Shipping - good and bad

[Runscott]

I'll save the bad for last, but felt the 'good' guys deserved a positive comment regarding shipping.

I've scratched my head three times over shipping lately from auction houses. In one case, I called Hunt and they said that they could ship via a different carrier if I chose. I let it ride and I give them an A+ for customer service. Their customer service is really superb. I sent Mears an email after receiving what appeared to be a wacky mistake invoice for shipping, simply asking them to take another look at the invoice, because it must be wrong - they did, they revised it - another A+. The single 4x6 photo arrived in a GIANT box, super-duper protected. At first I thought it might contain the COMPLETE '33 Goudey set I recently won :). Okay, now I get it. MEARS PROTECTS!!!

Just one more :) The last one was for a single cabinet card. The insurance looked right, but the shipping was $13.50. I assumed it would be going UPS or Fedex with ultra-protection in a giant box, as some auction houses like to do (like Mears), so I didn't even ask. No. It arrived today in a 3 oz 1st class USPS bubble-mailer, marked as 'commercial rate'. For me that would have been $1.81. I'm not complaining about the packing - $1.81 was all it needed.

How do they get off charging $13.50 (plus insurance) and then sticking the item in a 1st class bubble-mailer?

[Leon]

What company was your last experience with? Was it a valuable item?

[Runscott]

What company was your last experience with? Was it a valuable item?

It was a $280 item. Insurance was accurate, but s&h was off. I'll PM you, as it was a single bad experience and I hate to call them out. But I'll admit - I doubt I'll participate in any more of their auctions as their stuff isn't that great anyway and these s&h surprises cause more angst than they are worth.

[RichMcGillicuddy]

Nice timing, not a vintage card but just got this in the mail last week from an eBay purchase. Looks like USPS ran over it with a forklift.

http://www.cetani.com/civilcard.jpg

[atx840]

Nice timing, not a vintage card but just got this in the mail last week from an eBay purchase. Looks like USPS ran over it with a forklift.

I'll bet he is Extra Angry now.

[kmac32]

USPS did this to a card I shipped once. Not cool!!! Seems like you have to pay the ransom called insurance to avoid this. What ever happened to people just doing their jobs correctly?

[Runscott]

I'll bet he is Extra Angry now.

Isn't that perfect busted slab poetry?

[buymycards]

Hi guys,
Don't blame USPS for this. It looks like the seller was too cheap to put the slab in a box. All of the parcels are handled by machines and slabs don't hold up well going through the rollers. I get tired of the Postal Service getting blamed when a seller is too lazy or too cheap to package their item properly.

Yes - I do work for the Postal Service and I see this every day.

Rick

[bunst]

Thanks for the info, Rick. I'm sure most don't know how packages are handled. I always thought that if it was ridgid it would not go through a roller, but instead spit out for sorting manually. Apparently that is not true?

[Sterling Sports Auctions]

Scott,

I guess I don't see the point in telling us of your over priced experience without letting us know who the auction house is. All this does is allow others to have to deal with the same unexpected high charges. The only way this charges is if enough people let the house know are not pleased with the over priced shipping charge. You have chosen to no longer bid on the auction house, why not give us the chose before we get the lovely surprise.

I also have addressed this issue with a couple of auction houses and both have worked with me on a reasonable rate.

This obviously is a big concern with us here because a threads seems to get started about once a month and the only way it will change is by letting them know we are not pleased.

As far as shipping it doesn't matter which company you use they all have there horror stories behind them. I am sure we all use the service that is most convenient for us.

Lee

[buymycards]

Hi Brian,
All of the packages are handled by machines and sent down tracks/rollers. The scanners read the barcodes and the packages drop into hampers. Sometimes 2 or 3 hundred small packages are in a hamper, so there can be a lot of weight sitting on the packages that are on the bottom.

The only packages that are handled manually are the very heavy packages or unusually shaped packages, such as a fishing pole. When we receive our packages in the morning they roll off of the truck in large metal containers that are 3x3 wide and 6 feet high, filled with large and small parcels.

I sell a lot of items on ebay and I always try to package the items to withstand any type of handling. I learned the hard way that bubble mailers don't protect slabbed cards.

Thanks, Rick

[RichMcGillicuddy]

Rick,


Completely agree. The card was sent in a $1.30 mailer, charged me triple that for shipping and I'd probably of paid a few bucks more to ensure it doesn't arrive in pieces.

The problem is sometimes it works. Actually most of the time. I think USPS needs to break everything that is sent in the cheap mailers so people will use the appropriate methods for shipping :).

I sold some camera equipment about 2 months back and the buyer sent me like a half dozen instructions on how he wanted it shipped. I was somewhat offended but after getting the Angry Man in pieces, I can see the benefit.

[Runscott]

Rick,


Completely agree. The card was sent in a $1.30 mailer, charged me triple that for shipping and I'd probably of paid a few bucks more to ensure it doesn't arrive in pieces.

The problem is sometimes it works. Actually most of the time. I think USPS needs to break everything that is sent in the cheap mailers so people will use the appropriate methods for shipping :).

I sold some camera equipment about 2 months back and the buyer sent me like a half dozen instructions on how he wanted it shipped. I was somewhat offended but after getting the Angry Man in pieces, I can see the benefit.

Rich, I'm a little confused about the bubble-mailer thing. I've been shipping/receiving slabbed cards in bubble-mailers, off and on, for about ten years. I've never had a slab crack. There has to be some acceptable variance for 'padded envelope failure', just as there is with 'lost items', and I think bubble-mailers pass the grade.

But if not - you have to ask: "what CAN be shipped in a bubble mailer?" Certainly not eggs, and certainly pink pearl erasers would be safe, but what else? Also, I found out the hard way that books are NOT safe in bubble-mailers (the corners can get dinged).

[kmac32]

After having this happen to a slabbed card, I went to the flat rate box for shipping. I don't ship very often but expect to see no problems now. I do however consider insurance a ransom payment. Have also seen several packages lost at our local post office showing up a few weeks later after complaining. The perception is that not all postal employees are conscientious about doing their jobs correctly.

It's not just the postal service that does this. See it in all walks of life. People need to feel privileged to have jobs, not entitled.

[mybuddyinc]

...... and I guess it comes to this ........



Postal Employee: "May I help you?"
Kramer: "Yeah, I'd like to cancel my mail."
Postal Employee: "Certainly. How long would you like us to hold it?"
Kramer: "Oh, no, no. I don't think you get me. I want out, permanently."

Newman: "I'll handle this, Violet. Why don't you take your three hour break?"


;)

[RichMcGillicuddy]

Scott,

I've got 100's of things in simple bubble mailers. Maybe 1 had been bent but always successful. Kind of like anything else, it works until it doesn't. I'd agree with the other post on using the flat rate boxes. They would seem to have a better protection.

There needs to be a clear $ cutoff (any card over $15?) where using more protection probably makes sense.

[buymycards]

Scott, she must have been a new employee if she only gets a 3 hour break! :)

Rick

[Joe Hunter]

Placing a slabbed card between two stiff pieces of cardboard will normally provide adequate protection for the card when shipping in a bubbble mailer. Several years ago, I had a slab crack in a bubble envelope without the cardboard protection, so I have used the cardboard ever since,with no problems.

[iggyman]

Here is my shipping good and bad rant...

EXHIBIT A: I won three prewar lots from yesterdays Hunts auction. The hammer price on all three lots was ~$1,100 and "325" prewar cards were purchased.

The shipping charge was $18 (which I thought was reasonable, considering the package will have 325 cards and be insured for ~$1,000).


EXHIBIT B: Won one prewar lot from an auction house that shall remain nameless (due to the fact that I like them and I never did complain about the shipping charge). Hammer price was ~$650 and "10" prewar cards were purchased.

The shipping charge was $15 (which I though was a little on the high side, considering it's only ten cards and the insurance is ~$650).


Neither shipping charge was completely outrageous, but in the future I would be more incline to bid on Exhibit A's auction then Exhibit B's. Just my two cents!

Sterling and Brockelman & Luckey are two more auction companies that come to mind with very reasonable shipping charges.

Lovely Day...

[Runscott]

Rich/Iggy - you hit the nail on the head about not outing anyone here who you would like to do business with in the future. It just isn't good business sense to do so.

The auction house I described previously with high charges, sent me an email apologizing for the mistake, and is sending me a refund check - I never mentioned their name or contacted them about it, so it shows that these guys keep an eye on the board. Also, the person who contacted me showed me that it was an honest mistake, and he was right. They just caught me at a bad time - three very high s&h invoices in one week, and they were number three :p

The other thing is, you get a feel for what these guys charge and you factor that into your bids. For instance - winning one small inexpensive photo is a deal-killer, even if it's bargain-basement priced. I need to make sure I win three next time :)