Getting a shipping quote and label
If a lot can be shipped, you can find out roughly what postage will cost before you bid, and then request actual shipping after you win.
Estimate before you bid
On a lot that can be shipped, the details include Estimate shipping to me:
- Click it and enter your ZIP or postcode — that's all it needs to price a zone.
- Press Get prices to see a few carrier options with rough costs and delivery times, cheapest first.
These are estimates only, based on the lot's weight and size to that postcode, and they're for that lot on its own. The real cost is confirmed on your invoice. Things like a residential surcharge or an oversized item can move the final figure.
What the estimate means depends on the lot:
- On a ships individually lot, it's roughly that lot's own postage, whatever else you win — it always travels alone.
- On a combined shipping available lot, don't add the estimates for several lots together. Lots that share a box usually cost less than their separate figures added up.
Request shipping after you win
Once you've won and have an invoice, you can ask us to ship. On the invoice you'll see Would you like this shipped? (or, on a shipping-only sale, Where should we send this?):
- Enter the delivery address.
- Press Price the postage.
- We price it and add the postage to your invoice. Nothing is charged at that point — you then pay the new total.
If the sale charges for packing, a packing and handling charge per box is added beside the postage. The lot page shows it before you bid. Once postage is priced you may also be offered optional insurance for your parcels. See Packing charges and insurance.
If you win several lots marked combined shipping available, they can travel together in one parcel when they fit, so you pay one postage charge for that box rather than one per lot. The price is for a real box that fits all of them; if no box holds them together, they go in more than one.
A lot marked ships individually always has its own postage. It goes in its own box with its own tracking number and is never combined with anything else you win — the lot page says so before you bid. On your invoice it's a postage line of its own, on the same invoice as everything else.
Your label and tracking
You don't handle the label yourself — the auction house buys it once your postage is settled. After that, tracking appears on your invoice and on your Wins page, so you can follow the parcel from the same place you paid. Each parcel lists the lot numbers inside it, so if you have more than one box on the way you can tell which is which.
If the postage, or the parcel, isn't what you expected
A higher postage figure isn't a reason to cancel. We price the postage after the sale, for the box your lots will actually travel in, so it can come to more than an estimate you saw before bidding. Until we buy the label you can switch to collecting instead, if the sale offers collection: just tell us.
The postage on your invoice is what you pay. If the box costs us more to send, we pay the difference; if it costs us less, we keep it. The one exception is an address you change after the postage is priced: if the new address costs more to send to, we add the difference to your invoice.
Once the carrier has it, it travels at your risk. If you bought shipping insurance, we make the claim for you. If you didn't, we'll help you claim from the carrier.
Damaged, or marked delivered but not there? Tell us within 5 days of the delivery date on the tracking. Send your invoice and lot numbers, with photos of the outside of the box on every side (label showing), the packing inside and the damage. Keep the box and all the packing until the claim is settled.
The sale's own terms, which you accept when you register, are what govern.
If it can't be priced automatically
Occasionally one parcel can't be priced automatically: say a lot hasn't been measured yet, or no carrier will quote for it. When that happens, the postage for everything else is still added, and the page tells you exactly which lot is left over. The auction house prices that one by hand and adds it, to the same invoice if you haven't paid yet, or on a small separate postage invoice if you have. You can pay for the rest straight away.
If nothing could be priced at all, the page says why. Check the delivery address and try again, or get in touch and we'll sort a price.