MetaChat - eBay question: If a listed item has a s&h price and I buy the item

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30 January 2008

eBay question: If a listed item has a s&h price and I buy the item is the seller obligated to sell it to me for the price I bought it for even if they discover that they made a mistake and undercharged on shipping? →[More:]

I just got a message about something I bought with the Buy Now option. It had two parts, and the S&H said 45.00. The seller now tells me that she made a mistake and it should be 45.00 for each item. She asked me in her message whether I wanted to pay whatever the extra shipping was or if I wanted to cancel the item, but she left unsaid what seems to be the third option....me getting it for the price she quoted.

I'm not going to hold her to it...no way I'm going to make someone pay another 50.00 out of pocket for a mistake. I'm just wondering if I could.

post by: iconomy at: 21:59 | 11 comments

Doesn't ebay always warn of buyers asking for more after the fact? It seems like it would be against the rules.

posted by kellydamnit 30 January | 22:25

It defintely does, but I can't find where it explicity says so.

posted by iconomy 30 January | 22:39

if you've got the time, I recommend trying the live support chat. They should be able to give you an answer on that. I used it twice when my account was hacked to make some fraudulent bids, and was pleasantly surprised by its effectiveness.

posted by me3dia 30 January | 23:10

live support chat is definitely awesome.

you know what else is surprisingly awesome, though i doubt it has any bearing on your ebay problem? askmoses.com. seriously.

posted by brina 30 January | 23:13

Yeah, when the gf's (dormant) account was hacked, live support took care of it right away. So, thirding.

posted by mudpuppie 31 January | 01:58

You technically might be able to, but it would be a total dick move.

posted by kyleg 31 January | 04:35

You technically might be able to, but it would be a total dick move.

Which is why I said I'm not doing it... ?

Thanks guys...I'm not a prolific eBayer and didn't know that adding charges after a sale was "a thing". I googled around and see that a lot of sellers are scamming people with the same excuse. I told her to just give me my money back, but I also wanted her to know that she was violating eBay policy by asking for more money after a sale was complete. It's just a crummy thing to do.

posted by iconomy 31 January | 09:02

I've stopped defending ebay after I told someone not to worrying about a possible scam on askme (with a few caveats), but I will say, I'm probably giving up on selling on ebay.

They changed the way items are listed now. It's far easier to make a listing, but as a seller, I have a lot less control over it. I've been using ebay for years now, and had trouble figuring out the listing (I couldn't get it to add Buy it Now at all). Plus now it's impossible to leave negative feedback for buyers.

Blah.

posted by drezdn 31 January | 09:19

Plus now it's impossible to leave negative feedback for buyers.

Yeah, I read that last night as I was looking through the forums. What the heck's the reason behind that idea?

posted by iconomy 31 January | 09:31

That's so weird. I think it's part of some new eBay initiative to attract more buyers and fewer sellers, or something.

posted by muddgirl 31 January | 09:42

I'd check the seller's feedback before you pay anything extra, just to make sure they don't have negatives or neutrals about this sort of thing. It wouldn't shock me, on a heavy item, for someone to habitually list the shipping as lower than it should be, putting their shipping below everyone else, so they can admit they made a mistake and get more after the fact.

posted by kellydamnit 31 January | 12:47

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