your listing looks pretty clear to me and "actual cost" is not an ambiguous term in my book. I think you should stick to your guns and go no lower than $65 (since you've already offered that, which is more than fair). If he can't live with that, see if the second highest bidder is still interested.

David Gibson · Jul 30, 2009

shipping

I think that you are in the right...however, because of language barriers I would generally quote the actual cost because sometimes there can be confusion over semantics.

richardf · Jul 30, 2009

Can't you just refund the winning bidder and re-list? A bit of hassle, but better than paying out loads out of your own pocket. I had to do that with a guy from Germany who bought a handlebar I was selling. Due to width of it, it had to go as an international parcel, which would have cost £22 - about four times what bar sold for! I refunded him via paypal and heard nothing else, so worked for me.

Harryburgundy · Jul 30, 2009

Can I just clarify.....the buyer from France thinks that you would charge the same $50 to ship to France as you were charging US bidders?
I think you have been more than generous already.

Jones · Jul 30, 2009

I recently had exactly the same thing with my Tommasini :roll: I asked people to e-mail for shipping quotes abroad, the winning bidder didn't then got shirty when he found out how much shipping was to Taiwan :roll:

PurpleFrog · Jul 30, 2009

1. What you said would have been fine for an English speaker.

2. He has misunderstood because English is an idiomatic language and not his native one.

3. He was the guy who decide to enter an English language auction; problems from his less than perfect understanding of English are therefore his problems to deal with and pay for.

Point him at this thread, I suggest - he's probably made an honest mistake and seeing neutral opinion may help.

GoldenEraMTB · Jul 30, 2009

I've encounted this problem a few times. If he's not just a deadbeat looking for a way out by claiming, "ah, I do not understand what you speak", then you have been more than generous, by meeting halfway.

Your auction terms, while perhaps lost in translation, are used regularly enough that he should have been familiar with it from other english ebay auctions I'm sure he has looked at in the past.

I hate it when international bidders claim ignorance after the fact. I usually just request that they cancel the auction, I get reimbursed by ebay, then relist, or send a second chance offer.

utahdog2003 · Jul 30, 2009

GoldenEraMTB":1rrambw2 said:
I usually just request that they cancel the auction, I get reimbursed by ebay, then relist, or send a second chance offer.

ditto. You are likely to get screwed by the eBay 'buyer is never wrong' feedback system if you let it stand. Or...even if you get positive feedback, it will be of the 'three star' variety, and you'll risk being dropped below the prefered seller status.

eBay blows. :cry:

Ask him to agree to cancel the auction.

uno-speedo · Jul 30, 2009

whats really annoying is you are held to ransom because there is always the threat of them leaving you negative feedback. and you being the seller cannot reply to that feedback. although you can go through the laborious exercise of having the feedback removed, the attempt to have it removed i might add.

in the future i would suggest listing a price for european shipping, its basically the same price to all countries. or at a minimum make your shipping requirements better defined.

man thats a frustrating position to be in.

Ebay US Shipping Question-I want your opinion

GearlessinSeattle

Senior Retro Guru

sancho

Senior Retro Guru

David Gibson

Senior Retro Guru

richardf

Retro Guru

Harryburgundy

Jones

Senior Retro Guru

PurpleFrog

GoldenEraMTB

Old School Grand Master

utahdog2003

Senior Retro Guru

uno-speedo

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