Auction House Shipping Price, what is reasonable?

[Exhibitman]

Throwing in a good word for Lelands:

Last auction I won from them was over 2,000 cards and it was heavy because the vast majority were in albums and sheets. Lelands charged me $65 to ship it, which was very reasonable IMO considering what I've had to spend to ship similar heavy packages across the country.

The worst gouging I ever got was from Skinner in MA. Not only was the shipping cost 20% of the price, I had to use a third party packing/shipping service because Skinner didn't do it in-house, and they broke one of the cabinet cards I bought with their crappy packing.

There is no excuse for charging more than a few bucks above the flat rate box rate to ship anything that can be shipped via USPS flat rate box. I know some AHs think they have to use special packaging to present a corporate image, but really, none of us collectors care about image. I mean, look at the scruffy bunch of ruffians at the National. Half the attendees look homeless but have five figures in cash in their jorts.

I'm a big fan of how REA handles it: a flat price, you know it in advance, you don't have to worry about a nasty little surprise.