Stout Auction Invoicing

I just received my invoices for the auction the week before in IN, she said they can take 10 business days to complete the invoices and another few days to a week before shipping. They will send it to the e-mail you registered with and they you have the choice to mail them a cash payment or call with a credit card for an additional 3%.

Thanks.  I was beginning to wonder. 

The conditions list had a pretty tight time limit before money had to be in there. I can't send them a check though until they let me know for how much.

Do you know who they ship by? 

They should email you. They are pretty good to deal with. Might take a day or two to catch up..

in my experience they won't give you the information over the phone any faster than by email; I don't think that their system allows for it even if you are bidding by internet. I've tried phoning and sometimes you'll just get a recorded message.

It's a rather odd system but then you get the advantage of being able to bid and watch the auction from anywhere.

This is a great opportunity to explain why our invoicing process takes a bit longer than others. As soon as an auction concludes we start packing on the following Monday. We work our way through all the internet bidders packing as we go. That way when we do send you an invoice you get an exact shipping total. Also that means as soon as you pay your invoice it ships same day or next day.  Could we save time by flat rating everything? Sure, but we think it's fair to send an exact total as opposed to over charging some and under charging others. Working on speeding up this process is one of my goals this year, but the reality is that we have two guys working to pack over 1000 lots of trains. Anyways, I hope this helps explain the process a bit more. We appreciate everyone's patience. Feel free to call me at the office with any other questions. 765-764-6901

Thanks,

Derek

P.S. Every package we ship goes UPS. Except internationals which go USPS.

I've been very happy when dealing with Stout.  The one time I had a small problem (a tear in the shipping cartoon that slightly damaged the set box) they offered me a return or a discount in the form of a credit.  I took the discount.   I was wondering how they came up with what I thought were fair shipping charges and Derek's explanation clears that up.  I've dealt with another 5 letter auction house that charges an exorbitant amount for shipping.  When I questioned it I was told they contract out their packing /shipping and that's the price.  So not only was I paying shipping but I was paying a 3rd party to pack it.  Needless to say they no longer get my business.

Stout Auctions are the best

May take a few weeks to receive an invoice but they always come thru!

I always got an invoice, via email, by the following Tuesday at the latest after auction weekend (or the occasional Friday auction).  I got mine for last weekend Monday morning.

i've dealt with Stout Auctions (Indiana & Pa) a number of times and only once had a delivery problem which turned out to be a UPS glitch.  the only downside involves winning a single item.  seems like most of these houses have a minimum shipping charge and i've often gotten a hefty bill for a single car or locomotive, not that they don't do a superb packing job.  you won't be short of packing peanuts for a time after a shipment arrives.

Stout and a few others also have a fairly reasonable buyer's fee.  i will not participate in auctions with buyer fees of 20% and higher.  i feel sorry for sellers who choose those rip-off places; many of those even have horrible (ie small, single) pictures for their online lot presentation.

Dealt with Stout many times, always a good. They're pretty busy int he fall, so they get backed up with the invoices some time. Only problem i ever had there is once my spam filter put the email into the "junk" folder so I never saw it. They eventually called me, but didn't seem upset or put off by it.

BTW- what did you win? sorry if I bid up the price!

Tim 

To my surprise the invoice(s) which arrived yesterday morning, paid yesterday as well, turned into boxes on the front porch this afternoon! Wow!

Overlandflyer is right there will be no shortage of packing peanuts around here for a long, long time.

The bottom line is we want your trains to get there SAFE and FAST. That's what we're aiming for. Glad everything got there. Enjoy your trains this weekend!

Auction on Frid 13th, invoiced on 19th, I mailed check the 21st

shipped on 24th, I got my boxes,  27th  with way to many peanuts,  but stuff

arrived in perfect condition, 14 days later -  NO , Problem. It was my first!

thanks

I, like TGP, won my first auction with Stout on 9/13 and I received my item on 9/25.  I was very pleased with the whole transaction.  I will keep my eye open for more of their auctions coming up.  I got a locomotive that I have been wanting for years, now I need to get the cars to go with it.

I might also, add, the online (Stout)  server is of the capacity to SUPPORT, the business,

in a live bidding process, QUICK, loading,  that means that the business model, WORKS.

Believe another vendor, also, a participant on this forum, has or still has problems............., I think I'll go look @ other boxes from Yesterday>

 OH, 1, more,  when I sent my email to Stouts contact, 3 days after the auction,

I received a very courteous, well detailed, reply, pretty much what Derek, states

above, my point is -- the reply was detailed, and responsive!

Hi EJN, 

Let me check with Tina on Monday about using an outside UPS account. I know our volume discounts are already built into the prices that you see. I can check and see if an outside account would help your cost further. I do know that having items delivered to a business address vs. a residential is cheaper. So those of you who can have your trains delivered to work, keep that in mind. 

Thanks,

Derek

Thanks Derek. A business ship to is no problem. Eric