What is the worst deal you've ever made on eBay?  

I've had mistakes regarding postage before but usually it's to overseas destinations and i've either misweighed the item or by the item i've added protective packaging it's jumped into the next size bracket.

I've found the easiest thing to do is to list the most expensive price for postage on my auctions - when it ends, if it's a real big difference in price i can always refund them the extra money. It's easier to refund then to ask people for more money because that rarely happens.

Can't you have one of those postage caculators on your auctions if you live in the US? That way people can just work out their own postage without having to bother you regarding it. [Not sure on this - i've just seen it on a lot of auctions in the past]

I made some truly dreadful mistakes when I first stated with eBay. I saw a gorgeous gothic mirror and fell in love with it instantly. I bid, and bid again and finally won the mirror for way more than I should have paid, and eagerly awaited the delivery. It finally arrived after a couple of weeks of anticipation, and it was the most horrible thing I have ever seen. It looked nothing like the photograph on the auction site, but it was definitely the same mirror. It was battered and damaged, inadequately packaged and tarnished. No amount of restoration would ever be enough to make this a thing of beauty. I learnt my lesson the hard way, now I am very careful with my purchases.

My worst deal came from a leather jacket I was selling. I ran across some leather jackets by accident and decided to put them up on ebay for sale. They were brand new still had tags and everything (including that new leather smell) They were the leather jackets that the bikers wear when racing their crotch rockets in races. I seen the price on the price tag said $230 and thought I would start the bidding low just to get some jumps on it. I ended having to let one of the jackets go for $40.00 and I only charged $20 to ship. I ended up shipping the jacket to AZ and it costed me $18.00 so I didn't make any money there either. Now I know when I want something to sell for a certain price that I need to start it off there and not lower than I want to make it eye catching!

well that was kinda your fault as you are supposed to say how much you charge for shipping. the buyer pays for all the costs, not the seller....

the only rip off i got was with a digital camera... payd for it and never got it. the seller had perfect feedback sold lots of goods, around the 1000's but erased himself after a week of my winning bid and never heard from him again..

Oh, I made HORRENDOUS mistakes regarding shipping, ESPECIALLY for overseas shipments!

I'm not doing much with Ebay any more, though. I sell used books, and they're doing MUCH better on Amazon.

I would say not charging the right amount for postage. So I joined stamps.com and got a digital postage weight machine for nothing. It's only good up to 5 lbs., but most of the stuff I sell is under that, so it worked out fine for me.

I am so careful about what I buy on ebay, I love a lot of what I see so I ask a lot of questions. The answers usually stop me from making a bad mistake.

I charge actual shipping, so, I pack it , weigh it, measure it, then email the prospective buyer with the price. I put in the listing what I think the approximate price will be, then if they ask for any exact amount, I send that.

So many to count since I have been on eBay for since inception but the worst to date is selling one of my white fox coats that I paid $600 for and sold it for $200, never again

Well i dont use ebay because i cannot register.It requers some kind of a special e-mail that i dont have.But before i wanted to buy a Mountain Bike from ebay,but like i said i couldnt register.So it was very bad because i wanted the bike very bad too :)

Shipping has gotten me in the past as well. I learned from experience to be more careful and weigh everything, sometimes weigh it twice. If I have the right weight and measurements I just put the shipping calculator on the auction which allows the buyer to put in their information and gives them the right shipping amount. Good Luck with your future endeavors on EBay!