Fed_Up Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 Long story short, I put in a commission bid with an auction house in Glasgow, about 200 miles away. It's a framed picture, so admittedly not the easiest thing to post. However, the quotations I've been getting are ridiculous, ranging from £70 to £246! If I were sending it, I could get it done for around £10-20 so what's going on? Is it routine to treat people like mugs and try to rinse them for hundreds of pounds for a bit of cardboard, bubble wrap and a trip to the post office? It would cost me about £40 in petrol and 7 hours if I went to pick it up myself. I can spare the time but it's a bit of a ballache. P.S. if anyone can recommend a courier I'm all ears. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickincash Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 I book all my parcels through www.interparcel.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fed_Up Posted October 6, 2015 Author Share Posted October 6, 2015 I book all my parcels through www.interparcel.com Thanks, but none of those will work for me, since the picture needs packing and the auction house won't do that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiveinHope Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 Thanks, but none of those will work for me, since the picture needs packing and the auction house won't do that. A quote for £70 seems reasonable although I'd still balk at the cost. The courier needs to go to the auction house, pack it carefully, arrange for dispatch. Could be 1hours work min + freight and material costs + overheads. What is the percentage of the carriage vs the value of the painting? If the painting is just £35 I wouldn't have bought it considering, unless for a very special reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gigantic Purple Slug Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 There's nothing ridiculous about those quotes IMO. Packing stuff well takes time and costs money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fed_Up Posted October 6, 2015 Author Share Posted October 6, 2015 A quote for £70 seems reasonable although I'd still balk at the cost. The courier needs to go to the auction house, pack it carefully, arrange for dispatch. Could be 1hours work min + freight and material costs + overheads. What is the percentage of the carriage vs the value of the painting? If the painting is just £35 I wouldn't have bought it considering, unless for a very special reason. I paid about £70 including commission. I'd feel really guilty about charging someone £70 to put something in a box and take it to the post office, but maybe that's just me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiveinHope Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 I paid about £70 including commission. I'd feel really guilty about charging someone £70 to put something in a box and take it to the post office, but maybe that's just me! But your not trying to pay a mortgage by putting things in boxes :-) Like you I'd recoil at the cost, which would have stopped me buying unless it was really special. The carriage would have to be much less than the purchase price for me to make the purchase economic sense or worthwhile, so in this case the item would have to be worth much much more. What would your hourly rate be ? Bear in mind you have to fund your salary (time), the van (or your shoe leather), the box, the bubble wrap, the postage, and have profit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winkie Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 Surely there must be someone who passes the Glasgow aution house regulary who would be happy to call in and pack and post it for you for cost...on trust no claims. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gigantic Purple Slug Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 I paid about £70 including commission. I'd feel really guilty about charging someone £70 to put something in a box and take it to the post office, but maybe that's just me! Well you said that driving all the way there would be a ballache. Maybe its a ballache for someone else to pack up the stuff and take it to the post office and arrange for it to be shipped. Which is why they want paying for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geezer466 Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 Have a weekend in a Highlands hotel. Little holiday and collect it on the way up/back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patfig Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 Shame I was in Glasgow all last week! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Hovis Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 Surely there must be someone who passes the Glasgow aution house regulary who would be happy to call in and pack and post it for you for cost...on trust no claims. There is a website for this, I was reading in the paper about a bloke making ?£200 a month by picking up deliveries that coincided with his business travel. My worst experience was buying a kayak; I was looking at ones in two different local shops. One c. 5 miles away and one c. 20 miles away, paying about £300 / £350 for the kayak. The one 5 miles away was a young lad who didn't know, went and asked and said £100!!!! So would recommend I buy some roof bars and straps as it would be cheaper. The one 20 miles away said a tenner. I bought one there as a result. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happy_renting Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 Can't they fax the picture to you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happy_renting Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 Shame I was in Glasgow all last week! That's what the Glaswegians said too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccc Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 If it was Edinburgh I would help out. Let that be a lesson to you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StainlessSteelCat Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 Ask the auction house who they recommend? £70 isn't that outrageous. If the picture has glass, it'll need packing very carefully and depending on the size it might not be inside some courier's size limits. Whatever you do - do not have Parcelforce aka Senditnow pick it up as they appear to have gone to absolute shite in the space of a few months. I paid for next day delivery, and they did not even attempt to deliver it until 4 working days later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CyberNat Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 £70 sounds pretty fair to me considering it needs wrapping as well. The products I sell take me 3 hours to wrap properly, very large boxes, loads of packing and then I have to pay another £20 for UPS to collect and deliver. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccc Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 £70 sounds pretty fair to me considering it needs wrapping as well. The products I sell take me 3 hours to wrap properly, very large boxes, loads of packing and then I have to pay another £20 for UPS to collect and deliver. I know the SNP are popular but there can't be that much demand for life size statues of Sturgeon !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CyberNat Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 I know the SNP are popular but there can't be that much demand for life size statues of Sturgeon !! You'd be surprised. I do a not bad trade in wee eck statues as well. They are more expensive though due to needing more material to work with plus the higher postal costs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSE refugee Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 I go to quite a lot of auctions and you get sick of internet bidders bumping up the prices. I would consider this an expensive lesson learned. You would have to be insane to buy such a low valued item that is awkward to ship. The Auction house will charge you 20-25% buyers premium plus 3% for using the internet bidding and then shipping on top of all of that. Also they will most probably slap on another 2-3% if you pay by credit card! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTMark Posted October 14, 2015 Share Posted October 14, 2015 I finally managed to sell that turntable. Original packaging, all boxed as new. The eventual buyer collected, but two shipping quotes for the 7.2KG box from Hampshire: King's Lynn: £21 Denmark: £75 There's a used vinyl website that I buy from quite often. One 12" single or LP might be a couple of pounds, some more. Some a lot more (hundreds of pounds, a couple of rare Eva Cassidy and Kate Bush LPs I want but can't justify buying go for £200+). It's not supposed to be a full ecommerce site, it's more an introducer. So it doesn't calculate shipping, "agree later". And a £3 12" single can mysteriously cost £6 to ship within the UK (you can reject that "quote"). Probably about half of what I buy is from elsewhere in Europe, shipping is same or less, takes about two extra days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onlyme2 Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 There is a website for this, I was reading in the paper about a bloke making ?£200 a month by picking up deliveries that coincided with his business travel. Shiply.. Can be much cheaper for shipping bulky goods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloo Loo Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 But your not trying to pay a mortgage by putting things in boxes :-) Like you I'd recoil at the cost, which would have stopped me buying unless it was really special. The carriage would have to be much less than the purchase price for me to make the purchase economic sense or worthwhile, so in this case the item would have to be worth much much more. What would your hourly rate be ? Bear in mind you have to fund your salary (time), the van (or your shoe leather), the box, the bubble wrap, the postage, and have profit. ah yes, funding a living...a major weakness which means I cant watch the idiots on Apprentice and the "Board" look at the "profits" on the tasks. Theres the phones, the cabs, the wages, the office, the drivers, the stock, the bank charges, the insurance, the contingencies... "wow, 6 of you made £180 today".....Thats £30 each for a day that starts at 6, needs a pressed suit and a 8 pm Board meeting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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