Auction House Shipping

[calvindog]

Ed, in today's day and age, banks clear checks in a matter of hours or maybe a couple days. When you access your account online it is made very clear what has and what has not cleared. There is not a bank in the country which takes 14 days to clear a check unless if it's perhaps a foreign check.

[GemMintAuctions]

Originally Posted by calvindog

Ed, in today's day and age, banks clear checks in a matter of hours or maybe a couple days. When you access your account online it is made very clear what has and what has not cleared. There is not a bank in the country which takes 14 days to clear a check unless if it's perhaps a foreign check.

You can see if your check has cleared your account, but you can not see if someone else's check has cleared their account unless you have access to their account. If I deposit a check today it will usually show as part of my available account balance immediately, but that does not mean that the check has cleared the account of the person who wrote the check. According to the manager at my bank, that process can take several days and Ed is correct in that you are not notified when a check has cleared, only when it doesn't.

[egbeachley]

I can't see how anyone can expect it to go out in 1-2 days if it's the first few days from the auction end when many payments are coming in at once. Either you have hired too many employees to cover the excess, increasing overhead, or you are hiring temps that need to be watched.

[calvindog]

So the banks make it so easy to commit check kiting? You can send me a check for 500K, it clears my bank in a day or two -- without clearing the sender's bank -- then I immediately remove the 500K funds, and then the check is revealed as bad and I walk away with 500K? Wow, didn't realize that in 2011 banks make it that easy to steal.

[vintagechris]

Originally Posted by calvindog

So the banks make it so easy to commit check kiting? You can send me a check for 500K, it clears my bank in a day or two -- without clearing the sender's bank -- then I immediately remove the 500K funds, and then the check is revealed as bad and I walk away with 500K? Wow, didn't realize that in 2011 banks make it that easy to steal.

Banks put a hold on checks at a certain amount.

[edhans]

Jeff,
GemMintAuctions and vintagechris are correct. The funds appear in your account as available within a day or two, but they often haven't cleared the payer's bank by then. They will freeze some larger transactions depending on the history and size of your account. The point was that while most domestic checks do clear in a day or two as you correctly stated, certain types of accounts and checks drawn on off-shore banks can take significantly longer.

[thecatspajamas]

I may be cynical after dealing with impatient eBay buyers for so long, but I think anyone demanding same-day shipping service should first have to assemble and pack a hundred or more orders in a day themselves. Keep in mind that in most cases, you're not talking about all individual slabbed cards that you can just toss in a mailer and slap a label on it and you're done. These guys typically have to deal with all different shapes and sizes of items which may be combined in any kind of unpredictable manner depending on who bid on what.

Frankly, I'm surprised by how fast they get my stuff to me as it is, especially when some of these auctions have 1000+ lots in them. My personal philosophy is "get it to me when you can, just pack it well and don't lose it." I would actually expect it to take longer to turn around if I get my payment in quickly since it's going to hit at the same time as who knows how many other buyers', as opposed to those straggling payments that come in after everybody else's stuff has already shipped out.

Without knowing for sure which auction house the OP is referring to, I would point out that most of them give an estimated shipping time from when your payment clears. If they're still within their stated timeframe, I don't think you have any room to complain since you agreed to that when you bid in the auction. You might suggest to them ways they can improve their service, but you can't expect them to tailor their business to the wishes of every individual customer. If you can't wait a couple more days for your cardboard, then don't bid with them.

[D. Bergin]

I feel auction houses should invest in a time wormhole in order to get me my auction winnings the day before I even bid on the item.

Buyers Premiums, Inflated Shipping.............God knows they have the dollars to invest in such technology.

[thekingofclout]

Originally Posted by thecatspajamas

I may be cynical after dealing with impatient eBay buyers for so long, but I think anyone demanding same-day shipping service should first have to assemble and pack a hundred or more orders in a day themselves. Keep in mind that in most cases, you're not talking about all individual slabbed cards that you can just toss in a mailer and slap a label on it and you're done. These guys typically have to deal with all different shapes and sizes of items which may be combined in any kind of unpredictable manner depending on who bid on what.

Frankly, I'm surprised by how fast they get my stuff to me as it is, especially when some of these auctions have 1000+ lots in them. My personal philosophy is "get it to me when you can, just pack it well and don't lose it." I would actually expect it to take longer to turn around if I get my payment in quickly since it's going to hit at the same time as who knows how many other buyers', as opposed to those straggling payments that come in after everybody else's stuff has already shipped out.

Without knowing for sure which auction house the OP is referring to, I would point out that most of them give an estimated shipping time from when your payment clears. If they're still within their stated timeframe, I don't think you have any room to complain since you agreed to that when you bid in the auction. You might suggest to them ways they can improve their service, but you can't expect them to tailor their business to the wishes of every individual customer. If you can't wait a couple more days for your cardboard, then don't bid with them.

As usual, Lance is absolutely spot-on.

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by thekingofclout

As usual, Lance is absolutely spot-on.

I don't think so. He ends his rebuttal with " If you can't wait a couple more days for your cardboard, then don't bid with them."

A couple more days after 'what'? My guess is that I'm currently waiting for all the dealer wins to get processed. I know this was true in the past, as I would send in a cashier's check immediately, then while waiting to even get a notice of shipment, would see items won by others show up on ebay. This isn't a good way to do business, and with all the options available, it's not something that is forgotten.

[sbfinley]

I voted for 3-5 days, as that seems reasonable. I have no prior auction house experience, but I would assume that the largest majority of winning customers pay electronically or by mail within the first two days following the auction. Considering the size of the auction I don't find it unreasonable for the house to take a couple of days to double check winnings, combine won items, package securely, and ship out.

That being said, our hobby is one of wants not necessities. So if waiting two weeks to receive my auction winnings is the largest annoyance I have in a month, I can consider that a good month.

[barrysloate]

Wasn't the survey question how long an auction house should wait to ship after a check has cleared? Once it clears, the orders should be sent ASAP.