Auction House Shipping

[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.

[vintagechris]

Originally Posted by 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.

Banks put a hold on checks at a certain amount.

[edhans]

Jeff,
GemMintAuctions and vintagechris are correct. The funds appear in your account as available within a day or two, but they often haven't cleared the payer's bank by then. They will freeze some larger transactions depending on the history and size of your account. The point was that while most domestic checks do clear in a day or two as you correctly stated, certain types of accounts and checks drawn on off-shore banks can take significantly longer.

[thecatspajamas]

I may be cynical after dealing with impatient eBay buyers for so long, but I think anyone demanding same-day shipping service should first have to assemble and pack a hundred or more orders in a day themselves. Keep in mind that in most cases, you're not talking about all individual slabbed cards that you can just toss in a mailer and slap a label on it and you're done. These guys typically have to deal with all different shapes and sizes of items which may be combined in any kind of unpredictable manner depending on who bid on what.

Frankly, I'm surprised by how fast they get my stuff to me as it is, especially when some of these auctions have 1000+ lots in them. My personal philosophy is "get it to me when you can, just pack it well and don't lose it." I would actually expect it to take longer to turn around if I get my payment in quickly since it's going to hit at the same time as who knows how many other buyers', as opposed to those straggling payments that come in after everybody else's stuff has already shipped out.

Without knowing for sure which auction house the OP is referring to, I would point out that most of them give an estimated shipping time from when your payment clears. If they're still within their stated timeframe, I don't think you have any room to complain since you agreed to that when you bid in the auction. You might suggest to them ways they can improve their service, but you can't expect them to tailor their business to the wishes of every individual customer. If you can't wait a couple more days for your cardboard, then don't bid with them.

[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.

[barrysloate]

Wasn't the survey question how long an auction house should wait to ship after a check has cleared? Once it clears, the orders should be sent ASAP.

[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.

[calvindog]

Ahhhh see that's where you're wrong. I get slow shipping too. Paypal? Slow shipping. Wired funds? Slow shipping.

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by calvindog

Ahhhh see that's where you're wrong. I get slow shipping too. Paypal? Slow shipping. Wired funds? Slow shipping.

Okay, thanks. It was probably always slow for me as well and I've just forgotten over the years. In the future I'll just send personal checks and forget about it.

Have a good Thanksgiving. Time to go start preparing the traditional Thanksgiving meatloaves.

[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?

[calvindog]

Well played, sir.

[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.