Buyer Beware: Rude eBay Seller

[huskyvacs]

I just encountered this rude seller on eBay selling vacuums and I thought I'd share the conversation so people know not to buy anything from this guy. I know he has a Hoover Concept One for sale that has many watchers on it so I thought I'd let people know in case any of those watchers are Vacuumland members.

The vacuum in question I tried to buy: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dyson-DC07...sh=item1ca2312d5c:g:zrkAAOSw2cNajeLi#shpCntId

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me:
Hello, I was interested in buying this entire vacuum, but do you think you can get the shipping or the price of the vacuum on any cheaper option? Or is that the cheapest you can get? I see it has a lot of hair and mud buildup which is a bit gross that why I was wondering if you could go a bit cheaper. I live in [...] if you want to calculate shipping. Let me know, thank you!

seller:
I want to check the dimensions on that vacuum cleaner it’s 25 pounds for the vacuum cleaner and another 10 pounds for packaging the diameter is 50 inches “ x 16“ x 16“ I want to let you know it is expensive to ship these days please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns your regards I also checked for hair there is some minor hear that you’re my have to remove on the vacuum cleaner

me:
Oh I know, I don't mind removing the hair, ive got gloves, haha Just seemed a bit high is all, let me know what you find out, thank you.

seller:
Anyways I revise the shipping cost and that’s the shipping cost please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns

me:
Umm, the shipping cost increased by $53? It was $33 now it's $86.

seller:
Well good luck on your search for a vacuum cleaner please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns your regards

me:
Have fun not selling anything. I don't know why you are even on eBay with an attitude like that.

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PS: I looked up the weight for the Dyson DC07. It weighs 19 lbs - not 25. And no cardboard box and padding weighs 10 lbs. He was just making numbers up.

 

[lesinutah]

Hey

Wow
It's 140 for shipping now. If you look at items for sale it's more in line of yard sale in trailer park. I love trying to buy things ask for a few dollars off when item has been listed for months. People just have brash attitudes. The seller must have a crane pulling around property to get pics in the mud

 

[hank]

For whatever reason eBay overquotes their shipping costs when you put in the dimension and base it on buyer location. His listing is showing $178 to ship to me. Like I said varies on your location.

The last vacuum I sold went from California to North Carolina and it cost me 55 and change just to ship it. For that listing I charged a flat rate of $39.99.

 

[ctvacman]

That’s like a fantom I just bought but haven’t paid for yet because the seller needs to get a shipping quote, he lives in Connecticut as well. He writes back the next day saying it would be $65 to ship it or 45 if he drives it to me!!! Are you kidding me!? I wrote back that the handle can be taken off and I sent the same machine to a friend in Pennsylvania for $32. He writes back ok I’ll get a better quote when I get it packed up....I can stand people doing things so half a$$ed and just making stuff up

 

[huskyvacs]

Yeah anywhere under $40 is a reasonable shipping amount to me. I just bought a Kirby from a seller that offered it as free shipping, I thought that was a great deal.

 

[cuffs054]

I didn't think the seller was being rude.

 

[huskyvacs]

@ cuffs054

Raising the shipping price by $50 after I asked if he could go any lower, and then when I pointed out the $50 increase, he tells me "good luck on my search" and ceases contact, how is that not rude?

By doing that, he's saying "oh you want me to go cheaper? Here, I'll charge $50 more so it will cost $86 to ship a vacuum 3 states away just because you asked me. Can't afford it now? Too bad, get out."

Imagine walking into a mom and pop thrift store in real life and them doing that to you. People have this high ideal of what something is worth regardless of condition and tell off anyone that says otherwise and wants to get it cheaper. You get this all the time on Craigslist when buying used cars. You ask if someone will go lower, they say how much, you tell them, and they slam the phone in your ear. Those "no lowballers" type of people.

 

[luxlife]

@ huskyvacs: your opinion please:

How would you feel about bidding on a vacuum with a hidden reserve bid, but the seller offers free shipping and insures the shipping for twice the amount of the winning bid? This is the way I've always sold on eBay and my feedback is still 100%. I never understand these individuals who use shipping to screw the buyer!

I'm just curious because I get so irritated looking at the shipping costs on auction items. Most of them are unreasonable, unverifiable and usually it looks like the seller is anticipating the need to compensate for a low winning bid. I think eBay is a crap shoot for the seller or the buyer. This stuff was supposed to be fun (wasn't it?), but some people are looking at this as a stream of income. The only thing more offensive is when a seller finds a perfect vacuum ensemble and parts it out with each part as a separate listing. It's like the seller thinks we can't tell that he gutted a machine because he thought that the parts were greater than the sum.

 

[huskyvacs]

@ luxlife

Mostly all eBay buyers and me included never bother with auctions with a reserve price. Skip right over it. It's a waste of time. Sellers that do that just are feeling the market and want to see how much something will sell for without being obligated to sell it. So they will play eBay like a slot machine "come on big money big money big money" and keep relisting it over and over to see how much the price will go. What they don't know is that each time its relisted you get less and less bidders.

First and last time I bid on an auction like that was in 2011 and I watched the same laptop get relisted 8 times, and I kept bidding on it, and kept being the high bidder hoping he would give in. The first few times it went well over $300 and I had to drop out. The last time it was listed I was the only bidder and it sold for $65 - suffice to say he declined to sell it and I never seen it listed ever again.

Also for me - I don't have an expendable income so I can't just throw money down the drain on free shipping. I own a postage scale and weigh my items accordingly with knowledge learned from the USPS clerk and have done that for 8 years problem free. I have template boxes for each of my things and I use calculated shipping. I've never had to insure anything and nobody's ever asked me for insurance. Never had anything go missing and always save the receipt to prove I shipped it in the event some scammer tries to say I never shipped it.

As a buyer - judging how much shipping should and shouldn't be just comes from experience. A lot of times, like the seller I posted a warning about, just randomly guess weights or copy the shipping charges from another auction not knowing its different depending on where you live and what service. Like I just passed on an auction where the seller was charging $10 to ship 4 DVD's 3 states away. Sellers often put priority mail shipping on their items which usually isn't necessary, and sometimes if you ask them if they can send it cheaper - they will. Other times they tell you off, like the guy I warned about did to me.

From my experience, FedEx is cheaper for short routes on heavy things within 3-4 states. UPS is cheapest if you're shipping a heavy item from coast to coast over a great distance. USPS you can use for the remainder of everything else. Ususally USPS has a good priority mail price if you're within a state away from the seller. Got a 40 something lb. vacuum before shipped priority for $30 and got it 2 days later.

Had one guy ship a vacuum to me before using Retail Ground - took literally 3 weeks to get from New Jersey to here in Indiana at a cost of $35 or $40 I think it was.

And about stripped machines - there was a post somewhere someone made about that, IDK where I read it. But it's people that watch too much reality TV or get the wrong info from other fly-by-night sellers and think if you sell each attachment for $20 you can get more money than selling the entire vacuum for whatever amount&#92. But if someone buys that vacuum, then you are stuck with all the attachments for it and eventually they get tossed to Goodwill.

 

[hooverkid]

The reason shipping is so much is because it's the rate for FedEx, in my own experience I've seen the same vacuum ship with USPS for around $40 and fedex charge between $90-120. The buyer has some control in the respect that he/she could choose the lowest cost option but higher cost ups and fedex quotes are also valid and easily explainable, I don't believe the seller was trying to be rude, I think he saw you where unlikely to pay the price he was asking and didn't see a reason to continue discussing the matter. Not that you where wrong in any respect for not wanting to pay 100 bucks for one of the oldest Dyson models but neither is he for asking that much.

 

[fantomfan]

His stuff is junk

He lives in my city (Rochester) and I tried to buy a Drytech from him some years ago. He brought it by and it was trashed. Motor was gone. Still wanted like 50 or 60 bucks- something crazy like that. His crap sits outside and is exposed to everything- I wouldn’t trust any of that.

 

[huskyvacs]

@ FantomFan

Wow, really? So he's been sitting on this stuff a long time then? Well I'm glad it wasn't just me he was rude to!

The kicker is - he has solar panels on his roof - so he's clearly got a lot of money, why bother trying to con people put of $60+ for stuff thats been in a farm field for a decade? Just offer $5-$10 for it and clear it out.

 

[reo580]

@ luxlife:

"The only thing more offensive is when a seller finds a perfect vacuum ensemble and parts it out with each part as a separate listing. It's like the seller thinks we can't tell that he gutted a machine because he thought that the parts were greater than the sum."



I agree...
I hate I hate I HATE when sellers do that.
I have no problem paying a reasonable price for something I want, but it pisses me off to no end when I see a machine butchered like that, and the person thinks I'm some kind of starry eyed idiot that is going to pay a pie in the sky price (no to mention shipping) for the piece by piece vacuum carnage LOL