Shipper profits from shipping costs

[Marcelvdongen]

Hello,

I live in Europe, and bought a desk from the USA.
They shipped it through UPS.
I found out on the bill from UPS that they paid 2/3 of what I paid them for shipping costs.
I googled a bit, and read that the shipper has to disclose it if they charge more than the actual shipping costs.
Is this true?
Can I get the 1/3 I overpaid back through PayPal without any problems?

Just really curious what the US law says about this.
I think it's weird to profit from shipping costs as the shipper.
I mean, you already have a certain amount of profit on your product.

Thanks for helping me out!

Kindest regards,
Marcel

 

[FlyingRon]

Even if they were "making a profit," it's not illegal. There's more to the cost of shipping an item than just what UPS charges them.
I don't know what you were "googling" but there is no such general legal requirement in the US. There are some states with stricter rules, but since you decided to blow off the question about the state involved, we can't help you. Even when there is a prohibition of hiding some of the item costs in shipping, it usually DOES NOT give redress to the customer.

 

[Marcelvdongen]

Thanks for answering.
They are located in Austin, Texas.

I just googled something like 'profiting from shipping costs'.
That got me to a few old threads, that said they might have to disclose it if they charge more than the shipping company like for example UPS charges.

I just was really curious about the legal options I had, since it's a difference of 220 USD, which I find to be quite a lot.
I get it if it's 50, maybe you need some compensation for additional packaging (which UPS did & charged, as far as I know), but 220 USD is pretty absurd.

 

[FlyingRon]

I googled that and I still see nothing that even remotely says what you're asserting. Shipping and handling doesn't equate to billed freight charges. If the company represents that you are paying hte actual freight that is one thing, but I suspect this is NOT what you're talking about.

Anyhow, there's no magic words you can say to Paypal that will refund your money. You want to come over to the US (or hire a lawyer) to try suing him in a Texas court, you have a slim chance of succeeding, but so far you've not indicated anything that is illegal.

 

[STEPHAN]

What did the seller say when you asked them for a refund?