Another weird eBay story...

I must be the king of eBay bad luck.

Won an item last week. Several days ago checked my e-mail only to find that the seller had refunded my money. E-mail from seller stated that she miscalculated the price of shipping and that USPS could not ship my item anyway. I have ordered the same type of item on many occasions over the years and have never had a problem with the USPS shipping it.

Seller advised that cost of shipping with UPS and Fed Ex was too high and did not want to lose money on the transaction so refunded my money.

Now, this whole scenario smells fishy. Normally when a seller has problems of any kind with shipping they have always contacted me first before refunding (I am almost always able to "work something out"). Most sellers want to do business.

It seems strange that a seller is willing to risk negative feedback over saving a few dollars on the cost of shipping.

So what is up here? Something does not sound right. I am tempted to leave negative feedback - is it justified? - and file a complaint with eBay.

Any advise?

If they refunded, don't leave any feedback. Just let it go and pretend this didn't happen. But, take note of the seller, and never use them again.

alldat's advice is sound.


In Germany, unless otherwise stated, the buyer usually has to pay for the shipping costs. I have noticed a trend among eBay retailers though where the retailer will offer to pay the shipping costs in order to win customers.

OK, that makes sense- just do not leave feedback and move on. But do not work with the seller again in the future.

This way, it keeps you from getting negative feedback in return. If you've got your money back, then all is good.

Dynamis wrote:

OK, that makes sense- just do not leave feedback and move on. But do not work with the seller again in the future.

Sounds like a good idea.

It does sound kind of fishy to me though. I wonder if maybe they had the item listed somewhere else (like Craig's list) and got a higher bid/selling price from another buyer, hence giving you the brush off (and that weak excuse).