Rip off postage merchants on ebay.

[Auchinleckian]

I usually trawl the "collections" section on ebay for programmes first off. Whilst on there tonight there were a huge amount of programmes - all shite - at 0.99 pence each, but with a £2.49 postage tag.
But, beating that, there's someone trying to sell shite WBA stuff @ £6 a throw, or £10 in one instance, but also with a £4 postage tag. It's a mild form of fucking mugging! Doesn't matter how any times you report such instances to ebay they invariably do diddly squat about it, and these rip off merchants are left to purvey their crap at vastly inflated costs and huge postal charges. Birching's too good...............

[paulo]

Now that the free to list thing has come in for items under 99p the whole thing has got worse!

At least before this I had the satisfaction of knowing that they had been charged a large listing fee for stuff they would never sell!!

Always used to make me smile when a newbie joined and stuck a load of 80's programmes on at £10 each!

[oldbolt]

There's a guy in Poland asking £5 postage for one Bolton Uefa Cup ticket,he'd be able to post a hardback book for that money.
He's got a bidder though.

[PennyBlake]

Im beginning to go off e-bay.
Bought a program for 99p plus 75p postage.
When it arrived it turned out that he had stuck a second class stamp on it and chucked it in an envelope. The description was wrong and it was atually a program I already owned. I put in a dispute and now I have to send the program back by recorded delivery of which I am responsible for the postage costs. Meanwhile he is throwing abuse at me, telling me to die slowly and to look at the cost of sending it back compared to him sending it out.
Ive checked and it will cost £1.22 to send it back to receive a refund of just £1.74. Its probably not worth it but I really want to get back at this guy.
The only thing I can think of is to send him a few letters with slightly too little postage on them knowing that he will have to pay to get the letters.

Another thing that really bugs me is when you buy a few items from one seller. You pay for an item but instead of sending it out they wait for another item you are bidding on to finish, dont offer discounted postage then combine all the items into one package anyway, grrrrrr.
_________________
Many Thanks
Penny Blake
www.wycombestuff.co.uk

Chairboys since 1993

[surfinjim]

Not all ebay sellers are that dishonest though, I know I'm def not in that catergory.

I go with the simple stance of listing everything at 0.99p start, listing every fault accurately as possible and keeping my postage/fees cost down to the minimum, normally £1.

I offer multiple postage discount.

So in my eyes, there are probably just as many good sellers to the bad ones.

Jim
_________________
26th December 1979

Bolder, Blackhall, Williamson, Smith, Pickering, Hornsby, King, Johnson, McCulloch, Mellor, Curran.

Scorers; Mellor, King, Curran, Smith (pen)

GODS EVERY ONE OF THEM!

[paulo]

Jim you are right - there are lots of good sellers out there. I have had two good experiances lately.

The first one made a mistake in his listing and could not do enough to fix the problem. He even sourced another book for me from Italy and paid the return postage and the postage back to me, plus gave me £10 of another item. The second I bought an item for 50p that normally goes for £10+ and when she invoiced me she had put the postage at £1. Being a regular on ebay I knew that was way to little so I questioned it. She said no I only want £1. When it arrived it came to over £3! So with ebay and paypal charges she made a loss!

So not everyone is a crook on that site!

[ToffeeDan]

The postage is meant to reflect the true cost of the envelope/packing and postage plus cost to get to the postbox/postoffice to send it.

I would never charge 2 lots of postage for 2 items. One time I grossly misestimated the postage for a bundle and called the fella up and offered to deliver it myself - it was around £10 postage and I'd charged around £3. I offered him the £3 back (it wasn't an inconvenience to me I was going that way anyway).

On the other hand:

1. Bought 9 items off some woman and she wanted 9 lots of the postage charge - I cancelled the purchase - really annoying as I wanted the items but sorry £15 postage just wasn't acceptable

2. Purchased 2 items from (again) a woman and she wouldn't reduce the postage (well over £2 each) - so I insisted I receive them separately (and paid for them separately, the second one after receiving the first one)

3. Got quite p*ssed off with a certain Everton dealer whose discount on multiples just wasn't good enough. 21 items - standard charge £1.50 - total postage £15. Actual stamps used - around £3.50

[Flackwell Lad]

As I live in Australia, postage can obviously be very expensive. What I always do is agree the postage rate with the seller first before I bid, I know roughly how much its going to cost, so if he's going to try and rip me off by charging double which some do, then the search continues. But like Surfinjim says, not all ebay sellers are like that, I've even had some undercharge and said dont worry about the extra postage.

[PRESTON WCFC]

I charge £1 plus an additional 35p for each extra item. If however there are 5 or more I will again reduce the postage. For 10 programmes or more I also give a 20% discount on the cost of the programmes.
_________________
www.nonleagueprogrammes.webs.com

[craig]

To be fair, i charge £1 for the first programme and 10p there after. I have never ever lost out on postage after having sent hundreds of programmes.

I must admit though that i only generall sell programmes from before they become bulky in 2000ish so i may be an exception but in general my postage even at a quid covers the stamp, envelope, polypocket that they are shipped in, shipping lable and my paypal/ebay fees.

[MisterGas]

My postage for tickets is 60p.
They can win as many tickets as they want and it wont cost a penny more.
I get the same people then bidding against each other, as they know the more they win its only gunna be 60p.

[gurulion]

I think Penny Blake's problem is actually more serious than the postage scam.

There is nothing more frustrating than getting a programme which is not in the condition as decribed; or even the programme advertised. And it appears to be getting worse.

Some guy came on the scene a few months back. He listed hundreds of programmes at 49p each and called each one, and I quote: "Mint".

When my "mint" programme arrived it was creased, scuffed inside and out, stained and even sported holes on the cover page. I am looking at it now, because I use it for my staff as a quality control in-office joke....

When I wrote back to him to complain, this ignoramus simply replied: "well, what's wrong with it?" I could imagine him scratching his backside with his non-typing hand. That was it. Nothing more from him. Silence. Tumbleweed. He didn't apologise. He didn't offer a refund. So my solution was simple....

I gave him a negative feedback. That's what the thing is there for. And is never used enough. I think I wrote something like: "Mint? Must be a Polo: this item has a hole in it."

I monitored other victims of his. Some had bought about 15 programmes in one go, gave him a positive feedback for each one yet wrote in about half: "but in bad condition" or "not mint". If it is not as being sold, then why give a positive feedback? It only screws it up for the rest of us.

So my policy: give the vendor the chance to respond and correct the error of his ways and generally act like a civilised and honest member of the human race. If he/she doesn't then if it's for a programme under fiver save yourself a lot of time money and angst. Negative feedback...write it off as a more annoying part of life's tapestry and then... next...!!

Actually, here's one for Craig (oh, gawd, not another thing, I can hear him groan). How about setting up a section where we name the dealers who need careful watching, and their various aliases as they disappear and re-surface. I have seen one or two mentioned on other threads - but why not just have the one place on here to find them.

[PennyBlake]

gurulion wrote:

I think Penny Blake's problem is actually more serious than the postage scam. There is nothing more frustrating than getting a programme which is not in the condition as decribed; or even the programme advertised. And it appears to be getting worse. Some guy came on the scene a few months back. He listed hundreds of programmes at 49p each and called each one, and I quote: "Mint". When my "mint" programme arrived it was creased, scuffed inside and out, stained and even sported holes on the cover page. I am looking at it now, because I use it for my staff as a quality control in-office joke.... When I wrote back to him to complain, this ignoramus simply replied: "well, what's wrong with it?" I could imagine him scratching his backside with his non-typing hand. That was it. Nothing more from him. Silence. Tumbleweed. He didn't apologise. He didn't offer a refund. So my solution was simple.... I gave him a negative feedback. That's what the thing is there for. And is never used enough. I think I wrote something like: "Mint? Must be a Polo: this item has a hole in it?" I monitored other victims of his. Some had bought about 15 programmes in one go, gave him a positive feedback for each one yet wrote in about half: "but in bad condition" or "not mint". If it is not as being sold, then why give a positive feedback? It only screws it up for the rest of us. So my policy: give the vendor the chance to respond and correct the error of his ways and generally act like a civilised and honest member of the human race. If he/she doesn't then if it's for a programme under fiver save yourself a lot of time money and angst. Negative feedback...write it off as a more annoying part of life's tapestry and then... next...!! Actually, here's one for Craig (oh, gawd, not another thing I can hear him groan). How about setting up a section where we name the dealers who need careful watching, and their various aliases as they disappear and re-surface. I have seen one or two mentioned on other threads - but why not just have the one place on here to find them.

An excellent idea, a naming and shaming gallery. Well here is my contribution, in the form of a message sent by the seller when I said that the programme was not as described and there was a massive cease on the back page (Looks as though it may have been caused when the proframme was put in the envelope :-

Dear lady_phoenix_uk,

My my, what an arsehole you appear to be. The date is irrelvant on the programme as you wanted the one between Watford and Wycombe for that season and it would only take a heavy pile of books to get the crease out. Return me the programme and I will issue you a refund. Make sure it is recorded delivery though, roughly 30p less than what you have paid for it. Die slow.

- kj_theman

Back ground on the program, here is the details:

Watford V Wycombe Wanderers 07/10/97 97/98
Item Id: 150354548439
End time: 05-Jul-09 11:37:04 BST

There is no picture and the description is as follows:-

Watford V Wycombe Wanderers 07/10/97 97/98

Mint condition

When the programme arrived it was of a match played (Using the exact text on the program) on
Sunday September 7 1997.

However, on a side note, since my first posting on this thread I have been doing a lot of thinking.
Having started my collection very very recently, in the last 2-3 weeks I have bought and received over 350 programmes with approx another 100 on the way. In this time I have this person with the big attitude problem, another who mis-described the programme (Who is sending me a SAE to return it in) and 3 people who I had to chase due to the program taking over 7 days to arrive. Out of these 5 incidents, 4 have been settled in a nice polite and happy manner.

Basically, the law of averages says you will encounter 1 or 2 problems every so often, and if Im going to experience 1 major problem in nearly 500 then really im not doing too badly am I?

On the plus side, I have discovered, through E-Bay, a guy who has been collecting Wycombe for years and is now selling them. He has agreed to sell them to me in stages (50 at a time) at a very agreeable price and we shall be meeting up at the home games. This could not have happened without e-bay.

So, my advice to anyone using e-bay is that it is a good thing, but expect to experience the very rare problem.
_________________
Many Thanks
Penny Blake
www.wycombestuff.co.uk

Chairboys since 1993

[Rocky]

There seems to be some right nasty t**ts around these days.

I've only been ripped off once on Ebay (not football related) and cannot believe what Penny Blake has had to endure. That seller does need naming and shaming.

There appears to be a lot of, as I call them, Bootsalers on Ebay who don't know the ins and outs of programme collecting. They are out to make as much money as possible and are sometimes left with unsold items mainly because of the postage charges. I've seen 80's programmes classed as OLD FOOTBALL PROGRAMME and a programme classed as virtually mint with PUNCH HOLES!!!!

Before purchasing on Ebay I always view the sellers detailed rating which gives a good indication of what buyers think of their p&p charges. I then view to see what they currently have on sale and see what they've sold previously. This usually gives an indication of whether the seller has knowledge of football programmes or not.

I would never pay excessive postal charges unless I desparately needed an item for my collection. I would then reflect the charges in my feedback eg: no stars for p&p.

I agree, it may be worth having a section on the site where we can highlight dodgy sellers. It could act similar to Watchdog in Programme Monthly. We do need to be aware of sellers similar to what Penny Blake has had to deal with.

Happy collecting guys,

Rocky

[James]

Just been scrolling through ebya and there are some people in there who need to be shot. i saw one item 3x spurs programmes from the 70's, now despite the fact i have every spurs home and away from the 70's i was intrigued as the price was £11.99 and postage was £5.99 wehn i looked they were just 3 normal league games from the 72/73 season which you can pick up for 30p/60p plus about £1 postage. So for items which should cost a maximun of £1.60 including postage this berk is wanting £18 for the same items..
It's just madness

[James]

One of the other things i;m starting to do on Ebay now is only buy from certain sellers, as i have always had great service from them, it may mean that I pay a little extra for an item, but i know what i am getting.

[andyfromboston]

My rule of thumb is never offer for sale anything that I wouldn't want to buy myself......

I have sold job lots of damaged programmes in the past, sold as such with all faults noted, its up to the buyer then.

For postage its a quid for pre 1980's and 1.20 for post 1980 issues. Cup Finals and big games are at cost.Bear in mind I always post in either large jiffy padded bags or board backed envelopes.

I don't mind paying up to 1.50 postage, the seller has to get the packaging and get it to the post office but I do object to being ripped off like I was by a guy selling a load of Tranmere stuff a few months ago. I bought 4 1950's items, postage was 1.50 each and I contacted him for a discount which was offered at 3 quid. Whne the programmes came the postage was just under a quid 2nd class......needless to say although I was happy with the programmes the feedback was less than complimentary regarding the postage. I did contact him to complain but never got a reply so I shan't use him again.

[atletico]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PFV-Berg.....7C294%3A50

It is from Germany but is he delivering it personally ?

£8 POSTAGE !!!

[Kickoff3pm]

Ebay is really a nightmare at times and getting worse as people start understand that the are fewer fools for them to take advantage of.

My list of things to look for before I decide to bid is getting rather big;

Clipped images
Unfocused images
Over exposed images
Under exposed images
Hidden rusty staples
Fake images
Stains
Very small text
Folds unmentioned
Fake items
repro image (death to those that don't put repro in the title line)
Excessive postage

Then the are thing you have ask;

Missing pages
Will you pack the item well
Is it genuine
Is it a press pass
Where the fug is it ?

Edit - I forgot to add, the last football item I bought was some magazines 100 of them ALL WITH FUGGING PUNCH HOLES and before that I bought a Euro Cup Final ticket and what I got was a very badly photocoped bit of card that looked like a 5 year had cut out of a corn flakes box.

I tend to only buy things for the house now and local.

[1980Cossie]

I tend to only buy off the regular well known sellers, with 100% positive usually with 1000+ feedback & usually somebody who's been selling on ebay for over 5 years,
What i do find with progrmme sellers on ebay is normally your dealing with half decent people

just about every time i sell or buy something else eg: electrical goods, mobile phones etc i find your either dealing with a scammer or somebody who isn't quite 100% happy buying something off you for £100 what you paid £400 for months before & demand partial refunds or full refunds,claim the item wasn't received etc, the most recent example was a buyer with 3*(THREE) feedback score demanded that i send a full refund for my 1 week old (NEW) 16GB 18K GOLD PLATED I PHONE because they claim it is damaged & broken, scratched and not Unlocked, the best part is they will only accept a refund (& return the phone to me) if i send the money back first - I dont know of any shops you could buy a pair of trousers off & have them send you a refund & only then would you return the trousers for example, they paid with bank transfer, they told me they had contacted ebay & ebay would be emailing me shortly about it:
This is what (ebay?????) sent me about 5 minutes after they had told me ebay would be contacting me shortly:

(Copied & pasted as i received it)

ebay customer support (KMM984571I15977L0KM)

Hello Robert Greenwood,

This is a courtesy email just to inform you about the item (APPLE IPHONE
3G 16GB 24 CARAT GOLD PLATED UNLOCKED) that was purchased by
buyer"wendyofwindsor" last 21st of July.She already contacted you about
this item and ask you to give her a refund and then after that she will
return the itemback to you.

I hope you can resolve this issue smoothly with your buyer.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Kind regards,

Chasey Tobler
eBay Customer Support
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A few things i noticed about this email from ebay:

-the very poor punctual grammar.
-KMM984571I15977L0KM (KMM number which is FAKE) - NOTE the letter I between the two number 1's (ones)
Also why wouldn't the buyer simply just open a ''not as described dispute'' if they wanted to return the item?

I copied & pasted it to the community message board on ebay & they all came to the same conclusion it was a scammer,