Need advice on many shipping questions

[Bearmw]

I will soon be selling a bunch of stuff from long tube headers to cylinder heads and diffs to tiny light weight items and everything in between.

I'm looking for info on what ways of shipping and companies to deal with and why? If you prefer including shipping in the price why?

Also what do you guys like for packaging materials for various items?

The bottom line is: I'm trying to avoid spending too much on shipping the parts I am going to get rid of (lots of good stuff) and I'm willing to consider options. So let the suggestions begin...


...and what about methods of payment pros, cons, experiences?

[evandael]

use UPS for everything less than 50#, insure it, and only take paypal with the fees paid.


anything else use Greyhound, but still use the same method of payment.

[SmokeE30]

I try to fit everything I can in USPS flat rate boxes usually because you don't have to guess what it will cost so you can pick on it fits in and just add that cost in with your price and u can just print a label and leave it or your mailman to grab so no time/fuel wasted running across town. For big/heavy items get a FedEx account, they won't tell you but it is significantly cheaper to ship something with an account for some reason. And I always reccomed you get insurance on the packages but if not at least get delivery confirmation so u and the buyer can both keep track of it.

[RCM3]

Ive always shipped diffs through FedEx. I build up a crate around it, make a box, and drop it off at the hub. Usually the diff is ~95lbs boxed up and costs $60-$90 ($60 from CA to west coast, $90 to NY or FL from CA). Thats without a FedEx account also.

[AndrewBird]

The local news paper here gives away the excess rolls of paper left over from printing the paper. Basically the rolls they use are 5-6 feet in diameter and are the width of a double wide sheet of news paper. Once the rolls get down to ~6" in diameter, they change them out and recycle what's left. You can pick these up for free and they work great for packing material. If there is a newspaper in your town, you might look into it.

Anything under a pound, I ship USPS, either First Class or Priority. Heavier stuff I will try and fit in a flat rate box, but otherwise, I use UPS. Greyhound for large items like seats and body panels.

Rule of thumb for packing is if you can shake the box and hear something moving inside, you don't have enough packing. And ALWAYS use a box that is bigger then they thing you are shipping. You need to leave room for padding around the entire part. It's not just there to fill empty space in the box, it's there to cushion your item. The heavier the object, the more space around it you need for packing.

[dougie30]

M20 long tube headers??

If so..dibs ;)

[Bearmw]

Thanks for the info...keep it coming.

The headers BTW are good shape Stahl's for an M30 E12 but I don't know if I'm selling them yet. I also have a set of old rusted but solid Hartge M20 headers and Hartge muffler in good shape. Also a set of Schmiedmann stainless M30 headers and a set of custom M30 shorty headers made by IE. I will be selling most or all but not until I get my vert exhaust squared away.

[flyboyx]

if you have an account, fed ex ground is 10-20% cheaper than shipping with a ups account. furthermore, ups always pisses me off when i ship through them. they have a revenue reclaiming department. these assholes do nothing but look over past shipments and rebill account holders a few dollars here and there for bullshit that they didn't charge for in the first place. there is nothing worse than getting a quote to ship something, charging the buyer for shipping, then about 3 or 4 weeks after the deal is done getting a bill in the mail from ups charging an extra 4 or 5 bucks because they didn't do their job properly. its not as if i can go to the buyer a month later and say, "hey man, ups charged me the wrong shipping price. you owe me another 8 bucks" i always end up eating the charge.

for large heavy items i pretty much stick to the freight forwarder aaa cooper. i also have an account there and they are the cheapest trucking company i have found. they are regional, so i don't know if they are in your area.

i can't understand why people keep using greyhound. everything i have ever shipped through them or received from another member always arrives fucked up. yes, they are a little cheaper than fed ex, but there is no cost savings when the part arrives dented, broken, ripped, etc. they take no pride in what they do there.