OT: AH Does It All Wrong

[Buythatcard]

I have bid with so many AH's over the years. Most of them are great and some of them just plain suck.

My latest experience was with an AH that I never dealt with before.

It started off with a bad taste in my mouth.


Auction ended 8/23 and I won 1 item.
I went out of town on 8/24 and planned to be home on the 29th.
Received invoice on 8/24.
I received an eMail on 8/27 telling me that my credit card would be charged if I don't pay today.
I received another eMail on the 28th that my credit card was charged
Give me a break. This AH doesn't allow you to breathe. I would have paid on the 29th which is less than 5 days from the time I received the invoice.

It doesn't stop there.

When I got home from my trip I received a phone call from Postal Connections. Apparently, this AH uses a 3rd party shipping company. I am ok with that. They tell me it will cost $9.03 to ship 1 card which has a declared value of $40. I know that it should not cost more than $3.50 to ship and include insurance. It was a lost cause trying to argue with them.

Got the card last night shipped First Class Parcel in a bubble envelope. A receipt was included showing the shipping costs breakdown. There was a charge of .99 for the bubble envelope.

Who the heck charges for the bubble envelope?

I sent off an eMail to this AH and have told them to remove my name from any future auctions.

[bobbyw8469]

Sounds like you were dealing with Wheatland. They used Postal Connections for me as well. I was charged $12.50 to ship three raw cards. I didn't hem and haw...I just paid it. But I thought to myself, on Ebay, you get your stars dinged for charging $2 to ship a raw card, and $3 to ship a graded card. And enough star dings can keep you off Ebay. These assholes dinging stars need to start dealing with these auction houses that you and I deal with!!!

[btcarfagno]

The third party shipping can be terrible. I dealt with one that wanted to charge me $50 to send a photo that I paid $250 for. Not even framed. Just an 8x10 photo. $50. I sure as s%&t bitched about that.

Tom C

[gregr2]

I had the same experience with Wheatland (super high third party shipping costs) and have since decided I don't need to bid in their auctions anymore. I was charged $21 to ship a lot of 224 raw cards.

Interestingly enough at right about the same time I won a lot from Sean (Investinbaseball) of 440 cards and his shipping was $6.00.

Greg

[chipperhank44]

Is the shipping high? Yes, but.....

Straight from the AH's terms:

Payment: Invoices will be sent out within 2 business days of the completion of the auction, and payment is required within 5 business days of the close of the auction. You may pay using credit card or PayPal by clicking on the link on our website. On the 5th business day following the closing date of the auction (the Friday following the close of the sale), all unpaid balances will be charged to the credit card associated with your account. Upon payment in full of your invoice, your items will be transported to Postal Connections in Lancaster, PA. They will package your items for you, and contact you for payment of shipping & handling fees. All shipping inquiries, if any, should be made prior to placing any bids in the auction. The winning buyer is responsible for all shipping charges.

All shipping inquiries, if any, should be made prior to placing any bids in the auction. Their email address is _________, and phone number is _____. Upon payment in full of your invoice, your items will be transported to Postal Connections. They will package your items, and contact you for payment of shipping & handling fees. The winning buyer is responsible for all shipping and handling charges, and will pay Postal Connections directly. Under no circumstance will bidders be offered a refund on their auction purchase if they are dissatisfied with the shipping fee.

[Buythatcard]

They should also include in their policy that you will be charged for the bubble envelope.

I should have read their policy but I didn't and that was my mistake. But I know I won't make the same mistake twice.

One by one I drop these AH's off my radar. I will stick to the ones that have been fair to me.

[btcarfagno]

That doesn't absolve the auction house of the fact that the way they handle shipping their items is a lousy way to do business. The way that they word their "washing of the hands" regarding shipping tells us that they know the shipping rates are going to be insane but that this is the way that they choose to do business.

Stuff trumps all, but I would think that if they have consignors, that they would be pissed about this. Number one, it limits those willing to bid at all in the auction, or number two, it means buyers factor in the insane shipping charges and pay less for the item itself.

Tom C

[chipperhank44]

Completely agree that just because it's their policy, doesn't make it right or customer friendly.

You can learn an awful lot about an Auction House by reading their Terms and Conditions.

[earlywynnfan]

My first thought was Wheatland, too. I was charged like $25 to mail two baseballs!!!!! I called the shipper to question the charges and was given the breakdown, which included $2 worth of packing peanuts. (I'm not kidding.) I sent Wheatland a long email asking to be removed from their list, and they got me a refund for much of the cost and, from the sound of it, chewed out the shipper.

[Gary Dunaier]

Unless I'm missing something, the original poster never actually mentioned Wheatland in his post...

Originally Posted by Buythatcard

My latest experience was with an AH that I never dealt with before.

[snip]

When I got home from my trip I received a phone call from Postal Connections. Apparently, this AH uses a 3rd party shipping company. I am ok with that.

It was the next poster, the first to respond in this thread, who mentioned Wheatland...

Originally Posted by bobbyw8469

Sounds like you were dealing with Wheatland. They used Postal Connections for me as well.

...and from that point on, everybody has been assuming that Wheatland was the auction house Buythatcard dealt with.

One should never assume, because...

[Buythatcard]

Originally Posted by Gary Dunaier

Unless I'm missing something, the original poster never actually mentioned Wheatland in his post...



It was the next poster, the first to respond in this thread, who mentioned Wheatland...



...and from that point on, everybody has been assuming that Wheatland was the auction house Buythatcard dealt with.

One should never assume, because...

Someone finally makes sense here.

[bobbyw8469]

Originally Posted by Buythatcard

Someone finally makes sense here.

And you still haven't answered the question. Is it because I am right?? It's OK...I'm allowed to be right once in awhile...the board does allow that.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by bobbyw8469

And you still haven't answered the question. Is it because I am right?? It's OK...I'm allowed to be right once in awhile...the board does allow that.

I am pretty sure you are never right, so I hear.....

[Buythatcard]

Originally Posted by bobbyw8469

And you still haven't answered the question. Is it because I am right?? It's OK...I'm allowed to be right once in awhile...the board does allow that.

Since I was falsely accused of cursing someone named Stacy and she never denied it, I have no problem saying that you were right!