I have been bidding on the ShopGoodwill online auction site for years. And I generally have had a good experience. I do agree with some of the other complaints filed about the online auction site, that some of the winning bids have been unusally high. I don't know if that is the result of bidders not wanting to lose (I've don't that myself) or if something is going on with fake bids.
But my recent experience has totally disgusted me and raised a lot of questions. Here's the situation and you decide if I'm over reacting.
I was searching for a camera tripod. The list popped up and I saw one that I thought was interesting. Although it was listed as a tripod, it was actually a monopod. It was the first day of bidding and there were already two bidders.
As I always do, I immediately clicked on the tab to calculate my shipping. I nearly fell out of my chair. The shipping charges alone were just over $50! When I returned to the item's listing, I saw that it was listed as weighing 48 pounds.
And just a reminder, it was actually a monopod, not as the description had listed it, a tripod. I have purchased both tripods and momopods directly from manufactureres and camera supply sites. I have never seen even an elaberate tripod weigh as much as ten pounds. And, I have never paid more than $15.00 for the shipping - even from the west coast (I'm in VA).
So, since there were a few days left in the auction, I sent the seller - Tocoma Goodwill, an email pointing out the fact that the items was not a tripod and it was wrong to advertise it as such and that even if it were made out of lead or gold it still would not weigh anywhere near 48 pounds.
You might think I would get a 'thank you' for pointing this out to us email right? Wrong! They said the high shipping charge was determined by following UPS's calculations for items that don't fit in a "standard" sized box. They also included a link to UPS that goes into the whole weight by dimensions formular.
Using the dimensions Goodwill listed for thie monopod, I plugged information into the UPS weight by dimensions calulator and it came up with 5 pounds.
When I looked up this posted item the next day, I discovered that they had reduced the weight to 7 pounds - down from 48. The new calulated shipping charge was $14.61. A far cry from $50.
I sent Tacoma another email mentioning my calculations using the UPS farmular and that I noticed that they had adjusted the weight in the description of the item. They did not however, change the listing to properly describe the item as a monopod.
Three days later, the last day of the auction, I decided to place a bid on this item. Guess what? They rejected my bid!! Can you believe that? So, what, the person who got my email telling them that the item up for auction couldn't possibly weight 48 pounds, and the fact that a tripod means three legs, didn't like me pointing these discrepencies out to them so they flagged my email and account and rejected my bid,
That is simply outrageous. I thought I was doing a good thing and pointing this out to them. Instead, someone decided to punish me for it.
Over the years, if i purchased 50 items, I passed up 200 items that I was truly interested in because the shipping charges were so incredibly high. I am convinced that they inflate the shipping charges so they make additional money on the order. I have seen items weighing a pound or less and could fit in a box that an iPhone would be shipped in, have a shipping charge between $10 -15 dollars.
Anyway, if you ever see something that isn't right on the ShopGoodwill auction site and you are interested in the item, don't tell them. Otherwise, you might be rejected like me.
Look, once the item is sold, there is nothing I can do. It's not like complaining to a real company and them sending you the same item to make peace.
Unless I have a friend (they would have to set up an account) bid on the item for me, it's out of my reach. It's unfair, it's wrong, and my guess is, it's probably illegal.