Shipping Big Things

AbsoluteZero

So

I just found out that a pair of old speakers I have (Klipsch KG4) could be worth a couple hundred bucks to the right person. Naturally, my first thought is eBay!

However, a conundrum! How the hell do I ship a pair of bigass 40lb speakers? I don't even have a box big enough for that.

I've heard that UPS stores will package things for you as well as ship them... does that mean I could just haul these speakers in to a UPS store and they'd take care of it for me?

Food?

AbsoluteZero wrote: »

So

I just found out that a pair of old speakers I have (Klipsch KG4) could be worth a couple hundred bucks to the right person. Naturally, my first thought is eBay!

However, a conundrum! How the hell do I ship a pair of bigass 40lb speakers? I don't even have a box big enough for that.

I've heard that UPS stores will package things for you as well as ship them... does that mean I could just haul these speakers in to a UPS store and they'd take care of it for me?

Pretty much, yes. Take it there or any packaging store (although that's usually more expensive).

Go in and get a quote before you list the item, so you can accurately tell the bidders the shipping price. eBay's shipping calculator is neat, but it doesn't work well on the bigger items (it told me my guitar would be $15 to ship, while it ended up being $45. I had to pay the difference, since the buyer had already paid what I asked, so in good taste I couldn't ask him to pay more).

AbsoluteZero

Awesome.

Has anyone here shipped something bigass like this? What kind of rates should I expect?

rannelvis

I dunno about UPS, but iirc, FEDEX rates are based on the value of the item, not the weight. example, I sent my dad 10 pairs of nike shoes for his basketball team in kuwait, weighing in at around 22 lbs. But because I put the value at $1,000, my cost for shipping was over $80. I also sent him another package, full of church pamphlets, that weighed 35 lbs. But since I wrote the value as $10, they only charged me $16, even though it weighed considerably more than the shoes.

blincoln

I shipped a big old computer (two pieces, about 100 lbs each) after selling them on eBay. I went with the UPS store approach. It was about $60-$70 for each of the two boxes. A UPS store will give you a quote based on the weight and dimensions. I would build in a fudge factor of +~10% just to make sure you don't end up eating some of the shipping cost.

Szechuanosaurus

rannelvis wrote: »

I dunno about UPS, but iirc, FEDEX rates are based on the value of the item, not the weight. example, I sent my dad 10 pairs of nike shoes for his basketball team in kuwait, weighing in at around 22 lbs. But because I put the value at $1,000, my cost for shipping was over $80. I also sent him another package, full of church pamphlets, that weighed 35 lbs. But since I wrote the value as $10, they only charged me $16, even though it weighed considerably more than the shoes.

It should be a factors of both weight (and possibly dimensions) and value. The value factor is only relevant if you want insurance in excess of their standard insurance. The weight and/or number of boxes is the basic factor for calculating cost. Oversized or overweight boxes may be charged extra.

For example, the courier company we use at work charges a basic rate based on the total weight of the consignment, but each box in a consignment can only weight up to a certain weight and must be within a certain size. Additionally, they provide a basic insurance coverage of £100 per box per consignment (each box is actually given a unique consignment number) with the standard cost. If the item is valued at more than that and you want to total value covered, you need to pay more insurance on top of that but you can choose to not bother at your own risk.

Thanatos

rannelvis wrote: »

I dunno about UPS, but iirc, FEDEX rates are based on the value of the item, not the weight. example, I sent my dad 10 pairs of nike shoes for his basketball team in kuwait, weighing in at around 22 lbs. But because I put the value at $1,000, my cost for shipping was over $80. I also sent him another package, full of church pamphlets, that weighed 35 lbs. But since I wrote the value as $10, they only charged me $16, even though it weighed considerably more than the shoes.

I would be shocked if that were a function of the value, rather than the volume. Ten pairs of shoes is pretty big. 35 pounds of pamphlets, not so much.

UPS charges something like $0.20 per $100.00 of value over $100.00. So, if you want insurance for up to $1000.00, they charge you an extra $1.80.

locopostal

alright! here's how this works:

you've got three or four things that are going to add to your price.

First, is the packaging. Take this into a UPS store, Postal Annex, FedEx Kinkos, whatever. Most of them provide packaging services. This usually costs more than most people think. However! At a lot of these places, if you pay them to package your item, and it gets damaged in transit, they will reimburse you for the value of the items, cost of shipping, etc. Ask them about this!

Second: Declared Value. This is NOT insurance. This works on a per-box basis. To declare a value for a package, it will cost a bit extra (usually not too much - think 2 bucks per hundred dollars of value). If said package is damaged, the declared value is the upper limit that the carrier will reimburse to. SO if UPS damages a package with a declared value of 200, when the actual value is 300, you're out of luck on that last three hundred. Remember, if something IS damaged, you'll need to file proof-of-value for it. (in this case, if you sell it on ebay, your ebay or paypal sales receipt should do fine). soooo, declaring a value is usually not too expensive and a good idea.

Third, is going to be the actual shipping cost. Speakers are going to get pretty expensive, mostly because of the size. to determine a shipping rate, carriers such as UPS and FedEx first use weight, and then dimension, to figure a "dimensional weight". If the dimensional weight is greater than the actual weight, you'll be charged higher. So a very large box, that only weighs 9 pounds, could rack up a charge at a 50 or 70 pound rate.

When you are getting a quote, remember: don't get your quote based entirely on the speakers. Remember that you will have packaging around them later. This will add weight and size to them. Sometimes that size is enough to push them up into another weight category. If you're going in to get a quote, its always a good idea to bring them with you.

and, uhh...I don't think i'm forgetting anything. Pretty much all of this applies equally to UPS and FedEx. DHL is kinda weird in places, and please don't even think about the mail for something like this.

Also- do not rely on a website-quoted shipping price. If you get a price there, and take it into a retail store, it WILL be different. The website rates don't usually match up to retail. And a benefit to taking it to one of these places : IF your package is damaged, lost, etc., the store will (in almost all cases) take care of the claim process with the carrier. This is a good thing, because 1) filing claims is an absolute pain in the ass, 2) they've got experience with it (hopefully not too much) and 3) sometimes its a bit more likely to be paid to a store that does regular business with the customer than with someone who just printed a onetime label off the website.

but let me know if you have any other questions about any of this. I used to run a UPS Store and a PostalAnnex.

Stonecutter

Oh my god, Locopostal! A brother in arms.

I spent FIVE FUCKING YEARS in a UPS Store/MBE.

I still have nightmares about that place.