REA increasing their BP and making other changes

Aquarian Sports Cards · #1 06-26-2025, 08:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kutcher55

I won a card with a bid of $35. Then you get the BP, plus an absolutely ridiculous $10 shipping charge and with tax we get to $54.23. You'd think for 10 bucks they'd ship priority but no it's USPS ground. Total racket, total ripoff. Understand the economics are better for bigger cards and the shrewd buyer can pick the right spots, but sheesh.

$10 is about the least we charge for shipping. We are actual costs plus $5 for time and materials so we get a few that are a tad under $10 every now and then but people don't seem to realize that envelopes, paper, tape, ink and a person to put them all together are an actual expense.

calvindog · #2 06-26-2025, 09:22 PM

I usually cringe when I see auction house BP going up. But this is a business designed to make money and REA only followed what other auction houses did first (Goldin, Heritage). In addition, Brian is about the most honest guy in our hobby. I can't quibble with his decision.

babraham · #3 06-26-2025, 11:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

$10 is about the least we charge for shipping. We are actual costs plus $5 for time and materials so we get a few that are a tad under $10 every now and then but people don't seem to realize that envelopes, paper, tape, ink and a person to put them all together are an actual expense.

+1

We box & ship quite a few items from our shop (the joys of retail!), and people never seem to realize this.

OhioLawyerF5 · #4 06-27-2025, 07:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by babraham

+1

We box & ship quite a few items from our shop (the joys of retail!), and people never seem to realize this.

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. So while I don't have a problem with charging shipping and handling as long as you are up front with your charges, I also don't think people complaining about it don't understand. They just think it should come from your profit margins, not an additional charge.

Aquarian Sports Cards · #5 06-27-2025, 07:11 AM

Quote:

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. So while I don't have a problem with charging shipping and handling as long as you are up front with your charges, I also don't think people complaining about it don't understand. They just think it should come from your profit margins, not an additional charge.

First, I think any business that has an actual shipping department is a little different than a company that has a secretary mail stuff occasionally.

Second, It's a lose/lose lol. So then I raise my BP to cover the expense instead of charging the $5 handling and materials fee and someone starts a thread talking about how evil I am for raising my BP.

Third, I would also point out that the $5 we add is actually woefully inadequate on most shipments. It's just those occasions when someone wins an inexpensive single card that can be sent in an envelope that it seems excessive. Those are a small minority of our shipments and we lose money every auction on shipping.

OhioLawyerF5 · #6 06-27-2025, 08:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

First, I think any business that has an actual shipping department is a little different than a company that has a secretary mail stuff occasionally.

Second, It's a lose/lose lol. So then I raise my BP to cover the expense instead of charging the $5 handling and materials fee and someone starts a thread talking about how evil I am for raising my BP.

Third, I would also point out that the $5 we add is actually woefully inadequate on most shipments. It's just those occasions when someone wins an inexpensive single card that can be sent in an envelope that it seems excessive. Those are a small minority of our shipments and we lose money every auction on shipping.

I specifically said I understand it and that I'm fine with it. I was just countering the claim that the people complaining about it just don't understand the costs that go into it. They do.

But you are inaccurate in your assumption that I have a secretary mail something occasionally. I probably send more mail every day than most auction houses. But again, that's not the point. The point is that everyone understands what costs go into shipping packages. That doesn't mean they will agree with how they are allocated. I personally don't care how it's allocated, as long as I know what it is up front. I was just explaining why some people don't like it.

Aquarian Sports Cards · #7 06-27-2025, 11:30 AM

Sorry, it was in response to you, but not "going after" you. More just a deeper dive into the auction side of the story. I agree that if you're surprising people with an outrageous shipping charge it's a jerk move, but some people insist on acting surprised even when everything is explained in detail!

Kutcher55 · #8 06-27-2025, 12:13 PM

Quote:

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. So while I don't have a problem with charging shipping and handling as long as you are up front with your charges, I also don't think people complaining about it don't understand. They just think it should come from your profit margins, not an additional charge.

Agree with this. As mentioned, I have bought a couple of thousand single-slab sort of purchases off eBay in the past six years and it is exceedingly rare for cards below $200 to be more than $6 for shipping. The exception would be priority shipping. But whatevah I guess. It matters much less for bigger cards so their attitude is clearly just to gouge the little guy because the little guy doesn't matter.

Exhibitman · #9 06-27-2025, 02:38 PM

Anyone have any feelings on minimum BPs? I know that Heritage has long charged a minimum BP ($19 last I checked) and I see that Goldin charges $19 too. Do you think that the other members of the oligopoly going to turn to this as a mechanism for raising BP on sub.-$100 items without formally raising BP on lower priced?

I stopped bidding on sub-$100 items in Heritage because of the minimum BP. A friend sent me a note about a Goldin lot that had a $10 minimum bid but an effective price of $35+ to me ($19 BP, $6 shipping, $0.90 insurance, plus sales tax), so I didn't bid.

babraham · #10 06-28-2025, 12:52 AM

Quote:

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 · #11 06-28-2025, 09:00 AM

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 · #12 06-28-2025, 09:58 AM

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 · #13 06-28-2025, 10:19 AM

Quote:

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 · #14 06-28-2025, 11:48 AM

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

OhioLawyerF5 · #15 06-28-2025, 02:21 PM

Quote:

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.

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