Frustrated By The Lack Of Images At The Westpex Sale

That's actually a good point.
I know westpex in general has gotta be their biggest sale/event of the year usually, so I am sympathetic to how much work this must be.

"Remember that this sale was held at WESTPEX, so they had to pack-up all the lots at the Marriott and move them back to their office in San Francisco. It was a big sale with a lot of large lots. Also, many auction houses only ship in the early part of the week (Monday - Tuesday - Wednesday), so that the lots are not in the shipping system over the weekend. By the time they got the lots back to SF and organized, there was not much time to ship last week."

Actually they have all their lots on racks on wheels, so they just wheel them out to the truck, and them wheel them from the truck to te elevator in their building, so things are all in order virtually as soon as they get back to the office. As mentioned before, they lost MK and perhaps they had fewer temps thos time too.

Had a great time at WESTPEX making purchases and reconnecting with friends/dealers. I viewed about a dozen lots with the Rumsey staff. Very helpful and fast. No complaints there. However, by looking at some collection lots, I would have been discouraged if I did not see the actual contents. Some lots included covers, postcards, ephemera, letters, in ziplock bags. If bidding on these lots, it would be like bidding on a "mystery prize". As the auction was throughout Friday, Sat & Sun, I went to the live auction various times, depending on the Lot #. I can tell you that whenever I went (4 different times), there were no more than 5 people in there bidding. The rest of the bidding was either via phone but mostly via the net.The Hawaii lots was exceedingly below par in quality compared to previous years. Again, this is my experience only..

I wound up winning 1 lot at Rumsey, which was invoiced on April 30, paid immediately by check, and shipped on May 6. I was a little surprised to see a $1200 lot shipped priority mail instead of fedex, but it's out for delivery today in any case.

Like noted before, it's not as fast as Siegel (nobody is), but it's not bad at all, especially for a really big auction with lots of bulk lots where the stuff had to move location.

I think generally speaking we don't know how good we have it with the stamp auction world. If you want a reality check, try buying some art at auction. Buyer commissions run up to 30% at some houses and very few of them do any shipping at all - you have to hire a local shipper to come in and get the stuff and ship it for you. If they do in house shipping it all, you can usually expect to wait a couple of weeks.

Siegel has definitely spoiled me. Last month I received in-hand, the lots I bid on in a sale, 2-days after I made those live bids. Insane. They've done that on several occasions before with me as well, although typically I get the lots the week following the sale.

In retrospect, I have no issues with Rumsey. After a sale, however, I always shoot them an email with mailing instructions, just to be sure I won't be getting what you mention - a valuable lot 'not' shipped via fedex. That has happened to me as well, so I always send mailing instructions.

The fastest in my opinion are Cherrystone and Rasdale's. I normally get my lots with a week or so. Siegel is fast once they get the item shipped but sometimes it takes them a few days or longer just to create the label. It all depends on the size of the auction and how many huge lots they have to process. Kelleher is also at the top of the list for fast shipping. Rumsey is in the middle and it took then over a week to ship my last lots from Westpex. Everything depends on how many people actually take the lots with them which is few as most of the bidding is over the net now a days. Cherrystone gets gold stars for packing. It literally takes hours to unwrap everything as most items are packed in paper and with bubblewrap and the albums are rubberbanded to keep things tight so items dont fall out in transit.

I assume some of the differences in the reported experiences are due to the type of lots (large lots getting shipped after individual item lots), but I have always wondered if it depends on how much an individual spends. This is, do bidders spending six-figures get their lots shipped before someone spending $1,000? Or do long-term regular customers get priority over occasional or new bidders? Or is packing and shipping just in the order that the computer generates the invoices?

I just remembered one other variable to that - which is: I've called them once or twice in the past, and let them know that I would be out of town the next week, for example, and that they could either ship my lots now, or hold them for another week. I think I did this twice over the years, and each time they shipped them right away.

So, customers with special considerations may also get some priority. They are polite and easy to work with overall.

My sense is maybe bulk lot customers get placed a bit towards the back. A couple times, including this one, that I've purchased a bulk lot or two, it seems to maybe take a bit longer to get it, versus just buying one or two single item lots.

This feels like a cryptographer trying to crack a code.

paperhistory - I wound up winning 1 lot at Rumsey, which was invoiced on April 30, paid immediately by check, and shipped on May 6. I was a little surprised to see a $1200 lot shipped priority mail instead of fedex, but it's out for delivery today in any case.

That is strange considering they send me their free "unsolicited auction catalogs, including hard bound" via FEDEX.

My lots just arrived. The invoice is marked paid, and is the one that I mailed them with my check. So they clearly just waited to get paid before mailing mine. That's fine.

The individual lots I got are just as amazing as they appeared in the catalog. I will probably share one or two over time.
edit: They sent four of these individual lots mounted on their exhibit pages from the previous owner. Very nice.

The two Piller group lots that I bought are basically exactly what I expected - nothing fabulous, but good reference material, with nothing really ugly. That is exactly what I wanted - a stack of covers with stamps, so I can evaluate color and impression changes over time in the stamps, and also appreciate whatever else each item has to offer.

Probably the most stand-out item from the group lots from a description point of view is a top row perforated 1c 1857 #20 from plate 4 with three 3c #26As all on a cover to Canada. Off-quality, of course, but pretty cool to play with nonetheless. I'm happy.

"This is, do bidders spending six-figures get their lots shipped before someone spending $1,000? Or do long-term regular customers get priority over occasional or new bidders?"

Generally yes and yes, with the condition that people known to be slow payers move to the back of the line with the unknown people.

Kelleher Auction (Booklet Collection) on May 7th 2024, starting at 10 AM (EDT), lot hammered about noon (EDT).

E-mailed invoice received 5:07 PM (EDT), 2:07 PM here in the Pacific Time Zone.

Lot shipped and in hands of USPS as label created at 9:29 AM (EDT) 5-8-24 and processed as being in USPS custody at 1:22 PM (EDT). This four figure lot, low, low four figure, is sent not FedEx, but by USPS per customer (my) instructions. FedEx lots go out slightly more quickly.

As to making payment, I do so within the firm's requested guidelines, but never within the first few days.

Rumsey has never been that fast except when I pick my win(s) up at the auction at WESTPEX in person.

A major point that needs to be made. A lot of experience buyers who been around 20 or 40 years of buying for their business or collection from stamp auction firms . Don't care about fast delivery.

If you been around auction houses ,you understand those newbies who need quick attention . At the end of the auction I usually go get another coke or coffee to drink and watch the circus of people who need their stuff . Rasdale Co. knew I was going to wait to be the last checkout ,even helping to retrieve their carts from people loading their cars . Even today for the Rumsey Action they been told take their time and ship when things slow down .

Five different major auction firm owners know my style and know there is no hurry .Ship when it slows down because I have stuff to keep me busy at home .




The one area they hear from me is if winning bids are not posted in a reasonable time because that tells me what I want to know .

I'm new to the auction scene so just wondering if there's a reason you wait a little?

One reason is to wait and see if the auction house cancels the sale to you because of an error in failing to accept a house or book bid. We have several threads on here recounting experiences to the effect, "I thought I won it and now they say I didn't."