Glen Stephens - payment - returns - Conditions of Sale info, etc

Postage and Insurance and Shipping Costs:

I do not charge silly prices for 'packing and handling' - just a small nominal cost, if anything, and add that mainly on larger non standard size articles. Sometimes I can spend 20 minutes securely packing a carton, finding the exact correct size sturdy box, adding packing/chocking inside to stop books moving around, and using lots of expensive fibreglass filament strapping tape etc for safety from bursting in transit. In such cases I add $5 or so for my time and messing about! Just completing all the customs and insurance forms for overseas insured parcels takes 5 minutes minimum.

You pay for postage (at the current Australia Post rate) and for the Registered Post fee and insurance of the goods. Insurance for goods up to $A5,000 per single shipment is only $A2.00 per $A100.00 coverage to most countries in the world, or part thereof to most major countries (some "high risk" countries like India/Pakistan/Columbia/Indonesia/Mexico etc are clearly excluded. Sending insured there is a GUARANTEE the items will be stolen or tampered with, pretty much.)

This insurance is added to ALL invoices over $100 unless you specifically advise in writing that you do NOT require this, and that you of course assume total risk for loss or damage in that event. i.e a $A500 domestic order will only cost you $A8 Insurance charge in addition to postage and Registered fee. (Registered mail compensation coverage is only VERY minimal, but being Registered ensures a signature upon arrival.) Remember, mail travels by trucks and is delivered on motor bikes, and trucks and bikes and mailbags get wet when it rains. So does mail in your letterbox when it rains quite often.

I have had countless sendings over the decades arrive either still wet, or with mint stamp stuck together inside as they were once wet in transit somewhere. Totally ruined and worthless in many cases. The PO does NOT compensate you in this event as they correctly say the mail was safely and quickly delivered! A Mastercard bill or junk mail getting wet in your letterbox is no big issue, but a set of $800 mint stamps IS! A few $$ to cover transit insurance is inexpensive peace of mind.

The good news is that I ALWAYS use attractive Australian postage stamps, NOT frank or meter labels for the postage and Registered fee component of your order, and have them lightly cancelled at my local post office. Not only do you get the stamp lots you ordered, you get fine used frankings as well - if they are not damaged in transit!

Generally, this light cancelled franking has a retail value around (and sometimes more!) than what you are charged for postage costs. The only exception to using nice stamps on mailings is for small lots sent overseas by Registered Mail.

INTERNATIONAL - Australia Post now insists that a pre-paid "Registered" envelope must be used for this, for goods under 500 grams (about 1 pound - i.e. 99% of my overseas sendings!), and insists that stamps CANNOT be used to pre-pay it. Their rules, not mine. A small size (130 x 240mm) pre-paid envelope that covers most stamp sendings is $A12 and the far larger one (353 x 250 mm) is $A20 - or about $US13. So the cost is very nominal really. 500 grams allows me to enclose a small collection on leaves or Hagners etc, and the regular cost to mail such a lot from Europe or USA is a LOT higher than $US13 in my experience!

Any overseas sending heavier than 500g MUST be sent by Insured Post which costs $A8 over actual postage costs for the initial $A100 covered. I use nice stamps for this postage cost and the $8 fee, which offers a nominal cover to $A100. The $A2/$100 insurance is additional to this, based on value of the shipment, this being a separate cover to the PO cost. I have found that mailing goods marked like: "value $1,000" on the outside often causes the recipients hassles, delays and costs upon entry re GST/VAT/import duties and taxes etc. Not to mention it can make the article a prime target for theft or tampering en-route as it looks "tempting" to some postal staff.

If I mark parcel "Book, printed matter" (which of course all stamp albums truly and honestly ARE!) and insure it for a nominal $A100 (~$US70) my long experience shows that the packet arrives quickly, without incident, and in 99% of cases no duties/taxes/VAT/GST/HST/MOMS etc are added or collected. If you wish I will enclose no invoice in with the goods - it makes no difference to me. So on a $A600 parcel if I send PO insured for $A100, you still need to sign for it at your end, hence it is quite safe, and usually a low value packet like that passes without comment via foreign Customs Bureaux etc.

If I cover the other $A500 by private insurance, you can sleep easily knowing you are covered for loss or theft, and the extra insurance cost is only $A10. Countries like United Kingdom with a 17.5% VAT will charge you $A105 VAT TAX if I were to mark parcel as $A600 value, and they probably add a collection/processing fee as well. (I know Canada certainly does.) And if Australian customs are any guide, they will hold up your parcel for a week in the bureaucratic process!

I can mail things of low value - but which weigh over 500 grams - like Gibbons catalogues etc and of only nominal value via un-insured post if asked specifically, and assuming that you of course assume 100% to all risk for loss or damage in that event. To countries like USA, Canada, NZ, GB and most of Western Europe etc, these are generally delivered without incident, and have been for 25 years.

All of my material is priced in $Aust and of course that exact $A figure is debited to your credit card. Buy a lot for $A100 from the USA - and $A100 plus $A10 Registered post will go on your credit card. If our lovely friends the banks screw you overseas a percent or three in the exchange rate shuffle - well that's life, and a trade-off for convenience. All I get is $A110! I do NOT charge you my 5% merchant fees etc on American Express or 6% on Diners Card - these are 100% absorbed by me, and you are charged your auction bid only, plus shipping. On a $500 purchase this saves you a LOT of money.

I do NOT ship quickly as a general rule as I am a classic one-man business and have NO staff or helpers to add to the cost of YOUR stamps. I also travel the world an awful lot as you can see on my website under www.glenstephens.com/travel.html - I travel way over 100,000 miles a year on vacation. When I am away the office door is closed tight! And when I am here, I am real busy. So - goods may OFTEN - in general USUALLY - take a week or 2 after your order to be shipped from here. And WHEN I ship to Canada or many parts of the USA, my mail takes 2 weeks to arrive airmail from date of posting - not my doing, but the respective Post Offices.

**** All buyers ACCEPT AND ACKNOWLEDGE this when buying from me and agree they will not harass me for expecting your stamp order "yesterday"! ****

If you want same-day shipping please go elsewhere - it is not, and has NEVER been the way I do business. Sorry. Hey - you may get lucky .. and I may ship in a day or so after you order, but do NOT expect or assume this. NEVER! My clients and I have a business friendship - they like me, they like my prices and my material, and they tolerate my shipping eccentricity. This is a symbiotic relationship. AND trust me - it will NEVER change.

I have been a large dealer for 25 years, and getting raised blood pressure rushing to the PO after a sale is just not usually on my radar screen. I do not need that kind of business. Of course I do accept at times you do need something REAL fast for whatever reason, (stamp show, gift, going on vacation etc) and if you are genuine let me know, and certainly I'll try to oblige 100%.

Thank you very much .... Glen Stephens

I have no shop, no staff, no kids, no wife. I work from home. I do no shows ... even my website is REALLY done on the cheap! Therefore my overheads are low and my prices are low ... so low in fact that hundreds of other dealers buy from me! When you contact Glen Stephens, you deal only with me, not an employee. So whether by E-mail, Phone, Fax, or Post you deal only with the owner of the business - to personally answer all questions about ANY lot for sale. I like stamps, and I like the people who collect them, and do it for fun, as much as any profit motive.

Sydney is Australia's largest city, with about 5,000,000 people but has virtually NO other serious stamp dealers. (Thank Goodness!!) I am the biggest stamp buyer in Sydney, and I am constantly buying large Deceased Estates, "distress" lots, and dealer stocks etc, etc, at very low prices, as frankly almost no-one else here is interested in buying large lots for cash without "cherry picking". I buy it ALL, and after 25 years, collectors, solicitors, other dealers, Public Trustee etc generally know this and often phone me FIRST.

I don't have a shop, and the ensuing very high rents, but simply price up and lot this material "as received" at often a 10% mark-up from my cost. Because of this, you are generally paying well below wholesale and auction prices for my material. Because of this I can OFTEN offer the same stamp for way LESS than a small collector who bought it off a dealer or Auction and paid near "retail". I do not charge any nasty 15% "Buyer's Commission" rip-off imposition (PLUS GST!) on my material - which all Auction buyers incur. If I buy a Kangaroo for $200 from an estate that often costs $400 at auction or large dealer, clearly you save money if I sell that stamps at 10-15% more than my cost price. A fast $30 profit is always VERY sweet music to me.

Buy off me and you KNOW what you are getting. I am obliged via my trade association ethics to offer high professional standards. Many smaller stamp sellers do not have such constraints or obligations. If I say something is unhinged mint original gum it IS. Buy off some cowboy newcomer "stamp expert" and he often has no clue about it or re-gumming or repairing. Take your pick. I will be here next week. Been at this address for 15 years. And that is comforting to know if spending good money on stamps.

My policy is not unlike like K-Mart - quick turnover on a small profit margin, so stock does not linger about long. Works for me.

If you are not happy with the goods, please ship them back to me by Registered or fully Insured Mail in the exact condition they were received in, within 72 hours of receipt. To Glen Stephens - PO Box 4007, Castlecrag. NSW. 2068. Australia. Please include an explanation of the problem, and I will fully refund your purchase price of those goods, or exchange the goods, or leave a credit balance on your account - whichever you prefer.