Thursday, June 21, 2012

Charles Sweigart of Reinholds, Pennsylvania sends along this information

Epay has invented a one sided penalty system weighted against the seller who pays 100% of the fees that Epay collects. Buyers can willingly, without any recourse leave less than perfect scores for any reason. The seller cannot correct any unwarranted negative score. IE. If I bought and received exactly what was described in a timely manner and well packed, I can still leave 1 star on each level. The seller cannot change the score. When a few dishonest people do this your fees are increased, or as Epay says your are ineligible for the discount, to get around calling it an increase. Many people have a demented idea that this behavior is alright, especially if another party makes them bid higher than they thought they would have to.

Since the sellers pay full commission on the shipping charges as well as the item cost, I simply charge the actual estimated flat fee to all and accept that some cheap/frugal buyers will not bid. I refuse to ship any poorly packaged product, especially fragile items. I have never had to go through a Postal Insurance claim and hope that my methods will keep it that way. Unfortunately there is no system to leave a score for exceptionally well packed items.

I have shipped an item to myself, uninsured, because I packaged it. It arrived with a hole piercing through shaped like a tow motor blade. No amount of cushioning could have saved it. The post office refused to refund the shipping because they delivered it to me [their explanation]. I should have been insured.

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Next, Tommy Dreiling of Brooklyn adds to the discussion

To Alison Robb- I agree with you. When I buy from E-Bay I ask the seller to spend more to have UPS pack it and pay all the additional cost. If it’s a piece, especially a rare piece that I really want to add to my collection I pay what is needed. On the other hand I once bought a Green Jade 5 prong shape 7063 vase and had it triple boxed, it cost $160.00 and it still came broken!!! I did however have my UPS check in less than two weeks. – Tommy

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