folks..
let's get real on shipping costs. to do so, I'm
going to explain what shipping is like to sellers
first of all, while it does seem that buyers pay
shipping costs - it isn't completely true (if it's true at all)
for instance, let's say you as a buyer find
something in a store for $50. You want one, but
you say "let's see if I can find this cheaper on the net"
you look and find one priced at $40, but the
shipping cost is $10. That equals $50 and is no
deal, so you keep looking. you can't find
another, so you contact the seller and ask if
he'll go $30, which he does, you pay $40 total, get your item.
But the dealer.. he's really paying the shipping.
Why? Because in order to sell you the item, he
had to drop $20 from the original price,
originally discounted to $40 and then custom
discounted to $30. That $10 came out of the
seller's sale, not from your pocket. The dealer's
total discount is 40% of the "list price"
the bigger problem to the dealer however is that
the $10 shipping cost didn't really cover all the costs.
when I get $14 to ship a package to NYC, I'm actually losing $2-4 per package!
why? well a 2lb package (any package with 2
posters is over one pound) costs $11.55, so after
shipping itself, there is $2.45 left for labor and materials
my materials cost for a simple package: 2 pieces
of cardboard @47cents (shipped to me)= 94cents. a
plastic bag 16cents, a label (& ink) 42 cents.
tape, order print out, maybe a flyer and then, labor.
How much is labor per package - well I know as
we've done all the actuarial stuff here. no
person who has ever worked for me ever made more
than 5 packages per hour and the average is 3.5
packages per hour. easy math, if I'm paying $10
and hour, that is $3 in labor per package. So
94+16+42+3.00= $4.52. add another 30 cents for
the misc (tape etc) and you have about $4.82 in
packaging costs, but you only got $2.45 to cover
it. So there is a loss of $2.37 per package. It
gets worse if the item is rolled as I can't put
that in any of the free packaging boxes that the
USPS provides. a Tube costs $1.67 shipped. Or if
I have to use my own box because the Priority
Mail box is too small or whatever reason. $2.37+ $1.67= $4.04 loss, per package
think of doing that 50 times a week. it becomes a
serious extra cost and was one of the reasons I
had to stop doing a weekly auction (aside from
just being enable to do that much work, even with help)
International orders used to be even worse,
because unless your package was shipping Priority
Mail, I had to stand on line at the post office
to do the mailings. Okay, here's that math = 20
mins drive to the po, 30-45min line wait &
counter service (sometimes even more) and then a
20min drive back. a hour or more of my time and I
couldn't send any help as I either paid with a
check or my card, which an employee couldn't do
and my hours are more costly than an employees.
Thankfully, I finally was able to get Stamps.com
installed on one computer (it only works on one
computer. all others it freezes up..what a pain)
so now I don't have to stand on line at all
but what's my loss on international shipping?
It's more than the standard loss on domestic as I
must use all purchased packaging
now I don't want to seem unsympathetic to buyers
domestically or internationally and I understand
your pain, but really when I hear people complain
about shipping costs - why don't you just stick a
screwdriver in my ear as the pain on my side is not much different
that said, I've posted that a new auction begins on July 29th
we'll have a semi-regular monthly auction,
probably 8 or so auctions annually. Auctions will
all start at $9.99 or $10.00 (I believe my
software does not allow cents - I have to check)
and the auction will have lobby cards for
Jailhouse Rock, the Outlaw and others, folded one
sheets (including Jaws 1975R), promo items, and
other stuff that can all ship in a single
package. a further announcement will be coming
after I finish photographing the 150 or so items for this auction.
thanks for reading. stop complaining
Rich
At 08:16 AM 7/9/2015, Simon Oram wrote:
Tommy,
can I ask you something you mention business
practice at the end of your post. Is this
something that you think only applies to other
people or do you think your business practices
are exempt from scrutiny and public discussion?
Just I find it a bit rich coming from yourself
after having my one and only dealing with you,
no abuse intended but I was waiting for you to
produce the big smoking gun or did you want
everybody else to do it for you before you had your say.
Simon
From: <mailto:tommymb...@gmail.com>Tommy Barr
Sent: Thursday, July 09, 2015 3:54 PM
To: <mailto:MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU>MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU
Subject: Re: [MOPO] HA shipping costs
Since March 2012, I have bought a total of 182
items from HA, ranging in price from $16 to
$621. They have obviously posted many packages
to me in that time, and mostly without any
complaint on my part about shipping costs.
Recently, however, I have had cause to question
the cost. The last shipment I received was
initially invoiced to me at $147.06, which I
queried. I was informed that HA had charged me
at Fedex retail rate and not their discounted
rate, so the invoice was reduced to $103.25.
Even so, that was expensive for a small box
of folded posters, especially considering that
the previous charge from HA was for 3 packages
sent together containing a mixture of rolled and
folded (approx. 11 folded, 3 rolled including 1
linenbacked, 3 lobby cards) for which I was
charged the not entirely unreasonable amount
of $122.75. I asked that they quote me for
shipping before sending any future packages, and
I received a quote (comparing like for like) of
$221.97. That was for 13 folded and 1 rolled
(linenbacked) poster, similar to that previous
shipment in size but almost $100 more. I asked
for a breakdown of the cost on 20th June but
received no reply until yesterday, when I was
sent exactly the same quote with no reference to
my query. (As a matter of interest, the value of
the posters in question is just over $1,000 so
not, as Simon deemed to suggest, cheap
purchases.) I buy from several other U.S.
dealers and have found their postage costs to be
reasonable, and certainly never as expensive as
Heritage. I have been willing to pay their
shipping charges, however, as obviously they
have an attractive offer, in the same way most
people are prepared to pay their buyersâ
premium even though other online poster auctions
donât have one. In this instance, though, I
find it totally unacceptable, which is why I
have asked other MOPO members if they have had
similar experiences. Why some have a problem
with that I fail to understand. If MOPO exists
to allow collectors to discuss matters of
importance to members (and they don't all live
in USA) and not simply for advertising sales,
then surely the business practices of one of the
hobbyâs biggest players is a matter for discussion?
Tommy
On Thu, Jul 9, 2015 at 3:36 PM, Helmut Hamm
<<mailto:texasmu...@web.de>texasmu...@web.de> wrote:
Am 09.07.2015 um 13:28 schrieb Simon Oram
<<mailto:fab5fre...@btinternet.com>fab5fre...@btinternet.com>:
Look Heritage's shipping charges for the weekly
slots are expensive for overseas buyers on
cheap items or items that you thought you got
for a bargain price , so move on and don't buy
from them anymore or better still set up an
address in the US to get all your stuff sent there, if you can.
What more do want?
Simon,
with all due respect, but I also had my
grievances with Heritage's shipping department
in the past
Several years ago, they had GREAT
rates with Fedex, two-day international
delivery, for less money than USPS Priority Mail.
Unfortunately, the Heritage shipping department
was repeatedly unable to give me ANY estimate
upfront. Nobody over there was able or willing
to tell me, what the best option for my
deliveries would've been. In consequence, I had
to make a blind choice, and pay whatever they charged me.
I mean, we're not talking about a couple of
bucks here: Take a $10 poster purchase, with
buyer's premium you're at roughly $25, add $40
for shipping and 19% import tax, you end up
paying $77 for what started out as a $10 poster.
In consequence, I complete gave up bidding on
low-key items with Heritage, since they usually
ended up costing me WAY too much money.
On a related topic: I guess I am somewhat
sensitive about shipping costs, but I still have
to see the reason why so many ebay sellers feel
they are untitled to grant themselves a
substantial premium for shipping outside the US.
None of those guys would dare to charge $25 for
a domestic package, that costs them $5 to ship,
yet they have no hesitation to charge $40 for an
international package, that costs less than $20 to ship.
Also, the common shipping option I see listed is
Priority Mail International. For most of my
incoming packages, that's a waste of money. It
DOES take an extra click on the USPS website to
find the cost for First Class Mail
International, and one more click to choose the
free 'delivery confirmation' option, which will
provide full tracking all the way to Germany.
Then again, why go the extra mile and ship for
$20, when you can make your buyer pay $40 and ship Priority?
Helmut
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