eBay seller charging $2 for cheap light bulb but $200 for shipping.

EugW wrote: ↑ I came across a Chinese eBayer that is selling G9 lightbulbs (that probably go for about $10 locally), for less than $2, but with US$198 for Economy International Shipping. Obviously, that is ludicrous. Other sellers sell similar bulbs for under $5 with free shipping. The weird part is this seller has 98%+ feedback.

Report this? It seems none of the reporting categories include exhorbitant shipping prices. Maybe the eBay fee avoidance reporting category?

u can't avoid the fee by charging more for shipping ebay closed that loop hole many many years ago they charge u a final value fee on both the item value and shipping.

aaron158 wrote: ↑ u can't avoid the fee by charging more for shipping ebay closed that loop hole many many years ago they charge u a final value fee on both the item value and shipping.

OK, that would make sense. However, then I don't understand why someone would do this, except if it's just a mistake, or else they're trying to fool the buyers. Typically these bulbs have $0 to $2 shipping fees, occasionally as high as $10. But $200? WTF? It's just the regular super slow shipping. It even says right on the listing it could take up to 58 days to arrive.

EugW wrote: ↑ OK, that would make sense. However, then I don't understand why someone would do this, except if it's just a mistake, or else they're trying to fool the buyers. Typically these bulbs have $0 to $2 shipping fees, occasionally as high as $10. But $200? WTF? It's just the regular super slow shipping. It even says right on the listing it could take up to 58 days to arrive.

they probably meant to put 1.98 but forgot the . message the seller and ask them.

aaron158 wrote: ↑ they probably meant to put 1.98 but forgot the . message the seller and ask them.

Yeah, I just messaged the seller just now.

There was a time, quite a few years back, when the shipping cost was not used in the seller final value fee calculation.

This was changed because some sellers were doing what you describe.

So there is no advantage to be gained by that tactic nowadays AFAIK.

Maybe the seller just doesn't want to ship to the U.S. or Canada.
Sort of like when you get three quotes from contractors for a house mod, or repair, and one of them is ridiculously high - meaning he doesn't want to touch your job with a 10 foot pole.

Could be the seller is making a statement about our involvement in the arrest and possible extradition of the Huawei CFO?

Don't think ebay will go out of their way to change anything if you report the seller.

(Probably best to just avoid any seller in China with less than 99% positive feedback anyway.)

macnut wrote: ↑ (Probably best to just avoid any seller in China with less than 99% positive feedback anyway.)

Hmm... Is 98.4% really that much different from 99.0%?

I saw this the other day when looking for a case for an older Lenovo tablet. < $10 items with $200 shipping. My guess is that they're doing it because the item is out of stock at the moment, but they don't want to pull the listing?

abstract808 wrote: ↑ I saw this the other day when looking for a case for an older Lenovo tablet. < $10 items with $200 shipping. My guess is that they're doing it because the item is out of stock at the moment, but they don't want to pull the listing?

They do this because it gets your attention with the low price, then they hope the buyer is dumb enough not to notice the high shipping fee. They also do this on amazon, where it works even better.

I think sometimes they do this, when the item is out of stock, so that people won't purchase it while they have none to send. But they don't want to de-list it and have to re-list it again later. They just change the price/shipping.

stop screaming "price gouging" about everything

sunnysidesolutions wrote: ↑ I think sometimes they do this, when the item is out of stock, so that people won't purchase it while they have none to send. But they don't want to de-list it and have to re-list it again later. They just change the price/shipping.

thats not even needed years ago ebay made a way so sellers can set the to out of stock so the listing is saved then when they restock it all they have to do is edit the listing and change the quantity they have in stock and the item is auto relisted.

engineered wrote: ↑ They do this because it gets your attention with the low price, then they hope the buyer is dumb enough not to notice the high shipping fee. They also do this on amazon, where it works even better.

So I got curious and checked out a few of the sellers who have this $200 USD shipping...and ALL their items have the same shipping fee. To CANADA. But change the country to US or somewhere else and it drops to a few dollars or free. So I think this is one way to discourage Canadian buyers....

abstract808 wrote: ↑ So I got curious and checked out a few of the sellers who have this $200 USD shipping...and ALL their items have the same shipping fee. To CANADA. But change the country to US or somewhere else and it drops to a few dollars or free. So I think this is one way to discourage Canadian buyers....

There are few warehouses in China that do not ship anymore to Canada (instead of asking 200 for shipping). All started since Covid, so it may be related to decrease traffic flow between countries.

Yeah, this happened recently because they don't want to ship to Canada anymore. Happened to 90% of my watched listings. Those that didn't, raised it once I bought something. Luckily they still shipped the item and didn't just cancel.

Isostar wrote: ↑ There are few warehouses in China that do not ship anymore to Canada (instead of asking 200 for shipping). All started since Covid, so it may be related to decrease traffic flow between countries.

Canada had major delays with post even before the pandemic, it was taking 3 month to get something from China even though it reached Canada within a week, it just gets stuck at the border for months.

did you not see the shipping charge before buying?

Isostar wrote: ↑ There are few warehouses in China that do not ship anymore to Canada (instead of asking 200 for shipping). All started since Covid, so it may be related to decrease traffic flow between countries.

I wonder if it's a reprisal for holding their Huawei executive? That said, I've still been getting my stuff from banggood.

Remind me this post

odd-pricing-ebay-2374783/