At 4:42 AM -0800 2/7/05, Peter Naiman wrote:
>Lou; Lou, I do not care if they are mentioned in the
>ad, and no, I do not agree, they should not be part of
>the total price. I admit I screwed up on that one
>sale, but what I object to is sellers on Ebay
>overcharging for shipping. They are entitled to the
>winning auction price and reasonable shipping charges,
>but not excess profits by overcharging on shipping.
>But I see too many sellers making excess proceeds
>which their not entitled to. I noticed one seller
>tonight shipping world wide for $18.00 for a small
>item most likely weighing under a half pound. I could
>ship to the Moon for $18.00. Just my thoughts.
Suppose this shipper needs to drive 15 minutes to get to the Post Office, then spend another 15 minutes there, bewteen waiting in line and the time it takes to fill out the international forms, then drive another 15 minutes home.
That's 45 minutes out of the shipper's life, not to mention the cost of fuel, or the time and trouble involve din packing the item. $18 may be _cheap_, you have no way of knowning!
It seems to me that sellers are entitled to set basically any conditions they like, as long as they disclose them properly.
It is incumbent on buyers to take the total cost into account when figuring out the maximum bid.
If you don't think it's worth it, don't bid.
Sheldon "Free Enterprise" Brown
Newtonville, Massachusetts
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