Wondering if I'm wrong in my thinking

[Pandabear]

Ok so here's the sitch....

The other day I ordered two items on Amazon from a third party seller. They were the same items, just different colors. I was charged a shipping fee for both items - $3.79 twice. I was ok with that.

The items arrived in a timely manner and in good condition. In ONE box. I stress one, because it was charged two shipping charges, but received them in one box. If they had come in separate boxes I would not have minded.

I contacted Amazon, explained the situation and they in turn contacted the seller. Who then emailed me saying, "you were charged two shipping fees and we sent your items times in one box."

Well no duh. That's my problem. 2 fees, one box. I sent them an email saying as much. They sent another email saying they will refund me $2.00.

I'm not happy. I guess I expected them to immediately refund a shipping fee since both items came in one box. That I had to ask for it, and only received a partial refund has just left me feeling let down by this company.

So tell me, am I being petty? I don't plan on ordering through them again which is a shame as they have decent prices.

[Marty]

Re: Wondering if I'm wrong in my thinking

My husband ordered two dress shirts from Costco online. We were charged 2 shipping fees. I thought ok. Maybe they are coming from two different warehouses. However they were shipped together in one box. I felt the same way. Instead of being rewarded for ordering more than one item at a time I feel penalized. You got $2. That's more than we got.

[Amarillo19]

Re: Wondering if I'm wrong in my thinking

Perhaps you need to name names. Maybe the bad publicity would make the company re-think its policy. This forum gets a lot of readers-- something to remind the company.

[easyquilts]

Re: Wondering if I'm wrong in my thinking

You are not being petty at all.... Clearly, you were overcharged.... One if the reasons I often add items to my DD order, is that no matter how many items there are, if they are in the same package, I will only be charged ONE shipping charge...

[Suzette]

Re: Wondering if I'm wrong in my thinking

Not petty at all! The amount might be minimal, but the principle is the thing here. You were taken advantage of by being overcharged, plain and simple. This is wrong and very bad business practice. I am glad that you spoke up and continued to speak up until you got some compensation. I would definitely put this experience in your review on Amazon about this seller. It not only will help others not fall into their little money trap, but hopefully, if enough folks speak up, and even more folks avoid doing business with them over this, it will force them to change their ways and do business more fairly.

[BobW]

Re: Wondering if I'm wrong in my thinking

I agree you were treated badly by the company you did business with. I'm kind of like Andy Rooney when it comes to shipping and handling charges. I don't mind paying for shipping, but I don't really want my item handled by a stranger and don't want to pay them to do it. This is a "Scam" that a lot of e-bay sellers use. They sell items for next to nothing and then charge really high shipping. That is how they make their money.

I have ordered from M* a few times and once I kept adding to my order to get over the $100 need to get free shipping. I was buying a couple of to me higher priced items. So I bought some charm packs and other notions to get the total over the top for the free shipping.

[Pandabear]

Re: Wondering if I'm wrong in my thinking

It's not that I mind paying for shipping. Pass on the post office rate for the package, I get that. But to charge me twice and then send one box... Then admit me they charged me twice and sent one box like it was no big deal, that was over the top.

There are exceptions. This past Christmas I was looking at something for my husband online. I found what I wanted and was all yah!! The total cost, with tax for the item was $11.00. The product weighed next to nothing. When I went to check out the shipping fee was $9.00

Seriously 9 bucks? Contacted the company, asked if they could throw it in a flat rate shipping box for less of a shipping fee. No dice. Didn't order from them. Won't in the future.

[Cat n bull]

Re: Wondering if I'm wrong in my thinking

Make sure you post a review of this seller! Other people will be very interested to know what their customer service is really like.

That is not a very good way to do business, especially on Amazon where every transaction can be reviewed!

[Vonnie]

Re: Wondering if I'm wrong in my thinking

I have noticed that some selling on ebay - forget the exact wording - have it so you can combine items into one box. I would think that Amazon would want that same policy. What a bummer that happened to you. Agree with the others about rating them.

[Doloris]

Re: Wondering if I'm wrong in my thinking

depending on the weight of what you bought, MAYBE, the shipping was slightly higher. I have seen adds on ebay where there is one fee for the first and each additional item is X amount more, but not as high as the first shipping. They should have this stated on their add. Maybe they are thinking they refunded the shipping, but still charging the handling. Not saying it is right, but possible explanation

[MayinJerset]

Re: Wondering if I'm wrong in my thinking

You are not being petty at all.... Clearly, you were overcharged.... One if the reasons I often add items to my DD order, is that no matter how many items there are, if they are in the same package, I will only be charged ONE shipping charge...

That is another reason we love M*.

[Pandabear]

Re: Wondering if I'm wrong in my thinking

depending on the weight of what you bought, MAYBE, the shipping was slightly higher. I have seen adds on ebay where there is one fee for the first and each additional item is X amount more, but not as high as the first shipping. They should have this stated on their add. Maybe they are thinking they refunded the shipping, but still charging the handling. Not saying it is right, but possible explanation

Nah, it was the flat fee. These were little plastic figurines. Seriously a hundred of them wouldn't come close to a nine dollar shipping fee. I don't know what they were thinking. But hey, I found them in a store so all came out well.

I look closely at eBay charges for that reason. I do the same for Amazon used books. Often you can get a book for a ridiculously low amount, say $2.00 only to have a 5 dollar shipping fee. I get that - books are heavy. But I'm not paying more for shipping than for a book.

BobW, I've done the adding to your order to get free shipping thing. I just did it with Connecting Threads. I found the prettiest yellow fabric that I had to have. Then saw that for, I want to say a $50 order, it was free shipping. Yeah, I bought more fabric to go with the yellow to get that shipping. Sometimes you just have to.

[Granny Judy]

Re: Wondering if I'm wrong in my thinking

This is why I shop only from those listed under "free shipping" at Ebay. Their shipping charges are too outrageous and I have been double charged more than once .. finally I learned. Most times I will contact a seller if buying more than one item and ask for ONE shipping charge. If they don't, then I don't buy.

I know it is only one or two extra dollars, but that adds up when thousands are being charged... some one is making money or they would NOT be doing it..... Just my opinion.

[toggpine]

Re: Wondering if I'm wrong in my thinking

I think that M* has the way of it.
I know it looks like an outrageous charge when you ship internationally, but they will correct the shipping charges to only what it cost to ship the actual package. If this type of a policy that was stated on the site/seller page then I'd be much more likely to order multiple items. I am not opposed to paying for the actual shipping, as I know it's not free.
I just ordered a $3 mini-charm pack (42- 2.5" squares) and it cost me $3 to have it shipped. I was going to order another yard of fabric just for fun, but the jump in shipping charges from $3 to nearly $12 was enough to put me off. I know that you can ship the VHS tape-sized box for under $6 through the USPS. I can get at least a yard of fabric stuffed in there. I'm pretty sure they could have shipped that charm fabric for about $1 in a regular envelope, but it did arrive safely in a padded mailer. I figured I complained enough with my wallet by not buying more from them.

I'd certainly post a review of the seller. I do wether it's good or bad. Then people have a better idea of what they are dealing with.

[vchale]

Re: Wondering if I'm wrong in my thinking

You definitely should always send an email asking for combined shipping charges before you pay. I won't order from them if they won't do this. Even some of the sellers on amazon do this automatically.