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*An OPEN LETTER
Dear Ebay Seller:
I'm a great buyer. I pay right away, leave gushing feedback and am not hyper picky so will not freak if you missed a flaw and demand a partial refund. Unfortunately I did not bid or did not win your item for the reasons below;
Seller #1:
That is a lovely set of 40's PJs you have there.
I would LOVE to buy them except I can't.
Why? you may ask.
Well I refuse to pay $10 for an item that will cost you $4.50 (less if you go 1st class) to mail. I'm more then willing to pay a bit of a "handling" charge. We all have those built into our shipping costs, but that is a bit much. Plus you do not say how you actually plan to ship..."flat shipping rate" does not tell me anything.
Sorry you missed out on a sale.
Seller#2:
Wow what a coat! I would LOVE to own it, but you don't have a shipping charge listed and there are only 10 min left in your auction.
There is not enough time for me to "email me if for a shipping quote".
Sorry 'bout that.
Seller #3:
I am so happy with the cool leopard cape I bid on and won. I have taken a chance on you even with your crappy feedback AND no shipping cost listed
'cause I only bid the opening $4.99 bid and won.
$14.00 for shipping is a bit high, but that is still cool as long as the
cape is in the "excellent" shape you have said it is.
What really chaps my hide is the lack of response from you.
I emailed to ask you if that cute swimming suit had a metal zipper.
I emailed to ask you how much extra that dress would have been over the cost of the cape to ship together.
I emailed you from both of my ebay IDs.
Nothing.
Nada.
No peep. Just my invoice.
Guess what?
I did not bid on your other items.
They pretty much sold for the opening bids too.
THAT is sad. If you had just emailed me back you would have made more money.
Pity.
Seller #4
I wanted that dress soooo bad and even bid on it though your $10 shipping cost required me to go do all kinds of brain gymnastics to justify the purchase. Luckily you started the bidding at .99. The sad thing is if you had just started the bidding at a reasonable amount and NOT tried to make your money back on shipping I would have gone higher and YOU would have made more money.
Your Loss.
Sincerely,
A "just want to spend my fucking money why do you make it so hard?" ebay buyer.
ETA: I just came back from getting the mail. Today I got a lovely 40's sheer nylon dress folded in a manila envelope and mailed for $1.75 (I paid around $6.50 for priority shipping) and another dress rolled into a ball and stuffed into a way small box for which I DID pay $10 for shipping.
Sigh.
If you are a buyer do NOT take this as an indictment of all eBay/vintage sellers.
I never ship like this.
I have a ton of friends who sell on ebay and/or have websites and NONE of them ship like this. I hate, hate, hate that there are sellers out there who give the rest of us such bad names. And these items with the high shipping and crappy packaging could just as well been books or buttons or patterns or any number of items I have shopped for or bought on eBay.
*I just put Lucius up there cause he is so pretty and it makes me giggle thinking of Mr. Malfoy shopping on eBay for a new pimp cane.
3 comments:
So, so true! I have had enough of the inflated shipping costs too. I received a book that cost them $1.58 to ship, but I was charged $4.50. I have asked for a refund. It is only a $3 refund, but I am as frustrated as you...only you articulated it with much more eloquence and inserted the cuss words I should have used *wink*.
Word McHappy Word Pants.
I charge a flat rate, usually 7-8$. I ship priority w/ delivery conf only (after being scammed, thank you). I fold in tissue, wrap in a leopard print plastic bag (the ones I use in my shop), seal w/ a personalized sticker and add my card and often a damn cute little magnet from my shop.
I've gotten silk chiffon gowns in home-made manilla hacked up envelopes.....FOUR dresses in one envelope once! I wont even go into the damage I see that isnt disclosed. Its no wonder vintage buyers are fleeing eBay like rats from a sinking ship.......Grrrr. A pox upon the crappy shippers.
Ang
Hi Julie,
This is a great post. I think alot of people are frustrated with buying vintage clothing on ebay because of poor descriptions, poor customer service and overcharging shipping on ebay. It's really a shame. I don't know why those kind of sellers don't realize that if they took the time with each of those aspects of selling vintage, or selling anything, that they'd be more successful.
If I don't see a shipping cost listed, I don't usually bid. (how long does it take to weigh and figure an estimate of shipping cost to include in auctions? - a few minutes) If the shipping cost is high, I don't usually bid. I'm not going to pay $6 to ship a slip that I'm sure the seller is just going to stuff into a paper envelope. I'm tired of getting dresses smooshed into boxes with no bag or even tissue paper to protect them.
My advice to ebay shoppers out there is to stick with sellers who specialize in vintage, have clear descriptions and payment/shipping info, and good feedback.
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