Legendary - $20 to ship one card

[Edwolf1963]

Won one card last night (this morning technically), received my invoice and it was close to $20 to ship one card ($300 value). I understand the need/cost for process, pack and insurance - and that should fall to the buyer .. but this?!

Anyone else get win anything from Legendary last night and get a ridiculous shipping amount on their invoice this morning?

[bobbyw8469]

Mine was high as well. Around $40. I just pay it and move on....

[prestigecollectibles]

I would contact them. Back in May I won a 22" x 28" painting and a 10 pound book which were sent separately and I paid $34.42 for shipping.

[scooter729]

Yeah, I got $33 shipping for one $950 card. A bit crazy I must say - and I intend on calling about it. They make enough off of the premium - no need to tack on the shipping premium as well.

[sycks22]

Give'em a call and they'll usually work with you.

[Runscott]

I'm happy with s&h for a change - $22 to ship a baseball. With weight and insurance, that's not bad.

[jcmtiger]

$21.00 to ship my $500.00 card. Reasonable with insurance and costs for employee in my opinion.

Joe

[Edwolf1963]

I'll just pay it. They called and responded to my email inquiry about why – defending their costs along with their "handling charges". To me, it just seems considerably higher than what I typically get from other auction houses for one card, under $500, in the $7-$12 range with insurance. Also, knowing myself what it costs to ship similar with insurance included. Not about the money, just the principle of it all – and inconsistent with what I see as standard and customary. If an eBay seller listed $20 as shipping charges for one card under $500 – would you be inclined to leave a five star review? Would that affect how much are going to bid on it - if at all? At least in that forum you know what to expect since it's noted, here it's more like "open a surprise" when the invoice shows up.

Anyway, thanks for your feedback – interesting to see other perceptions/takes on this.

[ReefBlue]

Problem is shipping isn't an exact science when you're dealing with one-off items.

Some places just say $xx per 100 shipped. When you ship a 500 ball or card, they end up charging more than their shipping costs. When you're shipping a trophy or something that really needs some unique attention, they take a bath, so it all balances out. And no one is really going to itemize shipping anyhow--

$1.08 for the box
8oz of foam peanuts @.05/oz
$.05 per sheet of packing paper
2 feet of packing tape
the packer's hourly rate divided by the amount of time it took to box it up
etc.

What about the rent per square foot of where the boxes are stored? What kind of shelves are the boxes stored on--I wouldn't have incurred that expense if I didn't need to ship.

Storing all those boxes require me to heat/cool the area, so now the electric bill becomes part of it . . .

It'd get silly pretty quick.

[conor912]

It's a simple formula. Overcharge everyone for shipping. About half will complain. The rest is profit (or extortion, depending on how you look at it.)

[D.P.Johnson]

Originally Posted by Edwolf1963

I'll just pay it. They called and responded to my email inquiry about why – defending their costs along with their "handling charges". To me, it just seems considerably higher than what I typically get from other auction houses for one card, under $500, in the $7-$12 range with insurance. Also, knowing myself what it costs to ship similar with insurance included. Not about the money, just the principle of it all – and inconsistent with what I see as standard and customary. If an eBay seller listed $20 as shipping charges for one card under $500 – would you be inclined to leave a five star review? Would that affect how much are going to bid on it - if at all? At least in that forum you know what to expect since it's noted, here it's more like "open a surprise" when the invoice shows up.

Anyway, thanks for your feedback – interesting to see other perceptions/takes on this.

If I shipped you the card via priority mail and it included $300 insurance and signature confirmation, it would cost me $12.40. If I shipped it via 1st class mail with the same "add-ons" it would be WAY less...

[HBroll]

Well I guess I did better than the OP. I won the 1939 African Tobacco set of 100 w/Babe Ruth for $325 before the juice and my shipping was $20.71. I got an extra 99 cards shipped for about the same price.

[botn]

I expect it. None of the major houses that I can think of are "reasonable" in their shipping/handling/insurance charges. That is the real world! It is not eBay, fellas, where big brother essentially tells the sellers they can lose their 20% discount if they charge more than $3 to ship a $500 card.

[Exhibitman]

$100 8 card raw lot $20+ shipping. SOP for them. Email back and refuse to pay it and they will lower the cost significantly. I go through that ritual every time.

[tschock]

I think many who are trying to justify the auction house shipping prices, explain them, or compare them to ebay are still missing a very valid point. The shipping amount for 1 card was unknown.

So if this IS SOP, then why don't they say that up front? THAT'S where it's different from ebay. So what on ebay if someone has free shipping and someone else charges $10. At least you KNOW up front what the charge will be and you can factor it into a decision.

A question, specific to Legendary. Has anyone ever won something from them and the shipping charge was LESS than $20? If not, then why NOT indicate up front that S/H will be a minimum of $20?

Personally, I always allow for 20% above my high bid to account for the BP and other "surprises" (such as high S/H).

[prestigecollectibles]

In 2007 I won a T206 Wagner from them for a client.

Hammer Total $160,000.00
Buyers Premium $32,000.00
SubTotal $192,000.00
Shipping & Handling $969.00
Tax $0.00
________________________________________
Amount Due $192,969.00

I flew up to get the card since it was cheaper than sending it.

[scooter729]

Originally Posted by ReefBlue

Problem is shipping isn't an exact science when you're dealing with one-off items.

Some places just say $xx per 100 shipped. When you ship a 500 ball or card, they end up charging more than their shipping costs. When you're shipping a trophy or something that really needs some unique attention, they take a bath, so it all balances out. And no one is really going to itemize shipping anyhow--

$1.08 for the box
8oz of foam peanuts @.05/oz
$.05 per sheet of packing paper
2 feet of packing tape
the packer's hourly rate divided by the amount of time it took to box it up
etc.

What about the rent per square foot of where the boxes are stored? What kind of shelves are the boxes stored on--I wouldn't have incurred that expense if I didn't need to ship.

Storing all those boxes require me to heat/cool the area, so now the electric bill becomes part of it . . .

It'd get silly pretty quick.

If there weren't a 20 percent premium being charged on top of the bids already, I could understand that argument. But a "shipping" charge is supposed to be just that. The 20 percent premium should cover your overhead costs.

It wouldn't be tolerated in other industries so I am not sure why it should just be accepted here.

[ethicsprof]

shipping of nearly a thousand dollars seems a bit high even for the
rental of the armored car.

all the best,
barry

[Jay Wolt]

Legendary doesn't ship via USPS, so they don't use padded envelopes or the Priority shipping flat rates.
They ship via FedEx, which costs a bit more. I won a $100 lot consisting of 35 larger ungraded cards and was charged $22.58.
I figure if it was 1 ungraded card or 100 it would be shipped in the same size box at the same rate.

[sycks22]

I've had invoices over $10k from Bussineau and his shipping was $10. Are you guys saying he's losing money hand over fist on his shipping or is legendary just that high? I also won 1 card from memory lane last night for the same price and it cost a total of $10, instead of the $23 from legendary. Are they losing $13? I've called up Legendary and am still waiting a response.

[travrosty]

A lot of out of work celebrities would have personally delivered that card for 900 plus dollars.

[D.P.Johnson]

Originally Posted by prestigecollectibles

In 2007 I won a T206 Wagner from them for a client.

Hammer Total $160,000.00
Buyers Premium $32,000.00
SubTotal $192,000.00
Shipping & Handling $969.00
Tax $0.00
________________________________________
Amount Due $192,969.00

I flew up to get the card since it was cheaper than sending it.

I would have crawled there to get it...LOL...

[drcy]

Be careful about complaining. I once complained about an auction house's shipping charge and they wrote back "That's a typo. It's supposed to be a comma."

Seriously, my maternal grandmother's maiden name was du Pont and I was raised never to talk publicly about using a coupon or disputing shipping charges. If someone from polite society is watching listening, I ask for the shipping charge to be raised.

[bobbyw8469]

Be careful about complaining. I once complained about an auction house's shipping charge and they wrote back "That's a typo. It's supposed to be a comma."

I once complained about an auction house overgrading their raw cards, and got blocked from bidding. No big deal, as I was never going to bid again anyway.....just seeing be careful how you complain.

[ReefBlue]

Originally Posted by sycks22

I've had invoices over $10k from Bussineau and his shipping was $10. Are you guys saying he's losing money hand over fist on his shipping or is legendary just that high? I also won 1 card from memory lane last night for the same price and it cost a total of $10, instead of the $23 from legendary. Are they losing $13? I've called up Legendary and am still waiting a response.

UPS insurance rates are, I think .35 per $100 unless there is a bulk discount for their account. That alone would be $35 for 10k insurance . . .

[rainier2004]

When Ive called, Legendary has lowered the shipping price...they got me $35 on a $1k card this time.

Al shipped 2 signed item, a magazine and a newspaper, $775 value for $8.25.