Absurd PWCC Shipping Cost........BEWARE

[irv]

Originally Posted by glynparson

This is not correct from what I just read you are absolutely allowed to charge a handling fee making it more than actual shipping costs. They will step in if charges are way out of line but saying you can not charge more than exact shipping is wrong

The only way I would allow shipping costs to deter me from bidding is if it made the card more than I wanted to spend. I don’t find addition and subtraction that difficult so I just factor the shipping cost into my bids.

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

I was charged $12 on a recent purchase of a single card (oversized) under $300, but I just factored it into my bid so it was irrelevant really.

What an eye opener it was when I got this addition/subtraction thing figured out just over a year ago. I learned that $20 + $20 (Card and shipping fee) equalled $40! Who knew?

[frankbmd]

Originally Posted by irv

What an eye opener it was when I got this addition/subtraction thing figured out just over a year ago. I learned that $20 + $20 (Card and shipping fee) equalled $40! Who knew?

It’s only the beginning, Irv, wait until you learn how quantum physics can reduce your shipping costs.

[irv]

Originally Posted by frankbmd

It’s only the beginning, Irv, wait until you learn how quantum physics can reduce your shipping costs.

My book is ordered, Frank. I am eagerly awaiting its arrival with unmitigated glee in anticipation of how much knowledge I am going to gather from the pages within!

[Peter_Spaeth]

You may learn to concatenate.

[irv]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

You may learn to concatenate.

I have trouble concentrating, let alone concatenating.

[bounce]

Originally Posted by Stampsfan

The good is their shipping is quick. The bad is if you win another item the next day, it's another full shipping charge.

This is false. Below is directly from their current descriptions:
"The chart below describes the shipping cost for multiple cards purchased from the same auction.."

I'm pretty confident that "same auction" means the entire auction that is currently being run. Right now, they are running "2018 Premier Auction #4", and the different categories end on different days from 5/9 to 5/29.

They have always combined shipping for me for multiple wins, and across timelines that have spanned at least a week and sometimes more. I know in the past I've won cards in the 1887-1950 baseball, and then later in the 1888-1986 football, and had both shipped to me in one package under a combined rate. With the current auction, that's 13 days apart on end date.

They are very responsive to questions, so if you're ever in doubt just drop them a note through the eBay messaging system, tell them what you've won and what days have items you're still bidding on, and I'm sure they'll tell you it's fine and just let them know when you're done so they can send you a combined invoice.

I do know that they also use the "reminders" that eBay sends requesting payment after a few days, but that's just automated messaging based on those settings - it's not them trying to track you down to hurry up and pay. Again, if in doubt just drop them a message explaining your time line.

Back to the topic...I think what they do with cards is pretty good, obviously it's their main expertise and I've never felt the charges were exorbitant, especially when multiple cards were won. However, I don't think they're quite as accurate with some of the larger items.

Specifically, they had some autographed Heisman mini-helmets in the March auction. I won four them. Individual shipping per item was listed at $20 (which is absolutely crazy for a mini-helmet, that's easily twice what it really costs). They did combine shipping for me on all four, but that was still $40 (which is still crazy for four mini-helmets). They come 6 per box from Riddell, most eBay sellers charge $12-15 for the 6-pack.

I did factor the shipping into my bids, but after I won the first one I didn't worry as much about the combined shipping, even though it definitely ended up more than I thought it should have been. This one instance was bad, but in context of several dozen over the years it's not terrible. I'm sure if I said something next time they'd probably work with me.

Regarding Canada...I do feel bad for you guys, but it's not a straight forward issue. Customs alone is beyond any seller's control, and the PayPal refund guidelines don't assist much in that regard as I recall. I stopped shipping to Canada a few years ago now because of it, and would only consider now using the Global Shipping platform (which is pretty expensive I think). In the end, seems to me that trying to make Canada shipping work requires either an expensive card ($1,000 or more maybe) or several items at a time. One $12-20 card at a time just seems like a non-starter.

[Stampsfan]

Originally Posted by bounce

This is false...

Sorry, David, but it did happen to me. Not sure how you can abjectly say it's not true when you simply don't know my circumstances.

As I explained earlier in this thread, it may be because I always try to pay the seller right away, which I did in my example. In the last auction, I paid immediately, which seems to have been my mistake.

I believe next time I will hold back on payment until the entire auction is done, as that's what my learning is with PWCC.