Free postage on eBay?

[bobson]

I was looking to buy MacBook Pro 15 battery on eBay. I found a few good deals only to find out that seller advertised Free postage but when clicked to proceed with buying there was $20 dollars for postage?

There are a few of those sellers doing the same thing. I contacted one of them asking why do they advertise Free postage and then ask for money for postage? He sent me email back talking how postage is different for different places and to enter my post code to find out how much it will be like I don't know this?

I told him in second email that's not what I was asking you mate. I tried to report this to eBay but there is no option for it and I can not email or call eBay about it.

Isn't this false advertisement? Why eBay allows this?

My understanding is if it says Free postage then you don't pay for it because its included in the price already?

Under advanced search you can even select items that are Free postage.

Has anyone else seen something like this and what they think about it?

cheers

[Steve_C]

If you look at the bottom right of the listing there is a link "Report this item" That should work to contact ebay. I would also be careful buying batteries on Ebay. I worked in the consumer electronics industry (photographic) for many years and we saw a lot of after market and counterfeit batteries for sale on Ebay. In some cases the batteries lasted only a few months or did not hold a charge for long, in others they were poorly made and in a few cases actually caught fire.

Regards,

Steve

[cfranks]

The only time I've seen this is on ebay.com and the free postage advertised is to the US. It doesn't apply to anywhere else. Anytime I've seen it on ebay.com.au it was genuine.

[Steve_C]

I often get free postage from items coming from China or Hong Kong.

Regards,

Steve

[dannat]

usually the free postage sellers automatically select a more premium paid service -you just have to manually select free postage at no cost -I havnt had the situation whereby with free post I had no option but to pay postage

& you're right it is false advertising -ask to cancel to sale

[LewisM]

I have never had an issue with items listed as Free Postage - most of these sellers DO offer Express Post additional, but you have the option to select it or not.

I have contacted eBay many times without any difficulty - it is there on the site, just takes some searching as they rather you use the FAQ's first.

[gary]

Hi Bob,

This style of battery is a lithium-ion.

Lithium batteries are also prohibited to be carried by air post.
They can only be shipped domestically by road.
They are on the Australia Post "Dangerous & Prohibited Items" list.

See http://auspost.com.au/parcels-mail/dangerous-and-prohibited-items.html

Since their energy densities are very high, if one is faulty or
becomes damaged so as to internally short and begin to burn,
if they were in the cargo-hold they could bring down a passenger plane.

Best Regards

Gary

[OzEclipse]

I bought one 6 months ago from

https://www.macfixit.com.au/apple-laptop-batteries

Battery works well, cheaper than the OEM battery.

Cheers

Joe

[bobson]

Thanks guys!
Looks like they removed the ad in question after my email to seller.
But I found another one that does the same thing:

http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?_odkw=MacBook+pro+15+battery +A1382&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR4.TRC 1.A0.H0.XMacBook+pro+15+battery.TRS 0&_nkw=MacBook+pro+15+battery&_sacat=0

Scroll down till you see seller "Power Bank" ad:


AU $31.99
Free postage
95 sold

When you click on the ad you will see this:
Postage:
AU $20.00 Standard Shipping | See details (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/6CELL-Laptop-Battery-for-Apple-MacBook-Pro-15-A1150-A1175-A1226-MA348G-A-Silver-/251678850430?hash=item3a993a7d7e#sh pCntId)


Item location:
Altona Gate,VIC, Australia

And all of the sellers in question have the same address but different user names?

Another one: http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=MacBook+pro+15+battery&_pgn=2&_skc=50&rt=nc



AU $31.94

Free postage

Click on it and you got this:


Postage:
AU $20.00 Standard Shipping | See details (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/10-8V-Battery-For-Apple-MacBook-Pro-15-A1150-A1211-A1226-A1260-A1175-MA463LL-AU-/151584414470?hash=item234b229b06#sh pCntId)


Item location:
Altona Gate VIC, Australia


ant-mall (http://www.ebay.com.au/usr/ant-mall?_trksid=p2047675.l2559) (924 (http://feedback.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback&userid=ant-mall&iid=151584414470&ssPageName=VIP:feedback&ftab=FeedbackAsSeller&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2560) )

There are more of them doing the same thing like seller dreamworld-au (http://www.ebay.com.au/usr/dreamworld-au?_trksid=p2047675.l2559), again the same address but different seller name.

[bobson]

Lewis,

If you try to report item or seller/member you wont find option that covers this issue, well at least I couldn't find it.

Under Report Category it makes sense to sellect "Listing practices"
Then,
Reason for Report? "Inappropriate seller terms"? or "Other listing practices"?

Which ever one you choose dont cover this issue? Or I dont see it?
Correct me if I am wrong.

cheers

[bobson]

I ordered battery from this website: http://www.au-batteries-pro.com/shopping_cart.php/keywords/a1382

Just over $60 dollars all up, I'll see how good or bad it is.

cheers

bob