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has anybody else noticed...that on ebay..the WARHAMMER 40K or miniatures section in general....every now and then..a dealer will pop up..with an incredibly LOW starting price...and you get sooo pumped...then you see theshipping... and it is like 80 DOLLLARS!!! ( 40 pounds for my uk friends)...meanwhile the item is soo small it probably takes 4 dollars (2 pounds) to ship it!! i REPORT those people lEFT and right...and ebay doesnt even care

People are welcome to charge whatever they wish for shipping. If you do not wish to pay their shipping charges, don't bid on their auction.

It's been commonplace for some time now. There aren't any rules against it. The low initial bid is what draws views to the auction. I'm not sure it works on a consistent basis that people buy that $50 model for $10 plus $60 shipping.

The more frustrating thing to me are people who have flat rate shipping across their entire inventory, regardless of the size. $9 shipping on a $10 item is not gonna happen. That is just stupid. That and people who don't combine shipping.

 briurso wrote:
has anybody else noticed...that on ebay..the WARHAMMER 40K or miniatures section in general....every now and then..a dealer will pop up..with an incredibly LOW starting price...and you get sooo pumped...then you see theshipping... and it is like 80 DOLLLARS!!! ( 40 pounds for my uk friends)...meanwhile the item is soo small it probably takes 4 dollars (2 pounds) to ship it!! i REPORT those people lEFT and right...and ebay doesnt even care

Thats what auctions and biddings are -_- and should always read the fine prints like S&H.

Have you ever notice auctions that are limited to USA shipments are always kept so low and cheap?

Yep, Canadians and Australians are at each other's throat bidding the worldwide items....

I filter ebay to only show North American auctions. So it pisses me off when people post on the US ebay, make an auction that shows through that filter, only to find out they are in Germany. It is quite annoying.

It would be nice for ebay to filter according to the address listed on paypal, but I doubt that will happen.

 Aerethan wrote:
I filter ebay to only show North American auctions. So it pisses me off when people post on the US ebay, make an auction that shows through that filter, only to find out they are in Germany. It is quite annoying.

It would be nice for ebay to filter according to the address listed on paypal, but I doubt that will happen.

That annoys me too, but usually the prices are still lower. Then I'll try to bargain them to lower the shipping fee :'P

half of the time it works lol

Well I once bought a pilum for 1$...with 99$ dollar shipping, still cheaper than the others though.

 Aerethan wrote:
It's been commonplace for some time now. There aren't any rules against it.

I haven't spent a lot of time on eBay in a while, but there certainly used to be. Padding the shipping charge was a common way sellers used to try to get around paying eBay as much in fees, so eBay tended to take a dim view of it.

 insaniak wrote:

 Aerethan wrote:
It's been commonplace for some time now. There aren't any rules against it.

I haven't spent a lot of time on eBay in a while, but there certainly used to be. Padding the shipping charge was a common way sellers used to try to get around paying eBay as much in fees, so eBay tended to take a dim view of it.

I haven't read the ToS, but I've never seen any such rule. People can charge whatever they want for shipping, and they don't have to provide any proof of the cost.

That said, if ebay wanted to police such abuses, they'd have to install a rule requiring a scan of the shipping receipt or something and have someone verify it for every auction sold, which one can only imagine how many of these happen each day. The cost in labor would outweigh the difference in ebays cut from charging those few people who abuse shipping.

Honestly though, prices for warhammer models on ebay are so inflated that the only items I buy there anymore are OOP ones that I can't find here or on bartertown. Some people don't realize that ANY plastic GW kit can be bought brand new at 30% off, which means that(at least to me) a brand new kit on ebay needs to be at least that % off if not more. People who think that retail prices online are acceptable do not have a realistic grasp on this market.

 Aerethan wrote:

 insaniak wrote:

 Aerethan wrote:
It's been commonplace for some time now. There aren't any rules against it.

I haven't spent a lot of time on eBay in a while, but there certainly used to be. Padding the shipping charge was a common way sellers used to try to get around paying eBay as much in fees, so eBay tended to take a dim view of it.

I haven't read the ToS, but I've never seen any such rule. People can charge whatever they want for shipping, and they don't have to provide any proof of the cost.

That said, if ebay wanted to police such abuses, they'd have to install a rule requiring a scan of the shipping receipt or something and have someone verify it for every auction sold, which one can only imagine how many of these happen each day. The cost in labor would outweigh the difference in ebays cut from charging those few people who abuse shipping.

Honestly though, prices for warhammer models on ebay are so inflated that the only items I buy there anymore are OOP ones that I can't find here or on bartertown. Some people don't realize that ANY plastic GW kit can be bought brand new at 30% off, which means that(at least to me) a brand new kit on ebay needs to be at least that % off if not more. People who think that retail prices online are acceptable do not have a realistic grasp on this market.

Where are you finding GW at 30% off?

 briurso wrote:
has anybody else noticed...that on ebay..the WARHAMMER 40K or miniatures section in general....every now and then..a dealer will pop up..with an incredibly LOW starting price...and you get sooo pumped...then you see theshipping... and it is like 80 DOLLLARS!!! ( 40 pounds for my uk friends)...meanwhile the item is soo small it probably takes 4 dollars (2 pounds) to ship it!! i REPORT those people lEFT and right...and ebay doesnt even care

Thats the downside of Feebey. We don't call it that for nothing.

Other then that, it is the trade off for the deals. YMMV.

 briurso wrote:
has anybody else noticed...that on ebay..the WARHAMMER 40K or miniatures section in general....every now and then..a dealer will pop up..with an incredibly LOW starting price...and you get sooo pumped...then you see theshipping... and it is like 80 DOLLLARS!!! ( 40 pounds for my uk friends)...meanwhile the item is soo small it probably takes 4 dollars (2 pounds) to ship it!! i REPORT those people lEFT and right...and ebay doesnt even care

ebay take their fees on the total price ie. with shipping included; so no, they don't care.

A lot of people give their items exorbitantly high shipping, even though they know they won't need to spend $20 to ship 5 tactical Marines. The low starting bid reels people in and occasionally nets someone who doesn't look at the shipping price before bidding. It's hardly restricted to wargaming items.

There is an option on eBay to show the shipping price next to the price of the item. I do this so that I don't get all excited, then click on the item and see how expensive said item really is. For example a while ago I saw a terribly painted Valkyrie with a BIN price of around $50.00 which isn't terrible, but then the shipping was $20.00, making it more expensive than an actual Valkyrie unpainted and unbuilt from GW! Go figure.

 Wardragoon wrote:

 Aerethan wrote:

 insaniak wrote:

 Aerethan wrote:
It's been commonplace for some time now. There aren't any rules against it.

I haven't spent a lot of time on eBay in a while, but there certainly used to be. Padding the shipping charge was a common way sellers used to try to get around paying eBay as much in fees, so eBay tended to take a dim view of it.

I haven't read the ToS, but I've never seen any such rule. People can charge whatever they want for shipping, and they don't have to provide any proof of the cost.

That said, if ebay wanted to police such abuses, they'd have to install a rule requiring a scan of the shipping receipt or something and have someone verify it for every auction sold, which one can only imagine how many of these happen each day. The cost in labor would outweigh the difference in ebays cut from charging those few people who abuse shipping.

Honestly though, prices for warhammer models on ebay are so inflated that the only items I buy there anymore are OOP ones that I can't find here or on bartertown. Some people don't realize that ANY plastic GW kit can be bought brand new at 30% off, which means that(at least to me) a brand new kit on ebay needs to be at least that % off if not more. People who think that retail prices online are acceptable do not have a realistic grasp on this market.

Where are you finding GW at 30% off?

I'd like to know this too. I've seen this bandied about in discussions about trade value and such, but have never seen anything better than 25% off with free shipping. 20% off being the norm.


+edited for double post+

That's why I always figure out how much I'm willing to pay for something beforehand, INCLUDING shipping. If it exceeds that amount INCLUDIND shipping, I'm out, period.

Stops a lot of frustration that way.

 Vulcan wrote:
That's why I always figure out how much I'm willing to pay for something beforehand, INCLUDING shipping. If it exceeds that amount INCLUDIND shipping, I'm out, period.

Stops a lot of frustration that way.

This.

 greenleafl wrote:
ebay take their fees on the total price ie. with shipping included; so no, they don't care.

On looking into the current fees and regulations, that seems to vary on the different international sites. eBay Oz charges final fees excluding postage, and has an Excessive Postage Policy, with sellers being reportable if they charge too much for postage. eBay US appears to calculate final fees on total amount paid including shipping... but charging an excessive amount for shipping is still against the rules, and so reportable.

So ultimately, it's just going to come down to whether or not eBay agree with you on what constitutes 'excessive'...

Quite a few catagories on Ebay Uk have had their shipping charges capped folk were charging so much on postage

It is the same on other sites like Amazon I saw I could get my normally £50 stormknight unit for only £35 but then the postage was £18 and they don't combine postage, I agree it is irritating but not against any rules, you just need to be careful and not buy anything with a massive postage.

 OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote:
Quite a few catagories on Ebay Uk have had their shipping charges capped folk were charging so much on postage

And as a past seller I can assure you it's bs. Like the way they wouldn't let me charge more than £3 or something to post a book because they don't discriminate between small paperbacks and large hardbacks or just a heavy book. So when I had a large format book that cost £6 to post, before even buying an envelope, I risked being out of pocket. Apparently eBay's notice told me that the cap was there because 'customer feedback shows that they prefer it'. I bet they bloody do, when I'm the one paying the sodding postage!! In fact when having a clear out, I did end up selling some things at a loss. Thanks a lot eBay, would have been better off throwing them in the bin.

When I'm buying, I don't get particularly annoyed over what people charge for postage. It's irritating, but if they charge to much I'll move onto the next item, it's their loss not mine if the item doesn't sell well.

 Howard A Treesong wrote:

And as a past seller I can assure you it's bs. Like the way they wouldn't let me charge more than £3 or something to post a book because they don't discriminate between small paperbacks and large hardbacks or just a heavy book. So when I had a large format book that cost £6 to post, before even buying an envelope, I risked being out of pocket. Apparently eBay's notice told me that the cap was there because 'customer feedback shows that they prefer it'. I bet they bloody do, when I'm the one paying the sodding postage!! In fact when having a clear out, I did end up selling some things at a loss. Thanks a lot eBay, would have been better off throwing them in the bin.

I sold an Imperial Armour book on eBay UK recently, and IIRC postage cost more than £10. eBay UK didn't stop me (and it was categorised as a book etc). It isn't 'bs' in my opinion.

There is an incentive for Sellers to charge a low item cost and a high P&P cost to make up the difference, and its all down to Ebay's stupidly high charges.

As a seller, you are charged 'x' % of the end auction price. You are not charged on P&P. So I myself when I've done private auctions have done a 'Buy it Now' price of $0.99 with a P&P cost of $300. This is so I am only charged the end listing percentage on the $0.99, not the $300 P&P costs. Ontop of that, Ebay then cream 5% of the total (item + P&P) cost when you pay through Ebay. Unfortunately in the UK, as a seller you MUST offer paypal as a payment method so there is no getting around this.

 Aerethan wrote:

 insaniak wrote:

 Aerethan wrote:
It's been commonplace for some time now. There aren't any rules against it.

I haven't spent a lot of time on eBay in a while, but there certainly used to be. Padding the shipping charge was a common way sellers used to try to get around paying eBay as much in fees, so eBay tended to take a dim view of it.

I haven't read the ToS, but I've never seen any such rule. People can charge whatever they want for shipping, and they don't have to provide any proof of the cost.

Actually, there is a rule against it:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/selling-practices.html#

They don't have to actually have proof of anything, and they have locked/deleted/banned people for skirting the rule. Other countries have that rule taken even more seriously because of the way eBay calculates their fee - off from the sale price, not the price plus shipping. In the US though, they switched to charge their final fee as price plus shipping a few years back in part to deal with the people who were attempting to skirt the fees - back in 2006 IIRC.

When you see them - just take the half a second it takes to click the Report Listing button. Just a series of drop downs - done and done. The listing will get yanked, an eBay tech will go through the rest of their listings and yank them. If they get reported multiple times in a short period (forget the period off the top of my head) they get the boot.

Doesnt matter anymore, Ebay now charges a final value fee on what your customer pays on shipping. So it the seller doesnt really save any money, actually the buyer is getting screwed more often now because legitimate shipping charges have to been raised just a little to compensate for the new rule. As a seller what drives me crazy is people who bid and win auctions and then want to argue over the shipping....shipping is shipping AND handleing, remember gas to the post office, bubble wrap or peanuts, tape and my time all cost money...its not just "well the USPS flat rate box is $5.25 so I can just give you $4.95 ok?"


GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR getting angry just typing it lol

There is a positive. In the UK any import taxes, VAT etc are charged on the value of the item. By shifting the cost into the postage it skirts some of those costs.

Still, got a brand new Apocalypse rulebook for 99p this week I think in part because postage was 10 quid. Still great price though.

Yeah I think some eBay sellers, especially those of bitz, don't realise how much postage can put people off. Searching for SM backpacks shows up a lot of entries of 5 backpacks for a decent price...but then £2.00 postage. I know for a fact that postage 1st class for those will be a max of 90p if using a padded envelope and thus putting it in the large letter category, or even cheaper using a standard unpadded envelope - something like 69p for 1st class. Even taking into account the cost of the envelope (I get my padded envelopes for just under 7p each...) etc, £2 is just ridiculous and results in a low demand bit that ends up costing the earth. Quite the turn off.

 Aerethan wrote:

 insaniak wrote:

 Aerethan wrote:
It's been commonplace for some time now. There aren't any rules against it.

I haven't spent a lot of time on eBay in a while, but there certainly used to be. Padding the shipping charge was a common way sellers used to try to get around paying eBay as much in fees, so eBay tended to take a dim view of it.

I haven't read the ToS, but I've never seen any such rule. People can charge whatever they want for shipping, and they don't have to provide any proof of the cost.

That said, if ebay wanted to police such abuses, they'd have to install a rule requiring a scan of the shipping receipt or something and have someone verify it for every auction sold, which one can only imagine how many of these happen each day. The cost in labor would outweigh the difference in ebays cut from charging those few people who abuse shipping.

Honestly though, prices for warhammer models on ebay are so inflated that the only items I buy there anymore are OOP ones that I can't find here or on bartertown. Some people don't realize that ANY plastic GW kit can be bought brand new at 30% off, which means that(at least to me) a brand new kit on ebay needs to be at least that % off if not more. People who think that retail prices online are acceptable do not have a realistic grasp on this market.

Why are you ignoring nearly a half dozen people asking for some refutation of your claim? There is not an abundance of retailers selling for 30% off, let me explain something to you about GW Price points.

Look at the MSRP of that Warhammer 40,000 Item. If it is a direct item, multiply it by .65, that is what the retailer pays (35% off) if it is a non direct item, multiply it by .55 (45% off).

I find it very hard to believe that there are an abundance of sellers out there giving 30% off. In fact, the only times I have paid 35% and 45% off outside of the rare auction is from my friend who owns a store, guess what? He got shutdown for selling all his gak at major discounts when he got reported.

30% if I recall, is probably above the allowed discount a retailer can give. After perusing nearly a dozen major wargaming sites and several hundred ebay auctions today for NIB items (Space Marines) just to try and find some merit to your claim, I found very few items close to this kind of a discount and with shipping; it became non-existent from anyone who 'seemed' to be selling them at a discount.

So please, can you share this magical area we can get 30% off the retail price if we walked into a store (Including the shipping cost, because if the shipping cost adds to it, likely you're not seeing 30% off anymore).

Thanks Aerethan, I am sure we will all be very appreciative and grateful to you.

1. I don't post the name of the 30% off source in threads. If you want that info, I'll gladly pm it to you.
2. The deal is 30% off with $6 flat rate shipping. He can do this because the orders are sent from his wholesaler directly to the customer, so there isn't any real work or cost on his end, just the effort of typing in an order. Somehow he makes at least some kind of profit on it, otherwise he wouldn't still be doing it years after I discovered it.
3. A seller can do whatever the hell they want if GW isn't their wholesaler.
4. I don't really have to answer to you about my claims. I've helped many people get this discount over the years, and not a single one of them told me they had a bad experience on it.
5. The terms of the discount is that it is GW plastic kits only. No direct, no metal, and no finecast. Clearly this means that some stuff isn't worth the effort, but at $6 flat rate shipping any order over $20 you end up saving money. So when you decide to start a new army, that $550 becomes $385 and you cry a little inside knowing that GW didn't make full pop on it.

I do ask that if I give you my sellers name that you also not post it directly in threads. It's one thing to send business his way, it's another to throw heat. He hasn't asked me to not post his name, I simply do so out of respect for what he's doing. I give it out freely, just not in public. Every single time I've mentioned getting 30% off people PM me about it, and every single time I tell them where, and a few days later I get a pm back about how awesome it is and how much they saved.

Just because I don't answer something in public doesn't mean I'm ignoring it.

 Aerethan wrote:
1. I don't post the name of the 30% off source in threads. If you want that info, I'll gladly pm it to you.
2. The deal is 30% off with $6 flat rate shipping. He can do this because the orders are sent from his wholesaler directly to the customer, so there isn't any real work or cost on his end, just the effort of typing in an order. Somehow he makes at least some kind of profit on it, otherwise he wouldn't still be doing it years after I discovered it.
3. A seller can do whatever the hell they want if GW isn't their wholesaler.
4. I don't really have to answer to you about my claims. I've helped many people get this discount over the years, and not a single one of them told me they had a bad experience on it.
5. The terms of the discount is that it is GW plastic kits only. No direct, no metal, and no finecast. Clearly this means that some stuff isn't worth the effort, but at $6 flat rate shipping any order over $20 you end up saving money. So when you decide to start a new army, that $550 becomes $385 and you cry a little inside knowing that GW didn't make full pop on it.

I do ask that if I give you my sellers name that you also not post it directly in threads. It's one thing to send business his way, it's another to throw heat. He hasn't asked me to not post his name, I simply do so out of respect for what he's doing. I give it out freely, just not in public. Every single time I've mentioned getting 30% off people PM me about it, and every single time I tell them where, and a few days later I get a pm back about how awesome it is and how much they saved.

Just because I don't answer something in public doesn't mean I'm ignoring it.

Aerethan is correct-the guy DOES exist on Dakka. I've contacted him myself and got 3 plastic boxes off of him, 30% off with $6 shipping. PM those of us in the know, and we'll tell you. If Aerethan doesn't want to publicly blurt it out for the guy to potentially get in trouble, then that's pretty noble of him. I'll follow his example.