Well since we cannot see your correspondence, there is no way to tell what set him off. You should be grateful to get the shells at that price and to try and cut it further by wanting a shipping discount is downright distasteful...

Downright distasteful _ say what? What's distasteful is paying a pad on shipping.

So you think its a good deal if the shells turn out to be vertical plied Asian shells? I certainly don't.

Call me crazy but I know what it costs to ship 3 drum shells without hardware that will nest in one box _ the pad is nearly 100%.

The whole reason eBay started taking a 9% cut out of shipping fees is due to pratices like that _ with sellers hiding a Reserve value price inside the shipping estimate. I just think its bad practice _ and usually don't give sellers that do that my business.

I don't mind paying good money for drums and parts but I hate paying exorbitant and padded shipping costs _ even if the price works out to be the same.

Besides I made inquiries about his shipping fees prior to Bidding the shells _ What I said was that I don't need anything quick _ and would prefer a less expensive shipping option _ and got no answer.

Ohm

I think we may all be a little confused as to why you bid on this item when you have all of these reservations. It's an auction and you won so you should abide by the detailed terms. That is pretty straight forward. I for one am excited to see what you end up with and what you do with them. I am concerned about the mid reinforcement hoop on the floor tom though. If you don't like them, flip them. That is the nature of an online auction.

As a business owner (though not one that is involved with retail sales) I am always quite confused when buyers get upset about shipping charges. You value your time so it is only fair for someone else to value theirs. If someone is selling a large volume of merchandise, say for instance, Amazon, their shipping costs are far less for the following reasons:

- they buy packaging materials in bulk

- they have infrastructure in place for packing merchandise

- they have infrastructure in place for shipping merchandise

- they can negotiate bulk rates for shippers

In other words, their costs are cheaper and they do it infinitly faster. On the other hand, somone shipping an item every now and then has to procure a suitable box or boxes, find packing materials, create a shipping label, possibly hand deliver the item to the USPS (if that was the preferred carrier) wait in line and ship the thing. Personnaly, if I profit $50 on a sale, I only charge for "actual shipping costs" and spend an hour dealing with it, I just lost money. That is simple economics. That is why I don't often sell anything.

The reality is everything you buy has a shipping charge associated with it whether it is listed as a shipping cost or embedded into the purchase price. Everything has to come from somewhere. You don't think that companies are giving this service for free? That would be a miserable business practice. I can't speak to eBay's fees as I seldom sell, but to expect that somone should either ship "at cost" or be considered greedy is a bit much for me.

My apologies Ohm. I am not digging at you. It is simply that I see that same mantra presented here time after time and l find it a bit misinformed. We would do well to allow other people to value their time as we value ours. If a seller posts a shipping charge and you don't like those terms, either sort it out in advance, be fine with it or don't bid. To your point, you can always ask for a better deal after the fact, however, "no" is a perfectly acceptable answer.

Again, I am pretty excited about your purchase and think you have great taste in color!

> _ I really didn't want to match the sellers nastiness with a nasty retort of my own.

Never helps anyway! Consider also; it's hard to read somebody's 'meaning' when all you have available is typed words. It's easy to misread or misinterpret where somebody is coming from without the benefit of looking into their eyes and hearing the tone of voice. I say give the grumpy guy a chance. Let's see how long it takes him to ship. As for the shells, when I first saw them I thought Gretsch too, but it can just as easily be asian Luan. If it's aged Luan, you still bought a nice set of shells. I would try to pop a Gretsch lug into the existing holes when they arrive. See if you have a dead fit. If those are 50's/60's 3 or 6 ply Gretsch shells... you scored big-time!

Good luck... fingers crossed for you.

John

PS - If they do turn out to be Gretsch shells... start the second mortgage application now! Retro-fitting those shells with period correct Gretsch parts; lugs, mounts, die-cast hoops, Pratt muffler and dual mufflers for the toms, T-rods, claws, spurs, legs, etc. etc. etc. is really gonna put a hurting on your bottom line! But well-worth the trouble if it's the real deal. I don't think you'll make a huge profit on a resale because of how much you'll have to put into them. Fact is though, that -is- a rare finish. If Gretsch... they'll be pretty valuable reassembled. J

If they are gretsch shells and you find them in a desirable state of condition good for you and the deal you got , i think the seller might be hostile due to the fact that he would have liked to have gotten more money for them.

It's happen to me a few time were i sold on ebay and let's say that the buyer got a too good to be true deal , i was not happy about it but thats the gamble i took , good for those buyers but it sucked to be me and i never gave any grife to the seller about it , i'm sure it's happen to a few of us!.

I have over 650 transactions on eBay and I can say with confidence that if you don't know what you're bidding on by first asking a ton of questions about the product, then you have no right to complain after the fact. If they didn't answer your questions promptly during the auction, then that should of been a fair warning to you. Secondly, if you bought the items and didn't like the shipping charges, you shouldn't of bought them. To complain about them after paying them would offend me as a Seller too.

eBay didn't add 9% to deduct from shipping for overpriced shipping, they did it as business for making a profit. I charge $3.00 on any U.S. transaction extra, for insurance and/or sig. confirmation and materials. Says so straight up on my auctions. It also says if there is a gross overage I will refund the difference. I have no issue with extra shipping charges, no matter what they are. If the Seller wants to have a high shipping and make some money off of that and a Buyer buys them, case closed. Buyer's regret and your type of issue you have is what makes eBay not enjoyable for me. Not all Sellers are fair, I try to be, but some people may not think I am.

If you bought it, it's yours. You agreed to the price. Case closed. If you want to send them back because they aren't what you thought they were, that's your right, but you should pay for the shipping back and not ask for that money refunded, just your original purchase price and shipping.

If they turn out to be all original shells, would you send the seller some more money for what they are really worth? Or for what another Buyer would pay for them? If you checked other auctions for similar shells, did you get a better deal with the high shipping? Would you send the difference if you underpaid?

i too agree with back beat if you dont know dont bid its as simple as that, what gives you the right to dictate seller policy thats the way of it if you want a deal on shipping be close enough to ask for pick up, there are more deals to be made and as time goes by you will see that u get the good ,bad,and the ugly good luck hope for the best settle for the least and move on NEXT

I should of looked at Seller's feedback before my earlier post, as it would of saved some time. Ohm51, your complaint is falling on my personal deaf ear. Seller has a NEG for misdescribed item and a NEUTRAL for communication, although the same Buyer said item was packed well. If you don't do homework on Sellers, then IMO you complaint is not valid.

Soap Box

BBk agreed. I checked out the sellers DSR also.

Well you are of course absolutely correct _ and I agree with everything you said.

I did 'ask' for {not demand} an alternative shipping option at a better rate _ both before and after the sale. And you are correct again when you say _ "no" is a perfectly acceptable answer."

I asked and he answered _ to whit I was really more offended by his tone than the shipping rate.

I see I've rankled a few feathers here. Look folks I explained that I had reservations about the auction prior to Bidding the shells primarily due to the sellers lack of concern to supply specifics and his tacit refusal to answer questions. That made me nervous, which I think is really quite a natural response.

The reason I started the thread was mainly as an outlet to vent so I wouldn't feel the need to answer his crudely worded message with an angry reply of my own _ or worse.

Purdie also made some excellent comments above _ that meanings can often be misinterpreted via online commentary. So who knows what conditions led to the sellers attitude _ maybe he had a toothache or some other life calamity had occured to make him predisposed to sulleness. I've been there too, I realize I'm not always charming.

Bottomline is I PAID for the shells within 40 hours of the auction close and I didn't do or say anything foolish that I would live to regret.

The sellers terms are met _ and I look forward to getting the shells.

Ohm