Greatest shipping ripoff ever?

[tsaint]

 Summer's here, time to get out my old small underwater camera. Needs a new O ring (like a rubber band) for the small watertight enclosure.
Great, on sale via Amazon for $9.95. Better place an order. Great (2), finally an item that they will allow shipping to Australia. Here I was thinking North Korea has less restriction on goods that can be purchased from Amazon... must be getting paranoid.

 Anyway, on to checkout. Wait a mo, this can't be right! I'm ordering a 1 oz (guesstimate) rubber band, and the shipping is $72 - AUSTRALIAN ONES, not cheap US ones.
$72 to send a rubber band to australia. In  their defence, it's expedited shipping. On the other hand, that's the only bloody choice offered.
Amazing.

[Renegade]

This is a pretty common scam. You see it on eBay ALL the time. I've seen shipping set at over $100. Other times you'll see the shipping is about the normal cost that you'd expect for the item for similarly small items that would fit in a common letter envelope, then there's the actual price on top of that, starting at $0.99.

Here's a picture of pure fraud:

Greatest shipping ripoff ever?

That is worth less than what is being bid, and yet the shipping is $34? $2.50 is even over priced.

[Carol Haynes]

The scam works because if you demand a refund they don't have to refund postage!

I don't understand the Amazon scam - I thought Amazon set the postage costs from most Market Place sellers. Only professional sellers can set their own rates. It might be worth reporting the seller to Amazon because that is a serious abuse of their terms and conditions.

Tony, wouldn't it be easier to go to a local camera shop and get them to order the part?

[ProgBob]

In the case of eBay, the shipping can be refunded and it doesn't matter what the seller mentions on his item's description. As far as I know, just ask Paypal a refund and you will get one if you returned the item (with tracking and signature) or didn't receive it. As long as you make the request directly to Paypal and not work with the seller. But the problem is that it will cost you about the same to ship the item back with tracking and signature.

As for the shipping price, "protection" requires that sellers send items with a tracking number and signature and this costs alot on international shipments, whatever you ship. Some sellers take the risk of sending cheaper without tracking but this means that any customer can request a "item not received" and will win. So the seller potentially loses both his item and money.

I recently sold a $250 statue from Canada to Germany and it cost $215 for shipping. It could have shipped it by ground for about half the price but then it would have taken up to 3 months without tracking. This is very stressing as I would have been months wondering if the customer would claim an item not received item. And if he did I would have lost almost $500 on the transaction. So I only offered the $215 with tracking option.

[tomos]

I'm very wary of buying stuff from abroad -
Last year, I bought a smallish set of speakers from a seller on Amazon market (amazon.de). I didnt take any notice where it was coming from, the delivery costs were unusually high but the price was very low.
Here you have the legal right to send something back within two weeks - no reason required.
But I dont know if that is vallid for stuff coming from abroad.
Also, as noted already, if you're returning it abroad, you will have to pay high delievery costs again.
(I have no idea if you get any of the original delivery costs back.)

I complained to Amazon because it was the main offer for the item -if they dont sell it themselves they used just put the cheapest offer on the item's page- but there was no indication that it came from abroad on that page, and only a small mention (they claimed - I didnt notice anything myself) on one of the following pages when you go to buy.

In fairness to them:
I complained heartily, and since then, they dont put an offer that is being delivered from abroad on the item's main page (not that I've seen anyway). They will favour a more expensive 'national' offer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In ebay.de I've often seen supplier using a german address but if you look further you will see that the company is abroad and it is not at all clear from where the product is being shipped.
I avoid.

[Tinman57]

  Yep, that's why they say "Buyer Beware" and "If it's too good to be true, it probably isn't."  There's a lot of online shopping sites that will advertise items 50 - 60 % cheaper than any other site.  But when you look at the shipping details that's when you realize they're making a killing.  Sometimes they will have cheap shipping, but hit you with high "handling" charges.  Like that CD selling for $2.95.  You think that's great until you see their shipping or handling charge of $15.00 or more.  It's just another way to scam people legally.  I refuse to do business with shopping sites that use this scam, no matter how hard the item may be to find.....

[4wd]

Needs a new O ring (like a rubber band) for the small watertight enclosure.

-tsaint (December 15, 2012, 04:50 AM)

I would have gone to the local bearing place, almost guaranteed they'll have something that fits.

Or give the dimensions and I'll check my stocks - if I've got one I'll send it.....free.

[Rover]

On the other hand, it is a good way to avoid import taxed on the "Value" of the item being shipped.   

[Carol Haynes]

On the other hand, it is a good way to avoid import taxed on the "Value" of the item being shipped.  

-Rover (December 15, 2012, 07:49 PM)

Unfortunately not in the UK - import duties are charged on the value of the package (including shipping costs!). I have been stung by this more than once buying from Amazon.com.

[tsaint]

Thanks 4wd for your kind offer, and others. Been a bit sidetracked tho checking out shipping costs for a used nuclear powered aircraft carrier for self defence.
Carol, was doing some prelim checking as it was mid weekend, evening, when no local shops opened. I tried today and will see what happens from a phone enquiry I made.

[Renegade]

On the other hand, it is a good way to avoid import taxed on the "Value" of the item being shipped.   

-Rover (December 15, 2012, 07:49 PM)

Unfortunately not in the UK - import duties are charged on the value of the package (including shipping costs!). I have been stung by this more than once buying from Amazon.com.

-Carol Haynes (December 16, 2012, 07:28 AM)

HUH?!? You've got to be kidding... On shipping costs? Cripes. They have no shame when it comes to looting people.

[Carol Haynes]

Nope not kidding - they don't call it Ripoff Britain for nothing