How Much is too Much Shipping Charges- Auction Houses

[jcmtiger]

This comes up almost every time an auction ends. I guess you have to expect high shipping charges on most auctions. Bidders probably make out better when they buy high priced items.

Joe

[ibuysportsephemera]

Burn me once, shame on you, burn me twice shame on me. Last night, I won a $15 program from Mears. They are charging me $14.95 (including $2 of meaningless insurance) for shipping. I think that I will stick to eBay going forward. At least the shipping costs are advertised and there is recourse for items that are not as described.

Jeff G@rf!nkel

[keithsky]

What gets me about the 2.00 insurance they charged you is insurance is FREE with UPS, FEDEX up to 100.00 and now the PO up to 50.00 with them so the 2.00 is a total ripoff. I would contact them and complain that they are ripping you off since your item only cost 15.00 there should be NO cost for insurance.

[earlywynnfan]

I'll let MEARS defend themselves on this one, but I must share that I was speaking about shipping insurance with another company this past summer, and they said that their insurance company makes certain shipping policies mandatory, including postal insurance. Now, obviously some common sense would help, but we all know that there's way too little common sense out there.

Ken

[perezfan]

It's quickly getting worse, across the board (with Mears being especially high). Mears uses FedEx as its primary carrier, but you can request USPS for certain shipments. Using USPS typically knocks off maybe 15 - 20% of their original shipping quote.

Regardless, it's very clear to me that many of these Auction Houses are using shipping/insurance as a "profit center". Even when I account for exhorbitant shipping, the actual charge far exceeds all expectation.

The one exception I'd like to note is eBay Seller, Bob McCann. His shipping charge is always reasonable, and I've noticed he actually lost money on shipping, for the last couple of purchases I've made.

[Exhibitman]

It is a complete rip-off and has caused me to rethink making bids on low price items with AHs, because between the vig and the shipping it adds a huge percentage to the price. I won a $125 card in the most recent Legendary auction. Legendary billed me as follows:

Sub-Total: $125.00
Buyers Premium: $24.38
Shipping: $16.46
Total: $165.84

$16.46 to ship one PSA-graded card worth less than $150! They claim it is $13.50 to ship via Fed Ex Ground [they won't just mail it to me because the post office is supposedly unreliable], $2.50 'handling' [materials I suppose] and $1.46 for insurance.

Let's start with the shipping charge itself. I happen to be a Fed Ex business customer so I have access to Fed Ex Ground's website calculator. I can ship an 8 oz package [2x the weight of a single PSA card packed in a bubble mailer with stiffeners] to Legendary from the delivery address at my office using a 12 x 9 x 1 box with a declared value of $150 for $11.48. WTF?!?!? How is their big shipping company rate worse than my little vendor single item rate? What's even more galling, I can make the same shipment through the mail for under two bucks w/o insurance, under $5 with insurance. And have been doing so for years with virtually no losses.

For the next round of stinkum on the rose, let's talk insurance. Rather than insuring to value on a per-item basis, any normal business would purchase its own inventory policy on consigned items. As a vendor, all shipments are covered up to an overall policy limit that I can choose, with a small deductible per claim that I can also choose, meaning that I don't even have to buy separate insurance. Even worse for me personally, I have my own shipping insurance from CIA with my card collection insurance so I am paying twice for coverage.

In my humble opinion one or two things is going on: shipping is a huge profit center and/or since it is an entirely externalized cost, the AHs just don't give a damn what it costs since it is all coming out of the buyer's pocket.

FWIW, after I gave Legendary the above info they offered to shave $2 off the bill. Thanks. Now I can get a small coffee...

Now, let's compare with the single card I won in the recent Love of the Game auction:

Sub-Total: $500.00
Buyers Premium: $90.00
Shipping: $8.95
Total: $598.95

That's how you get repeat business; way to go Al.

[GoCubsGo32]

Here's my rant ON MEARS:

I found MEARS Auction online, and saw some cool items. I registered to bid, agree upon "terms and policies". I end up winning my item. I got my invoice and was blown away with the added chargers. I understand the buyer's premium, but I'm really confused about the shipping.

I won ONE photo 4x4 inch, and shipping is $12.00 + $3.00 insurance?!?! No where on the website did it mention prices or them adding insurance to shipping. In addition, they said, there's no delivery confirmation for items shipped? What kind of shipping service cost $15.00 without delivery confirmation included?

I probably would of not bid on the auction had they mention the price of shipping and that they added insurance. Since my item I won, wasn't very expensive. So, my questions is...

When I registered for the website to bid, I agreed to terms and policies, but no where does it state shipping cost of any kind or shipping service. The only thing mention in their "terms and policies" for shipping that was mention was that it takes (5-7 days) for them to ship it out. Nor on the auction page did it mention any price for shipping or type of service at all. The question is are you still obligated to pay for their shipping rate?



Ga.ry Scame.horn

[ibuysportsephemera]

As I mentioned in the post that started this thread, I have had to call Mears to get the shipping reduced in the past. I just paid for my program from the current auction and will not be bidding with them in the future.

Reading GOCUBS post, it really makes me wonder what these AH's think with the excessive shipping charges. This was his first experience with Mears and will probably be his last. It makes no sense to me???

Jeff