shipping!!!!!!!!

#1
just thought I share my recent expensive shipping ! lol ok I sold a small 50cc zundapp engine . its for the steen taco f85 a rear bird . 400.00 bucks plus shipping?? seems pretty fair . now I live in philly pa the guy who bought it?calif. lol of course. so I say hey throw me another 50 bucks for shipping and insurance?? done deal . now I pack her up real nice and tight and go to the post office . quote for cheapest way?? 115.00!!with out insurance !ouch . forget that ! go to ups.. quote there?? 85.00 better ok lets do it .my customer graciously agrees to send me another 35.00 for the shipping . all good now I tell them I want 500.00 insurance on package. they have a ups conference !! lol and decide its not packed well enough to insure . they have too repack my package to insure it. long story short?? 115.00 total cost to pack and insure a 35lb package! remember guys it cost a dam fortune now to ship things .oh and i order myself the wrong size minibike tires from mfg in wi. no problem we will gladly take the 48.00 off your bill return them u pay shipping . packed them up quote from ups??? 37.00 to ship !! guess I keeping them for the next build?? lol gas
 
#3
Well I can top that. The bonanza I recently won on Ebay quoted shipping so I had a final figure. Except when I paid for it, Ebay charged me WA state sales tax which was another $60. When I mentioned this to the seller he said Ebay charged tax on his end as well.
 
#6
Shipping has gotten way out of control. I'm in the Philadelphia area and to California it is over 20.00 to ship or 3 or 4 pound seat.
I have found that fed ex is the best for motors. Use your shipping calculators from USPS, Fed ex and UPS to get your best quote.
 

capguncowboy

Well-Known Member
#7
Ship through PayPal. I save a bundle using USPS via PayPal for small packages, and UPS Ground through PayPal for large or heavy packages.

You have to activate it on your PayPal account before you can receive the discounts but they're between 30-40% on most shipments. Activation can take a few days.

I bet I could have gotten a shipping label for that engine for less than $50 including insurance.

And buying a shipping label at a UPS store is outrageously expensive. No discounts AND they add a premium to pad their profit lines (since they're all privately owned). I once bought a shipping label via PayPal for $14 but my printer was broke and I couldn't print it. They couldn't pull it probably it for me and I had to buy a new label from them. It was $28.


https://www.paypal.com/shiplabel/create/
 
#8
Ship through PayPal. I save a bundle using USPS via PayPal for small packages, and UPS Ground through PayPal for large or heavy packages.

You have to activate it on your PayPal account before you can receive the discounts but they're between 30-40% on most shipments. Activation can take a few days.

I bet I could have gotten a shipping label for that engine for less than $50 including insurance.

And buying a shipping label at a UPS store is outrageously expensive. No discounts AND they add a premium to pad their profit lines (since they're all privately owned). I once bought a shipping label via PayPal for $14 but my printer was broke and I couldn't print it. They couldn't pull it probably it for me and I had to buy a new label from them. It was $28.


https://www.paypal.com/shiplabel/create/
 
#13
First and foremost don't take a damn thing to a UPS Store unless its a drop off prepaid return. They charge you just to charge you. If you take it to a real UPS Customer Service Center you pay the correct charges.

For example. I bought an Oakworks Massage table off Ebay. And before you ask, yes I do massage therapy. All the tables listed on Ebay listed a $55 shipping cost. The person I bought it from took it to a UPS Store and it cost $185 to ship it to me. I paid $55 shipping agreed to by the seller before the auction ended using all the other auctions as a guide. After they paid the UPS Store they wanted me to pay the difference. I told them that when it arrived I would take it to the UPS Customer Service Center and get a quote. They quoted me $48 return shipping. No oversize charge. The UPS Store charged oversize.... I refused to pay the incorrect charges so they left me negative feedback. Ebay removed it.

I have shipped car fenders using Greyhound with just a shipping label and no packaging. Minibike frames the same way. My friend in Florida that restores old Holman & Moody Nascar racecars bought an NOS set of 1969 Mercury Cyclone Nascar unique fenders that are unobtanium and they shipped 800 miles with just a sticker in the baggage compartment of a Greyhound bus. Not a scratch.

Andy is correct. Paypal is a good source for reasonable shipping cost.
 

markus

Well-Known Member
#14
get yourself a scale, a tape measure, and open a Fedex account online. You put the info in, you choose what options you want for shipping, print the label, they bill my debit/credit card at the end of the month. Go online and look in your area for fedex drop points to drop it at, just make sure that wherever you go they dont charge you a fee to leave the packages...unless you dont have a choice. One store in town wants to charge for any box over 5lbs or something like that, which is just a made up number by the store owner as they get paid per box through fedex already. I go 2 blocks south to another store that I can drop fedex, ups, and even usps items at for free, Backdoor drop off even for large packages.

And I agree with others, paypal and even ebay have the best shipping prices I have seen for USPS shipping, no standing in line either at least for smalls and priority boxes unless you dont have a drop bin at you local post office.
 

sonerenos

Well-Known Member
#15
Well, the packaged arrived.

The box @gasgas300 packaged the engine in was padded plenty enough to be shipped in. He had put plenty of packaging materials inside the box around the entire engine to ensure it would arrive safe. I dont know why they charged him to repackage this, because all they did was slap his box inside another box with more padding around @gasgas300 original package.

I ship at work all day long and insure packages for $7000.00 which only cost $65 with the shipping. I use UPS and FedEx, but I charge it to the account and get billed a the end of the month. My scale is accurate and my tape measure never lies. I do have to take them to the UPS store, and if I declare a value they wont take it anymore. I have to wait for a driver to show up to sign for it.

Regardless, shipping is getting more and more expensive as fuel rates increase and materials cost increase.

Thanks again!!
 
Top