Shipping cost for a header.

Hello, I am starting an early spring cleanout of some of my spares. I have a few Honda headers I would like to sell on the forums or EBay. I was looking into the packaging and shipping of a header. I looked on the UPS site and see ground shipping is $70 to a 24/24/14" box across the country. Can I wrap the header in some packing tape and drop it off at UPS? How does the cheap EBay headers cost $48 with free shipping ?

Mark

I was looking at a Nissan header from California, and they wanted $60 shipping on it, into continental US. To Canada, $150.

They probably have a business account which nets them a discount. They also might fudge on the numbers a bit since they just slap a label on whatever box they've got and either drop it off/have the driver pick it up and its not like they check the dimensions all that closely.

I run by the Fedex store and have them do everything. Not everybody has one near, though.

Typically, those stores will add approximately 20% to the cost of shipping. FYI.

As for the original question - should you just bubble wrap it? I would say no, as UPS will say it wasn't properly packed in the case of damage.

This is why there's a Honda header sitting in my garage.

IIRC at least the service that drives brown trucks will charge more if you just wrap the header in bubble wrap. They really like having stuff boxed up as it makes it much easier to load the trucks properly.

I'd also look into shipping via USPS if they'll take a parcel that size. Around here it's usually cheaper to ship USPS if the parcel goes more than a state away.

I bought a bunch of exhaust stuff from Rockauto for the wife's old Civic. it came USPS I think, taped together with a label stuck on it. No box, no bubbles, no wrap.

Keith Tanner wrote: Typically, those stores will add approximately 20% to the cost of shipping. FYI.

Figured, but its easy. Helps for future reference. Thank you, sir.

Keith Tanner wrote: As for the original question - should you just bubble wrap it? I would say no, as UPS will say it wasn't properly packed in the case of damage.

UPS charges extra for a non box shaped package. If you try and ship tires the same way you receive them from tirerack (IE strapped together, no box) you get a nice surprise of an extra $20 or so.

tuna55 wrote: I bought a bunch of exhaust stuff from Rockauto for the wife's old Civic. it came USPS I think, taped together with a label stuck on it. No box, no bubbles, no wrap.

Meanwhile...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/07/29/aboxalypse_now/

I've shipped a 12v fridge usps parcel post once, basically max dimensions and 46lbs, and it was still only 25-30 bucks, I'd wrap it up into something resembling a box and take it to the post office.

I've shipped a few large items recently. The online estimators are surprisingly accurate. Cheapest will often depend on where it's going to. I shipped a guitar case to TN and ended up with FedEX. At first I wrapped it in shipping paper, but they made me cover the entire case in clear packing tape. For a bicycle frame to Italy, USPS was cheapest.

Anymore, if I'm selling something on Ebay, I have it boxed up and basically ready to ship before I even list it. This allows the ebay shipping calculator to be fairly accurate. This is one area where Ebay is nice. The shipping estimator is right there for the bidder to see and can decide for himself whether or not it's worth it to him.

But all that said, I often wonder if selling/shipping stuff to often be more trouble than it's worth, which is why I have a huge pile of crap I've been collecting to sell...

I just looked into USPS and the cost would be 38.21. Looks like it is USPS.

Do you have the header boxed up? USPS shipping is based on weight and the box size. To be honest, unless a Honda header is really small, that sounds suspiciously cheap.

Edit: read it again... 24x24x14... Hmm... still sounds cheap.