When You've Won A Lot You Don't Really Want.

I turned my back on an auction when I should have been paying closer attention. I won a single lot made up of one plate block. I would now rather not be walking away with just one low value item. Is it bad practice to tell an auctioneer to charge you for an item but not ship it? Just tell them to keep it and you will take the loss? I have only dealt with this operation a few times and don't want them to think I'm a nut. I have won a single stamp on a half dozen occasions and had it shipped, etc. but it seems like a dumb thing to do unless it's a high end stamp.

I've done this numerous times on Hipstamp auctions (since there doesn't seem to be a way to snipe auctions), finding myself winning a single low bid auction with a $4 or more shipping charge after bidding on over 100 items! I kick myself every time it happens and so far I've just 'paid up', but now I resolve to let it happen no more!

I think what you want to do is fine,
Tell it with openess and honesty.
What they think is their business.

As one indicated eloquently recently, we all make mistakes
that's why they place the eraser at the end of the pencil.

I'd suggest they would be more interested in keeping your custom.

Sounds like Rosenberg. The only nut here is the person asking $4 to ship a stamp. Must be paying his staff $15 an hour.

Casey Magoo, that sounds like a decent idea.

kcaramat, minimum shipping is usually figured based on actual cost. Most auction lots are shipped in heavy flat mailers; the free USPS mailers aren't waterproof for one. You can go figure the postage for that one with surcharge for a rigid package.

Shipping types for stamp auction houses are temp staff from a variety of sources including family and friends. They need to assemble a package of bill, return envelope, lots, shipping container(s), check the lots again, calculate postage if not the minimum and add it to the bill. That takes some amount of brains. Perhaps you'd hire street people to save a few bucks for your customers instead.

So, then you should offer your services for federal minimum wage. But could/would you also get everything mailed out within 3-4 days as buyers demand?

Terms for shipping are always stated. If you don't like them, don't bid.

You guys are crying about how much money on a lot you didn't want ?

How about me playing chicken with New York Stamps at major stamp auctions , did that a few times and made them pay a lot more than the few times I got stuck with a high bid . Afew dealer friends knew what I was doing and where laughing their butts off about it ,until they got wise and started using different bid numbers at each auction ,as they do now .

Not how much but how little. If I had bought a few more lots I would be more satisfied. It feels like a waste of everyone's time to write it up, charge and ship it.

The $4 shipping is a marketing ploy, just like the 1 cent start bids.

If the cost of the shipping is greater than the value of the stamp the bidder will bid on other lots to spread the shipping cost over more items. Those extra bids drive overall prices up for the seller.

As the bidder starts losing auctions to other bidders, doing the same thing, he gets frantic and bids some more. Until he gets shut out, he ends up like the OP with a 2 cent stamp and a $4 shipping charge.

Pretty clever

That may be what you do, but for everyone else. it's not really worth it to play games like that at that level.

It really is a clever marketing ploy. I have spent countless dollars chasing stuff I wasn't really interested in, or bidding too high on stuff, just to save a few bucks on combined shipping (or reach free shipping threshold), because I didn't want to be in situation described by Casey Magoo--so spend $50 or $200 or more on stuff you didn't really want instead of $4.02 for a $0.02 plate block..but at least you saved on shipping!

One thing I might disagree with is "feels like a waste of everyone's time"--all the other bids you submitted even if not ultimately the highest bids, helped drive the price of the lots up. Not a waste of dealer's time at least.

tstmax, reading what you write, which you should re-read yourself, appears to show a lack of self control rather than people deviously tricking you into buying more.

Collectors that have shown that kind of impulsive buying have often been later caught as shoplifters. I hope you are not that, but the two have been proven to me to go together based on the shoplifters I've caught. And when caught, the thief typically said it was justified because I charged too much.