It Was Too Good to be True - DLRC is Now Charging for Shipping

winesteven

About a week ago or so DLRC started charging for shipping. The good news is the rate schedule is reasonable, very similar to that charged by GC (yes, a few small differences, relatively speaking), At least for now credit cards can still be used with no fee for purchases below $10K.

Steve

P0CKETCHANGE

I have no issue with that. It's just rolled into the price of the coin if it isn't broken out, anyway. Now if only they'd improve their website (no wishlist functionality, tiny slab thumbnails vs. coin photos, etc.).

DocBenjamin

Last buy was shortly after John F departed, so my wallet is safe.

telephoto1

Given the competitive nature of the coin market and ever-increasing shipping rates, it's just not feasible to keep eating both shipping and CC costs. Frankly I don't think sellers should bear either of those costs anyway; those monies go to the entities that provide the service, not to the seller.

pointfivezero

Thanks Steve - as long as they maintain the “no buyer’s premium” policy, I’m fine paying the shipping costs.

Tim

DocBenjamin

@telephoto1 said:
Given the competitive nature of the coin market and ever-increasing shipping rates, it's just not feasible to keep eating both shipping and CC costs. Frankly I don't think sellers should bear either of those costs anyway; those monies go to the entities that provide the service, not to the seller.

Jeff Bezos is sailing the world on a 500 foot yacht by building a business with free shipping and no credit card upcharge.

Everything can be baked into the sale price. Nothing, of course is free.

coastaljerseyguy

But I pay a $14.99 monthly fee for that free shipping.

winesteven

@coastaljerseyguy said:
But I pay a $14.99 monthly fee for that free shipping.

Ah, but you then have access to Amazon Prime Movies! So one might say that you're paying that fee for "one of those benefits", and "the other one is free", lol.

Steve

NeophyteNumismatist

Shipping and buyers premiums come up at my coin club all the time. Look at the all-in cost of the coin (shipping and all).... if the price is right... buy it. If not, keep looking. Shipping, insurance, auction fees, show fees, etc etc... it's all in the cost of the coin. Now you will just be able to understand your itemized costs.

Alpha2814

I dropped them a few months ago when they misrepresented the gold content in most of their modern commemoratives. They never acknowledged my email letting them know, and one of their listings is still wrong (in the header, which is what shows in search results): https://www.davidlawrence.com/inventory/785595

They'd been sliding downhill for a while, at least for my collection/budget. Neither of us misses the other.

DocBenjamin

@coastaljerseyguy said:
But I pay a $14.99 monthly fee for that free shipping.

Placed an order today for $62. Not a Prime member but shipping was "free." Works if you combine a few things.

1madman

@Alpha2814 said:
I dropped them a few months ago when they misrepresented the gold content in most of their modern commemoratives. They never acknowledged my email letting them know, and one of their listings is still wrong (in the header, which is what shows in search results): https://www.davidlawrence.com/inventory/785595

They'd been sliding downhill for a while, at least for my collection/budget. Neither of us misses the other.

Please help me understand what’s wrong in that listing you provided?

8.36 grams x 90% purity = 7.524 grams gold

7.524 grams / 31.1 grams in ounce = 0.2419 ounces of gold

That’s the weight/number they show on that auction

telephoto1

@DocBenjamin said:

@telephoto1 said:
Given the competitive nature of the coin market and ever-increasing shipping rates, it's just not feasible to keep eating both shipping and CC costs. Frankly I don't think sellers should bear either of those costs anyway; those monies go to the entities that provide the service, not to the seller.

Jeff Bezos is sailing the world on a 500 foot yacht by building a business with free shipping and no credit card upcharge.

Everything can be baked into the sale price. Nothing, of course is free.

Bezos' business is largely populated with items that have larger markups that can more easily absorb said costs; the numismatic industry, however, is populated with dealers that by and large do not have big enough margins to support that, plus buyers who squawk about margins of 10% and want to haggle the last nickel out of the deal BEFORE they whip out the credit card. Bezos doesn't have that.

MFeld

@1madman said:

@Alpha2814 said:
I dropped them a few months ago when they misrepresented the gold content in most of their modern commemoratives. They never acknowledged my email letting them know, and one of their listings is still wrong (in the header, which is what shows in search results): https://www.davidlawrence.com/inventory/785595

They'd been sliding downhill for a while, at least for my collection/budget. Neither of us misses the other.

Please help me understand what’s wrong in that listing you provided?

8.36 grams x 90% purity = 7.524 grams gold

7.524 grams / 31.1 grams in ounce = 0.2419 ounces of gold

That’s the weight/number they show on that auction

I’d like an explanation, too, considering that a serious accusation was made.

Alpha2814

I double-checked this yesterday before I posted, and the only explanation I can give at this point is that someone at DL saw the message and finally corrected it without any acknowledgement, which frankly wouldn't surprise me at this point.

The email I sent them on June 11 began "I'm looking at one of the new listings: https://www.davidlawrence.com/auctions/lot/785593 (1996-W $5 Smithsonian PCGS PR69DCAM) which says ".295 Ounces of Gold". I'm questioning if this is accurate." And that (".295") is what was shown in the search results and in the header of the item listing yesterday -- the other items in the category had the correct amount.

I even did the math for them: "By my calculations, the coin itself is 8.36g and 90% gold, which is 0.2687 troy ounces. In "normal" ounces (not troy), 0.295 is accurate for 8.36g, but doesn't consider the 90% purity. The actual gold content is closer to 0.242 troy ounces. If this is right, all of the coins in the category https://www.davidlawrence.com/auctions?coinCategory=278 have the same problem, possibly others."

JBatDavidLawrence

@DocBenjamin said:

@telephoto1 said:
Given the competitive nature of the coin market and ever-increasing shipping rates, it's just not feasible to keep eating both shipping and CC costs. Frankly I don't think sellers should bear either of those costs anyway; those monies go to the entities that provide the service, not to the seller.

Jeff Bezos is sailing the world on a 500 foot yacht by building a business with free shipping and no credit card upcharge.

Everything can be baked into the sale price. Nothing, of course is free.

Or we could just charge a subscription fee on an annual basis like he does...

JBatDavidLawrence

@Alpha2814 said:
I dropped them a few months ago when they misrepresented the gold content in most of their modern commemoratives. They never acknowledged my email letting them know, and one of their listings is still wrong (in the header, which is what shows in search results): https://www.davidlawrence.com/inventory/785595

They'd been sliding downhill for a while, at least for my collection/budget. Neither of us misses the other.

We actually corrected this immediately once we were notified. Generally that's something that would have generated a quick email response too when we corrected it, so I'm sorry that we apparently missed that step. But the catalog issue was definitely corrected...

JBatDavidLawrence

@NeophyteNumismatist said:
Shipping and buyers premiums come up at my coin club all the time. Look at the all-in cost of the coin (shipping and all).... if the price is right... buy it. If not, keep looking. Shipping, insurance, auction fees, show fees, etc etc... it's all in the cost of the coin. Now you will just be able to understand your itemized costs.

This is exactly how we present it to our customers. The all-in price (with shipping, buyers fees, etc) should be the only thing that counts. Same goes with consignors. The buyer's fees/seller's fees arguments often aren't fully understood, which is unfortunate...

JBatDavidLawrence

@winesteven said:
About a week ago or so DLRC started charging for shipping. The good news is the rate schedule is reasonable, very similar to that charged by GC (yes, a few small differences, relatively speaking), At least for now credit cards can still be used with no fee for purchases below $10K.

Steve

Yes, unfortunately we did have to make that change to charge a nominal fee for shipping. It's not something we ever wanted to do, but with the increased costs of shipping and insurance, etc we had to do it. I think we are still the cheapest shipping auction company overall, so we're clearly not making money on this additional fee...but we're trying to catch up as much as we can so we can be competitive.

I can tell you that as long as I'm here, there won't be a Buyer's Fee. We'd rather keep that transparency and make that process easy to understand.

And, credit cards...yes. We'll continue to have the highest credit card limits up to $10k as well. While we don't love paying those transactional fees, we're still trying to offer the best level of service we can...and I know a lot of us want the free skymiles to justify to our wives why we're buying coins...

MetroD

@Alpha2814 said:
I dropped them a few months ago when they misrepresented the gold content in most of their modern commemoratives. They never acknowledged my email letting them know, and one of their listings is still wrong (in the header, which is what shows in search results): https://www.davidlawrence.com/inventory/785595

They'd been sliding downhill for a while, at least for my collection/budget. Neither of us misses the other.

>

@1madman said:
Please help me understand what’s wrong in that listing you provided?

8.36 grams x 90% purity = 7.524 grams gold

7.524 grams / 31.1 grams in ounce = 0.2419 ounces of gold

That’s the weight/number they show on that auction

>

@MFeld said:
I’d like an explanation, too, considering that a serious accusation was made.

>

@Alpha2814 said:
I double-checked this yesterday before I posted, and the only explanation I can give at this point is that someone at DL saw the message and finally corrected it without any acknowledgement, which frankly wouldn't surprise me at this point.

The email I sent them on June 11 began "I'm looking at one of the new listings: https://www.davidlawrence.com/auctions/lot/785593 (1996-W $5 Smithsonian PCGS PR69DCAM) which says ".295 Ounces of Gold". I'm questioning if this is accurate." And that (".295") is what was shown in the search results and in the header of the item listing yesterday -- the other items in the category had the correct amount.

I even did the math for them: "By my calculations, the coin itself is 8.36g and 90% gold, which is 0.2687 troy ounces. In "normal" ounces (not troy), 0.295 is accurate for 8.36g, but doesn't consider the 90% purity. The actual gold content is closer to 0.242 troy ounces. If this is right, all of the coins in the category https://www.davidlawrence.com/auctions?coinCategory=278 have the same problem, possibly others."

>

@JBatDavidLawrence said:
We actually corrected this immediately once we were notified. Generally that's something that would have generated a quick email response too when we corrected it, so I'm sorry that we apparently missed that step. But the catalog issue was definitely corrected...

I checked Alpha's info on 9/3/24.
He is correct. The gold weight WAS wrong in the item header.

Consequently, I called DLRC on 9/3/24, and asked about the item.
The nice man I spoke with IMMEDIATELY recognized the issue, and promised to correct it.

Not sure if it was the e-mail or the call, but it got corrected.

DisneyFan

@JBatDavidLawrence said:

...and I know a lot of us want the free skymiles to justify to our wives why we're buying coins...

Truer words were never spoken. Actually, it's those cash backs that fund my coin purchases.

Bikergeek

DLRC remains a trusted seller and I check their site daily, along with my other faves. I used to buy from them frequently when my goals were broader (before my deep focus on one particular series). They have always been lightning fast, friendly to communicate with, responsive to questions, and open to reasonable negotiations. The one issue I had with them was when they revamped their website, I didn't know how (or if I even could) put a coin on my watchlist to show that I'd attributed it already - so i wouldn't be faced with a dozen "new" coins every day like it was Ground Hog Day. Somewhere along the way that got fixed (or I figured it out?) and now I know I don't need to re-attribute the varieties on the ones I'm watching. Problem solved!

Above, it sounds like someone made a human error, and as soon as the error was reported, it was corrected. That sounds fair to me.

This is a handy thread for the heads-up. But like any good shopper, I'm sure we all look at the total cost of a coin before we pull the trigger. Why, even Amazon has a sort criterion that say "Lowest price, cost PLUS shipping" so I don't get pulled in by the 99c widget with the $19.95 shipping cost...

Manifest_Destiny

I've had all positive experiences with DLRC and bought quite a few coins from them.

DocBenjamin

@JBatDavidLawrence said:

@DocBenjamin said:

@telephoto1 said:
Given the competitive nature of the coin market and ever-increasing shipping rates, it's just not feasible to keep eating both shipping and CC costs. Frankly I don't think sellers should bear either of those costs anyway; those monies go to the entities that provide the service, not to the seller.

Jeff Bezos is sailing the world on a 500 foot yacht by building a business with free shipping and no credit card upcharge.

Everything can be baked into the sale price. Nothing, of course is free.

Or we could just charge a subscription fee on an annual basis like he does...

Try it John. First coin auction house to do it is the winner. Keep it reasonable, Fifty or seventy five bucks per year.

Will strengthen repeat business and bidders will head to your site first.

PeakRarities

@telephoto1 said:

@DocBenjamin said:

@telephoto1 said:
Given the competitive nature of the coin market and ever-increasing shipping rates, it's just not feasible to keep eating both shipping and CC costs. Frankly I don't think sellers should bear either of those costs anyway; those monies go to the entities that provide the service, not to the seller.

Jeff Bezos is sailing the world on a 500 foot yacht by building a business with free shipping and no credit card upcharge.

Everything can be baked into the sale price. Nothing, of course is free.

Bezos' business is largely populated with items that have larger markups that can more easily absorb said costs; the numismatic industry, however, is populated with dealers that by and large do not have big enough margins to support that, plus buyers who squawk about margins of 10% and want to haggle the last nickel out of the deal BEFORE they whip out the credit card. Bezos doesn't have that.

Amen.

PeakRarities

@MetroD said:

@Alpha2814 said:
I dropped them a few months ago when they misrepresented the gold content in most of their modern commemoratives. They never acknowledged my email letting them know, and one of their listings is still wrong (in the header, which is what shows in search results): https://www.davidlawrence.com/inventory/785595

They'd been sliding downhill for a while, at least for my collection/budget. Neither of us misses the other.

>

@1madman said:
Please help me understand what’s wrong in that listing you provided?

8.36 grams x 90% purity = 7.524 grams gold

7.524 grams / 31.1 grams in ounce = 0.2419 ounces of gold

That’s the weight/number they show on that auction

>

@MFeld said:
I’d like an explanation, too, considering that a serious accusation was made.

>

@Alpha2814 said:
I double-checked this yesterday before I posted, and the only explanation I can give at this point is that someone at DL saw the message and finally corrected it without any acknowledgement, which frankly wouldn't surprise me at this point.

The email I sent them on June 11 began "I'm looking at one of the new listings: https://www.davidlawrence.com/auctions/lot/785593 (1996-W $5 Smithsonian PCGS PR69DCAM) which says ".295 Ounces of Gold". I'm questioning if this is accurate." And that (".295") is what was shown in the search results and in the header of the item listing yesterday -- the other items in the category had the correct amount.

I even did the math for them: "By my calculations, the coin itself is 8.36g and 90% gold, which is 0.2687 troy ounces. In "normal" ounces (not troy), 0.295 is accurate for 8.36g, but doesn't consider the 90% purity. The actual gold content is closer to 0.242 troy ounces. If this is right, all of the coins in the category https://www.davidlawrence.com/auctions?coinCategory=278 have the same problem, possibly others."

>

@JBatDavidLawrence said:
We actually corrected this immediately once we were notified. Generally that's something that would have generated a quick email response too when we corrected it, so I'm sorry that we apparently missed that step. But the catalog issue was definitely corrected...

I checked Alpha's info on 9/3/24.
He is correct. The gold weight WAS wrong in the item header.

Consequently, I called DLRC on 9/3/24, and asked about the item.
The nice man I spoke with IMMEDIATELY recognized the issue, and promised to correct it.

Not sure if it was the e-mail or the call, but it got corrected.

I can also corroborate that the header did show .295 yesterday when I checked, but regardless it's a small issue that is now corrected. No big deal imo.

DocBenjamin

@PeakRarities said:

@telephoto1 said:

@DocBenjamin said:

@telephoto1 said:
Given the competitive nature of the coin market and ever-increasing shipping rates, it's just not feasible to keep eating both shipping and CC costs. Frankly I don't think sellers should bear either of those costs anyway; those monies go to the entities that provide the service, not to the seller.

Jeff Bezos is sailing the world on a 500 foot yacht by building a business with free shipping and no credit card upcharge.

Everything can be baked into the sale price. Nothing, of course is free.

Bezos' business is largely populated with items that have larger markups that can more easily absorb said costs; the numismatic industry, however, is populated with dealers that by and large do not have big enough margins to support that, plus buyers who squawk about margins of 10% and want to haggle the last nickel out of the deal BEFORE they whip out the credit card. Bezos doesn't have that.

Amen.

Ever look at the AMZN margin on general merchandise, it is thinner than a half dime pocket piece.

ARCO

Well, there Is a cost to preparing and shipping coins. It is easier to add a few bucks into shipping as an add on cost than to have a higher cost for the coins. Pyschology 101.

As for Amazon shipping. I placed an order at 1:00 PM while at my office and when I arrived home that evening, the package was on my doorstep. I just had to tell somebody.

Now, if DLRC could pull that off...