Anyway, I contacted the seller and asked for a breakdown of shipping and handling costs. I received a response with no breakdown, just a lousy explanation that restated their policy: "We don't combine shipping." I contacted again, asking for a breakdown again. That was January 4th. Nothing since.
So I contacted eBay because eBay has a policy about overcharging shipping. This is eBay's reply:
eBay wrote:Thank you for writing eBay in regard to your concern with the excessive shippping.[sic]
We would like to give you as much assistance as possible to help you resolve the situation. However, eBay cannot get involved in the actual transaction between buyers and sellers. eBay's role is simply to provide a place for buyers and sellers to trade. We have no control over whether a buyer or seller follows through and completes a particular transaction.
After that, they referred me to their problem resolution page, which doesn't even mention overcharging for shipping and handling.
But... isn't eBay's response saying the opposite of what they claim on their site? Don't they say they take measures to make sure no one overcharges? What's the point of listing violations here if they don't really go after violators? (My case is almost exactly like the last case they state under "Some Examples.") Why is it every time I come to them with a problem, they just excuse the seller and don't live up to their policies?
And WTF is up with that last paragraph in eBay's response? The eBay-to-English translation basically says they don't care what happens on their site.
Sorry to be more pissed than I usually am, but eBay's the-seller-gets-away-with-everything attitude is really getting to me. Am I wrong in this? Is there something I'm not seeing? Or is eBay all bark and no bite when it comes to enforcing their own policies?