topic Re: Not ethical in Buying

Not ethical

deviator43 — Tue, 02 Jul 2013 01:35:24 GMT

Looking at Silver Bullion today I see an offering of 3 X 1kg of silver starting at less than a dollar.Thinking "that's low" I suddenly realise the postage is set at $1999.99.

Surely this is unethical if not illegal by the rules?Had I not taken the extra seconds to read the bottom part I may have been locked into this contract with a bid below a dollar.

This sort of practice should be condemned I believe.

Re: Not ethical

digital*ghost — Tue, 02 Jul 2013 01:44:50 GMT

It is against eBay policy to have excessive P&H, and $2k for 3kg silver bullion would apply, but not strictly illegal and unethical would depend on your disposition. 3kg of silver bullion would cost over $2200 directly from the Perth Mint (when you add delivery costs), so although I don't condone postage piracy, at the end of the day, it's that the value of the item has been shifted to a different heading so a seller can avoid paying eBay 9.9% in FVF, which can eliminate the profit margin (and therefore point) of selling bullion on eBay (not saying it's right, just offering the reason why it was listed that way).

Re: Not ethical

iamanark — Tue, 02 Jul 2013 01:45:13 GMT

The listing states ... "Please note payment only accepted via bank deposit."

So report them

Or report them for fee evasion

Or report them as a possible scam

Re: Not ethical

digital*ghost — Tue, 02 Jul 2013 01:47:35 GMT

The listing states ... "Please note payment only accepted via bank deposit."

.

So report them

.

Or report them for fee evasion

.

Or report them as a possible scam

Didn't read the listing, but yeah... even if I was interested in 3kg of bullion, I'd be giving that listing a wide berth. 😮

Re: Not ethical

annies_fancy_dress — Tue, 02 Jul 2013 05:01:46 GMT

Turbolister would not let me list something for $2 with $9.60 post, it said it was too big a difference. ?:|

That is the postage was too high for the sale price.

Re: Not ethical

bsal6160 — Tue, 02 Jul 2013 07:22:58 GMT

So DG by your explanation as to why, it is still fraud yes thats right fraud. Avoiding a fee is fraud. And probably why ebay will soon charge all au sellers FVF on postage as well, to stop these rip-off sellers. Its only other sellers he is hurting as ebay will now sting ALL sellers to curb this practise.

Re: Not ethical

wargul — Tue, 02 Jul 2013 08:00:46 GMT

Either report the listing or post a link and I will.... please. As BSA wrote above, such practices impact on all users.

Re: Not ethical

davewil1964 — Tue, 02 Jul 2013 08:11:15 GMT

So DG by your explanation as to why, it is still fraud yes thats right fraud. Avoiding a fee is fraud. And probably why ebay will soon charge all au sellers FVF on postage as well, to stop these rip-off sellers. Its only other sellers he is hurting as ebay will now sting ALL sellers to curb this practise.

Oh, yeah? When is this happening?

I think if they were legally able to do it, they would already have done so. They ARE trying to do it by stealth with the TRS+ programme, but that is not mandatory.

Re: Not ethical

bsal6160 — Tue, 02 Jul 2013 08:43:47 GMT

Only a matter of time till they do dave. More than one way to skin a cat you know, maybe they will enforce all sellers must offer free postage thereby seller will have no choice but to add postage to the listing price?????

Re: Not ethical

digital*ghost — Tue, 02 Jul 2013 09:06:09 GMT

Its only other sellers he is hurting

I have often thought so, myself. That is, for every common practice on eBay that benefits buyers and/or sellers but not eBay, eventually the loss is recouped from everyone in other ways (similar to shops adding a small amount to the price of everything so that everyone pays for the few that steal things).

I don't know if eBay can or will introduce FVF on postage or make free post mandatory, but they certainly have the 'make everyone else pay' thing down already.

Re: Not ethical

bsal6160 — Tue, 02 Jul 2013 09:17:06 GMT

DG, the reason I say it will only hurt other sellers is that buyers will simply shop elsewhere when the seller is forced to raise the item listing price. And anyways, doesnt the US site already hit the seller with a FVF which includes the postage price? If this happens in au it will signal the end of ebay au as most buyers will just go to other online sites to spend the dollar unless sellers here can match our OS counterparts prices, which I highly, doubt given the exorbidant prices some seller are asking on here already.

Re: Not ethical

digital*ghost — Tue, 02 Jul 2013 09:28:29 GMT

I understand that higher prices is the end result of higher costs, and there is always a breaking point when sellers can't / won't absorb costs, and buyers can't / won't pay the asking price. The happy medium is on very shaky ground, but I doubt FVF on P&H here would be the end of eBay, you only have to look at how many Oz sellers already pay it via offering free post and are still doing ok to see that, but (and all other issues surrounding eBay taking a cut of P&H aside) it would make it hard for a number of sellers to continue trading here if the cost of postage was effectively raised by up to 10% for choosing eBay as the selling platform.

Re: Not ethical

thecatspjs — Tue, 02 Jul 2013 10:50:41 GMT

I think the listings gone ??

Maybe T&S are finished with taking coat hanger listings down, and moved on to something else.

Gosh when reporting it was eligible for so many of the categories, I ended up doing several reports.

Re: Not ethical

latina4621 — Tue, 02 Jul 2013 11:03:59 GMT

the listing is still there you need to look at completed listings and it had 3 bids on it.

Re: Not ethical

tonalidesigns — Tue, 02 Jul 2013 11:25:43 GMT

Nah - T&S have been too busy with other "important" issues like pedantic hair splitting on allowable keywords.

eBay have filters in place to prevent you sending messages which even vaguely hint of external contact. They seem to be able to pick up within a few minutes listings that have rather pedantic key word spamming. Their filters don't let you include an email address in a message. They can even pick up duplicate listings..

But if you have a postage price that is 200,000% higher than the starting price for anything (let alone bullion) this doesn't raise any alarms??????

Good one eBay.

Re: Not ethical

stormness_1 — Tue, 09 Jul 2013 22:30:59 GMT

I'd report these listings as a scam, if you were to not receive the item, what would paypal refund you - if you were to go through them? The listing price, not postage..

I see many of these listings and I report them as such. Selling items at 99c and charging $50+ for shipping, people think they are getting a bargain for exxy items even including shipping, but fail to realise that they will only get their 99c back if something were to go wrong, such as an INR or NAD case. Blatant scammers and fee evaders.

Re: Not ethical

jawsnine — Tue, 09 Jul 2013 23:37:07 GMT

Paypal buyer protection does include the original postage price.

PayPal Buyer Protection

PayPal Buyer Protection helps you if you don't receive your item or the item is significantly different from its description in the seller's listing. Eligible transactions may be protected up to the full purchase price and original postage charges to a maximum of AU$20,000.

Not saying I think its right to charge over the top handling fees but there are plenty that do it.