Half.com - Ebay The shipping SCAM has been going on for years! San Jose California
Here is the whole scam: Not only does half.com and Ebay company not pay sellers enough shipping reimbursement to cover the real actual USPS media mail postage, they are charging buyers the real rate and scamming the difference. They have been doing this for many years. I've been a member of half.com before they were ever owned by Ebay. I caught onto the scam about 3 or 4 years ago.
Here's one example: I sold a book on half.com Jun-20-2009 and was reimbursed $2.64 for media mail shipping. The actual media mail shipping was over $3.00 (sorry I didn't get a receipt to know the exact change). I went out to half.com and put the same book into my shopping cart as if I would purchase it and the shipping charged to the buyer is $3.49. Half.com scammed $.85! They are doing this on each and every transaction so can you imagine how this is adding up to big profits? I recently bought some other books and as a buyer was charged $3.49 and $3.99 respectively, while I am positive the buyer is only going to get $2.64. Rest assured these are not commissions. The commissions are listed as a separate line item for each transaction under the sellers account.
What to do: I don't know. I've made some complaints to my local news stations consumer watch dog reporters. I have the paperwork to report to the BBB, but as I can see from other posts here, that organization is corrupt and non-reponsive. I suppose the only thing I can do is quit using the site, but many times as a buyer even though I know I'm getting scammed $.85 - 1.35 on shipping, the product is still cheaper than I can get it anywhere else. As for selling, I only use the site for high priced text books now because if I sell a $.75 book and have to boot an extra $.85 for shipping, then I LOST $.10 on the transaction.
Janet
New Middletown, Indiana
U.S.A.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
paulo59
Lake Forest,California,
USA
It's not a scam but they are double dipping
#3Consumer Comment
Mon, April 26, 2010
In defense of the poster's original complaint, I can understand their frustration because Half.com is getting a cut on BOTH ends of the transaction. They take a 15% commission (on sales under $50) from the seller, AND they're taking a cut off of the shipping fee paid by the buyer (which they conveniently call a "handling fee"). Recent case-in-point, I sold a CD and the buyer paid $2.99 shipping but I was only reimbursed $2.39, which IS enough to ship it and not lose anything, however my complaint is that Half.com isn't handling anything! They're just a middleman, and I think it's double dipping to take a cut on both ends. It's not a scam because their policies are posted, it's not caveat emptor because from the buyer's end the transaction is fairly transparent. Rather it's "seller beware."
James
Bellingham,Washington,
USA
Yes, this is true but...
#3
Mon, September 21, 2009
It's not a scam if they explain how they do business, which they do.