Cellar-of-Stuff  ^TM

Shipping & Handling & Misc. Info Page

Thanks for clicking on my Shipping & Handling & Misc. Info. Hopefully this page will answer your questions about my auctions. If it doesn't, just  email me  and I'll send a quick reply.

Shipping Policy / Shipping & Handling Charge

I charge both Shipping and Handling on my items. The charge reflects the actual cost of postage, insurance and materials to carefully package and ship each item for safe transport. A small part helps cover the fees for posting and closing auctions.

• I ship exclusively through the US Post Office. My stated S&H charge is for Insured Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation. Express Mail service is available at extra cost. 
• All shipments are insured for the bid price paid. The cost of insurance is included in the Shipping & Handling charge.
• I always ship the next business day following the receipt of your payment.
• I use only fresh and clean cushioning materials inside clean shipping containers.

A typical item that has a shipping weight (including packaging) of 1 Pound or less will have a $7.50 S&H charge in the listing. This is broken down as follows:

You may request Express Mail for additional cost. Please  email me  for an Express Mail quote.

I have had some comments about the $2.35 handling charge.  My response is that the person who questions charging for packing materials and listing costs should take a trip to their local Office Max or Staples and price out bubble wrap and peanuts. This stuff is not cheap!! Many of the items I sell have an opening bid of less than $5.00, and some are under $2.00. At these prices there just isn't enough money in the item to pay for the auction fees and shipping material. I use only new fresh and clean packing peanuts, kraft paper, bubble wrap and bags. You will never find your item was contaminated by the packing material.

Please feel free to  email me  if you disagree, but I can't change my position on handling charges.

Shipping Weight

Many people misunderstand Shipping Weight. If an item weighs 8-10 ounces they expect it should ship for the 1 Pound rate. This is rarely true. Fragile items require sturdy boxes with plenty of compression room filled with cushioning material to survive the rough handling in route. Many times the packaging alone on a small fragile item will weigh over 1 pound. When I create my listings I place the items in a shipping box along with the appropriate amount of packing material and place them on my postal scale. That is the weight used to calculate Shipping & Handling charges for that item. Quite often when I get to the post office with a package that I did my best to keep under 1 pound I find that the shipping label and tape added at the P.O. pushes it to the 2 pound rate (it only takes .1 ounce to break the 1 pound limit). In these cases, I absorb the extra postage.

On items with a shipping weight of more than 1 pound I use the Zone 8 Priority Mail postage rate and adjust my handling to round the total to an even 50 cents. The following table shows my total Shipping and Handling charge for a single item with shipping weights up to 10 pounds.

Example: An item that will ship for the 3 pound rate will have a Shipping and Handling charge of $12.50 in the listing. 

Multiple Auction Wins

If I am fortunate enough that you bid on multiple auctions and you are skilled enough to win, then we can both save on postage and handling. I will consolidate your items into one shipment which usually saves on postage and always saves on insurance. I will add $2.35 handling per item for the first two items plus $0.50 for each additional item to the actual postage and insurance cost to arrive at the consolidated Shipping and Handling charge.

Example: You win three items that have a shipping weight of 2 pounds. The Shipping and Handling charge would be the $9.50 2 Pound rate (from the chart above) plus $2.85 Additional Handling. This is arrived at by adding $2.35 for item #2 + $0.50 for item #3 (a total of $5.20 handling). The total S&H would be $12.35. This is a savings of $10.15 over three individual shipping and handling charges of $7.50 each.

IMPORTANT: If you win multiple auctions please be sure to  email me  for a consolidated Shipping and Handling charge quote. Also - DO NOT use Checkout to pay for your auctions via PayPal until you have received instructions from me or you may end up paying each individual shipping charge. PayPal does not allow partial refunds, so if you over-pay I apologize, but I can't refund over-paid shipping. I will provide complete payment instructions with the quote.

TIME LIMIT: I find that I must put a time limit on this policy or some people will never check out! I will hold your items for two weeks while you are actively bidding on other items. When the two weeks from the first win ends, I will package your items and quote shipping. Please do continue to bid on more items, but the first two weeks items must be paid for so I can ship them and clear my staging area.

Payment Options

I offer several methods of payment. My preferred method is PayPal for the speed and protection it offers us both. If you would rather not use PayPal, I will accept a Money Order or Cashier's check by mail. If you plan to pay by mail please notify me by email at the close of the auction.

Payment is requested to arrive within 72 hours after close of auction if paying by PayPal, or within 7 days if mailing payment. I'll give feedback to you with "Fast Pay" if you comply with this request.

Terms of Sale

Bidding on an auction is a contract of sale. I expect you will keep your end of the bargain and I pledge to keep mine. I want you to be satisfied, in fact I guarantee it! If I have misrepresented an item I will gladly refund your money including shipping and handling if you return it post paid. Please email me me first for authorization before returning anything. If you are just plain not happy with an item, I'll do my best to make it right even if it means taking the item back. Unless the item was misrepresented, I will refund the bid price. You will pay the shipping and handling in both directions (Shipping & Handling not refunded except in misrepresentation cases).

My items come from many sources therefore I can not guarantee that they are from a Pet Free or Smoke Free environment. 

These terms do not constitute a warranty. All items are sold As-Is with no warranty of any kind, express or implied, including any warranty of merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose.

If this Page did not answer your questions please send your questions to me by email  

Press BACK to return to the item you were looking at

or

 Click Here for my other auctions

Thank you & Good Luck!