Its the nature of the beast. I think most everyone gets burned on the shipping once. Look at it as a learning experience.

I paid .99 for a lighter, than found out there was $6.50 S&H to send a 4 ounce lighter 100 miles.

Its how I learned to always check S&H before bidding.

You won't pay the shipping price and whomever you bought it from is the cheater. Yeah. Right.

I bought and sold on Ebay for years until the scumbags just got too thick. It's not a public marketplace any more. It's a corporate giant that prays on the hopes and dreams of the would be business owner.

The guy who sold you the great painting is only trying to shield profits by overcharging on shipping. EBAY gets about 20-25% of his profits through listing and ending fees and PayPal fees. Ebay cannot rake from shipping fees. They are not counted in the total sale price. That's between you and the seller. That's why shipping is high.

It's not fair, I know, but when I got into a pi$$ing contest over shipping fees with people, and they were telling me how to ship my items to them, I said that was it. I haven't sold anything in over a year.

I suggest you pay the fees and read the auctions or use (buy it now) and negotiate prior to the sale. SOme will combine shipping and or cut you a break.

Good luck.

This is your mistake...you should have looked. He isn't ripping anyone off. I usually charge a higher cost for the shipping because it takes time and money to gather shipping materials, drive to the post office, pack it up, list the item, etc. The cost of the item (which generally goes for much lower than it is worth) if for the item. For a painting, it costs probably five dollars at least for the packaging materials, you said sixteen dollars to ship it, and I would estimate two hours to list a product, pack it up, drive to the post office and drive back. Since you only have 15.00 left, that is 7.50 an hour....how much do you make an hour?

I would normally agree with you, but I won the bid at the lowest price available. That means this person couldn't sell the painting that week. If they relist it they could make more, plus they say on their site if you don't pay be a certain time, then the will relist it. They lose nothing by me not paying them, if they sell it again later.

The thing is, when I sell something online, I charge the exact shipping cost plus the cost of the box. thatis it, I don't charge $20 dollars for handling, thats crap, I wrote them an email asking about their handling fees, if they give a reasonable answer, then I will pay

Personally, when I sell on eBay I try to charge only what it costs to ship the item with perhaps a very small bit of padding to cover my time going to the post office, etc. I've even come up on the short end of shipping charges on some occasions when I underestimated it. To me, this is just good customer service--I just don't think it's right to bilk people with extraordinary shipping charges, even when you're up front about it. I realize this is increasingly popular, especially amongst the volume sellers, which is why I always read the fine print before bidding. I've come across a few items where I was ready to bid, then discovered the shipping cost to be absolutely laughable--sometimes much more than the item is worth.

Folks like you are exactly why I got out of the Ebay business.

For one, he DOES lose money, even if he relists the item. Your transaction cost him 20%. Ebay takes it's fees regardless of whether he gets paid. Try getting your money back from Ebay for non-paying bidders. The procedue is worse than an Arab applying for US citizenship. If you don't pay, he loses money. Period. Besides, seeing that you won the bid at that ptice, you just set the value of the item. NO OTHER NUCKLEHEAD BID HIGHER THAN YOU DID. So, the bid beneath your's is the new price. That's all he can expect to get, and Ebayt will get 20% of that as well.

JUST PAY THE GUY AND GIVE THE PAINTING AS A GIFT LIKE YOU PLANNED AND EVERYONE WILL BE HAPPY.

Merry Holiday.....

I'm not allowed on ebay anymore. My wife cut me off because I'm too gullible and never read carefully enough. I bring home wrong things from the store all the time.

She's pretty good at it, though, and she's gotten some really good deals.

Read the listing.

The seller can sell it for whatever he wants to, it's his.

If you don't like the price, don't buy it.

But if you bid and win, keep your word and pay the tab.

Almost as bad as charging $350 to ship a large humidor,LOL. X

I found out the hard way too. It can be an expensive lesson, but one you won't forget. Ebay is great once you figure out the details. I feel for ya.

Lucky

If he lists the shipping before hand then you have no legs to stand on. Pay what you owe. If it takes the guy 2 hrs to pack and get it to the PO then buy the box and the packing materials why not include it in shipping? Why list it in the price of the item and let ebay get 25% of that money. It's not profit its trying to break even for time lost.

Unless your shipping a boat motor or something, shipping & handling should not excede twice the postage cost. In my opinion anyway. Is it that much trouble to put something in a box and take it to the post office? How often do you send a BOTL a bomb or work a trade? Do you consider shipping & handling before making the deal? Figure your costs and set your minimum bid accordingly. Don't prey on the first time buyer schmucks to make a profit.

Remember the dude who bought the mints?

Good times. Good times.