How Much is too Much Shipping Charges- Auction Houses

[ibuysportsephemera]

I recently won an auction from one of the on-line auction houses. I have done business with them many times before and always seem to be shocked at the excessive shipping that they charge. I have complained in the past and usually gotten a slight reduction. I am at the point where I will probably stop bidding with them because the shipping is such a ripoff (IMO). It is a shame because I really like their items.

My recent winnings consisted of 17 single or double page newsletters and 3 smaller programs. I ship stuff like this every day and can usually fit it into a USPS flat rate envelope or a well packed #4 bubble mailer. The total cost of priority mail should be no more than $5.05 to $6.50 from where they are shipping it from. They are charging me $15.95 for shipping plus $3.00 for insurance (which they always charge). So on $80 of winnings I am paying $18 in commission plus an additional $18.95 for USPS priority mail. Between the shipping and juice I have to budget almost an additional 50% of my bid.

Does anyone think that this is excessive or is this pretty much what everyone else charges?

Thanks,

Jeff

[chipperhank44]

I've experienced the same thing. I just budget the high shipping into my bid. If I'm willing to pay $300 for an Item, I assume that my shipping will be $25. So if the juice is 20% and my shipping is $25.00, my highest bid is $225-$230. I agree it is ridiculous, but you're never ripped off if you account for it and bid accordingly.


The $25 shipping assumption is for cards, paper, etc. Obviously I'd budget higher for a game used bat or something heavy/large.

[keithsky]

The whole problem with the shipping costs I find with auction houses is you don't know what they will charge for shipping till you get the invoice. It's easy to say just allow for it but you never know. I have won a single autographed bat from different auction houses for around 100-150.00 or so and prices ranged from 8.00 to 25.00 for shipping so there is to wide of a range to try and figure what it's going to be. Some houses are good if you ask them to lower it others not. I find it's just another way to make a few more bucks off ya. Granted there is cost for a guy to package it but with a 20% sellers fee and 20% buyers fee there should be enough there to charge a reasonable amount for shipping. On a 300.00 item I had one place charge me 35.00 for shipping my item. Never bidded again there. You can try and guess what it will be but chances are it will be way more than what you figured.

[chipperhank44]

Yeah, I agree. Shipping is all over the place with auction houses. The best you can do IMO is to assume an exorbitant amount. If they charge you less, that's a win. If they charge you an exorbitant amount.....at least you accounted for it.

Trying to get a pre-auction shipping estimate is impossible, so you're really at the mercy of your own educated guess.

I guess my rationale is: It's much harder to be disappointed when you assume the worst...

[ibuysportsephemera]

Thanks for the responses guys...to be clear, I do assume the worst when bidding.

I am more curious if all auction houses do it and at what point you get so fed up that you stop bidding with that particular house.

Jeff

[jcmtiger]

This comes up almost every time an auction ends. I guess you have to expect high shipping charges on most auctions. Bidders probably make out better when they buy high priced items.

Joe

[Runscott]

.....

[sycks22]

I gave up on Legendary when they were going to charge me $34 to one PSA card for $700. I have dealt with them in the past about dropping the rates and waiving the insurance, but they weren't having it. Sad they threw about a lot of business over poor customer service.

[packs]

From an August Auction House purchase:

Sub-Total: $30.00
Buyers Premium: $5.70
Shipping: $13.91
Insurance: $3.00
Total: $52.61


Shipping and insurance amounted to more than half of what I paid for the card.

[keithsky]

To me as the auction house writes there description there isn't any reason they can't put some ballpark figure for a shipping cost. Basicly it only cost about 8-10.00 to ship a baseball just about anywhere in the US so use that. Even put the word Approx. so they are covered if it is a little more but at least you know where they are coming from. If they put 20.00 then bypass it and don't bid if you think it's a ripoff. The only reason the cost would be more would be the insurance. A 50.00 Pete Rose ball for insurance isn't going to be the same as a 5000.00 Babe Ruth ball so as a buyer you know it's going to definitly be more than the 10.00 for shipping. At least the AH gives the buyer an idea what it will be instead of after the auction when you get the invoice they hit you wil a 25.00 shipping and insurance for a Rose ball. I'ts scarry to get that invoice to see how much they will hit you for for your winning. Seems kind of simple to me but what do I know. That way with a ballpark shipping cost in the description the buyer has a idea and the AH doesn't get buyer complaning about there surprise shipping cost they give the buyer.

[thecatspajamas]

I can pretty much guarantee that any AH would rather deal with a shipping complaint from a buyer who participated in their auction rather than not hearing any complaints because the same bidder did not participate in their auction because the AH warned them ahead of time that the shipping cost would be exorbitant. I'm not saying that having a hidden sky-high shipping price is a good business practice either, but generally speaking, it's not good to drive away potential customers before you have all of their money.