REA increasing their BP and making other changes

[babraham]

Originally Posted by OhioLawyerF5

I think people understand it, they just think materials and labor are part of a company's overhead that gets factored into their fees, and that shipping charges should be just the actual cost to ship/insure the shipment. I send things through the mail daily in my line of work. And never once charge someone for the envolopes and time my secretary spends sending it. It's just the cost of doing business.

I ship very large items (bicycles) that can sometimes take 45-90 minutes of labor each for a mechanic to disassemble and box up. People most definitely don't understand the labor/time involved, even after we explain it to them. Some of them scoff at our labor charge and say that they'll do it on their own...and then bring it back a few hours later when they realize that they have no idea what they're doing.

[trib01]

Slightly off target, but still REA. Anyone here consign to their April auction? If so, have you received your consignment check yet? This is the longest it has taken so far to get a consignment check from any of my past auctions.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Don't know if it's systemic but we've had a lot of complaints about checks taking forever lately also. We've sent replacements several times only to have the original arrive after the replacement.

[theshowandme]

Originally Posted by trib01

Slightly off target, but still REA. Anyone here consign to their April auction? If so, have you received your consignment check yet? This is the longest it has taken so far to get a consignment check from any of my past auctions.

You are the third REA consignor I have seen mention this about the April auction.

[Stonepony]

They send electronic checks to your email adress. Got mine about 3 weeks after auction close

[trib01]

My first monthly auction with them they sent me an electronic check. It took some time but was well within the range stated in the contract. This time is well beyond their contract terms and sadly I am getting the run-around from them as to when it will arrive. I have always had great experiences with REA in the past, but the last two auctions I have some concerns. Granted it is not some 6 figure check coming my way, but given the issues I had with them from the beginning I figured they would just cut the check and be done with it. Either way - I just wasn't sure if I was the only one or if it was something of an issue now.

edited to add my name: Bryan Long - I know the rules and completely forgot to make sure my name was listed.

---as a quick follow-up. I am by no means trying to downgrade or state they have done anything wrong. I was just curious if others were experiencing the same thing. I have know Brian for a long time (even though he probably doesn't remember me LOL) He has always been nice.

[OhioLawyerF5]

Originally Posted by babraham

I ship very large items (bicycles) that can sometimes take 45-90 minutes of labor each for a mechanic to disassemble and box up. People most definitely don't understand the labor/time involved, even after we explain it to them. Some of them scoff at our labor charge and say that they'll do it on their own...and then bring it back a few hours later when they realize that they have no idea what they're doing.

I mean, that's slightly different than shipping a baseball card. *shrug*

But again, the labor costs of employees can be factored in to your overhead and prices, rather than making it a separate handling fee. Of course, do what works for your business. But if you are having trouble convincing customers of the justification of your shipping charges, maybe the other way will work for you. I don't know.