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Robert Edward AuctionsI was very surprised to read of Bresdo’s complaint regarding REA shipping on his invoice posted on May 7:
“I just got my REA invoice and my eyes popped because they are charging me $200.00 to send 14 cards. The last Mastros auction I won 3 complete sets of over 1,000 cards and they sent it to me UPS blue for less money then what REA wants. And the Mastro value was more then 5 times REA so that is not a factor. THere is no way I am going to pay it, is anybody else getting fleeced? I figure the most it can be is $25.00 to send it registered Mail, not $200”
I agree that $200 is an absurd charge for shipping 14 cards (unless they were of such extraordinary value that insurance would necessitate such a charge). If ever someone received an invoice with a shipping and insurance charge which appeared to be unreasonable, we would hope that they would contact us directly to address it. There is always the possibility of a mistake on an invoice for shipping. These figures are computed and entered in a single day, and whenever there is data entry by humans there is the potential for human error. It is also the case that sometimes a more economical shipping method would be more appropriate for some items (we send virtually everything one or two day service as that this what most people prefer). We are very accessible and responsive and are always anxious to make our buyers happy. There has never been a time when a buyer expressed concern over shipping that we have not been able to make them happy. That’s good business.
With reference to this publicly posted complaint, I immediately looked into this and what I found was a little surprising. According to our records, this buyer has misread his bill and was never billed $200 for shipping and insurance for 14 cards. The billed shipping charge for overnight delivery including insurance was $65, less than one-third of what was stated to be the case. In an effort to be responsive I called the buyer during the weekend and was able to address his shipping to his satisfaction. This is nothing more or less than we would have done had he called or written us expressing concern. I asked if he would mind checking his invoice again as our records do not show what he was claiming but unfortunately he did not have his invoice handy. I don’t know how it is possible for his invoice to read $200 and for our records to show a different number. I believe he just misread the bill as there was no question he was sincere. (If his bill does say $200 we will have to address how this could have possibly occurred). He promised to check it and get back to us on Monday. Mistakes happen and either way there are certainly no hard feelings. We very much appreciate Bresdo’s participation in our auction and that is why it is our pleasure to make sure he is happy with shipping and handling. I do not personally take care of computing the shipping and insurance charges. The person who does is instructed to compute the actual shipping and insurance charges. With so many invoices there is always the possibility that some are computed a little low and some are computed a little high. Sometimes the method of shipping can have a significant impact on shipping charges, in particular for large-sized items. Very big items such as paintings, framed items, or uncut sheets can sometimes cost a lot more to ship than people think because they are oversized, and are therefore computed for shipping by Fed Ex and UPS as being the equivalent in terms of cost to shipping a much heavier package. That’s just how they compute the shipping charges on large items. The most important thing to communicate here is that we would always graciously adjust shipping charges for any buyer who feels the charge is too high, and if desired by the purchaser we are also always receptive to sending items via a preferred shipping method if one is available that is satisfactory. We don’t make money on shipping and insurance. I hope that in the future that anyone who has an issue with their shipping charges will take the time to call or write to communicate directly with us so that we could have the opportunity to try to make you happy. It is always possible that an error could be made, and even if it hasn’t, if the buyer believes the charge is excessive, we would always adjust it anyway.
Sincerely,
Robert Lifson
President
Robert Edward Auctions LLC
www.RobertEdwardAuctions.com
05-08-2005, 07:37 PM
REA Response to Invoice Thread
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thanks again
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