PWCC and Probstein shipping fees.
 

Just noticed, while scrolling through some e-bay postings, the shipping fees of these 2 companies/business's. (for us CDN's)

Looking at this first card of Gene Hermanski for .99c with one bid, it shows a shipping fee of $20.00 dollars. https://www.ebay.com/itm/1952-Topps-...EAAOSwXfdama8a

The next card of Billy Loes shows a shipping fee of $65.00 with 2 bids but still a total of .99 cents. https://www.ebay.com/itm/1952-Topps-...EAAOSwS45ama8l

I have seen PWCC charge shipping based on the price they receive for cards so without bidding on the Loes card, I already know the one bidder has likely bidded up this card to a much higher level than the .99 cents.
Not that there's anything wrong with that as he likely wants the card somewhat badly, but I am surprised, without the high bid being shown, that PWCC has already upped the shipping fee to $65.00.

The $65 shipping fee already tells me there is no point in bidding on this card as it likely quite a bit higher than I am willing to pay.

As an aside, when did shipping fees become so pricey? I remember when PWCC had a stationary/one time fee of $15.00 dollars, now it is through the roof depending on how much a crd sells for?
I assume/know, it is for insurance purposes, but this is getting way out of hand imo!

Probstein never sold to CDN's so I assume he is now willing too if one wants to pay the $32.00 dollars he now charges to ship up here.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1952-Topps-...oAAOSwYlVamG68

Just a rant coming from a frustrated CDN buyer. :(

The Loes should sell for $700 or so. I would imagine insured shipping to Canada is pretty close to the $65 he charges. This is one reason a lot of sellers have stopped shipping out of the US. A couple weeks ago I checked to see what it would cost to ship one wax box to Canada. I could ship it to most of the US for $8 or so. It was $38 to ship to Canada. That was with no insurance.
James

There is no doubt in my mind, we, as buyers, are getting gouged up here. I understand the need for insurance/to cover your butt, etc, but I believe not just these businesses/companies, but others as well, are making bank on their shipping fees, which is, of course, against e-bay rules. E-Bay rules state clearly to only charge actual shipping fees, not to overinflate them.

Regardless, since I don't purchase from either one anyways, the fees won't affect me. I was just wondering when fees got so high stateside or are these businesses/companies free to charge whatever it is they want now all disguised as insurance fees?

Are insurance fees really that high now on X number of dollars/value?

Global shipping any cheaper? I've had buyers asking me to opt out so probably not. I like that once I ship, it's out of my hands though.

I never thought I'd see the day but Global is cheaper than these 2, anyways.

Personally, I have never seen an increase with shipping fees the higher the price of a card goes.
We are not talking about $1000.00 dollar + cards here, usually ones well under $2-$300 hundred dollars. :confused:

...Wait for it...
 

I thought that might be coming, Raymond. :D

They are estimating what the card might go for when they list the shipping fees. Ebay doesn't allow you to revise your item to fiddle your stated fee once it has a bid on it.

Global shipping program may be different. I don't use it, but It's possible Ebay calculates VAT and other taxes into the fee when calculating and may take the next price bid up when listing that shipping cost.

If there is a stated shipping fee, nobody makes money on Ebay gouging on shipping (except for maybe Ebay). Ebay takes a bigger cut of the shipping fee then they do for the actual item, for most bigger sellers, not even mentioning the cut Paypal takes.

International shipping charges and the ramifications of lost packages to those sellers have been escalating out of control the last several years. With the coming trade war, it's not going to get any better.

I could be mistaken, but I believe I have seen the shipping fees rise when the bids on the cards have also risen.
I will watch the links above and a few others to make sure I am not wrong, but I believe that is what I have seen? (I'll likely end up putting my foot in my mouth again, however! :o)

Just posting some to watch. This Parko is currently at $35 to ship.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1952-Topps-...gAAOSwLXtama8A
This Pafko is at $65 to ship
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1952-Topps-...YAAOSw8GFama8B

Both Loes are now at $65 shipped.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1952-Topps-...sAAOSwEoxama8k
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1952-Topps-...EAAOSwS45ama8l
This Hodges is currently at $35 shipped.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1952-Topps-...wAAOSw68lama83
This current .99 cent Valo is at $35 shipped.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1952-Topps-...AAAOSwGvlama81
This Bob Usher is currently $20 to ship.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1952-Topps-...wAAOSwCj5ambAT

You may want to check out the COMC mailbox service. It gives you a US address to ship stuff to and then COMC can ship everything to you at a pretty reasonable flat rate. They have a warehouse in Redmond (Seattle area) and one in Canada, so I believe they move your cards to the Canadian location and ship them.

https://www.comc.com/mailbox

Thanks Ben.

Swarmee (John) has told me this before but I have never taken advantage of it.
Going forward, once I can get back into collecting on a regular basis again, I am going to look into this more thoroughly.

Probstein shp chgs
 

Sorry for another rant, but I am compelled to chime in with my Probstein fee story. Once won just over 100 slabs from a mid '60's set break on eBay. Mostly in the $10 to $30 ea. range.

His chg was was $96..........almost a buck a slab. Packed in one lg. flat rate box which cost him less than $20. Uninsured. Only Sign req'd which is a few bucks.

I req'd he lower chg and be reasonable. His response was eBay dictated as could not create one invoice....

BSer extraordinaire

I just made my first PWCC purchase. I'm with Dale, and I've noticed their shipping fees going up and up over the years, exponentially higher than inflation.

The Good: The cards arrived well packed, and needed a signature. I have had four figure packages shipped by UPS from major auction houses, and the package was sitting on my doorstep. Consequently I appreciated signing for something. Shipping was combined.

The Bad: The fees for a signed package are nowhere close to what was charged. I understand handling, but there is a tidy profit being made, make no mistake. I also found it ironic that when I went to leave positive feedback (which I always do as a buyer), eBay did not provide me any option to rate or comment on the Shipping.

I won 16 cards yesterday from the current PWCC auction; 7 slightly oversized PSA holders and 9 regular PSA holders. Requested a combined shipping invoice and it was $73 shipped domestic. And not terribly expensive cards either.

The most I have ever had to pay for shipping multiple cards.

I thought you missed that card by a mile, JFK, as it was at $125.00 just an hour or so before the auction ended but ended up over $700 in the dieing moments. Good job!

Well, I can put my foot in my mouth again as none of the cards I noticed increased the shipping fees the higher the card sold for. I swore I seen this before, but I was most likely wrong then as well. :o

I did, however, notice some of their shipping fees didn't make much sense to me as it seems some were just random guesses on their part.

Take this Hodges for example, why would shipping on a "Min size" unslabbed card be the same as a PSA 6 graded card?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1952-Topps-...19.m1438.l2649
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1952-Topps-...19.m1438.l2649
This PSA 6 Spahn is $20 yet the 5.5 is $35 and another trimmed Spahn is also at $35?? :confused:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1952-Topps-...19.m1438.l2649
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1952-Topps-...19.m1438.l2649
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1952-Topps-...19.m1438.l2649

There are many others that don't make sense to me but maybe I am being too critical as I assume they have hundreds of cards to classify and to come up with shipping fees on, but Like I previously stated, there is no doubt they are banking large on their shipping fees, which is getting out of hand, imo.

Postage to Canada
 

You can mail a package, up to 8 ounces, to Canada for $10. This includes tracking, but does not include insurance. In fact, insurance is not available for this type of package. You will need a customs form attached to the package. If you print your postage through eBay/PayPal, the cost will be $9.50 and the label that you print will include the customs form.

A one pound Priority International package to Canada runs from $33 to $40, depending on the zone/province. This price includes tracking. $700 insurance costs $10.45. So, the Loes card at $700 will run somewhere between $43 and $51. The packaging is free through the Post office. If you print the label through eBay/PayPal you will save about two bucks and the customs form will be printed for you.

This link will take you to the current Domestic and International pricing from the Post Office.

https://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/notice123.htm#_c432

But there is no way, unless they add some stones or something similar, that the Loes card will come close to weighing 1 pound if shipped on its own in a bubble wrapper.

Unless they ship in something more secure or heavier than a bubble wrapper and they round up the weight, there is no way it should cost $65.00 dollars, unless I am missing something? :confused: