missymarie

What happens when a seller lists ands sells a bike and doesn't state any shipping costs and makes no mention of any additional costs anywhere in his listing? If the costs aren't clarified at some point during the auction through questions, etc., can the seller just charge whatever he wants on his invoice, or since he didn't state any charges, is he not able to charge for additional costs beyond the auction price?

hos13

a seller can charge for packing and packing materials, they typically state it though. If they are not clear on shipping and local pickup isn't possible avoid them. In short they can charge whatever they want for shipping.

ZeRinger

Nope. As a seller you need to be up front about what will be charged. It can sometimes be vague, such as "buyer to pay actual shipping charges" but if you're going to charge for shipping you better say so. If the auction made no mention at all about shipping charges then that error is on the seller's shoulders.

I should add that as a buyer you should always ask about those things prior to bidding. Really, there is a little bit of fault on both sides. Seller should clearly disclose the terms, buyer should ask if something isn't clear.

sjumper

Unfortunately, some people can't read. Auction states shipping to USA and Canada only with exact costs shown (from Canada). Well, guy from elsewhere bids and wins auction without asking seller anything. Seller decides to try and work it out but buyer decides shipping to Australia should cost less than USA/Canada.

AEO

click on the "ask seller a question" to the right of the page.
ask about shipping charges and be sure to give city, state and postal code and thank the seller for his/her time.

I sometimes get people asking what the shipping cost to -postal code- only, -state name- or -state abbreviation- only and adds work in finding out what state the postal code is in, what postal codes the state uses or what state uses those two letters.

Bike boxes are huge, ebay auto shipping calculator can be $20+ off the mark for big items like bikes which is why some sellers would prefer that you ask them. Others just don't use the shipping calculator for whatever reason.

Some sellers might not be shipping to your location, which is why you're not given a price or asked to ask for shipping costs.

urbanknight

I always ask what shipping will cost if it doesn't specify in the auction.

I generally prefer to ask some sort of question anyway, as it helps to decide that the person is real (not a scam) and gives me an idea on how diligent the seller is. If someone takes 5 days to answer my question, I'm leary of bidding as I would expect the person to take that lack of care in packaging and to be that lazy in getting it shipped. If the seller doesn't seem to have read the question and gives a vague answer, I expect the item to be vaguely described as well (probably not in as good shape as stated). If no response, I don't bid.

missymarie

I asked the seller many questions about this bike and he was very responsive. But I failed to ask him about shipping. I won the item, but strangely I haven't heard from him since the auction ended yesterday. I have asked him for a total to pay, but he has not yet responded.

Under shipping on the listing it says...

"Check item description and payment instructions or contact seller for details"

There is no mention of shipping costs anywhere in the listing or in the description except for this generic message. So, can he charge me whatever he wants and I have to pay it or get negative feedback?

missymarie

Under Other Options, at the bottom of the listing, it does say this...

"Seller assumes all responsibility for listing this item"

Shouldn't he be responsible for not having stated any shipping costs?

urbanknight

I don't believe the rules say that the seller can't charge shipping is it is not quoted, but I believe they now have a policy against excessive shipping charges. That rule was to protect ebay itself as people were selling things for a penny and then charging high shipping rates to avoid paying ebay fees, but you can utilize that rule if the seller quotes you an outrageous amount. I think you're being unreasonable if you are hoping to not pay any shipping charges at all. Logic dictates that you need to get the item from the seller to you somehow.

AEO

oh, this is an after the fact...

Well, to put it into perspective, it shouldn't cost more than $50~$120 for a full road bike for the continent of US to continent of US.
coast to coast like California to Massachusetts something like $120. NY to TX is like $50~70. Based on distance.

Vancouver to Toronto is $50 for a full road bike, I'd assume it's similar in USA.

Little Darwin

Sure, but define responsible...

That could be as simple as letting the winning bidder back out based on shipping if the buyer disagrees with shipping proposed by seller.

Seller could easily say, "The item is yours, I'll hold it until you pick it up." Unless the seller explicitly says shipping is included, why would the buyer make that assumption?

missymarie

I don't think the seller could say "The item is yours, I'll hold it until you pick it up" because under Shipping and Handling, it says... "Ships To: United States"

Little Darwin

That is an interesting point... But unless it says anywhere that the shipping is free, I still don't think that it is a reasonable assumption by a buyer that there are no shipping charges.

With that said, I think there are two types of shady deals when it comes to shipping in this case...

1) A seller who intentionally tries to trick people into thinking there is no shipping cost.

2) Someone who bids on something without a listed shipping price thinking they can bully the seller into free shipping.

I am not saying that every time someone makes assumptions on either side that they are shady, but frankly, a buyer making the assumption that shipping will be free is just silly, and a seller forgetting to put in some statement about shipping is silly too...

Barring any signs of intentionally misleading elements, I would say that shipping cost is open to negotiation.

jsmithepa

Why are we scratching our heads so bad..... big item, ship cost likely large, ASK!

If u are even hesitating to ask this simple item, gosh, yer gonna be pissed with the scratches.

daoswald

You're jumping the gun. Give him time to respond. His listing did state that you should ask the seller if you have shipping related questions.

Don't get too hot headed about it. Assume that there is going to be some shipping expense, and that a reasonable person who got a fair price for the bike would expect to pay a reasonable and conservative amount to have it shipped. If you paid some excessively high amount to buy the bike on eBay, you might ask the seller to absorb some of the expense, but I'm assuming you got a fair price, and simply didn't communicate regarding shipping arrangements. Talk it over with the seller. There's probably a reasonable solution that doesn't involve the bike forum.

eBay doesn't have to turn into an adversarial relationship. Assume the seller mistakenly failed to list the reasonable shipping cost. Don't assume he's out to get you, until you find out otherwise.

missymarie

Agreed!

I'm simply getting some input prior to finding out how the seller responds to my request to provide me a payment amount after the auction has ended.

Brightwork

I bid on a couple expensive bikes this week and asked about shipping. Including insurance, west coast to east coast was about $200. Seller in that case said I would pay exact shipping charges - my choice of shipper. I once bought 3 items from the same seller in the same province as me. Forgot to ask shipping. He invoiced a very high shipping amount per item and was very rude about it. He wouldn't budge so at checkout I sent the 3 packages to my 3 different confirmed addresses - my little way of saying thanks a**hole. I always ask shipping cost if not listed now.