Buyer Beware

I never buy anything from anyone on ebay if the shipping price does not reflect a reasonable actual cost of shipping. I wonder if anyone would fall for this?

I'm going to add it to my watch list to see what happens.

But I have a feeling that most people will respond the way we have. "This is nuts. I'm not paying 10 times the buying price to ship it." People shop ebay for deals - at least I do. And unless the item itself is under $10US, there's no reason for shipping to cost more than the purchase.

Even then, I look at the weight/distance/date. If something heavy is being shipped express from the UK, with insurance, for example, I'd expect to pay a pretty hefty amount. But it sounds like this wouldn't be but a pound at most? -- and from within the continental U.S. I just can't believe anyone is going to fall for it. Let us know if anyone does. :O

sure, plenty do. one problem is that when you get the goods and they aren't what you thought you were getting, the seller is only going to refund the "sale" price, not the shipping.

Appaerently he does this with all his auctions. He has a lot of 51 saris for

Mike snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com/6/05

17: snipped-for-privacy@pu-erh.net

snip snip snip snippity snip snip

Good lookin' out, Mike! Michael

I want to add that if you can find out where exactly the buyer gets their tea from, it's much better. If they get it anywhere else other than Guangzhou, Fangcun or directly from factories in Yunnan, be careful. The only place to get old stuff is from collectors, and you won't find them on ebay.

I might be interested if it was something harder to get and a little more interesting. There is another pu'er dealer on Ebay who switched to some $1/BuyItNow plus shipping. I inquired about combined shipping and was told NO. I'll just wait for renormalized BuyItNow and combined shipping. I can't believe what TaoBao is charging for 2003 cooked Xiaguan beeng and the websites for 2000 uncooked Xiaguan tuocha. I just broke open a 5 x 250g zhuan package of 2004 cooked Xiaguan also ridiculously priced on TaoBao which is $8 in my Chinatown. The back had the pimple/peg pattern with no nylon press pattern making it my first Iron Cake. The shipping from MN is still a better deal than paying for geriatric microbes from China. You admitted you don't police the pricing of your sponsor supported links erh public service announcement on where to buy. There is always a fool willing to part with his money. My local Cost Plus is selling 2.5lb black tea bricks in wooden display boxes for $12. I stocked up.

Jim

Mike Petro wrote: ...

This slanderous comment is nothing more than a personal vendetta of his. Normally I don't see his garbage but I used Google today which doesn't support a killfile.

Just to set the record straight:

accepts no sponsorship, advertising, donations, or any other form of compensation. I do not sell Puerh or anything else on my site. All Internet fees are paid for by me out of simple passion for the genre. Any opinions offered on where to buy are in response to someone who specifically asked and are my own honest opinions. On my site I have employed a 4-star grading system where I grade vendors based on the quality of the information provided by their site. I do not grade the quality of any tea offerings or their prices. I simply grade the completeness of the information that they provide. Pricing is closely tied to quality, how much hand-holding you need, and what the market will bear. I simply don't buy much puerh from US vendors so, not having tried their offerings, I cant comment on a specific Vendor's quality. What I do provide is straight forward honest information about Puerh and Consumer Reports style grading of major vendors catering to the US puerh market.

Mike Petro Webmaster

If this guy did any more lying he'd need an asbestos suit and his own fire extinguisher. The slander comes from his mouth. Here is a previous quote from him.

"Even on my website I only comment on authenticityof the information and tea, not pricing."

He'll call out someone on Ebay but not one of his recommended commercial shopping cart sites. So feel free to shop the links on his website because no matter the markup it is 'authentic' which applies in this case to the Ebay vendor because nothing was misreprsented. If you complain about the shipping cost then that is true for any Chinese vendor who'll charge you more for the first kg and that $60 shipping charge will look trivial if you order one beeng at a time. He didn't tell you that when he said "I simply don't buy much puerh from US vendors". In this case you order from Ebay and get the item this week. You order from China and wait a month. I've got another late order from China but that is the way it goes.

Jim

http://127.0.0.1/I.d> Space Cowboy wrote:

The ravings of a Troll

Hypocrite.

Jim

Mike Petro wrote:

Hypocrite.

Jim

Mike Petro wrote:

Heheh, ROFL, now if that isn't the pot calling the kettle black.

You are something else, I share some blatantly unethical behavior with the group, recommended a vendor that I personally hate but who had a much more ethical offering, and you take the rip-off artist's side!! Unbelievable..... Typical Troll banter!

Then you have the nerve to call me a liar, I challenge you to PROVE where I lied about this issue. BTW "prove" means providing *more* than incoherent troll ravings. Show me hard evidence of one single solitary lie associated with the issue at hand, you *cant* because it doesn't exist!

BTW your Troll banter is great for my website, my traffic triples every time.

Mike

What's his untruth here, I dont get it? You seem angry beyond normality, and irrazionale to me! You should be angry with the other guy.

N~ .

Obfuscate much, Jim?

How does any of the above drivel prove your accusation that Mike takes money from vendors for "sponsored links"? Oh, that's right. It doesn't.

Is your opinion of the rest of us really so low as to think that we'd get lost in your stream of consciousness and not be able to see that you've done nothing to support your original accusations?

It's just pixel envy.