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BrassScorpion wrote:Spikey Bits in my experience is reputable and honest, but people make mistakes. The wiser course of action when there's an error in a transaction is to contact the seller and attempt to straighten it out, not get angry and complain on forums. That accomplishes nothing, whereas contacting the person who made the error usually yields a more useful result like having the error fixed, mistaken amount refunded, etc.

Well, supposedly he did try contacting him and never received a response. And I wouldn't say complaining on a forum accomplishes nothing, if nothing else it could serve to get his attention if contacting him privately doesn't work (assuming he visits forums at all, some of the BoLS crew have posted on Dakka before), or serve as a warning to others planning on buying from him.

Is it possible its a free shipping issue?
Many of the established eBay sellers are now offering free shipping for a very good and somewhat underhanded reason, but it's not entirely their fault.
eBay has some juicy rewards for top rated sellers but to get to be a top rated seller yuor feedback has got to be exceptional and your ratings have to be exceptional as well.
So what do eBay 'buyers' moan about the most?
Shipping costs.
By offering free shipping eBay sellers remove the opportunity for buyers to leave a negative rating on postage that directly messes up their Top Rated seller status.
Cool trick huh?
Then the sellers whack on whatever they want to the price to cover the postage cost, the packing cost and if they want to make a little extra they will put that on as well.
However, the buyer only sees FREE postage and they can and do end up paying more postage and handling than they did before and have no avenue to moan about it because when an item is sold with 'free' shipping it cannot be given a rating by the buyer, it is automatically awarded full ratings by ebay.
It is a bit sneaky but I completely understand why sellers are switching to FREE postage.
The benefits of being a Top Rated seller are HUGE and it is very easy for eBay buyers to leave a crappy rating, even by mistake, which can cost the eBay seller their treasured Top Rated seller status. eBay shopkeepers used to work incredibly hard to attain the Top rated seller status without using free shipping and it only took a couple of spiteful gakkers to mess up their top rated seller status for another month.
eBay made the rules and the sellers are getting wise as to how to get the top seller status and keep it safe from nasty postage ratings.
The downside is the buyers now pay more than ever for postage, because it's not free at all, the price of P+P and a bit more is built into the cost when you look through the eBay shops.
I can't point the finger at the eBay shopkeepers because they are simply playing the game as the rules are laid down by eBay and Top rated seller status comes with serious benefits from big discounts on listing fees to a higher frequency of appearing at the top of search lists.
eBay like it because they end up with a lot less complaints to deal with about postage costs and paypal disputes.
As many of the sellers are switching to 'Free postage because it dsafeguards their Top rated seller staus and makes them more money, it is possible that there will be errors occasionally as they go through and update/upgrade their listings and inventory.
Looking at the responses on this forum thread alone it seems that Mr Spikey bits may have had a momentary aberration in one case but the overwhelming sense is that he is an honest erstwhile eBay seller who is looking to grow his business through good practice.

Wise words, thank you Captain Toad!

I'm sure ebay/the authorities will sort you out.

One swallow does not an orgy err.. summer make. Alas.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
One last addition to this..

I am sorry for the issue at hand. As you can imagine the variables involved in shipping are both numerous and complex, and we do our very best to make sure every package is both packed and price accurately.
We also have several staff members that check out eBay messages everyday, so issues like this hopefully do not get out of hand. I have not heard of any issues involving shipping overages, as I would be the one to refund you via paypal.

I'm not sure what the specifics are about the case, but as you can see from our feedback, we're not in the business of misleading anyone.

So please feel free to email me at rbaer0002@gmail.com, or PM me on here so that I can help you personally.

Thank You
"MBG" Rob Baer
Founder Battlewagon Bits
Owner Spikey Bits, FTW Games

.. so hopefully the OP can get things sorted, with a bit of luck it'll all just be a misunderstanding.