Topic: Shipping, what am I doing wrong here

Ok so its been a while since i sold anything large online that I needed to ship, but WTF is going on with Shipping rates?  Or am I doing something wrong?

I'm selling off VW interior parts to make back some money from my new car build.  I have a guy in Miami who already bought a console and some other stuff from me, cost about $20 via UPS ground to send, 5lbs box maybe 20x12x12. 

Now he wants the door cards and rear inside body panels.  They are light, whole box is maybe 5 lbs, but physically its about 40x40x18.  UPS wants $150 to send it ground!!  It never cost me that much to send something like that.  I mean I buy stuff from stores bigger than that and I am never getting charged that and I can't believe they are eating that.

Am I doing something wrong?

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2 (edited by gunn 2016-10-25 10:19 AM)

Re: Shipping, what am I doing wrong here

Dimensional weight is what is killing you. Commercial entities negotiate special rates from UPS in exchange for volume but you as a lowly retail customer (or someone with a smaller UPS acct) will get boned if a pkg gets too large.

I've sold door cards before from my tbird that were 40-50" long but I packed them in such a way that they were only 5" thick.

https://www.ups.com/content/us/en/resou … eight.html

It's been a while but I seem to recall that USPS was a little more generous than UPS in their pkg size allowance
https://www.usps.com/dimensionalweight/

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I've found for really bulky items, the best service to use is BusFreighter.com to get discounted pricing from Greyhound terminal to greyhound terminal. In the case where I sold an entire interior (including the cushions -- not just the fabric), I think my buyer paid $100 and I only pocketed $40 as $60 went for shipping. Sure that sucks but a) that $40 was more than I could get for those items locally and b) my buyer was happy with the condition of the material he purchased even at $100. Win-win

http://www.busfreighter.com/our-rates/rates/

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3 (edited by squidrope 2016-10-25 02:03 AM)

Re: Shipping, what am I doing wrong here

USPS is much cheaper than UPS when shipping larger items like door cards

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Re: Shipping, what am I doing wrong here

USPS says package is too large to be mailed sad

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Re: Shipping, what am I doing wrong here

I just shipped a couple of 40" x 24" x 8" boxes full of old Chrysler parts, including door cards, via Fedex Ground, Chicago to Denver. 35 and 45 pound weight. Total cost was about 75 bucks.

I have a Fedex account, dating back to when I used to sell dozens of parts every month on eBay, and that makes it somewhat cheaper/easier-- you just print out the label, put it on the box, and drop off the box at any place that takes Fedex Ground. Pretty easy to set up such an account for yourself.

6 (edited by RogueLeader 2016-10-25 09:36 AM)

Re: Shipping, what am I doing wrong here

Fedex wants $220.  I don't get it , maybe its because I'm shipping out of the Metro NY area so they stick it to me?  All of them say "oversize package".

Now see if I drop to the size you mention the price goes down to $50.  I need to find a way to get these in smaller boxes, somehow....

EDIT: Busfreighter.com was a good choice, they will ship it for $50.

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Re: Shipping, what am I doing wrong here

Greyhound freight....for the dollar amount you are making it's not worth it.  I used to sell BMW parts all over the place now I sell zilch because shipping is so much money and not worth the hassle when so many try to haggle you down from a cheap price already.

What kills me is you order something that comes from an odd Amazon seller and it comes from China and cost a whopping $8.25 and comes with free shipping from half way around the world...

That right there is what is bad about NAFTA and TPP and so forth.

Re: Shipping, what am I doing wrong here

Had the same issue selling saab parts. Someone bought the rear parcel cover and a few other things, cost $45 to ship. Door cards would have been impossible. I just made the larger items local pickup only.

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Re: Shipping, what am I doing wrong here

TheEngineer wrote:

Had the same issue selling saab parts. Someone bought the rear parcel cover and a few other things, cost $45 to ship. Door cards would have been impossible. I just made the larger items local pickup only.

Yep thats the problem, $50 to ship parts that I would sell for $20.

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Re: Shipping, what am I doing wrong here

Size does matter.

I've been shopping for some aluminum tubing for a project and the cheapest source is Ebay but for an item costing less than $12  it would cost $22+ to ship.  The item is 5 ft long so that's the problem. What is good is that the price for shipping doesn't go up much as you add items.
I can have 8 lengths of the same item shipped for only $32+ total. Since I will need 8 I think I'm good.

Re: Shipping, what am I doing wrong here

Hopping on the bandwagon of people who suggest bus freight. I've sent stuff Greyhound before and it's far and away the least expensive way to ship large and unconventionally sized items.

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Re: Shipping, what am I doing wrong here

Forward Air is an option if you are near an airport.

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