Jan K Kube Auction Nr. 151 March 28th

GFMMackensen

GFMMackensen

Active member
Yesterday, I received a letter from Herr Kube stating that although I paid the requested $83.00 for the 3 upcoming auctions, because "US-Customs" do not forward the catalogs to his customers he would not be sending any to the USA. If I wanted to bid ,I should look at the catalog online, print the bid sheet and mail it to him according to the standard Kube Auction way of doing things from time immemorial. My hope is that the $83 grants me at least the "privilege" to bid in the auction over someone who just sends in a bid sheet out of the blue to him.
In addition , he stated that it was no longer possible to ship won lots to the USA by his standard way of using regular DHL postal service because ,once again ,the US -Customs service refuses to process his parcels. He did state that FED-EX was a more expensive alternative. You would think the Customs Service would want the percentage to raise more money for the federal government. I would go with the FED-EX option but do have another alternative with a friend in Hamburg I use for eBay sellers that refuse to mail parcels to the USA. That particular friend uses DHL Express. It cost me 345 Euros to ship 29.390g last month and I picked the package up at the local airport's DHL service center in one week after paying a 10% tariff on the package's insured value. No problem with customs.
I just wanted to know what the members thought. Perhaps he would be kind enough to throw a catalog in the parcel if I won something.
Kyle
 
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I paid for another year as well, and got a letter saying I would not get them anymore, no talk about refund etc. on what I paid. I gave up bidding on his stuff as he will not take credit cards, paypal etc. only wire transfers which can be expensive. I bid with people that are easy to work with.

Just my opinion.

James
 
He desperately needs to get into the 21st Century.

That is not good business to charge for a printed catalogue only to be told your not receiving what you paid for and no word of a refund or at least a credit towards future bidding.
 
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I received the same notification. I was fortunate enough to have vacations planned to Bavaria, so I was able pick up the last couple of items I won.

I have also won several items on German ebay that the sellers had to refund because they were unable to use their usual shipping methods.
 
I won some great items in one of his auctions last Fall. But he was unable to ship via DHL, which I know is a service Germans love, but which has little presence here in the USA. Before the tariff scenario kicked in, things got through though typically they would be handed off to the U.S. Postal Service in Miami and sometimes that took longer than the transatlantic crossing.

What happened is I ended up arranging for the box to be picked up by FedEx at Kube's business and then it was transported to Frankfurt and finally to the Memphis hub. I live in the Memphis area. It took 5 days. But it was quite expensive. That said, the items were worth well into 4 figures, so I just decided it was the cost of doing business.

There are a couple of items in the auction coming up that I would like to bid on -- but I am hesitating. As someone said above, the 21st century method of payment is not utilized as well. Bank transfers cost me about $55 and our bank is quite good at it. But it still rankles to have to go down to their local office and do it in person.

Perhaps one of my European friends will be there and he has agreed to ship via FedEx from his country in the past as he attends the Kube auctions in person. But if that is not available to me -- at any of the European auctions, and I want FedEx and they won't do it, I will not bid.

Another note. I recently purchased the new Verlag Militaria book on Adjutants. It was shipped from Vienna this past Monday and arrived yesterday. Cost was a very reasonable 39 Euros (it weighed 7 lbs.).


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Good luck, everyone!
 
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I recently sent a package to a member via DHL. Since I declared the value of the contents as over $150, I could only send it as an express package. The shipping cost was $150. But the package arrived at the recipient's address after 3 DAYS. It's a high price, but the contents were valuable. In any case, it was worth it.
 
Admittedly current policies make the US a very difficult place to do business with and to ship to, but Herr Kube is becoming exasperating. I have no idea why he can't seem to ship DHL Express, which does still cover the US, or to offer FedEx as a standard option instead of the self-directed, manual FedEx route Mike had to take.

I'm also unclear as to why his little catalogs were bounced by by Customs. Even in the current environment I've received several small book envelopes from the EU with no issues. It's bananas that he is still sending subscription offers to US customers knowing he won't fulfil them. I just got one this weekend.

I'm inclined to agree with James - these days it will take an extraordinary wish-list item to pop in his Auktion for me to make the effort to deal with him, which is sad. I have always been a fan of his offerings.
 
Thanks Mike! I'll have to double-check - I thought I only received the usual brochure.

Do you think this means he is offering FedEx as a shipping option, or suggesting self-service the way you had to?
 
Jeff R said:
Thanks Mike! I'll have to double-check - I thought I only received the usual brochure.

Do you think this means he is offering FedEx as a shipping option, or suggesting self-service the way you had to?
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Hey Jeff

I had Jan ship via FedEx last auction but I arranged it all on my end with FedEx pickup using my FedEx shipping account which you can create online.

You just need the dimensions and weight of the box and you can arrange for pickup right at his front door which just requires a bit of coordination with him. I think he’s there in the mornings if I recall so I arranged a morning pickup which he confirmed and received my items in good order a few days later.

Just an option and probably easier to be honest. Being Canadian I am unsure how you handle duties with US customs and FedEx but I imagine it’s not that all different than here?
 
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Doug B said:
Hey Jeff

I had Jan ship via FedEx last auction but I arranged it all on my end with FedEx pickup using my FedEx shipping account which you can create online.

You just need the dimensions and weight of the box and you can arrange for pickup right at his front door which just requires a bit of coordination with him. I think he’s there in the mornings if I recall so I arranged a morning pickup which he confirmed and received my items in good order a few days later.

Just an option and probably easier to be honest. Being Canadian I am unsure how you handle duties with US customs and FedEx but I imagine it’s not that all different than here?
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That’s was pretty vague in the letter, wasn’t it?
 
Doug B said:
Hey Jeff

I had Jan ship via FedEx last auction but I arranged it all on my end with FedEx pickup using my FedEx shipping account which you can create online.

You just need the dimensions and weight of the box and you can arrange for pickup right at his front door which just requires a bit of coordination with him. I think he’s there in the mornings if I recall so I arranged a morning pickup which he confirmed and received my items in good order a few days later.

Just an option and probably easier to be honest. Being Canadian I am unsure how you handle duties with US customs and FedEx but I imagine it’s not that all different than here?
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Exactly what I did after the last auction and it worked beautifully though quite expensive. Here in the USA, FedEx pays the tariff and bills me. It’s easy and no delays.
 
Mike H said:
Exactly what I did after the last auction and it worked beautifully though quite expensive. Here in the USA, FedEx pays the tariff and bills me. It’s easy and no delays.
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Yes same, Fedex just charges my account but as you say not the cheapest option but effective and fairly bulletproof.
 
That is a shock. Last time he did that ,it was during COVID. I want to thank the members who responded to this post . Last week, I wrote Herr Kube telling him that after I sent him the requested $83 he could send the future catalogs to my friend in Hamburg. I also said that if I had the good fortune to win anything in the upcoming auctions those items could also be sent there . He agreed and said that the result lists would also be sent there. In addition I told him that DHL Express ships to the USA as long as the package is under 30 kilograms (66 lbs) for 345 Euros. There was no response to that tip. So I dutifully mailed in my bids on his printed auction form. Now it appears from the recent news I could have saved myself an international stamp!
 
I will be bidding in the auction next weekend. But only because a friend attends the auction in person, will bid for me, pay if successful, and bring it with him on his next trip to the USA saving shipping costs which with FedEx can be very high, though I don’t hesitate to use them. For a box of the size for the item(s) I am thinking about, cost would be over $400. I would do that in future if the item was in the mid to high 4 figures.
 
gino1 said:
Personally, I find the starting prices at many auctions these days expensive. If you add 28 to 30% in taxes, the result is quite strange; it's not for me. I'd rather buy from the enthusiasts here.
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Yes, the starting price on some items are high, then adding in the dollar to euro conversion makes it even more expensive for some of us.
 
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