—>>I found a source to ship basses cheaply!<<—

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#104
Just created a label through the site for a bass I am shipping on Monday (per the buyer's request).

Versus the big shipper sites, there are a couple of differences I note:

1. It doesn't allow you to select the date you intend to ship. I'm not sure what the algorithm is that calculates ship date. Next business day? It automatically chose Monday as my ship date, and I had no control over that. Fortunately, I'm not shipping today, but had I WANTED to I don't know how I could have made that happen. I almost always ship same day. And while I can normally get a 4 day delivery to almost anywhere in the US, through shipbikes for this package it is estimated at 5 days. That may change after I drop it at FedEx, so maybe not accurate.

2. There's no real "confirmation" screen before buying the label. It kind of gets you to the "shipped" page before you review your label purchase. Not a big deal, but the other shippers summarize everything for your review, which I like.

3. You automatically get FedEx Home Delivery (or business? not sure, since I'm not shipping to a business), which is great and the cheapest and how I normally go. But you don't get to choose.

4. The label isn't in the FedEx system right away, which makes sense. It updates after a few minutes, so not really a big deal.

5. There is a "customer login" button but I'll be darned if I can figure out how to create a customer account. Creating a label didn't automatically create an account nor offer me the option to. It seems there's no way to get back to my expenditure (though I could reprint the label via the email they sent and can see the pending debit on my card).

I have a FedEx account, which saves me just a few dollars. To ship this bass to California via FedEx would have cost me $120 and some change. Through ShipBikes it was $107.56 - with overall dimensions and weight lower than the OP's email from them that showed $35 for the same thing (not counting insurance). Because you CAN get an estimate of the cost before creating the label I'll check it next time--other folks seem to be experiencing larger price differences--but I'm not sure whether I'll actually use them again.
 
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#106
drumsnbass said:
Recently a friend told me he was going to ship a bike AZ to WA for ~$100. I was amazed as the last few basses I shipped cost more than that! A bike box is huge in comparison.

so I reached out to the company with the approximate size and weight of a shipped bass to see how they’d feel about being the “shipper”. Here is their response!

*****

Hi,

Thanks for checking out ShipBikes.com!

While we are in the business of promoting cycling and the cycling community, if you or anyone you know has a package to ship that conforms to the guidelines of our service (and 48x24x8" definitely does), you are more than welcome to use ShipBikes.com. I checked the cost of shipping a package with the dimensions you listed and weighing 35 pounds from Portland, ME to San Diego, CA and the base shipping rate is $35.00, so that's about the maximum you can expect to pay shipping through our service. While we aren't quite ready to change our name to ShipBass.com at this point, we encourage you to ship through us and to spread the word!

Please get in touch if you have any questions.

Thanks again,
Chris Straney
-Shipbikes Team
+1 877-323-4083
SHIPBIKES.COM
Click to expand...
Awesome
 
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#108
sonojono said:
Just did my shipping for the first time under this site. FedEx/UPS wanted $135 for a 20 pound bass. Shipbikes: $62.55

Can’t beat that :thumbsup:
Click to expand...
That's INCREDIBLE !!! Both that a bass is now $135 to ship, and that $62.50 is the price. That's like 2010 prices !
 
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#113
I heard about this company that primarily ships bikes via FEDEX. You can purchase a box from them or USE YOUR OWN with dimensions, weight and insurance for value of item. I was doubtful that it would work.....but it DOES! I shipped a bass guitar that I sold on TB cross country. From Phoenix to Mass. cost me $38 with insurance for $500 value via FEDEX. I was testing this assuming that I would get contacted that I owe more money or that they can not ship boxes that do not have bicycles in them. NOT TRUE. FEDEX doesn't care what is IN the box or even ask. You go to their website, The Best Lowest Bicycle Shipping in America and Worldwide | ShipBikes and use the tab that you have your own box. (Of course you can purchase a bike box from them if that works for you for shipping something). I had the rectangular cardbox box that I had saved from other received purchases from bass guitars. I entered the dimensions, weight and value of the item. You can not get a signature required unless you value your item (bike) at $500 or more. No problem...the bass I sold was valued over $500 anyway. You finish online, use your credit card or paypal (I think) and they send you an email with a shipping label (pre-paid shipping label). I printed it out....taped it on the box and took it over to the FEDEX shipping store near me. The agent took the box with no questions asked and gave me a receipt with the tracking info. My buyer received the bass in the expected time frame that FEDEX gave, and everything went perfectly. I have shipped basses in the past couple of months and paid around $100 or so. I was thrilled and wanted to share the find with other TB'ers.
 
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#115
2020-09-19 19_08_00-Window.jpg
 
#117
Is it weird that I’m like why not just ship a bass you’ve sold in a normal fashion instead of romanticizing some idea of a seller’s “life hack?”
Just a weird subject in general. Charge more if free shipping’s included or expressly state that the buyer pays shipping costs.
 
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