What would you do? (Insane shipping quotes)

[Undead]

Just curious what some of you have done in the past.

I won't name names just yet but here's my tale.

I bought $450 or so worth of posters from a small auction house in New York State recently which their original terms said would go to a UPS store for shipping, I know scary enough. They had never updated their terms to say it instead goes to a different small time private shipper instead. So far no real problem though. Yesterday I received a quote on shipping said posters, mind you it's only a few one sheets, for a whopping $110.76.  It is broken down as $58.36 in materials, $46.75 in shipping from NY State to NJ, carrier not noted, plus $5.65 insurance which tells me it's likely USPS.

Needless to say my jaw hit the floor and a flood of expletives rolled out of my mouth when I read that, some I think we're actually in Gaelic which makes no sense since I don't speak it. So, what would you do in my place?

[jayn_j]

road trip!

[Undead]

About three hours each way, already looked into that idea. 

[Crazy Vick]

I would ask for the service they are using, u should have cheaper options.

Main issue -  how in god's name they can justify packing materials at that cost?  Are packaging each posterfor  shipping flat?  That's unnacceptable.  Also call the auction site and get them to call and smarten the other guy up or you will shame them here and all over the net and they will lose a ton of $

[Simes]

You could send them your own poster tube, wrapping paper, insurance and stamps to cover the postage.

And since they don't quote you for time and handling, you may get the poster shipped for zero extra charge from them.  Mention that to them and see what they say.

[jayn_j]

I would ask for the service they are using, u should have cheaper options.

Main issue -  how in god's name they can justify packing materials at that cost?  Are packaging each posterfor  shipping flat?  That's unnacceptable.  Also call the auction site and get them to call and smarten the other guy up or you will shame them here and all over the net and they will lose a ton of $

And I would bet even money it would come in a triangle tube

[jayn_j]

About three hours each way, already looked into that idea. 

Oh, you Easterners.  Back when I lived in Colorado, we used to drive 3 hours just to go to dinner 

[erik1925]

Call em and complain, Mike. No way the packing materials would ever cost that much. And are these all folded one sheets? (not that it matters, just curious).

That auction house needs to be alerted. Hopefully, they dont say they dont have control over what the shipper charges. But for sure call that shipper. Even if they are the party responsible for packaging them, this parcel could be sent via USPS priority for a handful of dollars.

But that materials fee needs to be smashed, first. Man, I'd be broiling, too. 

[Undead]

Driving that far especially when I have been going back and forth to Virginia for family matters is just not in the cards right now.

I sent them the link to my how to ship page, offered to send them prepaid materials, etc. So far they have only revised their price down to a mere $71. I sent them another message asking for a specific breakdown again and telling them again how to ship but do not expect much better. Next step will be the threat of bad feedback online which I have to do.

[Undead]

Just going to cut and paste the latest response, makes life easier.

I have reduced the final total for you.

The following is a price for boxes, packing and shipping via UPS Ground and USPS Parcel Select with a breakdown for each shipping method.

Shipping UPS Ground

Box: $9.99 +tax
Materials and packing charge: $19.99 +tax
Shipping: $20.80
Insurance: $5.65 (purchase value of items)

Total: $58.87


Shipping USPS Parcel Select

Box: $9.99 +tax
Materials and packing charge: $19.99 +tax
Shipping: $16.30@7lbs. (estimated final packing weight)
Insurance: Although they are a reliable service, we no longer insure items for loss or damage when shipping USPS.

Total: $48.72

I have estimated all posters to be rolled into one and placed into a heavy duty cardboard tube. That tube will then be minimally wrapped and placed into a box.

If we do not use a box to ship the items in then the carriers do charge a non-boxed fee. This non-boxed fee is about $13.00-$16.00.

If you have any more questions or concerns please let me know and I will get back to you as soon as I am able.

I ship a reasonable amount of times per year and have never heard of an extra charge for a tube instead of a box, skipping the insurance on USPS is absurd to say the least and they must be using lead tubes to reach 7lbs. in shipping weight with three one sheets worth of weight in it.

Priority mail, guessing at a box of 36" x 6" x 6" and weighing 7lbs, would cost a whole $17.75 insured.

[erik1925]

My question is:

Why would a tube containing several rolled OS posters weigh 7 pounds?

That makes no sense (to me). 

[Crazy Vick]

Well if they are a middle man they will charge a handling fee. Mike didn't guernsey's charge you one a couple yars ago?  They charged me about 20$ as they wre picking up the posters from the auction house.

Also Canada Post charges a tube/cylinder fee.  Yep its stupid the one guy told me its because the tubes can't be stacked with square boxes and roll all over the place.  That said the fee is minimal at $1.50.  So its would be pretty stupid to put a tube in a box to avoid it

[Undead]

I am all for them making a profit, that is their business model. If they had even come in around $50 or so the first time I likely would not have been ecstatic but would not have said anything. This is their fourth number after starting out at $110. Their options are insanely limited, UPS ground or USPS parcel and they won't even add insurance if USPS. Their statement for why not makes no sense at all. I am betting the actual packing will be lacking at best. Hopefully not but I am not feeling optimistic at the moment.

The box fee would be brand new to me but I only ship via USPS and have never had to deal with it outgoing. If the fee exists then it exists, is it what they quoted? That may be another story.

[MoviePosterBid.com]

shaking my head

[kubu]

I have the same problem always considering to bid at an auction of those more or less traditional auction houses in UK. Most of them refuse shipping outside the empire or charge prohibitive amounts (90£ for a tube while the royal mail fare is 13£). In many cases I was referred to specialized mailing companies who (of course) make money and charge 60-100£.

Worst case was a gallery near Miami I tried buying a few posters for approx 600$. When we had fixed the deal they calculated 250$ for "shipping" what turned out to include: 50$ "Paypal-Loss", 50$ Packing and tube, 120$ shipping with usps (everybody knows usps priority mail is tracked and insured for 50$) + 30$ insurance. Very sad but the seller refused any discount and we had no deal in the end.

[erik1925]

I have the same problem always considering to bid at an auction of those more or less traditional auction houses in UK. Most of them refuse shipping outside the empire or charge prohibitive amounts (90£ for a tube while the royal mail fare is 13£). In many cases I was referred to specialized mailing companies who (of course) make money and charge 60-100£.

Worst case was a gallery near Miami I tried buying a few posters for approx 600$. When we had fixed the deal they calculated 250$ for "shipping" what turned out to include: 50$ "Paypal-Loss", 50$ Packing and tube, 120$ shipping with usps (everybody knows usps priority mail is tracked and insured for 50$) + 30$ insurance. Very sad but the seller refused any discount and we had no deal in the end.

That seller/gallery was totally trying to fleece you with these outrageous shipping costs and so-called associated fees. A 50.00 Paypal loss fee? 120.00 to mail the tube via USPS?    UGH!

Sorry that the deal fell thru but you're better off for it. No reason to help this gallery owner line his pockets with all of that added cash, and, more importantly, that YOU were out all that extra $$$. That would have stung greatly, had you gone thru with that deal.

Have you seen these same posters offered by other sellers or dealers, since then?

[kubu]

I understand that selling a poster is often a business. And of course receiving 800$ by paypal means that a significant part of the money doesn't reach the sellers pocket. These sellers chose just the wrong technique to make money. If you want to sell a poster for 800$ you can do the following:
- sell the poster for 600 and have endless arguements why 200 for "shipping" is needed and have an angry customer.
- sell the poster for 800 and wave shipping costs and have a happy customer.

[Undead]

Just a quick update to say that the shipper of course ignored every request for specific packaging methods including the instruction I had sent and shipped all of the posters in a tube with hard packed tissue paper crammed in the ends. Can we guess what happened next? By the way it was apparently a lot more posters than I thought, neither the auction house or shipper said it was a large group which made it worse as most were smaller meaning the all important one sheets took the brunt of the damage. They did protect the small ones very well though. Needless to say claim being filed to be followed if needed by small claims court.

[erik1925]

Wow, Mike... those pics are painful! 

And even more so with the fees that they wanted to charge you for shipping. It looks like they slid back and forth in the tube, smacking the end tissue and caps?

Here's hoping you get some resolve and refund. There's no reason for that shoddy packaging, especially when you instructed them how they should do it.

How many posters were in this total win?

[Tob]

What a bunch of amateurs. You must be fuming, Mike. Hopefully it'll be an expensive lesson for them.

[CJ138]

Just to be clear, those are the poster edges, not protective paper...that sucks

[Undead]

Yup, those are the edges.

[CSM]

Can see why the restoration quotes are needed for insurance now 

[erik1925]

Any updates or resolve on this shipping madness and damage, Mike?

[Undead]

They are still playing games. Filing in court next week.