SHIPPING:

important: when ordering something, send me please asp your ADRESS !! Regualry people wire the money, but don't tell me their adress; then they complain that I'm not shiping fast enough....

Ok, due to some missunderstandings, let's talk about shipping.

My shipping fees are HIGH !!

But I have my reasons:
I'm not a powerseller, selling standardised crap, with fixed shipping costs.
Most items I ship are unique; it's most of the time prints, but in different sizes, on different types of paper: some can be rolled tight, others need to be shipped flat, or can be rolled, but they need a very large parcel..
Often people order some additional item, to save on shipping.
I pack my parcels very carefully.
Hence, I simply don't pack an item, bring it to the post office, have it weighted, calculate the exact price for airmail or surface shipping, to give the exact shipping costs to the last penny...
to re-pack the parcel afterwards and add the additional stuff...
I nearly gave up ordering prints or posters on ebay, as most oft the time the prints arrived dammaged, or it was pure chance that they weren't dammaged, considering the crappy way how they were packed.
I'm a collector myself, I know what I ship, over the years I really found out how to do it on the best way.
recently, I got this mail:

"That poster you were interested in arrived today in awful shape. The tube it was sent in was crushed in the middle, giving the whole fucking poster horrible, deep creases. I am pissed beyond belief right now and still waiting to hear back from Sam. This is fucking terrible. "

I'm sure, many of you reading this words made the same experience...

when I ship prints, I use: for prints of 50 x70 cm to 80 x 110 cm: special plastic folders to wrap in the print; they are also used to keep the print after shipping. They cost from 10-20$
I use strong cardbord rolls (10$) which are packed again in strong cardbord (10$) to be shipped.
I use always registered shipping (10$)
Up to 1500$ worth prints I use fast airmail shipping,
for more expensive prints I use ups next day shipping. (100-200$ )
But up to now anybody ordering prints for more than 2000$ was conscient that it is worth to spend about 10% of the art's value and to have it arrived fast and save..
There is alway people who order art for 500$ and then asks for 10$ shipping..
It is not excluded that cheaply packed items arrive safe.. but I simply don't have the time you have to spend when something arrives brocken...
Since 3 years that I sell on ebay I had only once a dammaged print, but this was by custom officials..

I always indicate in advance the shipping fees, as the Ebay policy asks; consider it when you bid.

May I have to add that 90% of my sales are done private, after the end of the auction.
Ebay is fine for stuff up to 500$, for more expenisve art, people need some more time and information to decide; My ebay adds can me seen as mere teasers, to give a hint of all what I have for sale.
Many people prefer to start to order some little thing to be sure they can trust me and that they got what they paid for.

the same I wrote about prints applies to books; but for a cheap book to Germany shipping does naturally cost much less.
the same is applies for 50$ prints; but there, too, I prefer some relatively expensive shipping; it's always cheaper than to ship the print twice considering the time of negotiation when something arrives dammaged.

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