eBay Purchase Gone Wrong - Incorrect Shipping Fees

kma on 18/01/2021 - 23:18
Last edited 18/01/2021 - 23:40

Fellow Ozbargainers,
I have just learnt about something really weird and it's stressing me out. I am hoping someone will be able to offer me an advice as to what my options are.
I was looking to buy a watch case pry tool this past Saturday on eBay so I dont have to pay $20 for a button battery change at the shop.

As usual i sorted the listing from cheapest cost+shipping option. There were multiple relativity cheap ones starting from $2, all overseas (so long delivery times). I went down a couple of pages and picked one for $6.95 where the seller had mentioned "AU stock" on the ad hoping this will come quicker. I clearly remember It showed $6.95 for the tool and $0 shipping. I purchased it (eBay is linked through PayPal that draws money from my account), so one click and happy days. Got a notification email come though which I didn't read (my biggest mistake!)

Fast forward 2 days (today, Monday). I got an overdrawn notification come through on my Commonwealth bank app. Surprised, I opened it up to see what's the story. Seems like I have made a purchase of $1005.9 AUD on eBay. Obviously I was shocked and quickly logged in to eBay to check. The pry tool i had bought is showing a summary of $6.95 +$999 shipping (!!!).
Really confused as how did I effed that up (not new to eBay), I checked the sellers current listing - it currently shows as $6.95 for the item and $0 for postage. The listing I purchased in my history shows as $6.95+$999. So either I have gone completely mad or somewhere between what I was shown [$6.95+$0] and clicking 'purchase now', hefty fee of $999 shipment was added for a 30gm watch pry tool. For AU stock!

I doesn't look like it has been shipped yet, I have so far done the below:

  • Contacted the seller and explained the situation. Asked them to cancel this order and refund.

  • Contacted PayPal (the page continued to direct me to contact eBay but I lodged the ticked with them anyway.

  • Tried to see if I can contact eBay but it doesn't give me an option ( it just directs me to contact the seller).

I am really confused and worried as it is a big sum of money. Can you please guide me as to what else can be done - or what may have actually happened?

Seller has a rating of 98% with 114000+ transactions in case this helps.

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Comments

  • skido on 18/01/2021 - 23:37
    +2

    The pry tool i had bought is showing a summary of $6.95 +$999 shipping (!!!).

    YIKES.

    Wait for a reply from the seller. They should be able to cancel and refund you. It must have been a listing error while you were checking out or perhaps a system bug

    • kma on 18/01/2021 - 23:41

      I hope that's the case!

  • serideth on 18/01/2021 - 23:37

    Sounds like a eBay/Paypal bug.

    Nothing to do except wait for them to respond. They are pretty good with buyers normally. If you did misread the text though then you would have a contract to buy the item and postage.

    • kma on 18/01/2021 - 23:42

      Yeah.. I am just worried if they just turn around and say sorry this is the price you agreed to pay (which isn't correct but I have no proof).

  • Puglife on 18/01/2021 - 23:43
    +1

    I found the item and it was clearly free shipping. The truly sad thing for you though…it wasn't AU stock at all and will likely take two months to arrive…
    I'm sure you will get a refund for this, probably only loss will be the overdrawn fee and a few sleepless nights…

    • kma on 18/01/2021 - 23:47

      It says on the photo AU stock and seller location as NSW. How can we tell it's not AU?
      I suppose losing a little for overdrawn is better than losing $999 for a $7 item..

      • Puglife on 18/01/2021 - 23:54
        +3

        Reading negative reviews, many people complained about the postage time…that and the name of the seller is usually a red flag that its a seller from China posing as an Australian seller. From my experience anyway, I generally avoid Ebay for these reasons…
        An example, every card/board game I've bought, but usually I know and just mention the word "counterfeit" and suddenly it's free… :)

  • trex on 18/01/2021 - 23:47
    +1

    Was it this Pry Tool from eBay? Checking to the Postage and Handling Options, Standard Postage is Free. $999 is for Express Parcel Delivery. Did you select the wrong Postage option when you checked out?

    • kma on 18/01/2021 - 23:48
      +1

      It was standard shipping. It says on my receipt.

      I won't confirm the listing as I don't want to spread a bad word about the seller (hoping its a glitch and not deliberate). Not at least until I hear back from them.

      • trex on 19/01/2021 - 00:12

        Sounds like a glitch then. The seller should fix it for you.

    • life is suffering on 19/01/2021 - 00:06
      +2

      for 999 I expect it delivered by the PM himself

    • Forfiet on 19/01/2021 - 07:33

      Geez, you even have to pay $99 extra for each additional item…..

  • AustriaBargain on 19/01/2021 - 02:37
    +4

    If you force a refund then the seller is going to want their heroin back when it finally does arrive at your house.

  • steven6 on 19/01/2021 - 04:46
    +3

    That's a level 10 postage pirate

    • Forfiet on 19/01/2021 - 07:36
      +3

      Auspost: In light of recent times and ongoing changes in world, we have unfortunately had to add a small service charge to your delivery. Thank you for understanding. :P

  • The tiger on 19/01/2021 - 08:00
    +1

    There were many similar cases happened to my bank accounts. Lucky finally I got a kind lady banker from NAB who advised me the best way to protect myself from this sort of silly mistakes was to open an account specially for online purchases only and with an instruction to the bank “ No overdraft is allowed”, and transferred the $ each time required for the purchase only. Maintain a small amount in that account which you can loss without an pain. It has been going on well with me and I don’t have sleepless nights for years.

    • skido on 19/01/2021 - 11:49
      +1

      This won’t work for PayPal. What happens when you pay via PayPal is that:

      • First, they send the money to the seller on your behalf
      • Then, they request the money from your bank or card
      • If they cannot request the money, they will add fees, limit your account and your PayPal balance would become negative
      • If you don’t pay up, they send your details to a debt collector who then chases you up

      But otherwise, for card purchases, then that should be fine

      • The tiger on 20/01/2021 - 10:23

        Skido, Yes you are right re PayPal. Once I got a PayPal account, and I got a very unpleasant experience with them and as a result I closed my account with them and never use them again. The incident was I pressed wrongly twice of a sum of $1,000.00 using PayPal account purchasing air tickets from AirAsia.Accordingly PayPal paid twice of $1,000.00 on my behalf and my banker accepted it with an overdraft balance to me . I queried my banker , how could you do that as I already instructed you no overdraft for me ,who quickly got it back from PayPal, then it was a nightmare of PayPal on my tail. They phoned me constantly for the outstanding amount I owed to them . They threatened me if I won’t respond they would send lawyers’ letters to me. This was followed by repeated phones. To avoid the stress I surrendered and paid they in full after they stressed if even I made a mistake by pressing $10,000.00 instead of $1,000.00 they would still make the payment on my behalf ( though I did not have such a balance with them! ). As I am an oldie of 80, I decided better having NO any relationship with them.

  • mrkorrupt on 19/01/2021 - 08:45
    +1

    https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Watch-Cover-Opener-Repair-Pry-To…

    you selected the express post option of $999

    • Domingo on 19/01/2021 - 09:36
      +2

      kma 9 hours 47 min ago:

      It was standard shipping. It says on my receipt.

      • whooah1979 on 19/01/2021 - 10:17

        The listing I purchased in my history shows as $6.95+$999

        Either eBay and Paypal are wrong or the buyer is wrong. Both can't be right.

        What is the most likely scenario?

        • skido on 19/01/2021 - 11:52
          +2

          I don’t think the buyer would pay if the checkout displayed a total of 1005.95…

          It’s a huge amount and very noticeable

  • Bruskey on 19/01/2021 - 11:00
    +4

    Sellers shouldn't be allowed to even offer such a redicolous unrealistic postage amount. Ebay needs to stand up and stop these people from allowing exploitative prices for shipping on listings and ban them, especially when it looks like this item wont even be shipped from Australia.

    • whooah1979 on 19/01/2021 - 11:44
      -1

      The item has free shipping. That is within Ebay’s postage policy.

      https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/274310972331

      $6.95 + free postage

      • Domingo on 19/01/2021 - 12:39

        It also has $999 express shipping which seems predatory to people who make a mistake. If they don't want people to select it they could just not offer it:

        Postage and handling Each additional item To Service Delivery*
        Free postage Free Australia Standard Postage (Australia Post Domestic Regular Letter Untracked) Estimated between Fri. 29 Jan. and Fri. 12 Feb.
        AU $999.00 AU $99.00 Australia Express Parcel Delivery Estimated between Thu. 28 Jan. and Mon. 1 Feb.
        • whooah1979 on 19/01/2021 - 13:04
          -4

          Offering express shipping is optional. Sellers are free to charge any amount they want for optional shipping methods. It is up to the buyer to choose how much they want to pay which in this case is either free shipping or express shipping.

        • pharkurnell on 19/01/2021 - 13:09

          To me that says they dont have stock until they get 100 orders or similar to get the item made up… or buy X amount from factory to save money..

  • kma on 20/01/2021 - 08:41

    Update: I have heard back from the seller, they said they will return the money💰. It hasn't come back to my account yet but at least I can sleep well at night 🤣

    • snackerjoe on 22/01/2021 - 07:43

      Mate I hope it's come back by now, it shouldn't take longer than overnight.

  • The tiger on 20/01/2021 - 10:32

    Kma, I wonder why your banker won’t help you to get it back if you show them evidence the seller had agreed to refund you back. Well wait if the seller kept his promise otherwise I suggest you should approach your banker. I am very sure you would get your money back .

  • prinzw on 20/01/2021 - 14:23

    it is also a common way when the seller does not have the item in stock with them but wants to keep the listing for ranking purposes.

    Yes. contact the seller first and maybe even call them considering they are AUS stock and hopefully it does have a contact number or worst case an ABN so that you might find some contact number online.

    Worst case let the credit card chargeback and wasted your eBay and Paypal accounts if you linked to a credit card.

    NEVER link PayPal with direct bank debit as Paypal sometimes doesn't protect you as a payer at all.

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