Auction House Shipping

[Piratedogcardshows]

I think 2 days is fair enough.Albeit you did not take long to pay.So maybe I should say about the same amount of time it takes you pay.I would not expect a day or two turnaround if I took the two weeks to pay.

[sycks22]

I love the quick shipping by Goodwin, Legendary, Sterling. I'm hoping CSA will be fast, but they assured me they wait an entire 2 weeks to ship the items, which is way too long. It only takes 3-5 days max for a check to clear.

[ibuysportsephemera]

I am not ready to out the Auction House that I am annoyed at yet, but it will be a week tomorrow since I paid by paypal. The shipping always seems to be pretty high and they always include a charge for insurance which never is reflected on my packages. I know that they can be using a different service for insurance, but I doubt it. I want to check tomorrow on the status of my package.

Jeff

[YankeeCollector]

With their excessive Buyers premiums and excessive shipping costs, they should have the staff to ship within 24 hours of "cleared" payment.

I will admit I had an outstanding experience with Legendary who actually shipped my items the same day they received payment!! They didnt even wait for payment to clear! Kudos to Legendary!

[D. Bergin]

Isn't Legendary the same outfit that shipped 100's of thousands of $'s of memorabilia to a regular bidder before getting fully paid, sued them to recoup, got counter-sued, had consignment payments held up, and nearly going out of business because of it (in a previous incarnation)?

[Vintageclout]

Originally Posted by YankeeCollector

With their excessive Buyers premiums and excessive shipping costs, they should have the staff to ship within 24 hours of "cleared" payment.

I will admit I had an outstanding experience with Legendary who actually shipped my items the same day they received payment!! They didnt even wait for payment to clear! Kudos to Legendary!

I will second that notion Jim. Legendary has always provided me with super fast shipping.

Joe

[zljones]

Deleted by me

[ValKehl]

Zach - I don't believe that many, if any, of the major auction houses use the USPS for their shipments to auction winners.
Val

[zljones]

Oh, I have not bought from an auction house yet, I just thought they would use USPS, now I have no explanation for 30 days shipping.

[Boomer]

Interesting thing about checks is they never total clear. You can take your check to the bank 2 months after "clearing" and say I did not write this check. The bank will hit the other bank for the funds and you have your money back.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Boomer

Interesting thing about checks is they never total clear. You can take your check to the bank 2 months after "clearing" and say I did not write this check. The bank will hit the other bank for the funds and you have your money back.

However, at this point you are talking to their fraud prevention dept. and that is a whole different issue.

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by Leon

However, at this point you are talking to their fraud prevention dept. and that is a whole different issue.

I bet that's a department that responds quickly.

[U240robert]

Originally Posted by Boomer

Interesting thing about checks is they never total clear. You can take your check to the bank 2 months after "clearing" and say I did not write this check. The bank will hit the other bank for the funds and you have your money back.

No that's not quite as easy as you make it sound.
At this point fraud and the police may be involved.

[buymycards]

Since this is 2011, I can't understand why auction houses don't accept credit and debit cards and Paypal. 17% BP plus high shipping charges should cover the fees. Most businesses wouldn't survive using the old, outdated, time consuming payment methods. Who uses checks anymore? Send me an invoice by email and I will pay it within 5 minutes using PayPal or a debit card and my item can be shipped right away.

As far as not having the staff available to ship items right away. It seems pretty straight forward. Let's see, I'm going to have 1000 items closing on the same day, maybe I should have enough staff on hand to handle the workload. Isn't that why the shipping charges are so high in the first place? To handle the cost of shipping, supplies, and labor?

The other thing I don't understand is why auction houses allow so much time for the winners to pay for their items. In most cases shouldn't the check be in the mail within a day of receiving the invoice?

Rick

[timzcardz]

Originally Posted by TheT206Fiend

I think 2 days is fair enough.Albeit you did not take long to pay.So maybe I should say about the same amount of time it takes you pay.I would not expect a day or two turnaround if I took the two weeks to pay.

Can't necessarily agree with "the same amount of time that ti takes you to pay", unless of course they are looking at postmarks.

Reason: If the auction house doesn't accept credit cards (presumably to maximize their $) then even if I send a check out the following morning, it takes a few days to a week for them to get it. That's their choice. Now, if they are going to wait for the check to clear also . . . just poor customer service, in my opinion.

While they are awaiting the arrival of checks, there is very little reason that everything can't be packed up and ready to go, so at that point it probably shouldn't take more than a day or two to ship.

For the poll, if it takes them more than a day to ship after payment has "cleared" then something is wrong.

[calvindog]

Some houses, like Mastro/Legendary, claim that it takes 14 days for a check to clear -- and only then do they ship.

[edhans]

All sellers should have the right to wait until the funds have cleared before shipping. Problem is, different types of payments take varying times to clear and most financial institutions do not report when an item has cleared; only when it didn't. Hence the long wait times from some auction houses.

[calvindog]

Ed, in today's day and age, banks clear checks in a matter of hours or maybe a couple days. When you access your account online it is made very clear what has and what has not cleared. There is not a bank in the country which takes 14 days to clear a check unless if it's perhaps a foreign check.

[GemMintAuctions]

Originally Posted by calvindog

Ed, in today's day and age, banks clear checks in a matter of hours or maybe a couple days. When you access your account online it is made very clear what has and what has not cleared. There is not a bank in the country which takes 14 days to clear a check unless if it's perhaps a foreign check.

You can see if your check has cleared your account, but you can not see if someone else's check has cleared their account unless you have access to their account. If I deposit a check today it will usually show as part of my available account balance immediately, but that does not mean that the check has cleared the account of the person who wrote the check. According to the manager at my bank, that process can take several days and Ed is correct in that you are not notified when a check has cleared, only when it doesn't.

[egbeachley]

I can't see how anyone can expect it to go out in 1-2 days if it's the first few days from the auction end when many payments are coming in at once. Either you have hired too many employees to cover the excess, increasing overhead, or you are hiring temps that need to be watched.

[calvindog]

So the banks make it so easy to commit check kiting? You can send me a check for 500K, it clears my bank in a day or two -- without clearing the sender's bank -- then I immediately remove the 500K funds, and then the check is revealed as bad and I walk away with 500K? Wow, didn't realize that in 2011 banks make it that easy to steal.

[sbfinley]

I voted for 3-5 days, as that seems reasonable. I have no prior auction house experience, but I would assume that the largest majority of winning customers pay electronically or by mail within the first two days following the auction. Considering the size of the auction I don't find it unreasonable for the house to take a couple of days to double check winnings, combine won items, package securely, and ship out.

That being said, our hobby is one of wants not necessities. So if waiting two weeks to receive my auction winnings is the largest annoyance I have in a month, I can consider that a good month.

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by edhans

All sellers should have the right to wait until the funds have cleared before shipping. Problem is, different types of payments take varying times to clear and most financial institutions do not report when an item has cleared; only when it didn't. Hence the long wait times from some auction houses.

I've been out of the auction house game for a while now, so I'm also curious what's reasonable. I went to the trouble of buying a cashier's check and mailing it priority to the auction house. They received it last Thursday and are apparently sitting on it - they have a very fancy software system that shows they have been paid, but that they haven't shipped. What's up with sitting on cashier's checks? I look at it this way - I hold up my end by paying promptly and in a manner that's risk-free to them, despite the massive shipping charges - they should ship promptly. I'm not even complaining about the Fedex ground that I will end up having to drive an hour to pick up at the Fedex office.

I also won a smaller lot from the same auction house previously and paid by Paypal. Nine days later they finally shipped.

I always paid Mastro by check and the items were always shipped promptly - same for Hunts, Lelands, the Burkes, Lipset, etc. Not sure what's up with these other guys, but it's nice to have plenty of additional choices.

Edited to add something positive, since it's almost Thanksgiving: I miss the experiences like the one that I had with Leland's back when the Astros were a playoff contender. I won a gorgeous Wilson 1971 Astros jacket and wanted to be able to wear it to the game - I called Lelands and they made sure it was shipped immediately. I had it in plenty of time and I've never forgotten that. Good service goes a long way. I'm looking forward to sporting that same jacket in 2013 when the Astros begin visiting Seattle regularly

[calvindog]

Scott, would it make you feel any differently about the auction house that shipped promptly if you found out someone's dog was an underbidder on your lot?

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by calvindog

Scott, would it make you feel any differently about the auction house that shipped promptly if you found out someone's dog was an underbidder on your lot?

Jeff, I'm grateful that you and others are helping protect us from fraud. Really - thanks. If I can help in any way I will (as I have in the past), but as you can see, I don't currently pull enough weight to even get prompt shipping.

[Anthony S.]

Originally Posted by calvindog

Scott, would it make you feel any differently about the auction house that shipped promptly if you found out someone's dog was an underbidder on your lot?

A Shilltie?

[glchen]

I personally like Legendary's policy, which may be shared by a few other auction houses also. They say that the first 3 wins, they will take the full 2 weeks for the check to clear. However, any wins after that, they will ship immediately to you upon receipt of your check. I assume that this is within reason, e.g., if you have 3 small wins, but then have a 10K win, they'll probably still wait for your check to fully clear. If you want your wins immediately, you should send a money order or bank cashier's check (or paypal if the auction allows it). For those, I think the auction house should ship immediately. Cashier's checks often have a few, but you may want to check w/ your bank. My bank (Chase) has free cashier's checks because I have a premium checking account w/ them, which is also free since Chase also holds my mortgage. If you have winnings from one of the smaller auction houses, shipping can take a bit of time even if you paid via Paypal. A lot of these don't have a dedicated shipping department, and it might only be one person doing all of the shipping. Therefore, if a bunch of people paid by paypal immediately after auction close, the person is going to be overwhelmed. This happened to me before, which is fully understandable.