Is this weird?

[JKATHERINE]

I sold some maternity clothes on ebay on 11/10. I sent an invoice immediately. The shipping is high because the clothes are heavy...however, I did state in my auction that if I overcharged for shipping, I would happily refund the overage. I've been waiting and waiting for the buyer to pay me. I sent another invoice on Friday 11/16 and included in the notes section that I hadn't heard from her and would like to know when I could expect payment because I will (hopefully) be having a baby soon and that could delay shipment by a few days. This is what she responded with:



I have wanted to pay you, I had sent a couple of emails asking if I could fax to you a fedex label to tape to the box that you are shipping. That way I could pay for shipping and get it overnight. Fedex will pickup from your home, I just needed to know if this is something I could do or if I needed to pay for the items and shipping. Just let me know and I will take care of this immediately. Thanks,
Sharon

She has good feedback so I wasn't overly worried about that...but has anyone ever asked to do this with one of your auctions before? I wrote back that I had no way to accurately weigh the box (without going to the post office--and at that point why would I not want to just mail the thing out?) which is why the shipping was "estimated" in the first place. I also told her I don't have a fax machine (and am not comfortable using the one at work for non-work related purposes). I told her I would be willing to send it via whichever mail service she wanted as long as the price fell within the shipping cost that I had quoted her. Last night she paid me via PP for the items and the shipping, but she never did write back to me. Do you think this was a legitimate request or not?

[Willow]

I've never heard of anyone wanting to do that before. That does sound kind of strange.

[YankeeMary]

Yes I think it is weird...lol. But ebay just seems to keep getting weirder (is that a word???)...lol.
HAVE THAT BABY ALREADY WILL YAH??? LOL

[turbob]

It sounds to me like she thinks you are going to overcharge her for shipping, and she doesn't trust you. FedEx is not a stickler for exact weight on packages, but still, that is weird.

[Freebeemom]

I would sa ok, but charge a handling fee

[Heidi]

My guess she works for fed x or knows somebody who works for fed x and she can get a better rate. At least she paid you, huh?

[JKATHERINE]

Yeah, I'm glad she paid (finally!) and am usually happy to oblige someone if I can help in some way and I'm not for overcharging on shipping (which is why I wrote right in my description that I would refund any extra money paid for shipping)...but this seemed weird to me.

Oh, and does FexEx have insurance like the USPS does? Anyone know the cost?

[buttrfli]

Oh, and does FexEx have insurance like the USPS does? Anyone know the cost?

Its been a while since I used them, but they used to automatically insure up to $100... anything over that, you have to pay for

[DrGrin]

I've never had anyone to ask that before.

I figure it was a fex ex employee and they could get a cut rate or maybe even free shipping by using the label they wanted to send you.

I think it's silly for them to ask to do that on an ebay deal, because when you bid you are agreeing to the sellers terms. Not saying you want to buy the item if you can provide a shipping label and have the seller do whatever you want them to with the box. They are supposed to ask questions like that before they bid. Not after the auction closes.