Attn: Shipping Gurus

figure8

XS650 Guru
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I know a lot of you guys buy and sell parts. I recently sold a tire and rim. I want to find the most cost effective way to ship it. I've heard use USPS for smaller and lighter stuff and UPS for bigger and heavier. Just looking for any tips on how to ship this safely without costing me a ton.
 
I know it will vary depending on how far it goes. What on average do you spend, your best guess.
 
protect the hub, I had a nice chrome hub ruined because the moron who shipped it to me was an idiot
 
An online USPS account Unlike the other shippers the USPS account is free and never expires. Print your postage at home saves money also. Wheels are a real pain when the tires are on, the box gets big and that jacks up shipping some more. Check parcel select compared to priority. remove anything that sticks out like the axle or brake arm and zip tie them to the spokes.
This is top secret! this paypal link lets you print and ship parcel select and first class mail online! The Post office site will not let you do that! That link can save you 10-$15 on a big box. And your carrier will pick up the box from your house, no charge.
I almost always remove tires to reduce shipping cost and hassle (it's hard even finding boxes big enough to ship a wheel with tire) if the tire is any good sell it on Craigslist. Otherwise you have to pay about $2.00 each at the local tire place to get rid of crappy tires.
I always try to sell wheels on CL before having to ship them.
Finally, sell big stuff at $$ PLUS actual shipping. It's easy to get hammered on shipping when something big goes to the coast from the midwest. Selling and shipping big parts is a pain, gas tanks and seats are bad too.
 
Last time I had a wheel shipped to me it came UPS. The seller had covered the hub with foam and zip tied cardboard around the spokes and outer rim. Then had covered the whole wheel with a few layers of plastic wrap and stuck a label on it. It made the trip undamaged.
 
When I ship heavy stuff I use that pink 1 1/2 inch house foam. You can cut it easy and hollow it out to accept protruding parts or hollow it out for the loose parts, and it's light which will not add to the cost. Your parts will not shift or rattle which will cause damage. I just received some carb bodies I bought which were just thrown into a box with a little paper and were damaged. I complained and the guy told me he could not control how USPS handles the package. I fired back, that is correct so you need to control your packing. Dum ass.:banghead:
 
When I ship heavy stuff I use that pink 1 1/2 inch house foam...

That reminds me of a place I worked at 30 years ago. Their shipping department would bag or wrap a piece of equipment. Then take a shipping box and laydown a thin layer of that 'expanding foam'. Once that layer expands and is half-cured, lay the wrapped equipment in there, and spray that stuff in there again.

It would swell, fill all voids, super-cushion the equipment, and not weigh much either.
Since it completely filled the box, the box became stronger, wouldn't crush...
 
I ship every other day and most of my stuff goes USPS. Some wheels I ship FEDEX because of insurance. Big parts over 60lbs all go FEDEX. I don't ship UPS prices too high from east coast going west and had too many damaged parts. Just got helmets in from vendor from UPS from CAL to NJ and out of 25 ......two boxes damaged one helmet all scratched up. Now I got to deal with there claims dept.
Also shipping overseas you have to know that that country has a tracking system. Lost parts in a couple countries because of no tracking and USPS said it was picked up but customer put claim in that it was not SO YOU ARE OUT OF THE PART AND MONEY. SORRY says USPS we can't track after it gets there.
 
I just tore down a late 1980. Thought I’d do a good thing and sell cheap some of the parts. USPS has a dimension they go by. That is if it doesn’t fit in a priority box. UPS does the same type of thing. Measure the box and goes by a dimension. Where does weight come in? I don’t know. Anyway example: the taillight and small seat loop section, I was selling for $20. Ohio to Florida costs $42. Centerstand to Vegas $25 to ship. Not to bad because I only wanted $10 for the stand. Good deed? Old guy I was selling to wants shit for free. I got pushed and junked everything. I have a bad feeling several people are doing this. 30yrs down the road, even tho these were mass produced, maybe we will get decent money out of these. Who knows. Then again there might be a fuel issue being everything is going electric and whatnot. WTF fellas. Haha I hope I die before gasoline is extinct.
 
I have changed my habits since last post. If it doesn’t fit in a flat rate box it goes in the scrap pile and my neighbor who scraps loves me. Prices of a lot of bikes have hit the bottom and the money I was getting for certain bikes now has dropped out. That’s why I have the don’t need sales . Good parts just will never use them. This is probably my last year selling and building XS650 and CB bikes which I both love to build but I can’t give them away. I get people offering me a $1000. Less on posted prices . So looking at the market and what is and not selling I have to make a switch. Stopped building race motors last year and ended up saving money. I got to be straight up front and say I loose money on shipping all the time that cuts into the part cost and if I ship east to west coast I gave it away. So I feel ya but 2020 will be my last year on many bike parts and building. I am passing the hat to others.
 
This business has seen better days for sure. I feel bad for the shop owner. I’m just a hobbyist.
 
True it is, I'm more likely to sell and give stuff away locally, than even attempt to sell, ship anymore. But shipping for small guys like us has been going up steeply since about 2000. while China basically ships for free.
mostly sending out small stuff. more or less bits n pieces mainly to help out.
 
Todays Ebay purchase delivery example is a SR500 rotor. A $9.75 priced rotor. Add $15 for shipping. (60 miles)
Yesterday the wrong rotor showed up on my porch. The seller mistakenly sent the rear and not the front. I inquired. Seller agreed to send me the rotor I purchased. "Keep the other, shipping is too much" And my correct rotor came today. The Seller is out more shipping and an additional rotor. Very nice deal for me and the Seller made barely a thing or worse.
And I feel badly it all went that way.
-R
 
I needed a couple piston pin circlips asap for my top end rebuild of the '73 Yamaha DT250 (DT3) . From Partzilla it was $1.75 each plus $8.50 shipping. They could have been put in an envelope with a stamp. Painful.:(

Nothing better on EBay.

As for the aforementioned almost-free shipping from China/Hong Kong to USA, my research indicates that this has been made possible by way of broad trade agreements the USA federal government has made with these Asian governments, agreements which are not at all set in stone. That is, they are up for grabs within the ongoing trade battles.
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I needed a couple piston pin circlips asap for my top end rebuild of the '73 Yamaha DT250 (DT3) . From Partzilla it was $1.75 each plus $8.50 shipping. They could have been put in an envelope with a stamp. Painful.
Yamadude if you stop and think about it it's not bad. It takes time to pick a order, package it and print a label to ship it. I'm sure it would take at least 10 minuets to get your order ready. Plus the cost of shipping.
How much is/was 10 minuets of your time worth when you are working?
 
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