Beware the cost of shipping

That's a pretty stiff shipping fee, but we are in a time of uncertainty when it comes to shipping anything, and costs for sure have been rising.

DHL is pricey and apparently there's an additional fee for the shipping of higher price coins. I've never experienced this fee from DHL, since I have very limited experience using their services, and when I do, they are for fairly low cost coins, around $500 and lower. Their shipping is fast, especially compared to the USPS. I have four registered packages in the Postal Service pipeline, all delayed by the weather, staffing shortages, the pandemic and flight cancellations.

The reality is that the private shipping industry is dominated by Fedex, UPS and DHL, very much like Internet service providers. Competition is non-existent, so of course these guys can increase their fees, leaving the public to pay the piper.

 

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I tried to buy an ancient coin NFT for 63 cents. The "gas" fee to purchase would have been $112! $40 to send $100 of ancient coins across an ocean seems like a much better deal.

 

You and Donna are bang on/ its not the shipping costs that I hate/ but that they send via FEDEX/ DHL/ UPS with the full invoice/ so that I get dinged 13% tax. In my case, they convert lets say 3000euros + 600 fees=3600 euros into our Canadian loonies= $6000.00 So I pay $900 customs I too will take my business to only the auction houses that play ball with me. So far MDC/Monaco/Naumann/ Gorny&Mosch/ Hirsch Nachfolger are blacklisted. Another peeve/ comm. fees used to be 10
% now 20%....

 

Oh yes, I hate the stupid charges. I only want to pay sticker price.
A $100 coin becomes a $200 coin through currency conversion, import duty, buyers fees and postage. I want transparency about what I'm paying before I commit to buy!

 

Yes, I had the same experience with Heritage, where shipping costs (over USD 100) exceeded the hammer price. I cancelled the transaction and never bought from them again. Heritage is my only "blacklisted" auction house.

 

I understand and as a buyer myself I also share everyone’s frustration when it comes to shipping, especially shipping charges that are obvious rip-offs. I have occasionally been charged as much as $300 by other auction firms for regular DHL shipping simply because we’re a company and they think it’s fair game to try to gouge professional colleagues who can afford it. Or the 1% insurance scam… another one I hate.

Back to the point though, most good firms will hold your purchases across 2 or 3 sales and ship them all together for one single charge when you’re done accumulating. Don’t be afraid to ask.

 

Yes, customs fees are the worst. When I receive a coin in Switzerland (I rarely do, because I use a shipping address in Germany), I receive a letter from Swiss customs saying "For the service of customs clearance we allow ouselves to levy the following charges: 1. customs fees, 2. handling fees, 3. storage fees ..." It is daylight robbery.

 

I got hit up for additional fees by the delivery man last week:

"Here's your package [from auction house name withheld] -- and oh, by the way you owe an extra 1900 yen on top of all the exorbitant shipping and whatnot fees you've already handed over. In cash, please."

What the hell? The exchange obviously didn't go down exactly like that, but that's how it felt.

 

I have tried sending coins in regular mail from Europe to the US. Ended up having to reimbourse 25% of my buyers, effectively ending my ebay venture. I couldn’t understand how so many shipments could have gotten lost, until I came across these news. Looks like it’s been going on for a while:

https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/...container-organized-crime-california/2800687/

 

That seems to be about domestic package theft. Crime in Los Angles in general seems to have escalated dramatically, as in many US cities.

 

And the days when mail did travel by ship made for some incredibly historical postal history. The routes, postage used, cancellations, signatures, etc., make for some very rare and expensive covers.

 

Correct, crime is pretty much everywhere, edited. So isolating L.A. isn't very fair when some cities, like NYC, seem to have it much worse.

Carjacking here is probably the #1 crime here since Covid, second is store thefts.

 

As a consideration, @Rich Beale's comment is a good one. Savoca have held some lower value coins back for me on a couple of occasions where a single purchase was not viable to ship and my main bids were not realised. My worst experiences have been with UPS who are a nightmare if anything goes wrong as you simply cannot deal with anyone because of automated services.
Another pitfall is the mention of the dreaded word "Silver" on any documentation as UK customs simply assume it is modern bullion and slap on a 20% import tax on the full value. I ask my vendors not to mention this. Brevity is best and "collectable coin" covers every angle legitimately.

 

Can't really speak to shipping to/from foreign locations, but as for U.S. and in general, don't be afraid to ask and find out AHEAD of time...BEFORE committing to buy...if this could be a make or break issue for you. If you don't, don't complain afterwards. I find many local (U.S.) sellers are willing to ship cheaper if you ask...many advertise "expedited" shipping and such, and when I have indicated "in no rush" and "slower/slowest is fine", they will adjust. Can't hurt to ask, and before you buy when you establish your buyer-seller dialog, ask questions, etc. How sellers answer your questions can/does speak volumes of what kind of seller they are.

 

Best way to avoid problems.....and $$$$

1/as Richard stated/ wait to ship until you have a larger order to ship=less shipping cost
2/ have stuff shipped via registered mail/ as mail
3/ have invoice inside letter
4/ never ship via DHL/ FEDEX/ UPS
5/ never/ ever allow words like "gold" coins/ value on packet/ letter= theft/ customs hassles/ $$$$

 

Many years ago, I was a missionary for our church in Uruguay. Over the two years I served there, it was almost a regular occurrence to be a victim of theft or custom duties. While in Uruguay, I accumulated some items that were reminders of my service there. I had some books, pictures, and other items that weren't too terribly valuable. They were in 2 boxes. This was in 1967-1968. Mail took terribly long to get to North Carolina. I contacted my parents to let me know when the packages had been delivered. One of the packages was delivered. When I contacted the shipper, I was told that the package was on a ship that was lost at sea. There was no use arguing with them. It was hard to believe (not really). Both packages were on the same ship. I found out later the ship had been vandalized by the crew who opened the packages up and took what they wanted.
Another occasion.. I received a monthly stipend from my parents by way of a check. After two months of waiting and borrowing from other missionaries, I received a letter from my father telling me that they had the cancelled check in their bank statement. I had another month to go and by being as frugal as I could be, I repaid my loans. When I finally got home, I asked my father to show me the cancelled check. When I got it, I looked at the endorsement. It was evident that a postal employee had stolen the check and cashed it for 40% of the check by a bank with evidently, a crooked teller. There was no way to recover the funds. The bank said it was too long.
Another issue is the terrible customs fees (actually, they were bribes). There was a member of our church that worked at the customs office. There had been a new Jaguar up on blocks and it had been there for over a year. My friend told me that the custom duty was so high, the owner could not come up with the cost. There was also a 1967 Mustang/Cobra. After two years, it was put up on auction to recover the fees it had accrued. Guess who won the car... the Director of Customs.
Criminal action has been an issue since Columbus and probably the serpent in the Garden of Eden told Eve that she needed to eat the apple so she and Adam could stay in the Garden of Eden.
At 74, I've seen larceny in almost every job I had. I was a State Auditor for North Carolina for 32 years and I never accepted a bribe that was offered.

 

Thanks for the heads-up, Warren. Tauler & Fau will go on my blacklist, along with Heritage. All the other firms I've dealt with have been willing to hold coins for me until it justifies the shipping cost and/or ship by a cheaper method. (The staff at Naumann were very inflexible, but a conversation with Marcus Naumann himself fixed the problem there.)

Shame on T&F.

 

Just thought I'd remind everyone that asking a dealer in the US to undervalue, misdescribe or conceal merchandise sent abroad is asking them to commit a felony under federal law.

 

As long as we're airing grievances, there's another shipping issue that has nothing to do with the courier services, but has arisen every single time I've had a coin shipped to me internationally via registered mail from the UK (and Continental Europe as well, if I recall correctly) ever since the pandemic began. Presumably I'm paying extra for registered mail, and the label on the Royal Mail envelope always states "International Tracked and Signed," "Registered Delivery," and "Signature Required." Each time, after the package arrives in the USA and is taken up by the US Post Office, I eventually get an email (I always sign up for notifications) with the subject line stating "USPS® Item Delivered, Left with Individual," followed by the tracking number, and the body of the email stating, as it did today, "Hello DonnaML, Your item was delivered to an individual at the address at ____ am/pm pm on [Date] in NEW YORK, NY. Tracking Number _____."

Every single time, this has been a complete lie. Never once has any mail carrier buzzed my apartment or gone up in the elevator to my apartment door to ring the doorbell to request a signature. Instead, they all simply leave it in the mailbox for my apartment, along with the rest of my mail for the day.

It's not that it really matters so much in terms of delivery being effected, because my mailbox is locked, and the fact that they do it this way means that I don't necessarily have to be home when they arrive. But the continual bald-faced lies are annoying. Especially if I'm paying more for registered mail than for regular international postal service with tracking. So the whole thing is phony. I've asked several dealers if they can send it by non-registered mail instead, but have been told that their insurance requires that they use registered mail.

 

I get many "sign for" packages and not a single one has asked me to sign anything since Covid started. Everything is scanned as delivered and for my USPS carrier, he signs it himself. I asked if he was allowed to do that, and apparently, for safety reasons, they can for the time being.

But he's a good guy anyway and goes out of his way for some hiccups I have had with the PO.