Auction House Shipping
 

How many days do you think it is reasonable for an auction house to wait before shipping your winnings (of course after payment is made)?

Thanks,

Jeff

poll
 

Hey Jeff
I added a poll for you. Could be more interesting that way. Hope you don't mind? I already voted :).

Not at all, thanks Leon.

Jeff

I think 2 days is fair enough.Albeit you did not take long to pay.So maybe I should say about the same amount of time it takes you pay.I would not expect a day or two turnaround if I took the two weeks to pay.

I love the quick shipping by Goodwin, Legendary, Sterling. I'm hoping CSA will be fast, but they assured me they wait an entire 2 weeks to ship the items, which is way too long. It only takes 3-5 days max for a check to clear.

Not Ready
 

I am not ready to out the Auction House that I am annoyed at yet, but it will be a week tomorrow since I paid by paypal. The shipping always seems to be pretty high and they always include a charge for insurance which never is reflected on my packages. I know that they can be using a different service for insurance, but I doubt it. I want to check tomorrow on the status of my package.

Jeff

With their excessive Buyers premiums and excessive shipping costs, they should have the staff to ship within 24 hours of "cleared" payment.

I will admit I had an outstanding experience with Legendary who actually shipped my items the same day they received payment!! They didnt even wait for payment to clear! Kudos to Legendary!

Isn't Legendary the same outfit that shipped 100's of thousands of $'s of memorabilia to a regular bidder before getting fully paid, sued them to recoup, got counter-sued, had consignment payments held up, and nearly going out of business because of it (in a previous incarnation)?

Can't necessarily agree with "the same amount of time that ti takes you to pay", unless of course they are looking at postmarks.

Reason: If the auction house doesn't accept credit cards (presumably to maximize their $) then even if I send a check out the following morning, it takes a few days to a week for them to get it. That's their choice. Now, if they are going to wait for the check to clear also . . . just poor customer service, in my opinion.

While they are awaiting the arrival of checks, there is very little reason that everything can't be packed up and ready to go, so at that point it probably shouldn't take more than a day or two to ship.

For the poll, if it takes them more than a day to ship after payment has "cleared" then something is wrong.

Some houses, like Mastro/Legendary, claim that it takes 14 days for a check to clear -- and only then do they ship.

Re: Auction House Shipping
 

All sellers should have the right to wait until the funds have cleared before shipping. Problem is, different types of payments take varying times to clear and most financial institutions do not report when an item has cleared; only when it didn't. Hence the long wait times from some auction houses.

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.

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.

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.

I personally like Legendary's policy, which may be shared by a few other auction houses also. They say that the first 3 wins, they will take the full 2 weeks for the check to clear. However, any wins after that, they will ship immediately to you upon receipt of your check. I assume that this is within reason, e.g., if you have 3 small wins, but then have a 10K win, they'll probably still wait for your check to fully clear. If you want your wins immediately, you should send a money order or bank cashier's check (or paypal if the auction allows it). For those, I think the auction house should ship immediately. Cashier's checks often have a few, but you may want to check w/ your bank. My bank (Chase) has free cashier's checks because I have a premium checking account w/ them, which is also free since Chase also holds my mortgage. If you have winnings from one of the smaller auction houses, shipping can take a bit of time even if you paid via Paypal. A lot of these don't have a dedicated shipping department, and it might only be one person doing all of the shipping. Therefore, if a bunch of people paid by paypal immediately after auction close, the person is going to be overwhelmed. This happened to me before, which is fully understandable.

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.

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.

Banks put a hold on checks at a certain amount.

Re: Auction House Shipping
 

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.

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.

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.

;)

I've been out of the auction house game for a while now, so I'm also curious what's reasonable. I went to the trouble of buying a cashier's check and mailing it priority to the auction house. They received it last Thursday and are apparently sitting on it - they have a very fancy software system that shows they have been paid, but that they haven't shipped. What's up with sitting on cashier's checks? I look at it this way - I hold up my end by paying promptly and in a manner that's risk-free to them, despite the massive shipping charges - they should ship promptly. I'm not even complaining about the Fedex ground that I will end up having to drive an hour to pick up at the Fedex office.

I also won a smaller lot from the same auction house previously and paid by Paypal. Nine days later they finally shipped.

I always paid Mastro by check and the items were always shipped promptly - same for Hunts, Lelands, the Burkes, Lipset, etc. Not sure what's up with these other guys, but it's nice to have plenty of additional choices.

Edited to add something positive, since it's almost Thanksgiving: I miss the experiences like the one that I had with Leland's back when the Astros were a playoff contender. I won a gorgeous Wilson 1971 Astros jacket and wanted to be able to wear it to the game - I called Lelands and they made sure it was shipped immediately. I had it in plenty of time and I've never forgotten that. Good service goes a long way. I'm looking forward to sporting that same jacket in 2013 when the Astros begin visiting Seattle regularly :)

Scott, would it make you feel any differently about the auction house that shipped promptly if you found out someone's dog was an underbidder on your lot?

Jeff, I'm grateful that you and others are helping protect us from fraud. Really - thanks. If I can help in any way I will (as I have in the past), but as you can see, I don't currently pull enough weight to even get prompt shipping.

Ahhhh see that's where you're wrong. I get slow shipping too. Paypal? Slow shipping. Wired funds? Slow shipping.

Okay, thanks. It was probably always slow for me as well and I've just forgotten over the years. In the future I'll just send personal checks and forget about it.

Have a good Thanksgiving. Time to go start preparing the traditional Thanksgiving meatloaves.

A Shilltie?

Well played, sir.

Legendary Shipping
 

I will second that notion Jim. Legendary has always provided me with super fast shipping.

Joe

Deleted by me

Zach - I don't believe that many, if any, of the major auction houses use the USPS for their shipments to auction winners.
Val

Oh, I have not bought from an auction house yet, I just thought they would use USPS, now I have no explanation for 30 days shipping.:(

Shipping Policy
 

We ship immediately to those we have experience with (our definition is three successful wins and payments) until that time we feel it is responsible identify a pre determined amount of time to allow checks to clear. For the first few wins buyers are welcome to send certified funds if they want immediate shipment. Although we do not guarantee 24 hour turnaround I do believe we have consistently gotten packages out within one working day. I agree in this day an age it does not take 14 days for electronic banking to clear a check but sometimes it takes a bit of time to be notified.

By the way thanks for all who participated in our auction.

I still have yet to participate in anything besides ebay yet, so I was wondering what are the accepted methods of payment? Paypal, Credit or Debit?

B.T.W the post I made a few days ago was done after I had had a few too many drinks, so I kinda got carried away and said too much crap. I apologize to anyone that did not like it. I am also hoping to get involved in some auction house auctions soon once I see something I like. I signed up for few but have not bid yet.

Payment method
 

We accept personal checks, money orders and wire transfers. No Paypal or credit cards.

Ok thanks for the info.

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.

One day.

An auction house would already have a winner's address information, so they can easily get a package ready for shipment... so ONE DAY after payment has cleared.

If it takes longer than that, then they have too much going on with too little help, or they've allowed a bidder to bid whom they mistrust...

As for the places that wait 14 days, pay them with a cashiers check or a certified check. Then, if they don't ship in one day, quit participating in their auctions. In this day and time 14 days is inexcusable.

Interesting thing about checks is they never total clear. You can take your check to the bank 2 months after "clearing" and say I did not write this check. The bank will hit the other bank for the funds and you have your money back.

However, at this point you are talking to their fraud prevention dept. and that is a whole different issue.

I stand corrected Scott. :o Correction: Lance is absolutely spot-on except for the line he ends his rebuttal with, as Scott so precisely pointed out.

You know what... the hell with it. I take that back. In my opinion, I agree with what Lance wrote, up to and including the line he ends his rebuttal with.

BTW... I really don't think it's necessary to add "IMO" or "IMHO" every time I make a comment. The comment is mine and mine alone. No one is speaking for me (except for Lance, of course). It's my comment, so hence it's my opinion. Jeez.

Okay, no need for that as everyone's welcome to their opinion, but thanks anyway.

I bet that's a department that responds quickly.

No that's not quite as easy as you make it sound.
At this point fraud and the police may be involved.

Payment
 

Since this is 2011, I can't understand why auction houses don't accept credit and debit cards and Paypal. 17% BP plus high shipping charges should cover the fees. Most businesses wouldn't survive using the old, outdated, time consuming payment methods. Who uses checks anymore? Send me an invoice by email and I will pay it within 5 minutes using PayPal or a debit card and my item can be shipped right away.

As far as not having the staff available to ship items right away. It seems pretty straight forward. Let's see, I'm going to have 1000 items closing on the same day, maybe I should have enough staff on hand to handle the workload. Isn't that why the shipping charges are so high in the first place? To handle the cost of shipping, supplies, and labor?

The other thing I don't understand is why auction houses allow so much time for the winners to pay for their items. In most cases shouldn't the check be in the mail within a day of receiving the invoice?

Rick

I think auction houses don't add services because they don't have to.... We allow them to get away with it by continuing to bid.

As for allowing winners time to pay... the auction folks want that 'one more bid' to add to their commission. And the bidder-whales make that one more bid, then mention reneging on all of their bids if pressured to promptly pay. I've actually had a reputable house admit as much to me once when I was awaiting payment for a sale. I think as a seller you can ask that the house promises to pay you within a certain number of days, or you can ask for an advance on the sale price. The houses don't want to do those things, but I've had them do the latter.

Heritage accepts credit cards.