Well that stinks...

[Sidewinder]

Package postage fees almost everywhere are getting crazy. It may be that traditional UPS / Fedex shippers price themselves out of the market. How can it be that often times now, a return airline flight for me is cheaper than shipping a small parcel on the same route. I am sure that there are clever people watching & planning and are ready to innovate new concepts in transport, with a huge disruption. Uship, anyvan and shiply were good for a while but now are not so interesting. Global Ecommerce needs an affordable postage environment, and the trend we see with traditional movers is counterproductive and the wrong direction. On the other hand, I am now spending far less of my income

I have also read that with the revocation of the $800 tax free import into the USA, postal services in Europe will no longer provide a parcel service due to the massive paperwork burden of customs forms.

[cmshapiro]

Geeze, from the post title I thought someone had died. Packing and shipping is expensive. I’d just pay for it and tell them to resell it at the next sale. Much less expensive to learn the lesson at that price than at the shipping price. I’d also recommend spending some time networking in the community. When you know enough people, you’ll be able to get things related back to you at no cost.

[Valecnik]

Is this a straight 12 panel Triumph horn or a cygnet. For the straight horn I could see it costing that much.

[herrickpickups]

why not find someone local to the auction house on this forum & get them to collect it & post it to you & pay them something for their trouble ? seems simple

[Saleh21]

It does seem simple. But like i said I'm sorta new to the hobby and even newer to this forum so I wasn't aware that was a thing people do. I think sorta did that in my original post asking if people knew a cheaper shipping option.

I think people are misunderstanding what I meant in my original post. All I was saying is it was crazy to me how much shipping was. I understand why. I'm not really blaming the company or anyone. I understand that shipping is what it is. Did I think it would be that much? No. If I did i would not have bid. My whole point that even though I (like i said before in my opinion) I got a really good deal at $30. But it's only $30. It's not worth much hassle or $600 shipping to get it. Would i like it? Of course. That's why I bid on it. I like things being "original" but is it worth losing sleep over? No. I've seen them in antique stores for $250. I've won big packages in auctions before. I store my diamond discs in pre-prohabition anheuser busch crates. I once got 2 in the same package and that was $85... from New York. So I figured shipping would be around that to $150 on the high end. I was just caught off guard by quote I received. Even the person in the shipping department doesn't think it's worth shipping it.

[herrickpickups]

seems that auction houses are on the lookout for more ways to fleece people who buy from them, there's always an easy way to do it. maybe put up a new thread looking for someone in the area & get some sort of I.D from them before paying them anything, there are many scammers out there & with the current geo-political situation...it seems to be "Every man for himself" however folks that think that way are vastly outnumbered by decent people who still believe in helping others so maybe it's a good way to test this forum as even though there are some very dodgy acronyms used by small groups on this platform, I reckon it's worth a try. What have you got to lose ? Or how about starting a new group yourself to create a help-a-user group that spans ALL the states with mom & pop style logistics ? good luck with it.

[Raphael]

seems that auction houses are on the lookout for more ways to fleece people who buy from them,

This certainly DOES NOT apply to Stanton's. Nobody I have ever met in the auction business is more accommodating than Steve Stanton. In fact, his auctions were not even on line until a few years ago, when COVID changed the parameters. Now that they have many on-line bidders, they are seeking ways to facilitate (and not profit from) the process for people who do not attend in person. Many auction houses, besides charging double Stanton's 15% buyer's premium, will do absolutely nothing for you other than tell you to make your own arrangements and hit you with a storage fee after a certain date.

I'm sure a phone call to Steve or Michael Bleisch would have resulted in their offering to hold on to the horn, or resell it in November, etc. They might even know somebody going your way who could hand it off.

As an aside, the shipping quote mentions packing it in a 2-ply box. Be glad you didn't go for it, due to the risk of damage. I always double-box horns, with styrofoam between the inner and outer boxes. Thus, not only are the packing costs higher (good boxes aren't cheap, nor is styrofoam), but the resulting package is bigger, and more expensive to ship.

Raphael

[Saleh21]

Well... it was a bit more than 15%.... but i knew this before i bid.... once again. Only $30 (i guess I'll say $41) not worth a hassle

[Raphael]

Yes, you are correct, I forgot about the internet premium. In any event, posts such as your original one are quite valuable as they generate informative suggestions.

Raphael

[herrickpickups]

You also forgot that = The Customer is always RIGHT.