New From Michigan

Discussions about US MREs and other US rations
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wolfmonk
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Location: Michigan

New From Michigan

Post by wolfmonk » Sun Apr 22, 2007 8:10 pm

I've been lurking for quite a while on this forum, but finally decided to register - one of the reasons was to voice my astonishment at some of the shipping prices a minority of ebay sellers are trying to foist off on buyers. One was selling a single MRE meal and charging $26-ish (don't recall the exact price) for shipping. Another is selling 13 NREs and the shipping is $56.70.

What do you think - are they insane or am I missing something that is causing this apparent abberation in shipping prices?

BTW - I like CC Chicken.

:P :P [/url]
Bona Na Croin

rjmeylan
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not crazy

Post by rjmeylan » Sun Apr 22, 2007 9:00 pm

No you're not crazy. They'll sting you with excessive shipping. I've been buying a lot of MRE's and I've found that if you call them on it (via asking a question before the auctions over) they'll usually come down. If not, there are other fries in France.
One man's meat is another man's poisson.

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kman
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Post by kman » Sun Apr 22, 2007 9:02 pm

Welcome to the forums, wolfmonk.

We have a special thread for eBay sellers like that: :-)

eBay Asshats
viewtopic.php?t=236
Image

I understand your astonishment at the shipping charges some eBay sellers charge. I think some sellers are genuinely stupid and think it's perfectly reasonable to charge $20 shipping for a $5 item.

But I think other sellers are just clueless and when they set up their auctions, they use the eBay shipping calculator and tell it to figure USPS priority shipping plus a little "handling" fee for themselves. At the same time, they probably "thumb the scales" by saying a 1 pound MRE weighs three pounds to ship. And then all of a sudden, you have a $20 shipping charge for a $5 MRE.

Fortunately, these asshats seem to be outnumbered lately by decent sellers. Even the ones who used to charge $25-$30 flat-rate shipping for a case of MRE have started to go back to actual shipping. Personally, I say take advantage of the low prices and fair shipping costs while you can. All it's going to take is one hurricane to drive prices back into the stratosphere.

wolfmonk
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Location: Michigan

Post by wolfmonk » Sun Apr 22, 2007 9:48 pm

I actually did call both of those sellers on their shipping prices and both claimed ignorance and said that they were charging actual shipping charges. In my email I even suggested that they take a look at what everyone else was charging for the same items - neither seller will get my cash (even when I emailed them I had no interest in purchasing from them - I just wanted to see what they'd use to justify their crazy-ass pricing). For the most part I've had good luck on ebay.
Bona Na Croin

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kman
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Post by kman » Mon Apr 23, 2007 8:50 am

I think they hit the nail on the head when they said "ignorance". :-) They sound like they really might not know the difference between pricey priority shipping and parcel post. Oh well, either they'll find a sucker for their auctions or the items won't sell and they'll lose their listing fees.

I don't recall the item numbers right offhand but there's a guy on eBay selling a ton of entrees for about $2.95 each. And shipping starts at $9.25 for the first entree. I think I bitched about it in another thread on here. And this guy isn't even clueless - he runs a fulltime web-based store so he knows the business. This would be an example of serious padding of shipping costs.

deanopilot
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Welcome

Post by deanopilot » Mon Apr 23, 2007 10:37 am

Welcome fellow Michiganian Wolfmonk!

wolfmonk
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Location: Michigan

Re: Welcome

Post by wolfmonk » Mon Apr 23, 2007 11:29 am

deanopilot wrote:Welcome fellow Michiganian Wolfmonk!
Hi back!

Kman - I think I've seen those listings on ebay too. Another one that made me scratch my head. You can simply go to Long Life Food Depot if you want to buy $3.oo entrees - and they include the shipping.
Bona Na Croin

mxjf
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Re: New From Michigan

Post by mxjf » Mon Apr 23, 2007 12:20 pm

wolfmonk wrote:I've been lurking for quite a while on this forum, but finally decided to register - one of the reasons was to voice my astonishment at some of the shipping prices a minority of ebay sellers are trying to foist off on buyers. One was selling a single MRE meal and charging $26-ish (don't recall the exact price) for shipping. Another is selling 13 NREs and the shipping is $56.70.

What do you think - are they insane or am I missing something that is causing this apparent abberation in shipping prices?

BTW - I like CC Chicken.

:P :P [/url]
either they are shipping from china or they are using fedex next day air. or maybe they are just scammers. :wink:

maybe he is selling a whole case plus one ccc lol.
if an mre looks edible, and smells edible, it's most likely not edible.

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