Saco River Auction "processing fee"

[BosseFieldBoy]

I have never bid in one of Saco River's auctions, but I won a couple of items in their last auction. When I got my invoice I saw a $32 "processing fee" in addition to the buyer's premium and shipping cost. I didn't see anything about a processing fee in the terms and conditions. I asked them to either waive the fee or point out where the fee is mentioned on their website. No response yet.

Has anyone dealt with this issue before? Am I out of line?

[gnaz01]

Originally Posted by BosseFieldBoy

I have never bid in one of Saco River's auctions, but I won a couple of items in their last auction. When I got my invoice I saw a $32 "processing fee" in addition to the buyer's premium and shipping cost. I didn't see anything about a processing fee in the terms and conditions. I asked them to either waive the fee or point out where the fee is mentioned on their website. No response yet.

Has anyone dealt with this issue before? Am I out of line?

Did you contact them and ask them, or is posting it here the first time you are inquiring??

[JollyElm]

Originally Posted by BosseFieldBoy

I have never bid in one of Saco River's auctions, but I won a couple of items in their last auction. When I got my invoice I saw a $32 "processing fee" in addition to the buyer's premium and shipping cost. I didn't see anything about a processing fee in the terms and conditions. I asked them to either waive the fee or point out where the fee is mentioned on their website. No response yet.

Has anyone dealt with this issue before? Am I out of line?

Seems pretty clear.
Emphasis added.

[gnaz01]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

Seems pretty clear.
Emphasis added.

Oops, my bad

[brob28]

FWIW, last time I purchased something in one of their auctions was 2015 - there was no processing fee at that time.

[Republicaninmass]

I thought it was from liveauctioneers

[pawpawdiv9]

Originally Posted by Republicaninmass

I thought it was from liveauctioneers

^^^That's one of their platforms. They also used Ebay this time as well.
Chech the original thread- it had 3 links/platforms to bid. http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=242363

On the LiveAuctioneer Site:
Terms & Conditions
SALE TERMS: 23% buyer's premium + 5.5% State of Maine sales tax if applicable - All sales are final - No Returns - All items are sold 'as-is', 'where-is' with no warranties or guarantees. - Note* sales tax may be waived by purchasers with valid state resale certificate PAYMENT TERMS: You will be invoiced after we have had time to calculate your shipping costs. Payment Must Be made within 7 days.Bad checks subject to $30.00 processing fees.METHODS OF PAYMENT include Visa, MasterCard, Discover, PayPal, Cash, Check and Money Order.SHIPPING TERMS: Buyer's are responsible for all shipping and handling charges - All items are shipped via USPS or FedEx - Shipping charges are non-negotiable - Alternate shipping may be arranged by the buyer at the buyer's discretion and expense - Items are shipped within 5 days of payments received.PICK-UP: If you plan to pick-up items in person please let us know as soon as possible. It will help us to speed up the invoicing process.DISCLAIMER: All descriptions provided by auction staff are made in good faith and as a service to buyers. Saco River Auction is not liable for errors or omissions. If you have questions about an item please contact us before you place a bid.

On the Ebay platform:




Saco River Auction



See conditions of sale

SALE TERMS: 18% buyer's premium + 5.5% State of Maine sales tax if applicable - All sales are final - No Returns - All items are sold 'as-is', 'where-is' with no warranties or guarantees. - Note* sales tax may be waived by purchasers with valid state resale certificate PAYMENT TERMS: You will be invoiced after we have had time to calculate your shipping costs. Payment Must Be made within 7 days.Bad checks subject to $30.00 processing fees.METHODS OF PAYMENT include Visa, MasterCard, Discover, PayPal, Cash, Check and Money Order.SHIPPING TERMS: Buyer's are responsible for all shipping and handling charges - All items are shipped via USPS or FedEx - Shipping charges are non-negotiable - Alternate shipping may be arranged by the buyer at the buyer's discretion and expense - Items are shipped within 5 days of payments received.PICK-UP: If you plan to pick-up items in person please let us know as soon as possible. It will help us to speed up the invoicing process.DISCLAIMER: All descriptions provided by auction staff are made in good faith and as a service to buyers. Saco River Auction is not liable for errors or omissions. If you have questions about an item please contact us before you place a bid.


Shipping terms

SHIPPING TERMS: Buyer's are responsible for all shipping and handling charges - All items are shipped via USPS or FedEx - Shipping charges are non-negotiable - Alternate shipping may be arranged by the buyer at the buyer's discretion and expense - Items are shipped within 5 days of payments received.PICK-UP: If you plan to pick-up items in person please let us know as soon as possible.


Buyer's premium

Buyers Premium is 23% = 18% in house +5% Invaluable Fee


Condition terms

All conditions of items are provided as good faith, and not guaranteed. We strive to provide the best descriptions of our items, however errors may occur and are at no fault of the auction hall staff. We strive to detail condition reports in our descriptions and photos, however obscure details on descriptions may escape us as we are not experts on every item. Please bid accordingly.


Tax terms

5.5% Maine Sales Tax is added for any sales by Maine Residents unless a valid re-sale certificate is presented

[Edwolf1963]

Originally Posted by BosseFieldBoy

Am I out of line?

Sounds more like a "Saco-Mierda" to me. I hate that nickel & dime crap .. and no, I don't think you're out of line at all. In addition to buyers premium and shipping (how much was the shipping BTW?) This is one of those "push the envelope a bit further" items and pad our profit which amounts to little more than fleecing IMO. I will not bid or consign to those who put in incentives for their buying customers to leave with a bad taste and not to bid. Even if they can find some small-print in their terms & conditions that notes this, will that satisfy you? Make you want to bid again in one of their auctions? Tell others what a great experience you had? Or list them amongst the worst AHs when the next blog on that subject comes around.

I know it's easier to factor the add'l costs into bidding and bid accordingly - probably better advice than an emotional rant over a few bucks .. but it's the principle that eats at me. The "we can do it and tough $hit if you don't like it" sentiment it leaves you with. There are choices - more AHs than I could even count or remember - many of them are fair, open and upfront. No "cell-phone bill surprises" when you get your invoice. I'd rather do business with them.

[Republicaninmass]

Shows on my receipt to Saco, but not on my liveauctioneers invoice

[pokerplyr80]

I agree with Ed. If I was charged a fee like that it would be the last time I bought from that auction house. Unless they had something I really needed. I don't even like paying the credit card processing fee at a gas station. I will pay cash if I'm at such a place.

[pclpads]

They are a banner advertiser on this board, ballyhooing their auctions, but no response to the op??

[bobbyw8469]

That's insane to me that with so many choices with auction houses and what not, that they feel the need to fleece their customers. Unfortunately, with so much competition, these companies CAN NOT do whatever they want like the old days. The cable companies are finding this out the hard way, courtesy of the cord cutters.

[LEHR]

If it were me I'd kindly ask them to remove the excessive $32 "processing fee". IMO it's ridiculous to tack on a fee like that on top of the BP and shipping charge. If they agree great; and if they refuse you can still pay it if it's an item you can't live without and just chalk it up to a lesson learned and move on. I'd personally just tell them to get bent and keep the item if they didn't remove the charge. There are many other places, including AH's, to spend your money that will not nickel and dime you.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

All charges should of course be made crystal clear up front, but a lot of these smaller auctions that don't have their own platform have to pay a fee to the company that facilitates their online auction. They aren't pocketing this processing fee, a third party is taking it off the top.

Of course you could go to a live auction where everything is stated up front and there's an actual person right there to answer any questions you might have

[oldjudge]

Scott-Other auction houses have the expense of developing and maintaining their auction sites. Saco also has no catalog so they save on that expense. Charging above the buyers premium and shipping seems egregious to me.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Again I'm not really defending it, just saying that they don't actually pocket that particular charge, of course passing that charge on helps them be more profitable.

[jrmartin]

For what it's worth I just checked my last invoice from Saco (not their most recent auction though) and did not have a processing fee. Just their 23% bp along with my shipping charge.

A bs fee like that is even worse than an auction being extended for every bud on their 200 items. I saw a certain auction house ending tonight who's extension time is 30 freaking minutes for the whole auction. I didn't even bother looking through their catalog.

[Scocs]

Maybe the $32 charge is their rather vague 5% "Invaluable Fee"?

[Tabe]

Originally Posted by Scocs

Maybe the $32 charge is their rather vague 5% "Invaluable Fee"?

The "Invaluable Fee" is part of the Buyer's Premium which OP noted is separate from this nonsense processing fee.

[Beansballcardblog]

There is a thread on page 3 where they post about their auction. Perhaps that would be a good place to ask questions in a public forum.

[buymycards]

Saco hasn't logged into Net54 since the 18th. I sent them a PM last night to make them aware of this thread.

[earlywynnfan]

I notice the OP hasn't updated this at all. I'm assuming by his wording he sent an email and was awaiting a reply. It's Tuesday now; have you called them?? I don't think I'd post on the forum before I talked to somebody to clear this up.

[Snapolit1]

Originally Posted by earlywynnfan

I notice the OP hasn't updated this at all. I'm assuming by his wording he sent an email and was awaiting a reply. It's Tuesday now; have you called them?? I don't think I'd post on the forum before I talked to somebody to clear this up.

I'd twist that around and say anyone who pays to advertise on this board and is apparently unaware of this thread days later. . . . .very odd.

[Saco River Auction]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

I'd twist that around and say anyone who pays to advertise on this board and is apparently unaware of this thread days later. . . . .very odd.

I apologize for not being on here for days and being unaware of the complaints. I was driving my family from Maine to Chicago for the National. Now the fee you are seeing is not something we initialized or benefit from. This fee is something live auctioneers started as part of their new payment system. If you registered with a credit card and select their pay now button you agree to pay them a fee for using their system. I will have a conferee call with their CEO to complain and fix it for future sales but for now all I can do is offer to issue you all refunds of any service fees you incurred. Now obviously I will need to do that when I get back to the office and have access to your invoices but make no mistake you will all be reimbursed for that ridiculous fee. Feel free to stop by booth 515 at the national to discuss it further. Thank you all.
Troy

[irv]

Originally Posted by Saco River Auction

I apologize for not being on here for days and being unaware of the complaints. I was driving my family from Maine to Chicago for the National. Now the fee you are seeing is not something we initialized or benefit from. This fee is something live auctioneers started as part of their new payment system. If you registered with a credit card and select their pay now button you agree to pay them a fee for using their system. I will have a conferee call with their CEO to complain and fix it for future sales but for now all I can do is offer to issue you all refunds of any service fees you incurred. Now obviously I will need to do that when I get back to the office and have access to your invoices but make no mistake you will all be reimbursed for that ridiculous fee. Feel free to stop by booth 515 at the national to discuss it further. Thank you all.
Troy

Great job!
It's also refreshing that you also view it as a ridiculous fee.

[Stonepony]

Originally Posted by Saco River Auction

I apologize for not being on here for days and being unaware of the complaints. I was driving my family from Maine to Chicago for the National. Now the fee you are seeing is not something we initialized or benefit from. This fee is something live auctioneers started as part of their new payment system. If you registered with a credit card and select their pay now button you agree to pay them a fee for using their system. I will have a conferee call with their CEO to complain and fix it for future sales but for now all I can do is offer to issue you all refunds of any service fees you incurred. Now obviously I will need to do that when I get back to the office and have access to your invoices but make no mistake you will all be reimbursed for that ridiculous fee. Feel free to stop by booth 515 at the national to discuss it further. Thank you all.
Troy

Well done , Troy!!!!

[BosseFieldBoy]

Hi all, I spoke to Saco this afternoon. Saco stepped up, explained the situation with the fee and immediately removed it. It sounds like a relatively small operation and their customer service rep was out of town when I emailed and called last week, which explains why I didn't get an earlier response.

Thanks for doing the right thing!!!

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

More than the "right" thing they are giving back money that THEY didn't receive. They are going over and above the call and costing themselves hundreds of dollars if not more. I applaud them and hope that this serves to help them going forward, they deserve it.

[Republicaninmass]

I was told . "The Processing Fee is from PayPal. You can by pass this fee by going into your own PayPal account and go to pay friends and enter your invoice in the info area"

[thecatspajamas]

Originally Posted by Republicaninmass

I was told . "The Processing Fee is from PayPal. You can by pass this fee by going into your own PayPal account and go to pay friends and enter your invoice in the info area"

Sounds like a good way for a seller to get their account flagged for bypassing fees by receiving lots of "friend" payments with invoice details clearly noted.

[Rich Klein]

Our next monthly Plano show will be held at the Comfort Inn and Suites Plano East located at 700 E. Central Parkway Plano TX 75074 on Saturday August 12th from 10 AM to 4 PM. Many of our vendors and customers attended the National Sports Card Collectors Convention and we believe there will be a ton of new material for the DFW area.

We're hopeful of adding some exciting details as we approach the show date. Please keep following us for updates

As always, we are featuring our hourly door prize of $15 per hour. That fits with our goal which is the same as it always has been. A show run by collectors, for collectors, with items for sale at reasonable prices. We don't overhype what we do, nor do we promise one thing and deliver something different. All we ever promise if that our shows are designed to be fun to attend in a relaxed atmosphere. That's one reason we offer an hourly door prize because our goal is for more money to be distributed amongst our dealers rather than into our pockets.
Thank you as always for your support!

And while you will hear a lot more about this in the next weeks, please don't forget out 4 day, 2 location Labor Day weekend event. Friday September 1 and Saturday September 2 at the Comfort Inn and Sunday September 3 and Monday September 4 at Adat Chaverim. We gave away all our prizes at the last Adat event so we are grateful for everyone who has already provided us donations or will in the next month before the show. If you have anything to donate, this is the perfect time to do so!

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Originally Posted by thecatspajamas

Sounds like a good way for a seller to get their account flagged for bypassing fees by receiving lots of "friend" payments with invoice details clearly noted.

X1000

I have returned numerous F & F payments from Net54 members because if I lost my paypal account I'd be done for.

[Republicaninmass]

anyone ever get this fee redunded?

[Shoeless Moe]

Originally Posted by Republicaninmass

anyone ever get this fee redunded?

Why would you want it redunded?

[Republicaninmass]

Originally Posted by Saco River Auction

This fee is something live auctioneers started as part of their new payment system. If you registered with a credit card and select their pay now button you agree to pay them a fee for using their system. I will have a conferee call with their CEO to complain and fix it for future sales but for now all I can do is offer to issue you all refunds of any service fees you

See above if you haven't bothered to read the thread

And certainly wouldn't like it redunded!