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October 15, 2007

"eBay Shipping Deals"= New eBay Page

eBay shipping has long been a hotly disputed topic. There are sellers who will offer an item for an absurd price - like a grandfather clock for $1 - but the shipping might be $67. This is done for two reasons:

1. The seller's eBay fees are lower. The charges for a sale at $1 are, of course, much lower than if the seller charged $48 for the clock, with $20 for shipping and handling, which is a legitimate price.

2. More importantly, novice buyers are fooled by the $1 price and excitedly think they're getting a fantabulous bargain because they haven't wised up to the game and first checked shipping. Upon receipt of their actual bill, many of them will pay up because they're worried about the state of their new eBay account.

eBay has made efforts to stop this abuse in the past, but now they claim to be going even further in their efforts and have introduced their "Shipping Deals-Free, Thrifty, or Fast" page.

I spot checked some of the deals that had free shipping and they were exactly as claimed by eBay. I also looked at the "thrifty" deals and those were less clear cut. For instance, a $162.50 iPod was offered with free shipping so why was it in the 'thrifty' section rather than the 'free' one? Ditto a large selection of expensive designer handbags (up to a $2,595 "LOUIS VUITTON AUTHENTIC SUITCASE "COTTEVILLE 50" MPRS") were all listed with free shipping.

In the "Fast" shipping I checked a selection of GPS units, all of which offered free shipping? So, why "Fast" rather than "Free". Strange labelling.

Still, this kind of extra publicity just might encourage more sellers to keep those shipping costs down to promote their business. A good thing for buyers for sure.

Posted by SydneyJohnston at October 15, 2007 10:43 AM

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