I have my shipping choice selected as once a week so my cigars are shipped out on Thursdays. I live in Chicago and in the past I would sometimes recieve my cigars on that Saturday (approximatley 40% of the time) and the other times my order would arrive on Monday.

I took a break from Cigarbid and recently returned about 2 months ago. Now my orders always arrive on Tuesday and I'm wondering if others have experienced slower shipping than in the past.

BTW, I love C-bid, but inquiring minds want to know....I really loooked forward to receiving my smokes on the weekend

Nope ... always the same for me out here in California ...

... they notify me that my 'winnings' have shipped out on Thursday morning (I'm once a week), I'm given a tracking number, and I always get them the following Thursday ... just like clockwork.

... and it's been that way since the day they gave us the option of the once a week shipments!

You might want to track your packages (check the details) and see where they are at any given point in time, or email Customer Service, and they can give you the reason for any one particular shipment that you are curious about.

I always get mine on Tuesday unless they come UPS then it is Wed.

ky is that kentucky or jelly?

ky70 --- I've also been told, that you can call them and set up an arrangement to have all your shipments sent by USPS, which seems to be much faster.

It may cost a little more, but if you want them sooner, that may be your only option.

Keep in mind though, that all lighters and butane must be sent ground, due to FAA regulations and security measures ...

Slim,
I appreciate the advice, but I'm not complaining about the informnation provided or the process (or complaining at all as Tuesday delivery is a more than respectable turnaround for Thursday delivery). I'm just curious to know if others who use to receive Saturday/Monday shipments (particularly Saturday) are now receiving them on Tuesday.

The shipment for people who've always received Tuesday or later delivery may not be relevant but thank you for your input. FYI, when I use to get the occassional Saturday delivery it was when I was a C-bid junky back in 2002.

My orders are usually processed sometime on Thursday. Then they are shipped out Thursday night or Friday. Depending on when I receive the email about shipping, I either recive my order on Monday or Tuesday, here in Cleveland.

Doug

i also found that if you win somthing on wed it might take an extra day or so.im close to cbid and 90% of the time get mine on sat. unless i win on wed.

martini

FYI, the current delivery method (UPS) is the same as it was back in 2002

Martini,
You may have hit the nail on a head....If my recollection is correct, I always seem to have Wednesday winning auctions since my C-bid return.

Thanks,
Ken

Oddly enough, my shipments started arriving here in California one day earlier a few months back--they arrive on Wednesday now rather than Thursday as before. That's what I call service!

Ky70 - My first Cbid purchase was 3/6/02. Shipping has always been the same. Here is a copy of my post from 9/23/03 which is relevant to you.

knof7393, if I might make a direct reply to your original question, yes, I have a similar experience with UPS on a regular basis. Cbid ships to me on Thursday night from Pennsylvania at about 6:00PM. The tracking info shows that the package arrives in Chicago late Friday night or Saturday morning.

For some reason the package always goes to the Jefferson terminal. I don't know exactly where Jefferson is but I'm only 15 miles from the center of the city so it can't be too far. It's not until Monday evening that the package is transferred to Northbrook , a near North suburban hub. Then it's delivered to me on Tuesday.

Now the curious thing is that I had a package shipped from Albany, New York which was sent directly to Northbrook so the whole trip was only two days with two fewer handling scans. It takes longer to ship from Chicago to a Chicago suburb than from Albany to the same suburb.

I too seem to get my shipments on Tuesday. The main reason I decided to post on this thread was because of the shipping "charges". I recently had a rather large purchase that all arrived in one modestly sized box and yet I was charged over $52 for the shipping. The box weight was listed at 19 pounds, but $52+ to ship it is just plain highway robbery...Anyone else have a similar experience?

Gerber - Oddly enough, my shipments started arriving here in California one day earlier a few months back--they arrive on Wednesday now rather than Thursday as before. That's what I call service!

Ditto for me.

prflani, $52 is probably higher than the actual shipping cost but the shipping rules are well defined and, in my opion, reasonable.

I'm sure what you noticed is that a one lot purchase would have a high shipping cost. This tapers off quickly as you buy more lots but continues as a kind of linear relationship to the sales price instead of dropping even further. Cbid does make some money on the shipping but I'm still happy with the whole system.

Tandem...Admittedly there were numerous one lot items in the purchase, and in general I have never felt too badly overcharged with lesser purchases in the past, but this time I know the charge was at least twice actual shipping costs and $25 or $30 profit on shipping charges just seems very excessive...I think there should be a ceiling on shipping charges unless special items with special shipping needs are involved. The excessive shipping charges on this order has caused me to reconsider giving them my future business...

prflani

i don't know if cbid makes money on shipping. i do know the costs are clearly spelled out for everyone. i have paid too much for shipping one 5 pack because i didn't take advantage of 50 cents for the second
5 pack.

why don't you call customer service and ask them about profit on shipping, or how they arrive at their charges and post the information for all of us.

Rick...The shipping charges are pretty well explained. I'm not saying that C-Bid didn't charge me correctly, as there policy is explained. Just take the example you gave of buying a five-pak with shipping charge of say $2.50. You get two of these lots and the charge is $3.00. Now you win 19 other 2-lot five packs, a total of 40 five-packs. C-Bid ships all 200 cigars to you in one modest sized box, at a cost of $15-$20, but charges you $60 for the shipping. The charge should really be $2.50 for the first fiver and $0.50 for each of the other 39 five-packs - a total of $22.00. This may have been a bad example becaues I believe that C-bid does count all the fivers as additional. In my case there were cigars boxes, samplers, fivers, cutters, punches, hats, etc., each particular item type incurring the max charge with reduction for additional similar items. With a more typical smaller order, this would not have resulted in excessive charges. In my case, the order was large and for a lot of different items and this resulted in what I feel is an overly excessive shipping charge.

I remember I once bought a whole bunch of mints and it cost me more to have then shipped than if I would have just run over to the store and buy a box of certs... no, just kidding, sorry I had a flashback of a post that used to circulate around here.

prflani

i got stuck with the sample $1.00 for each additional because i was not aware of the cost.

an example of shipping costs

Ford Vertical Humidor - 10 Capacity first one shipping charge $5.95. each additional $1.00. if you bought 3 and paid $7.95, you would consider it a bargin.

here is an example of my charges on my last invoice
CigarBid Invoice for: 10/23
Order Confirmation #: CB0253504

Title: La Finca Crystales - 20 Cigars & Humidor
Qty: 2
Price: $19.00
Lot #: 138322
Auction Closed: 2003-10-19 22:17:00.0

Title: Takoma Corona Special - Box of 5
Qty: 10
Price: $3.00
Lot #: 138446
Auction Closed: 2003-10-18 23:26:00.0


Sub-total: $68.00
Shipping: $16.95 (first item $5.95 second $1.00 + $1.00 for each if the 5's because they are not 5 packs, they are samplers. if they were 5 packs the ten would have cost me $5.00 instead of $10.00.)
PA Tax (6%): $0.00
Total Charges: $84.95

SHIPPED TO:
RICK MILLER

i think you may not have read the shipping charges correctly. each additional item, except 5 packs, are charged at $1.00 each even if there is a mix of boxes, samplers, hats, whatever.

Rick...You may be correct. I have not fully investigated how they came to charge me what they did. I just know that $52+ for shipping one modest sized box by a shipping route that takes 5 days to arrive is not fair, by any stretch of the imagination...