Bought It On eBay

eBay used to be one of my favorite websites. It was the world’s garage sale where you could buy a vintage Boba Fett in mint condition for $8 and pay $1 for shipping. Now it’s where you can buy a wall plate that has television components on it for $35 and pay $8 shipping. Where have the deals gone?

Actually, I got a pretty good deal on my TV wall plates. I got two of them for a total of $60 which isn’t too bad considering I found them at numerous online retailers for well over $100 each. The thing that I hate is the fact that in order to get the good deal that I did, I had to pay for enormous shipping charges. $13 to send two wall plates that probably weigh a total of half a pound combined is ridiculous.

But wait! You’re probably thinking that they’ll be shipped via overnight express using FedEx or UPS. Nope. They’re coming first class mail through the US Postal Service. So basically I paid for the stamp that will be used, the envelope that the wall plates will be shipped in, the seller’s listing fees, the pair of shoes that he’ll wear out while walking to his mailbox, and the lunch that he’ll inevitably have to get in his car and go get while on the way back from said mailbox.

I actually found some wall plates for $22 each that I was going to buy until I saw that the shipping charges were $19. Again, the items were shipped via USPS.

What’s the deal with eBay sellers charging such high amounts for shipping small items. This is the reason that I now buy almost exclusively from Amazon.com. Their shipping rates are very reasonable and you can buy and sell new and used items.

What happened to you eBay? You used to be cool.