OT: I am Done Doing Business with AH's That Rip Me Off

[Peter_Spaeth]

This isn't hard. I don't know why people can't grasp this simple concept. As a buyer you are paying what you pay. Whether the AH calls part of it a premium or not is meaningless. They could charge a 50 percent premium and it comes to the same thing -- just factor it into the bid like (almost) everyone else does. If you win a card and your out of pocket is 100 dollars, what do you care if they called 20 of it or 50 of it a BP?

The one it affects is the consignor, who only gets the hammer price.

[barrysloate]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

This isn't hard. I don't know why people can't grasp this simple concept. As a buyer you are paying what you pay. Whether the AH calls part of it a premium or not is meaningless. They could charge a 50 percent premium and it comes to the same thing -- just factor it into the bid like (almost) everyone else does. If you win a card and your out of pocket is 100 dollars, what do you care if they called 20 of it or 50 of it a BP?

The one it affects is the consignor, who only gets the hammer price.

+1

When I bid in Heritage I also have to pay NY sales tax, so a $1.00 bid ends up costing me around $1.30. So I bid accordingly. If I think a lot is worth $1000, I'll max out my bid around $700-750. No big deal, it's just a calculation. I don't win as many lots as I like but if I keep at it I usually get what I am looking for eventually. I'm disciplined and patient.

[Buythatcard]

My original post is complaining about the S/H more than the BP. I know what the BP is before bidding and I factor that in. I am upset about the outrageous S/H fees that AH's tag on to your order.
The example that I talked about was a small order of $76 but most of my orders are in the thousands. I know what it cost to ship items because I've been doing it for 14 years. I understand being charged a little more to compensate for their time and materials. But I have been charged 2 to 3 times more than the regular rate by many A/H's.

I blame myself because I continue do business with these AH's even thou they overcharged me in the past. There are enough good AH's out there who are fair in their S/H rates and I will continue doing business with them.

[x2drich2000]

Assuming this is Heritage, while I understand the frustration of being charged a premium for the shipping over cost, at least they make it possible for you to determine their shipping charges as the methodology is listed on their website. As a result, like the buyers premium, you can factor that into your bids to determine your total cost. Now some other auction houses, such as Hunt's (see Leon's recent thread), where the shipping is not disclosed, those are the ones I really hate bidding on and generally error on the side of caution before bidding.

DJ

[bxb]

Originally Posted by Buythatcard

My original post is complaining about the S/H more than the BP. I know what the BP is before bidding and I factor that in. I am upset about the outrageous S/H fees that AH's tag on to your order.
The example that I talked about was a small order of $76 but most of my orders are in the thousands. I know what it cost to ship items because I've been doing it for 14 years. I understand being charged a little more to compensate for their time and materials. But I have been charged 2 to 3 times more than the regular rate by many A/H's.

I blame myself because I continue do business with these AH's even thou they overcharged me in the past. There are enough good AH's out there who are fair in their S/H rates and I will continue doing business with them.

Howard, I agree the SH charges are high, but if you are spending thousands on cards, the ratio is still fairly minor. Consider it the cost of doing business with a major AH that has great cards that you want. Still, annoying, I agree, but it comes down to how bad do you want the cards.

[Yankees1964]

I take back my earlier comment. I never bought anything from SCP before. $26.07 to ship and insure one card of about $600 in value. Sticker shock for sure. Have to add them to my list of AH's with stupid S&H charges and bid accordingly next time.

[bobbyw8469]

Originally Posted by Yankees1964

I take back my earlier comment. I never bought anything from SCP before. $26.07 to ship and insure one card of about $600 in value. Sticker shock for sure. Have to add them to my list of AH's with stupid S&H charges and bid accordingly next time.

I don't even get catalogs from them anymore. I used to bid with them all the time. I'm sure I'm not the only one who forgot about them. I guess they need to make up for the lost bids somehow.