I listened to my little voice and it paid off...

Some of you might have noticed there were several ebay listings by merfnter247 for hib. Erin Rachel seedlings, a very pretty hibiscus.

I am completely turned off by sellers that manipulate shipping in order to get an expected return. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that just because bidding starts at $0.01, the item is worth that little. It took time and gardening supplies to grow these hibbies, or gas for the trip to the store, if these were resales. All that is certainly worth more than one cent. However, why not be honest with accurate shipping and start the bidding with the min. you want/expect?

I got burned some time back by somebody that played this game. I vowed I would never play into that hand again. So, I wrote this guy asking him why was his shipping so high. His response: Shipping is $4.05 from Corpus to Richmond, but the box costs $3. Wow! He must not realize a lot of people know the boxes are free at the P.O. I let it go and made this Red Flag #1. Then I looked at his other items sold, and noticed he had never sold plants before, mostly automotive parts. Red Flag #2.

As much as I was itching to bid, the red flags were enough to keep me from doing so. Today I went to Lowes and found me a 3 gal hibiscus for $6. Not Erin Rachel, but something pretty and a much better value than a 8" seedling for $7.20!

Note to self & others: follow your inner voice and beware of those playing games. Straightforward business practices need not include this type of manipulation. The truth shall set you free (Ebay sellers too, lol)

You know the part that really burns me when the item is cheap and the shipping is ridiculous? If for some reason you return the item and have your money returned, they get to keep that big wad of "shipping" money and you get back only the piddly amount you paid for the item. That might be big business but it's not good business!

As someone who sells on eBay, I can tell you why people do it- aside from those outright crooks who're hoping you won't notice the shipping before bidding, that is. Ebay does NOT charge their fees to the sellers based on shipping costs, only on the actual end price.

It might save them about $0.50, but if they do it hundreds of times....

Just for the record...I don't do this or condone it- and at any rate I don't sell plants. :)

Well, not to defend unscruplious sellers, but sometimes you can't get the right size box for free at the post office. If it is a fairly big plant that is. I have had to buy boxes for 3 and 4 dollars in order to send 6" pots of plants before, and the weight of the soil must also be taken into account. So it does sometimes add up. 7.50 doesn't really sound all that bad if the plant was hard to find elsewhere and you really wanted it.
That said...it is unfair to charge much more for the shipping than it actually costs the seller in materials and time spent packing, driving to & from the PO, etc.
Marcy

Doesn't the seller have to pay ebay a certain percentage? Of the final price of the item? It doesn't seem right to sell an item say for $1.00 that clearly is worth more than $1.00 and then make profit on shipping. But people find the loop holes in everything. If I pay $7.50 or more for shipping, I'll be paying at least that for the item. I'm with you, Voss, I just don't "play" that way. I'd much rather deal with a seller that actually takes pride in what they sell and doesn't "sheister" me on the shipping.

AuntB, sellers only pay that percentage on the actual cost of the item, nothing on shipping. That's part of their incentive to bump it up.

I think I have sold a total of 5 things on ebay. I know when you are listing it, in the section where you put in what shipper and how they ask you if you want to add something to the price to cover any of your extra expenses.

So they are encourages it.