Part of your mirage MIGHT very well came from this auction:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290131723882
It's usually a good idea to check to see if mirage's waist area is repaired or not.

 

Thanks dude. Wasn't trying to ruffle any feathers.

 

It's not just that he overcharged, it's that I paid for a good quality shipping and he actually used the cheapest possible option available to him. So it is less of a 'gray area' and more defined of a bad act.

Here's my main line of thought/what I sent to him again so everyone sees it:

"Ok well I've done some research and I've found that I have a huge grounding in a claim for a shipping refund. You see, you charged me for 'USPS Priority Mail International' shipping (which starts at over $10) and used 'First-Class Mail® International'. This is clearly evidenced and is a clear violation. You see I agreed in paying the shipping I did to having the item shipped using the shipping method agreed to in our binding sale/contract. You did not ship with the agreed upon method and that is why it cost you so much less. (also, $2.50 for insurance?).

It is not a matter of that "it got there" so that is it as you claim, as you broke our agreement in how it would get here. It is also not a matter of covering your expenses, as this was not stated in the auction and gouging for amounts like 400% of the actual shipping cost is not accepted by ebay or paypal anyways, not to mention that if you'd shipped with the method stated there wouldn't have been this much extra left over."

 

I don't disagree with anything you're saying, it's just not worth the hassle and negative. I'd let it go.

 

here's his response to my last message. I can barely even tell what he's saying. In fact, does he even make sense?:


"report me cause they were charging me 17.00 i charge you less of the real actual pricing do to the fact its called handeling fees..... oops did i say handeling fees ,makes you wonder i can charge that aswell as long as it got there ... if you report all they gona do is ask question on me and i will respond to there question with a good manner !! and why it was charged for that pricing "

 

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-shipping.html
Link him to that, and tell him you're reporting him.

 

As Draven said above, but also remind him as you let him know he is being reported for cost gouging that you have the emails from him that show (especially the last one) that he opted for the cheapest way because the other way was not conducive to "covering his fees". He can respond to them with all the "good manner" he wants, you still have it in print of what he said to you.

If you can get a copy of the auction itself, an invoice that he sent saying what the final cost for everything was would be ideal, keep the packaging the item came in that shows it came from his address and the amount it was shipped for noting that it says First Class on the package AND that there was no insurance stamp anywhere on it. If you used PayPal, print out the payment info showing the total amount you paid. If you used a money order, find and save the receipt.

If you truly want to fight it, the more evidence you have the better. Sometimes just letting him know that you have all that evidence showing he is at fault for fraud, he may just send you the difference just to avoid problems.

 

An idiot and his money are soon parted, and this guy is a total idiot. Is he trying to say it actually cost him $17 to ship? What about the insurance? He has no response for that.

While you may get nothing out of it, I think you do have a case against him, as he is a liar and a moron. He didn't get insurance like you paid for, he didn't send it in the method as agreed, and apparently English is not his forte. He'll have a hard time convincing anyone of anything if he types in that garbage.

 

I remember that seller who charged me an extra $15 for shipping. When I asked for a refund, he suggested that I return the toy to him so he could send it the other way, making sure he would mark it as merchendise instead of gift because I was "screwing his country" (USA). And he went on about patriotic shit and how he would get a lawyer if I was to leave him a neg feedback (I did), and he went as far as to leave me a neg feedback mentionning that I was making racist comments (I called him a ******ed American). Ha.

 

I can't speak for everyone but what I typically do is try to gauge the cost accurately on international packages via the online calculator, then if there's a difference of over $2 I refund it. I will be the first to admit that the USPS online calculator is NOT very accurate for the options for international shipping now, especially after they dropped parcel, airmail, etc as their options and went straight international priority mail.

To answer the OP's question though, I would let it drop / go. Yeah it sucks, but you have it happen everywhere. I've paid $20-$40 shipping to the US from Malaysia for slow delivery speeds on a memory card or Transformer, and it's just part of the reality of selling online. They cut costs to get you to buy a product and have to break even or make a profit somewhere else, so they get it through different avenues. Some people (like myself) also have to pay others to pick up packages to get delivered based on locale or physical limitations, and that's not cheap. Yeah, it sucks, but it's also the reality of what happens now.

 

UPDATE:

Once again, thanks for all the responses people.

So I didn't reply yet to his one from last night (posted above), and in my email (not an ebay message), I had this one this morning:

"AS A MATTER OF FACT !!! ILL SEND YOUR $8 .00 BUCKS AS THE PART REFUND FOR
THE SHIPMENT !!! LOOKING AT IT NOW IF YOU AGREE TO THE TERMS !!! AS IN
FEEDBACK !! FOR GETTING THERE IN ONE PIECE .. I CHARGED 14.00 8 BUCKS WILL BE
BACK DRAWN TO YOU BACK INTO YOUR ACCOUNT NEED EMAIL ADRESS TO SEND BACK
THE $8.00"


Still hard to understand, but now it seems that he might actually refund the $8 I requested at the outset (I even told him when I requested the $8 that I didn't mind if he kept the remaining $4 of extra charge). So I gave him my paypal email (not the one he sent this email too), figured he already had one of my emails so it couldn't hurt.

It leaves me wondering whether he's up to something scandalous or if he's realized that I was likely going to file a claim and that it would expose his little money-making thing of charging for expensive shipping then shipping cheap.

 

Me, I have a postal scale at home and weigh my items and then when listing the auctions, make sure I have that weight accurately listed for Priority Mail or international shipping (usually Airmail Letter Post for what I sell). My shipping charges are always spot on that way. Occasionally, I'll actually end up eating a buck or two, but it's good business overall.

 

That's awesome if he's really going to do it, but I think this means you'll have to leave him a positive.

 

Even if he refunds you on shipping, don't leave positive feed before he does.

He might still be a prick & leave you negative feed, turning this whole overpriced shipping ordeal against you.

If you get the 8$ back, awesome.

If you don't, report the dude to Ebay ASAP. (I got a Powerseller with 10,000+ feedbacks kicked off Ebay when he fucked me over on a MISB Hoist that wasn't in a sealed box or even sealed to his backer card)  

Unfortunately, I never got a refund out of it.  

 

Even then, I'd only agree to do so until the money was refunded and then wait and see. I'd still be worried that he'd leave a negative for his 'hassle' if I left the positive first. Conversely, he probably won't leave a positive first either so you'd have this feedback stalemate.
As a jaded, nigh 10-year Ebayer, I'd have just written off the shipping overcharge and lack of feedback because this shit just happens all the time. Good on the OP that he appears to be getting the initial requested $8 back, but I still wouldn't count on getting a +1 out of all of this. This will happen again though; just make sure it's worth pursuing. It won't always be and if you go after all of them, eventually the outcome won't be so favorable.

 

Whatever you do, DO NOT officially end your Paypal dispute with him until you get your money. I also agree that you shouldn't leave positive feedback first. He may hit you with a negative out of spite after you left him positive.

 

Feedback is secondary, getting a refund is the most important. If/when he gives you a refund, I'd forget about leaving feedback. If he does it first, based on what it is, then I'd leave feedback.

Side Note:
I only ever get feedback for every 2 out of 3 transactions done on ebay, and I give it first.

 

heh, yeah I was thinking about this 'stalemate' too, I would be like 'so leave me my +ive and I promise I'll leave you yours' and he'd respond with the same thing. Oh well, we'll see what happens refund-wise first, no response from him since the last yet, I'll wait till tomorrow.

 

That guy is a complete douche. I've dealt with him before. If he's not typing in CAPS, he's typing run-on sentences like a kid. Good luck with this.

 

ahha what's the deal with this guys emails, lol , i really do hope you get the $8.