My turn to whine about an AH - Saco River

[slipk1068]

In March 2014 I questioned a $15 shipping charge on a $30 lot of 5 raw cards. I thought that was ridiculous. Here is an excerpt from the explanation I received:

I employ a full-time shipper who makes $15 per hour. If you figure it may take him 20 minutes to process and pack your order, I'm into it for $5 before I even purchase postage, insurance or pay for the bubble wrap and the box. I purchase roughly $1000 every two weeks in bubble wrap, peanuts, boxes and tape. The cost of shipping is enormous, however we like giving customers the option and the convenience of having the shipping done in house, rather than using a packing company who gets ridiculous rates for their service.

edit:

My mistake. The lot was 2 PSA graded cards and 2 raw cards

[baseball tourist]

Does look like a candidate for adjusted shipping. Good luck.

MLB Auctions - $70 lineup card, shipping from NYC to Canadian address - charged $50 USD! Criminal!

[swarmee]

Originally Posted by slipk1068

I employ a full-time shipper who makes $15 per hour. If you figure it may take him 20 minutes to process and pack your order, I'm into it for $5 before I even purchase postage, insurance or pay for the bubble wrap and the box.

Isn't overhead what some of the "BUYER'S PREMIUM" is supposed to take care of? And if a person is making $15 an hour, I'd expect way more than three boxes packed per hour. That seems like a small throughput. You didn't mention the auction house in your post; was it the same one in the top of the thread?

[Sophiedog]

Originally Posted by slipk1068

In March 2014 I questioned a $15 shipping charge on a $30 lot of 5 raw cards. I thought that was ridiculous. Here is an excerpt from the explanation I received:

I employ a full-time shipper who makes $15 per hour. If you figure it may take him 20 minutes to process and pack your order, I'm into it for $5 before I even purchase postage, insurance or pay for the bubble wrap and the box. I purchase roughly $1000 every two weeks in bubble wrap, peanuts, boxes and tape. The cost of shipping is enormous, however we like giving customers the option and the convenience of having the shipping done in house, rather than using a packing company who gets ridiculous rates for their service.

edit:

My mistake. The lot was 2 PSA graded cards and 2 raw cards

$1000 every 2 weeks? Who is that auction house? That's a LOT of shipping supplies.

[ullmandds]

sadly...shipping has become an income generator for many businesses these days.

[Mrc32]

Originally Posted by ullmandds

sadly...shipping has become an income generator for many businesses these days.

Only for bad businesses.

[Jay Wolt]

That's why REA is great.....no charge for shipping, unless you are buying a large item like a stadium seat.

[x2drich2000]

Originally Posted by Jay Wolt

That's why REA is great.....no charge for shipping, unless you are buying a large item like a stadium seat.

The REA free shipping sounds great at first, except since they initiated the free shipping, they have also raised their buyers premium by over 2%. 2% of a $1000 is $20.

I have also never understood why the auction houses can't provide an estimated shipping for each lot, at least for shipping in the US. They have your address when registering, they usually have a good estimate of value, and they know how much the lot weighs. If you win more than one lot, the shipping simply cannot be more the sum of shipping each lot individually.

DJ

[slipk1068]

Originally Posted by swarmee

Isn't overhead what some of the "BUYER'S PREMIUM" is supposed to take care of? And if a person is making $15 an hour, I'd expect way more than three boxes packed per hour. That seems like a small throughput. You didn't mention the auction house in your post; was it the same one in the top of the thread?

Originally Posted by Sophiedog

$1000 every 2 weeks? Who is that auction house? That's a LOT of shipping supplies.

Sacco River March 19, 2014

Item Total: USD 30.00
Buyer's Premium: USD 6.30
Sub Total: USD 36.30
Sales Tax: USD 0.00
Shipping: USD 15.00

Total: USD 51.30
Balance Due: USD 51.30

sent them a check for $36.30 with a postage paid padded envelope addressed to me. They chose to use their own box/postage.

[Jay Wolt]

Originally Posted by x2drich2000

The REA free shipping sounds great at first, except since they initiated the free shipping, they have also raised their buyers premium by over 2%. 2% of a $1000 is $20.



DJ

DJ, It doesn't matter what the Buyers Premium is, I just bid accordingly.
If a lot is worth $1000 to me & there's no BP like eBay, I can bid the full $1000
If the juice is 10%, I bid up to $900 and I adjust my bid to the Buyers premium.
I still pay what I can afford, its the consignors that may get the short end of the stick.

[The Nasty Nati]

I had a similar experience with their last auction.

Won a card for $80, with the 21% premium it came to $96.80 and then they charged me an additional $15 for shipping for a grand total of $111.80.

I emailed them about the $15 shipping charge and they basically sent me an email saying "We provide shipping as a service to our customers"...well thanks. I also wasn't too happy that the card I received had a large crease on it that didn't show up in the pictured scan nor was it ever mentioned in the description. Oh well...kudos for an impressive EPDG find.

A few days ago I won a few cards at JVSC for $135.50, shipping was FREE (sent them a check). Without sending a check the shipping would have only been $5. God Bless Joe's.

[earlywynnfan]

Non-cel phone owner here!

I just won two baseballs from another auction house, $70 hammer price. Shipping was $25. After complaining, they called me back with $22.50. I don't plan on bidding with them again.

[packs]

Never mind I realized that they could use the old "handling" excuse for the cost.

[Jay Wolt]

Originally Posted by The Nasty Nati

A few days ago I won a few cards at JVSC for $135.50, shipping was FREE (sent them a check). Without sending a check the shipping would have only been $5. God Bless Joe's.

And Joe's Buyers Premium is zero %
You win a card for $50 & pay by check, your cost is $50 dlvd
Joe & Tim are the best!

[tiger8mush]

UPDATE!!!!!

Troy from Saco River emailed me this morning. He apologized for the mistake while he was out of state. He picked up the shipping.

Thanks Troy!
Rob

[Mrc32]

Originally Posted by tiger8mush

UPDATE!!!!!

Troy from Saco River emailed me this morning. He apologized for the mistake while he was out of state. He picked up the shipping.

Thanks Troy!
Rob

nevermind

[Jay Wolt]

Mike, well said!

[frankbmd]

Originally Posted by Mrc32

LOL. This is great for YOU but bad business. Make the shipping fair for everyone - not just the people that complain on public message boards.

It is like Directv. They slowly jack your rates up each month. Now if you call and complain they will lower your rates, and throw in HBO for 3 months - super customer service, except for the people who don't call and complain and are stuck with jacked up rates.

I just view this as bad business. Make it fair on the front end and you won't have a threads like this - rather you will have threads and a reputation like REA of being fair and good to their customers. Now THAT is good business.

Charter has the same policy. Call and they give you the current "new" customer promotion. I've been doing this for years.

[D.P.Johnson]

Originally Posted by tiger8mush

UPDATE!!!!!

Troy from Saco River emailed me this morning. He apologized for the mistake while he was out of state. He picked up the shipping.

Thanks Troy!
Rob

The squeaky wheel gets the grease...All the other wheels that diligently work without squeaking get no grease......