Ordering on eBay without knowing how much shipping will cost. (prices, store)
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Are we talking automotive tools, woodworking, or what? Hard to believe this seller has the only quality tools on the planet.
And IF they are such great tools, and it is such a great deal, why hasn't he sold out? Could it be other buyers on Ebay are turned off by his shipping terms? Could you maybe learn something from them?
BTW, this would be a great topic to discuss on the Ebay forums. There's a lot of wisdom there.
ETA - what does the seller's negative and neutral FB say? Any mention of excessive shipping charges? What do his detailed seller ratings look like (the stars), esp. shipping?
Last edited by VTsnowbird; 06-08-2018 at 05:04 AM..
Here is the story. About six months ago I found a tool set available from an overseas seller on eBay that I really wanted to buy. It's a hard to find tool set that has been sold out on Amazon for at least the last four years, but is still available overseas. Anyway the seller had a great price on the item. The only problem was the shipping charge, which was more than the item. But since it was being shipped from overseas, I accepted that was the cost I'd have to pay. So I ordered it. Unfortunately, the price seemed too good to be true, and of course it was too good to be true. Instead of the tool set being shipped from overseas, I got a bunch of cheap random tools sent to me from Amazon. I threatened to give the seller a negative feedback and pointed out that I could have ordered the same crap myself for $35 less. He agreed to refund $30 if I would agree not to give him negative feedback. I took the money and ran.
So fast forward to now. I still would like to buy the tool set. It's being offered by another eBay seller overseas. This time the the price does not seem too good to be true. It's very expensive. To make it worse, the shipping charge is not listed. The seller tells me that he can not provide me with the shipping charge unless I place the order first. Which sounds like a scam, but seems to actually be true. The eBay software will not allow me to request the total price.
So now I'm contemplating what to do. Since I really want the tool set, I'm leaning towards just taking a gamble and see how much the shipping charge will be.
Anyway, has anyone else experienced this situation on eBay? It seems kind of crazy to order something without knowing how much the shipping charge will be.
Have bought things off eBay from Europe many times, and yes it often is the case seller will not have a shipping price until item is sold. This is especially true if they did not elect to include United States in the original listing, but you found it via doing an "worldwide" search.
Ebay now accepts credit cards along with PayPal. Pay with one or the other, if item arrives and is not what was advertised you can file a claim with your CC, Paypal and or Ebay.
Just make sure the eBay listing includes accurate pictures and description of what is being offered. You will need some sort of paper trail to prove things are different, well if they are upon arrival.
Finally reason for the madness is that when creating listing seller must enter certain information regarding shipping; weight, size, type of service, carrier (UPS, USPS, FedEx, postal system, etc...). Some sellers simply don't think many international buyers will be interested and or don't want the bother (customs forms, etc...), unless someone truly does.
It seems that eBay listings are now often dominated by Amazon dropshippers and Chinese sellers. I rarely shop at eBay anymore unless it is an item I can't find anywhere else, and I tend to use caution and try to avoid overseas sellers.
The one thing I look for on eBay is printer ink. If you're careful and scrutinize the item a bit, you can get the same inks you get anywhere else for half the price and no sales tax. It's my only use for eBay.
Have bought things off eBay from Europe many times, and yes it often is the case seller will not have a shipping price until item is sold. This is especially true if they did not elect to include United States in the original listing, but you found it via doing an "worldwide" search.
Ebay now accepts credit cards along with PayPal. Pay with one or the other, if item arrives and is not what was advertised you can file a claim with your CC, Paypal and or Ebay.
Just make sure the eBay listing includes accurate pictures and description of what is being offered. You will need some sort of paper trail to prove things are different, well if they are upon arrival.
Finally reason for the madness is that when creating listing seller must enter certain information regarding shipping; weight, size, type of service, carrier (UPS, USPS, FedEx, postal system, etc...). Some sellers simply don't think many international buyers will be interested and or don't want the bother (customs forms, etc...), unless someone truly does.
Thank you for that information. I have a message from the seller stating that the product will be exactly what is pictured in the listing. That is the first thing I wanted clarified. Because I don't want a situation where he could drop ship a bunch of cheaper tools like the other seller did.
I think I'm going to go for it. I know it's risky, but I need these tools. If he tries to gouge me on the shipping, I'm just not going to pay, and I will request a refund.
I will post an update on what happens. That way I can get a lot of "I told you so"s if it backfires on me. LOL
The one thing I look for on eBay is printer ink. If you're careful and scrutinize the item a bit, you can get the same inks you get anywhere else for half the price and no sales tax. It's my only use for eBay.
I've had my current printer for 10 years (I got it free with a computer purchase) and I have never bought the manufacturer's ink. I only buy no-name knock-off ink cartridges on eBay. I've gotten some bad ink, that gummed up the printer. But I just pulled the bad ink cartridge out, and put another one in. Then I cleaned the printer heads, and the printer worked as good as new.
I remember doing some test prints the first time I replaced the ink, and the knock-off ink actually looked better than the original manufacture's ink. The print images just looked much more vibrant.
My conclusion. There is good ink and bad ink. It's a gamble what you will get. But there is nothing special about manufacturer's ink. Some ink is better than the manufacturer's ink, and some is worse. The cost savings with knock-off ink should be worth it. Even if you have to throw some of it away. I have only had to throw full ink cartridges away a couple of times.
Are we talking automotive tools, woodworking, or what? Hard to believe this seller has the only quality tools on the planet.
And IF they are such great tools, and it is such a great deal, why hasn't he sold out? Could it be other buyers on Ebay are turned off by his shipping terms? Could you maybe learn something from them?
BTW, this would be a great topic to discuss on the Ebay forums. There's a lot of wisdom there.
ETA - what does the seller's negative and neutral FB say? Any mention of excessive shipping charges? What do his detailed seller ratings look like (the stars), esp. shipping?
I suspect the reason the tools haven't sold out is because they are not cheap.
His shipping rating is high. But as I posted before, that doesn't mean much. He probably gets most of that automatically by offering free shipping on domestic orders. I have looked through his negative feedbacks. He has a few very angry customers, but I don't see any red flags, that I should be concerned about.
The one thing I look for on eBay is printer ink. If you're careful and scrutinize the item a bit, you can get the same inks you get anywhere else for half the price and no sales tax. It's my only use for eBay.
One thing you may have to watch out for is expired ink. Look for ads that list the expiration date of the ink.
Unless it's too small for me to read correctly, the first screen shot says you have to have two items in your cart from the same seller in order to request shipping charges.
What????
That what it says. It doesn't make any sense to me either.
OK, I tried to place the order, and it wouldn't go though. It says: "We noticed a problem. Please review: your items.: "This seller didn't include shipping costs to your location. Please contact the seller or change your address." So I relayed that information to the seller. I'll wait and see what he says.
My conclusion. There is good ink and bad ink. It's a gamble what you will get. But there is nothing special about manufacturer's ink. Some ink is better than the manufacturer's ink, and some is worse. The cost savings with knock-off ink should be worth it. Even if you have to throw some of it away. I have only had to throw full ink cartridges away a couple of times.
It's not really about the ink. Most if not all major printer manufacturers now make their cartridges with circuitry that identifies authenticity, performance, and ink levels. The courts have ruled the 3rd party suppliers can reverse-engineer the circuitry but the manufacturers do not have to provide them with it. The ink may be perfectly fine but the cartridge can be disabled by the printer if the circuitry isn't right.
"A Used or Counterfeit ink cartridge Detected, Counterfeit ink cartridge Advisory, or Used, Refilled, or Counterfeit ink cartridge Detected error message displays on the computer or printer control panel." https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c03772927
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Which sounds like a scam, but seems to actually be true. The eBay software will not allow me to request the total price. 
LOL
