Fedex priority is probably the most expensive shipping method out there. I know this because the fukagawa imperial vase I purchased from Ben Janssens in the UK was sent to me using this service. The cost was £199 to Australia. I gulped at the price but that's the shipper he preferred. 

There are obviously more cheaper options like DHL, USPS and Royal Mail (UK). Equally as good in my opinion. Slower but I have never had any issues to date.

I completely agree with you. With the all up extra 81% in costing makes a decent buy rather expensive. Is it justified? I don't really know. If you want it tomorrow then that's the price you pay. If your willing to wait a few weeks then the other options are equally good. As long as the item requires a signature and there is a tracking number the extra fees associated with FedEx seem at  least to me to be excessive.

In hindsight though I am happy I got the vase last week rather than waiting till the end of December at the earliest.

Mark 

Hi Mark:

The shipping and packing charge was set by Sotheby's and was apparently fixed. I was not in a hurry to get the item (if I had won it) and am never in a hurry. The acquisition of Chinese art can never be considered  an emergency!  However, the benefit of FedEx or UPS ground shipping is that it's relatively affordable and secure. The tracking is reliable and unlike with the United States Postal service which has zero interest in the security of shipped items, FedEx and UPS at least have a telephone number to call. As far as the USPS is concerned, I have had excessive delays resulting in my reporting the item as lost since the tracking just ceased. The item then showed up a couple of weeks later without tracking. I then have often got a boilerplate apology a few weeks later telling me that they regret that they could not find the item even though by that time it was displayed on a table.

Your 199 shipping pounds shipping cost from the UK to Australia was high but not excessive. I think though that $900 for shipping within the USA is excessive. 

Regards,

Errol

Hello

Last week I got ‘spanked’ on shipping on an a small impulse buy at a San Francisco auction.  It was for an unusual pair of Chinese hardwood stands (9” square) with interesting root-style carving.  Cost me $275 for the items and to my horror the best price for shipping I could find was $138 for ground to Texas.  Hah!

@erroll This is all academic to me but a very interesting post. I do not expect to find an Imperial piece at an estate sale for 50.00 but according to Ancestry I am 18% Scot and I will never be paying high shipping and handling fees. Thanks for the interesting break down of fees.

@sharonp

Hello Sharon:

I'm glad you found my post interesting. I think many buyers fail to take into account the additional charges involved that include tax now, shipping, packing, auction house fees etc. It's all really a big scam. If one adds to that the number of fake Chinese antiques floating around it's is a very bad business indeed. Then too we have Chinese mainland bidders who often know very little about Chinese art bidding up prices to satisfy their gambling urges and often not paying for pieces they have "won" at an auction. I agree that estate sales can be a good resource for any kind of antique. However, antique Chinese art will only crop up in estate sales in certain parts of the world. So, as others have pointed out one's ability to buy or win such items at auction is often very limited and one has to deal with the situation, as bad as it is, if one wants to continue collecting.

Regards,

Errol

@william

Hi william: That price is absurd. Shipping on those stands should not have exceeded 40 USD!

Errol

Hi Errol,

I completely agree. I've had such a horrible experience buying from major auction houses. I bought a jade carving with a custom stand recently for a hammer price of $500, and with all fees included for shipping, I paid 180% of the hammer price to get it to me, from LA to DC. To make matters worse, the shipping quote was provided a week later, shipped out three weeks later, and received with the stand missing a leg. I made a claim, and they said it was purchased in that condition, with the condition report not including it, and the photos with the perfect stand! I'm sticking to Catawiki and eBay for the foreseeable future.

John

@bartholin

Hi John:

It is an absurd situation. Recently I had an Amazon order for about $45 consisting of personal items that got lost by the USPS. Amazon replaced the lost items without any difficulties and provided expedited delivery for the replacement at no cost. Yet, these auction houses and Catawiki think they are doing us a favor in shipping an item to us when we pay $2,000 or more. This is what happens when an artificially hot market is created. One can only hope that a correction will come that will teach them a lesson in good business practices.

Errol

Hi Errol, the shipping costs of auction houses can be absurdly high. I would understand that in international shipping as for example DHL is really expensive overseas (and not cheap domestic either). But nowhere near the Sothebys price. My local auction house takes €25 for the smallest items which is of course more than the parcel price of €6, but they do the packaging themselves and I think the price is justified. For that nice Kangxi plate they would have taken €35 for domestic shipment. 
The problem with auction houses is that in the low and mid price range the handling costs are unproportionally high for the buyer.  I use larger auction houses with an uncomfortable feeling, having the impression that I’m not the client they usually deal with. Like someone who goes to the DIY store to buy a single nail.

Hello Birgit: When i questioned the high shipping and packaging price, Sotheby's told me that they use "museum quality" shipping. I wonder what that is. As I mentioned, I bought a 16-1/2" Imari charger from a reputable dealer in the Netherlands a few months ago. It arrived in a really solid container with a similar container inside it, i.e. it was double-boxed. There were tons of popcorn and bubble wrap. What more can be done to ship an item and the shipping charge was about $65?

In the case of the auction that I referenced, Sotheby's I assume had to accept all the items from this amazing Fifth Avenue New York City condominium. The family was quoted as saying that no one lived like that any more surrounded by gilt and 18th century ornate French furniture. So, the Kangxi charger was a "cheap" item in an auction where some items sold for $500,000 or more.

I was impressed though with how helpful everyone I dealt with at Sotheby's was. The auction was amazing to watch. From Degas bronzes to furniture used by Marie Antoinette, it was a treat to just watch. This, however, does not detract from my message namely that buying at major auction houses is simply not worthwhile to any except those who have no concern about costs.

Errol

Museum quality shipping is I believe in a wooden crate and not boxed.

The Japanese vase I mentioned earlier was quoted at £199 from UK to Australia. That was double boxed.

However the first quote was £499. That was in a wooden crate. 

Mark 

I think it is mostly just a cash grab from the auctionhouse and I can tell you that doesn't stop at the buyer... I had a 18th century Korean Temple painting at Auktionshaus Nagel here in Germany (auction.de) and they seriously charged me 350€ for 1!!! Picture of the painting that was printed in their catalogue (half of one pages side) in addition to the seller's fees!

In conclusion I got a little more then half the money, of what the buyer's winning bid has been...

Never again!

Hi Detuned, I once had to pay to the auction house I was selling from, as my sales revenues didn’t even cover the fees of the catalog entries... After that unpleasant experience I went back to Ebay for selling. I’m really looking forward to Peter’s new sales platform. 

@shinigami

Hi Birgit and Carsten:

Yes, Peter's platform could potentially eliminate all the problems that plague both Catawiki and eBay. Until that happens though I still think that eBay, as flawed as it is, is the best way to go. It's true that the variety of items offered is becoming more limited and the quality is often not good, but if one is selective and patient most purchases seem to proceed quite well. Like George I have been able to acquire a fairly large number of good-quality items through eBay and have been pleased with them by and large. In comparison with the auction houses, the shipping charges and other costs to buyers seem ridiculously low.

Regards,

Errol