What's a reasonable shipping cost?

Aristera · Aug 31, 2015

Does this seem reasonable to ship a Guild Dreadnaught?

Pickup cost: $17.00
Packaging: $39.10
UPS Ground: $145.76 (Includes insurance)

Total: $201.86 from Tukwila, WA (near Seattle) to Albany, NY

AcornHouse · Aug 31, 2015

Having a service do your shipping will always double, triple, or (in this case) quadruple your costs. Is this a UPS store? They have huge up charges.
If you don't have a guitar shipping box, you can usually get one from a Guitar Center/other store for nothing. Pack it yourself, ship it yourself, and you should be able to do it for less than $50.

(Here's how overcharged your price is; I shipped an acoustic bass guitar once. Because of its size, I had to make a Frankenbox from 5(!) regular size guitar boxes (I was double boxing since it didn't have a hard case.). The end box was close to 5' tall. I took to a FedEx outlet and because it was oversized, it cost $115.)

If you absolutely can't find a shipping box, let me know and I'll send you one for the cost of the shipping, and you'd still be way ahead of their price. But, you should be able to find one around Seattle.

tjmangum · Aug 31, 2015

Yikes! Tell the seller to go to their friendly local guitar store, buy a set of strings and ask for a box. Most major brand boxes have plastic spacers that hold the case suspended and you are good to go. Depending upon how much you insure for, should not exceed $60 plus the cost of strings they were gonna buy anyway.
Always watch out for sellers who say, "Buyer pays actual shipping costs." This is what can happen.
T

Synchro · Sep 1, 2015

Sounds like the UPS store at work. They run something that is akin to a scam; if they didn't pack it at the store then they claim that UPS will probably not honor damage claims. As I understand it, if you go directly to UPS this is not the case. UPS store or not, shipping has become much more expensive these days and every time I sell (and ship) I am astounded at the cost. A few years ago, I posted a number of unused items for sale at G-T and consistently lost my toccus on shipping.

wileypickett · Sep 1, 2015

Very unreasonable. The seller has decided to do the least amount of work possible and is asking you to foot the bill to serve their convenience. He / she isn't even taking it to the UPS Store, but rather is having it picked up at home and is charging you $17.00 for pickup.

Was this an eBay auction?

If so, and this happened to me, I'd politely tell the seller that the shipping charges are nearly four times the going rate and that had I known the true shipping rate I wouldn't have bid. If the seller refuses to budge, I'd put in a request to cancel the auction and contact eBay support.

Of course if your heart is set on the guitar or you got a great deal, you may want to pursue other options.

Here's hoping the seller is persuadable.

Good luck!

fronobulax · Sep 1, 2015

The quote is for charges other than shipping. Pick up and packaging are things that someone could easily do themselves. As noted some carriers have a reputation for trying to not honor insurance claims unless they packed things themselves. If you choose to have them pack think of it as an insurance cost.

The ~$145 seems high. An enabler shipped a Mark IV from San Diego to Washington for ~$60. A B50, which dwarfs a dreadnaught, was only $125 from Chattanooga to DC and every time I ask about shipping all the folks here who have access to corporate FedEx or UPS accounts say they can ship a guitar for under $50.

If you are the seller then you should try other sources. if you are the buyer then tell them that their shipping and handling charges are ridiculous and about double what they need to be and offer to help them find something cheaper. But beware because your 'refusal' to accept the seller's proposed shipping could lead to a situation where you get a damaged instrument and both the seller and shipper try and make that your problem.

davismanLV · Sep 1, 2015

James, I think you have your answer already, but..... I went to Guitar Center and they gave me a box. I packed the guitar (dreadnaught) in the case, in the box, and sent it from Las Vegas to Canada (West Coast above Seattle) by USPS (The Post Office) for $74. Like Glenn said, you're being charged (overcharged) for the seller's laziness.

Aristera · Sep 1, 2015

I purchased the item from an online auction, not ebay. The auction house did state in their online terms that they used ups and another shipper. I guess I was foolish in assuming that the packing was done in-house and that it would be a simple pickup and ship. As I am not the shipper and I'm on the east coast and they're on the west I might have to eat this one.

I did measure some empty guitar boxes I have and used the weight measurement on the box from my DV-62 then entered that info into USP's online calculator. Including insurance it came to $115 not including pickup and packing.

Alan_M · Sep 1, 2015

I've never paid more than $70 either as a shipper or receiver, UPS or Fedex, and I've bought several from NY and I'm in San Diego. Sounds like a gyp to me.

AcornHouse · Sep 1, 2015

Yeah, they are definitely ripping you off. I've bought a guitar from Heritage Auctions in Dallas, and they only charged around $40 for the shipping. (When I ship, I always use Fedex ground. From my school, using their account, I've done electrics for $35.)
I'd complain to them before paying. You may still be stuck, but if they know you're on to them, you may get some off.

wileypickett · Sep 1, 2015

I'm also on the East Coast and have shipped guitars to Californis and Washington (coast-to-coast in other words) and the most I've ever spent was $65.00 to ship, and that was with full insurance and a very large / heavy box.

(I do my own packing and I carry the box to the nearby UPS shipping depot; I don't charge for handling.)

Neal · Sep 1, 2015

I look for free shipping as part of a purchase wherever possible.

Rocky's out of Brooklyn is a good example (no affiliation). They will provide (through PayPal) a return shipping label, which I think cost me $33 to send a guitar back from Virginia.

Easy. No hassle. No rip-off. Essentially, you get a 14-day free trial with the guitar for $33.

Neal

Neal · Sep 1, 2015

Of course, Rocky is almost sold out of Guild acoustic stock (only one D-50C Std and five D-40C Std's left from New Hartford).

Neal

jcwu · Sep 1, 2015

Then there was the time I sold a guitar on eBay and clearly listed $45 for a flat shipping charge, then the buyer hits Buy-It-Now, *then* tells me he won't pay $45 for shipping because it's too high, and threatened me with negative feedback.

I called eBay and reported the extortion and they took care of me.

adorshki · Sep 1, 2015

Synchro said:
Sounds like the UPS store at work.

Understand those are owner operated franchises, they're not owned by UPS.
Also, IF you get alook at UPS' official rate chart, they have something called a "Large Package Surcharge": if (2 x width) plus (2 x height) exceed 130", it was a $40.00 surcharge in 2007. And that automatically kicked in an "Additional Handling Charge."
Residential delivery charge is another gotcha.

Synchro said:
UPS store or not, shipping has become much more expensive these days and every time I sell (and ship) I am astounded at the cost.

Take it from the horse's mouth, gents.
UPS and fed Ex both contract for the Post Office, and just take a minute to think about what web-based shopping and shipping has done to the small delivery business.

tjmangum · Sep 1, 2015

We have an auction gallery and handle all of our shipping in house for this very reason. I know lots of auctioneers don't agree with me, but I believe our job isn't done until the buyer receives their item. I once bought a fishman aura DI box from an auction house and ended up with the "offical" shipper. He told me it would be $35 to ship. I told him I was an auctioneer and wouldn't it be cheaper if he put it in a USPS Flat Rate box and I paid him $5 for printing up the label and sealing the box? He agreed and charged me $16.
Perhaps you can find a local guitar friend, either here or on AGF who will pick it up and ship it to you. You could get him a $50 dinner certificate and still come out way ahead.

richardp69 · Sep 2, 2015

You can also buy a 3 pack of shipping boxes from Reverb for $29.95 with free shipping. Pretty good deal I do believe.

adorshki · Sep 2, 2015

Aristera said:
I did measure some empty guitar boxes I have and used the weight measurement on the box from my DV-62 then entered that info into USP's online calculator. Including insurance it came to $115 not including pickup and packing.

Somehow I missed this earlier but at least it appears you can see you're not exactly being ripped off in the usual sense, you're just being hit up for full retail pricing because you're being categorized as a retail customer.
Knowing that may aid in neggotiating something better if you're so inclined, but it occurs to me that they actually may not have a UPS account.
Even here at my work, we dropped their "Motor Freight" service because we weren't hitting the threshold that woud kick in worthwhile discounts. (We already have a fleet of our own trucks and only used 'em for deliveries beyond a bout 500 miles, which we normally try to avoid anyway, because of damage potential.
Anyway, point being, from working for a company that ships paper in bulk, I got a lot of sympathy for the actual labor overhead as well as fuel costs involved, for shipping anything with some bulk to it, anywhere, and keeping accurate track of it besides.
I do draw the line at sloppy handling though.

fronobulax · Sep 2, 2015

I note that the seller is just trying to outsource shipping and expects the customer to bear those costs. The customer is willing to bear reasonable costs but the cost presented is not reasonable. In almost any kind of friendly situation they can work together to get things done reasonably but sometimes that is not an option for the seller. I have worked with auction houses that consider their responsibility ended when they turn the item over to the shipper of the buyer's choice which means buyer makes all the arrangements. There are also "as is/where is" sales which mean shipping is not the seller's problem. But outsourcing shipping of a guitar and passing the costs on to the buyer seems like a path that will not lead to repeat business.

West R Lee · Sep 2, 2015

tjmangum said:
Yikes! Tell the seller to go to their friendly local guitar store, buy a set of strings and ask for a box. Most major brand boxes have plastic spacers that hold the case suspended and you are good to go. Depending upon how much you insure for, should not exceed $60 plus the cost of strings they were gonna buy anyway.
Always watch out for sellers who say, "Buyer pays actual shipping costs." This is what can happen.
T

Couldn't agree more with Terry. I've done it many times, and didn't buy strings. Fact is, the boxes are just going to the trash. Not only that, a seller that knows how to pack a guitar can do a better job than people who don't normally ship guitars. And if you don't know how to ship a guitar, that sucker can sure get damaged in shipping.

I' make sure the seller knows how to pack a guitar and have him score a box in which to ship, and pack it himself. But shipping should be far less than that......say.......$40-$60. But it's been a while since I've shipped one, so prices could have crept up since I last shipped.

West

What's a reasonable shipping cost?

Senior Member

Venerated Member

Senior Member

Member

Senior Member

Bassist, GAD and the Hot Mess Mods

Venerated Member

Senior Member

Member

Venerated Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Reverential Member

Senior Member

Enlightened Member

Reverential Member

Bassist, GAD and the Hot Mess Mods

Venerated Member