REA invoice

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Posted By: Robert

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

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Posted By: barrysloate

Mine were very high too, but I would suggest you speak with Rob and ask him how he calculates it.

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Posted By: Brian

I was charged $28 shipping for 3 cards...while this seems high, I'm assuming shipping insurance may have something to do with it. I guess I'll see how much REA was charged for shipping when my cards arrive.

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Posted By: Dan Koteles

I take the time to call every auction house for accuracy and making sure that I have my stuff overnighted. Rob was very nice in getting my products to me and is as professional as one could ask for.

Thanks Again Rob
-Dan

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Posted By: Anonymous

mine was just a tad more than what I expected.

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Posted By: Brian

This was my first experience with REA and overall it was very positive. I will come back again

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Posted By: Bottom of the Ninth

Agreed. Take it up with Rob before you crucify the guy here. To me the shipping is a cost of doing business. If you cannot afford the shipping then you should not be bidding.

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Posted By: Todd Schultz

It's a perfectly legitimate complaint. It's not at all about whether you can afford it, it's a question of how it was calculated and whether it was fair. I too would find $200 out of line, and would want to know why/how it came to be so much. I would agree that it should be brought up with Rob or someone at REA first, however.

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Posted By: Josh

My shipping bill was $110 on a $5200 tab. Let's just say when the box is all packed, it weighs 10 pounds (which is likely impossible unless they toss some rocks in there too). If the package is sent Registered with $5200 in insurance, plus sig. confirmation, restricted delivery & return receipt, the bill for that would be just under $35. I can understand some sort of nominal handling charge, but from what I have heard for others about outrageously high shipping charges, it seems they are nickel and diming here. You would think that the 26% in commission on every dollar they grossed would be enough.

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Posted By: leon

and great people....shipping for me was about $82 on 16k....I thought it was a little high too.....I would think the other 1% (16% vs 15%) could have paid for something....and not just the ebay fees. That 1% extra did cost me $160 or so.....so some of the other major auctions seem to be a little less costly...not that I am griping as no one forced me to bid, and I am still happy, but still.....

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Posted By: Josh K.

If someone on ebay were charging $200 to ship 14 cards we would all be having a hissy fit right about now. Heck, Ive seen posts vilifying sellers charging as little as $6 a card. Why the double standard. This actually makes me glad I didnt win any lots from REA.

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Posted By: Bottom of the Ninth

My understanding is that, like Mastro, REA is using an expedited shipping service. Whether that is an insurance requirement or strictly to get winners their lots quicker, I do not know. My invoice was 21K and I got small ungraded sets and a couple of groupings and my shipping was $70, much better than the $1000 that first appeared on the online invoice.

I am sure that Rob will read this and end up posting. He has continually proved to be hands on and up front with every aspect of the auction.

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Posted By: DJ

I was outbid in this auction and I know REA members lurk and sometimes add to the discussion but this thread makes me think twice about purchasing something out of principle in the future.

I talked to two other collectors that were gauged as well. This is amazing to me that such a wonderful auction company would go the extra invisible mile and add to their bottomline in such a fashion.

I can understand these charges if a member of the REA staff gets in their automobile and drives the item to me (with gas prices the way they are) and the box is made out of solid gold, but I highly doubt that to be the case and therefore I stand on my original disappointing future first-hand complaint.

DJ

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Posted By: Josh K.

Ok, so Leon wins 16k worth of material and is charged $82, BOTN wins 21k worth of cards and is charged $70. Apparently insurance is not the reason for the high shipping charges or you would expect a larger shipping charge to be incurred by BOTN (absent some unusually large packaging requirements for Leon's loot.)

Frankly, to me it seems like random selection - how much do you think we can get away with charging.

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Posted By: Scott Forrest

but there's a limit to how much I like to be "handled".

I recently contacted an auction house directly about this, and they reduced the costs to a lesser "shipping & fondling" charge.

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Posted By: Josh K.

LOL

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Posted By: FRank

REA 1 card $25.....Goodwin 2 cards, same value as REA, $12.

Frank

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Posted By: Julie

There was the first one, if you were nosing around the first night, with 1K extra on it. O.K. So I waited 3 days and got a second one: 1,1,70. (Which is what I got from Ben--I was bidding for him). Then, right before I sent my money order, I had an invoice printed out to enclose with the money order--and now it's $1,185! $25 shipping--a 2 1/2 inch diasmeter mirror was packed in a small box, and then put in a HUMUNGOUS box, with lots of bubble wrap. Like to some others, it seemed a little high...but -1 day service can hardly be beat.

Is the mirror glass? I don't know; it feels like it might be. On the back are small photos, very exact, of the 1909 Pirates' championship team. Neat item.

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Posted By: leon

Were a card and a Kalamazoo carton. The carton might have cost a few more bucks to ship due to size. I am not advocating REA do anything and am not expecting them to. I was merely expressing a personal opinion. I don't really even know how much insurance would be on 16k anyway....later

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Posted By: Jay Miller

I believe that insurance through UPS is 35 cents/$100. However, I think the major auction houses (read Mastro, REA) have seperate insurance policies to handle shipping. I would think that the rates they pay are less than the UPS rate, possibly significantly less. Could it be that they are using shipping as an additional profit generator? I don't know although I'm sure that it would not be the first time that this has been done. Perhaps someone from REA could comment on this and end the confusion.
BTW, Lew Lipset always charges actual USPS registered insurance costs and it appears from my invoice that Goodwin & Co. is doing the same. Kudos to those guys.

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Posted By: Wesley

5 cards
$8700

$80 shipping and handling

Seems a little high, but that's ok.

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Posted By: Brian

I am not gripping about the shipping charge and I'm not asking for it to be reduced, unless of course I hear other people getting their shipping charge reduce. Here is my experience, my lot closed at $1972 (with the buyer's premium), then $28 was added as shipping bringing a nice rounded total to $2000. I'm not the smartest man in the world, but I think it's more likely that $28 for shipping was a nice figure to round the total to a convenient $2000 rather than a fancy mathematical formula that coincidentally rounded the total to an even amount.

I'm not complaining because I have an APO address that restricts the shipping to USPS and won't allow for UPS or Fedex. There are numerous internet companies that will gouge me for an APO address. For example, I wanted to purchase an IPOD recently, price was $180 plus an additional $8.95 for shipping, but since I was an APO address the shipping was $30. I shopped around some more and found a company that would ship to me for free.

For those who are asking what an APO address is, it stands for Army Post Office. Nearly the same as a P.O. Box, the only difference being the shipper must fill out a custom's form and can't use delivery confirmation (they can use return receipt). Shipping is calculated the same as shipping to New York City. Many business charge extra because "someone" has to stand in line at the post office to mail the package. But when someone wants to charge $30 to do so, I will take my business else where out of principle.

After five years overseas, I am so happy to finally be coming home soon. I feel truly blessed that the post office has not damaged or lost a single package of several hundred during that time frame. I also thank that large percentage of Ebay sellers and some select merchants for shipping to APO addresses at no added cost.

It sounds like the shipping cost I incurred from REA was similar if not lower than other customers. Add my APO situation and excellent customer service from REA, I am happy.

Brian

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Posted By: warshawlaw

Perish the thought.

I posted something recently about being hit for $25 on a $254 in one auction and drew little response.

It seems to me that the shipping gouging, like the commissions, is getting worse. I was turned off of some of the REA lots I looked at because between 16% vig and what I expected to be very high shipping, I had to assume I'd have an 18% - 20% hit on anything I bought.

I also commend Lew for not doing this to bidders.

And yes, if you have private commercial insurance it will cover shipping and you can ship with any form of delivery confirmed service, so there is no excuse for excessive shipping fees.

It also strikes me as rather stupid to gouge big $$ customers on nickel and dime stuff like shipping.

Like they say in DC, a million here, a million there and pretty soon you're talking about real money.

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Posted By: DJ

We are all 'card people', imagine the shipping on some of the larger items. Paintings? Bats? Bobble Lots?

I'm surprised REA hasn't made an appearence since this thread was started. They are here to tell us about the status of the auctions, answer questions and sent us all a newsletter, but when it comes to perhaps giving the good people an explanation to why the charges seem to be so high, you hear crickets.

DJ

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Posted By: Brian

I don't know about shipping for the larger items in REA. But I have purchased heavy framed paintings 24x36 from England and the Ukraine and Fedex International Priority was only $85-110.

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Posted By: DJ

I talked to a collector just now who won four unframed Perez Steele/ Donruss Paintings and shipping was $140. $140 seems a tad high as well. I won a framed check and mat display that weighed twice this and Lelands charged me $40.

You pay 16% VIG and in some cases 6% tax if you live in New Jersey and then the shipping costs... Nickel and Diming is simply an incorrect way of creating a better bottom line.

Last year I wanted to purchase some Lakers 8x10 signed photos for an employee, some of the common guys. Mychel Thompson, Michael Cooper and Kurt Rambis. This seller on eBay had some and the starting bid was $.99. I thought 'Great!' and as I was about to bid, I saw $10 shipping. $10 shipping for a photo? I e-mailed him asking him if he sent it Fed Ex and if I could combine shipping and he said 'Priority Mail' and no discounts on shipping. This person would make an amazing $26 on shipping!

The difference is that this seller disclosed his shipping charges.

DJ
Edit to say: I understand you can't do anything about the sales tax and some simply get punished a little more for living in a particular state and not having a tax money. Merely to point out that things simply add up and on top of the expected costs, you have the shipping charge to deal with that is unexpected.

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Posted By: Dan Koteles

did anyone voice their complaint with him ?...would seem to me the easiest way of reason. Reasoning here is accepting and does nothing. I have the lowest carpet prices in MICHIGAN and would love to have you all as customers, I'd mark all the prices up so I could buy a REAL OLD JUDGE !!!!!

For the most part , if you have a lot that went for 15k and you pay a large postage, could it have been possible that you would have went 16k on the lot???

We still have the best food, roads ,water, schools,etc.....there are kids that dont even get a meal, be thankful you can afford your prize!

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Posted By: Bill Stone

This seems to be a recurring theme of excessive shipping costs--( see April posts). I won't bid on an ebay item unless the shipping/handling fees are clearly stated or confirmed by the seller by email. Why don't the auction houses state the fees in advance? They know the size and weight of the item and the rates of insurance can be stated as the actual cost. While I had no reasonable expectation that I would be sucessful in the REA Auction ( way below the actual sale prices) I wasn't aware that this could be such a problem --just so they know I am sure there are other bidders , like me, that like to know in advance the bottom line on a bid. Other than this negative aspect it really was a great auction.

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Posted By: DJ

Dan is correct!

I'm the first to admit that I have the luxury of collecting these pieces of paper with my spare monies where others simply can't afford to do so. We should all be lucky.

It's a Forum and while these problems seem rather pismire in comparison to problems of the world. As far as the 'Collecting' crowd, this may be necessary as REA may change their shipping policies in the future because of this.


DJ

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Posted By: HW

I can see the concern about the shipping costs - they probaby do not only take into consideration actual postage and insurance costs, but also handling and packing supplies also. I have won auction from most of the major auction houses and they vary very widely as to what they charge and how well they pack the items. Sotheby's is by far the most expensive that I have enountered.

There is no reason to complain about the New Jersey sales tax. It is the law. What do you expect him to do?

Also, the 16% buyer's premium is clearly stated in his catalog. Just take it into consideration before you bid. Others are higher. I think that Leland's is 17.5%, Heritage 19.5%, Sotheby's 20%, etc. REA surely increased their buyer's premium by 1% because they thought that the collectors would not alter their bidding patters over a "measly" 1% increase. Meanwhile it put another $70,000 or so into his pocket. This is obvioulsly just a business decision to help with net profit.

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Posted By: Dan Koteles

back to you DJ ,the necessity for this is true. Had I been unhappy ,I would have been reasonable in negotiating the shipping . It only takes a moment of time to tell someone how you feel.

I certainly hope that one could spare the dime for the long distance phone call over the complaint of the shipping cost. To me these should be more simple matters then what they appear.

It is possible that there is an error in this and would make more reason for the call. I doubt now that this same problem will occur . They are very nice to deal with.

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Posted By: DJ

If I buy 14 cards for whatever amount and they charge me $200 and the actual shipping is say only $50 (I'm being generous), why am I paying an extra $150 when I shouldn't? Why would Mastro charge me $20 or Lelands $30?

By saying "Well, you paid $10K for this card, then $70 for shipping won't hurt you" is wrong. The auction house is making money on both percentages and now a very little amount off the very back end.

Other auction companies charge larger %%%%% sure (up to 20%) so basically I can go to REA and pay 16% and get 'gauged on shipping' or I can go to an 18% house and not get gauged on shipping. It basically adds up to the same amount, doesn't it?

In the REA description for the 1937 Rock-Ola World Series Arcade game, it says "...shipping fees could be as little as $1,000 or as much $2,000+". How would that make you feel? If this item (which is very heavy) ships out for $1,000, that's only five times the price asked on 14 cards OR this could cost you thousands and thousands. I guess on this one, you'd call.

To me, if you do not disclose your shipping prices (which auction houses don't) and are charged more than you should, that's a hidden expense or a hidden cost.

DJ

edit to add to Dan's comments:

Dan, I understand your point and I have never won anything from REA. I did in fact try hard this time but was shut out. So basically everyone gets an invoice with high amounts of postage, so it is the buyer's responsiblity, everyone who won something to call them and get them to lower it? Won't all the phones jam? How many people actually will get them to lower it? How many will try? How many simply won't and simply pay the amount on the invoice?

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Posted By: DJ

Okay, I think I'm off my soap box. It's a big pet peeve of mine, Sorry Leon And Co.. Imagine how I'd be if I won something and tried to get them to negotiate a lower shipping price? I'm not doubting their 'Greatness' as is evident in their Inventory and they truly are a force to be reckon'd with.

I am surprised that Rob didn't chime in with a statement or sorts.

Oh well.

Ooooo, what do I see? An Anti-Dave Bushing thread that just started? Haven't seen one of those in a...few days. Gotta run!



Your slightly perturbed Baseball Card Friend,
DJ

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Posted By: leon

Of course we are very fortunate to be able to nit pick about cards we have won and the associated charges. We are not going to cure the world's problems. We are all very lucky to have our health (those of us that do) and a few pennies to spend on cards. That being said the shipping costs were still too high...regards

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Posted By: DJ

The next REA auction, I will win something on my wish list (Buck Ewing and Mascot OJ in EX or better, Harry and Sam Wright CDV, any Breisch-Williams) and when I get my Invoice, I will scratch out the Postage and Handling price and simply include a 37 cent Self-Addressed-Stamped-Envelope instead and send it with a certified check on it's way!

DJ

Note: If slabbed, will return bubble envelope and $2 cash for postage.

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Posted By: warshawlaw

It is going to be with Lew. 10%. Do you realize that between buyer and seller an auction house charging 20% is chewing through 30-40% of the item for its fee?

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Posted By: barrysloate

Hey leon- I think it's nit picking, not knit- we're not knitting a sweater, but picking out nits. Just thought I'd give you a hard time. Hope you had a nice weekend.

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Posted By: leon

It looked wrong when I typed it but I was too lazy to look it up. Sometimes I do well on grammar and sometimes I don't. I think it's a Texan thing....I am having a nice weekend and the shipping was still too expensive. Btw, have you ever seen a nit? Tiny rascals they are....

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Posted By: Buck Mulligan

nit wit ?

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Posted By: Dan Koteles

i really am not saying that noone is not overpaying, again, you could contact the responsible party and find the reason. There could be other factors playing a part , which some of you may know. As for now ,I dont see there being a problem in the future. If the phone lines are jammed and one is the adament to question the shipping , it is no different then being in a bank line on a Friday afternoon...you must be patient.

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Posted By: Julie

us littler spenders, to whom a nickle and a dime mean something?

THOSE WHO DO NOT LIKE CONTROVERSY DO NOT REASD BELOW THIS LINE:
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++
Response to some patriotic soul earlier: we do NOT have the best schools...and we have the highest infant mortality rate of any industrialized country. And we are one of about 6 countries that does not have national health care...South Africa just adopted it.

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Posted By: Dan Koteles

you can put me to the forefront to defend I dont mind. Address the culprit if you feel like you have been robbed. Better things to whine about ...like, why does S.Africa have national health care and we dont????....haa???

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Posted By: Scott Forrest

your buddy Hillary sure dropped the ball on that one...let's make her president.

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Posted By: barrysloate

Hey Leon- Server was down all morning so this is my first chance to respond to your important question: no I've never seen a nit, I don't think they've made it up to Brooklyn. I assume they are like lice, so if your kid comes home with them you are picking nits out of his/her scalp. They sound ghastly. And yes, I believe "nit wit" is based on those little critters- as in having a brain the size of a nit. Well, glad this discussion isn't too far off topic. And yes, my postage was too expensive too. I just didn't feel like saying anything. It's the cost of doing business, I guess.

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Posted By: Julie

......

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Posted By: barrysloate

Lice is the plural of louse. See, you learn something new every day.

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Posted By: Jay Miller

Just like---mice is the plural of mouse and hice is the plural of house.

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Posted By: barrysloate

Something like that.

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Posted By: Despres Louis

I was charged $25.00 for shipping and handling. All I won was a single pinback. Cheers