"When I dropped the package off this morning for shipping, I asked the service agent about my EBay experience. Her first response was,
"I'm not really with UPS. We're just an agent. But I can give you a main phone number to call."
OK. Off to a tepid start with Big Brown.
Then the woman says,
"Next, using EBay's allegedly sophisticated tools, I chose to pay for and print out the UPS shipping label on my computer's printer.
Upon entering the same exact package and destination information, Paypal charged my account $18, due UPS.
That's right! The actual shipping cost was $7 higher, on an $11 quote. A 64% mistake in UPS's favor.
Having already sent his payment via Paypal, the buyer was safe. My daughter had to eat the $7 error out of her profit on the equipment."
Upon actually dropping off the package at the local UPS store, the agent told me, in response to my query concerning the difference between quoted and actual UPS shipping charges,
"Do you mean charge back? A lot of EBay shippers tell me that happens."
At first, this is incomprehensible to me. Then, after a few minutes of conversation, the truth emerges. A stunning proportion of EBay shippers using UPS have this happen to them, as well. The calculators under-estimate the shipping, forcing the sellers to eat the overage from their profits."
This past week, I received this belated email from EBay, containing their official reply to my query as to why their UPS-labelled shipping charge calculator provided shipping charges so different from the actual charges levied by UPS,
Dear Charles,
Thank you for writing eBay in regard to the variation in the shipping charges while printing the shipping label and in the calculator.
I apologize for the amount of time it has taken us to get back to you on this issue.
To help you as quickly and efficiently as possible, I've forwarded your email directly to a PayPal representative.
Please understand that eBay can't guarantee the amounts given by the shipping calculator. We provide this information only as a free service to our members. Additional services, such as signature or delivery confirmation, may cost extra and are not included in the shipping calculation. In addition, if the seller accidentally selects the incorrect weight or package size, the calculated amount will be incorrect. eBay does try and be as accurate as possible. As such, eBay works with Pitney Bowes to validate the eBay Shipping Calculator calculations monthly.
Also please make sure that you contact the shipping companies.
To learn more about USPS services, go to: http://pages.ebay.com/usps/home.html
To learn more about UPS services, go to: http://pages.ebay.com/ups/whychooseups.html
It is my pleasure to assist you. Thank you for choosing eBay.
Sincerely,
Penny A. eBay
Customer Support
In case you didn't visit the link to my prior post on this topic, this second email response is the same core text as the first semi-automated response of several weeks ago.
Maybe "Penny A." exists, and maybe she doesn't. Perhaps she's simply a stand-in for all of the dissembling, misleading customer service mis-representatives at EBay. Either way, EBay once again essentially accused me of either lying, trying to cheat UPS, or simply being a moron who is incapable of measuring and weight a package correctly.
The Yahoo-sourced price chart of the S&P500 and EBay which appears nearby confirms that, even with the recent jump in EBay's share price from their recent, single-quarter positive earnings surprise, the stock still underperforms the index for the past two years. Good work Meg.
In conclusion, though, I would merely write to EBay CEO Meg Whitman,"Well done, Meg. You've motivated me to only use USPS, if I ever sell anything on your site again. Which I probably won't, since I now would like to avoid paying you as little as even one dime in the future. I may have over 100 confirmed positive purchase ratings, but I'm going to try to never sell again on your site."
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