advice needed on how to use E-bay

[Youngspanion]

I'm considering selling my marcus miller bass. I've been told to sell it on Ebay or here on the tb forum. The questions I have is how do I ship it? What is the best way to protect it in shipping? How do I make sure I dont get beat for the money?

Thanks in advance

[Funkdified]

Don't use UPS unless you have to they are really going down hill as far as damage and lost packages. Just bring it to a shipping company (Fed EX, USPS or whatever is close) find out how much the shipping will be dependent on weight and ship it out most times its a flat rate. Get insurance I can't stress that enough it will protect your butt, and get paid first before shipping

Just noticed that you like the Jets. Sorry. My dad loves them I love making fun of them. But hey I'm an Eagles fan so it goes both ways

[Chunk-O-Funk]

I'll tell ya what,

Give it to me, I'll come and pick it up and save you all the trouble.


One extra tip, do the packing yourself. Shipping a bass might be around $30.00 give or take. They charged a lot for the packing.

Get a box that will hold the bass, sometimes your local GC can help you there. get plenty of packing to protect it and keep it from moving inside the box. Make sure you fill the box completely with packing so the box will not get crushed and break open.

Use FedEx or UPS just make sure you insure it. I use UPS on a daily basis and have very little trouble with damaged or lost items.

[AaronS]

1. I would try selling it here on Talkbass, first.
2. Don't agree to a price or terms that are not 100% acceptable.
3. Open a Paypal account, it costs a little but it is amazingly flexible and when the money has been put in your Paypal account, it is yours. No fraudulent checks or money orders to worry about. We even use it to transfer money between family members thousands of miles away in emergencies without the exhorbitant service charges that banks charge to wire money these days.
4. In the past couple years we have had more success with USPS than I ever thought I would see again. Shipping costs are quite variable between companies, so shop around.
5. If you decide to ship overseas, I have had much more success with DHL than with FedEx or UPS.

[Youngspanion]

OK all good stuff from all. Now I have a hard shell case that the bass fits in nicely. Is that enough or do I need to wrap that in card board and stuff the case with plastic wrap?

How do I open a pay pal account? Does it cost any money just to open it.

Ugh. Exactly how does pay pal work?
This all seems so easy. Is it really?

[Youngspanion]

Originally Posted by Funkdified

Don't use UPS unless you have to they are really going down hill as far as damage and lost packages. Just bring it to a shipping company (Fed EX, USPS or whatever is close) find out how much the shipping will be dependent on weight and ship it out most times its a flat rate. Get insurance I can't stress that enough it will protect your butt, and get paid first before shipping

Just noticed that you like the Jets. Sorry. My dad loves them I love making fun of them. But hey I'm an Eagles fan so it goes both ways

Cant laugh at the Eagals now. Tha Jets are dead now. Pennington was having a terrible start any way. Fiedler is out for about 8 weeks and guess whos comming home. Vinnie Testaverde. Do you believe in miricles. I used to.

[AaronS]

Go to the Paypal site and look for the information. It is incredibly easy once you are registered. They take a very small fee on each transaction. I haven't shipped a bass, but I always detune guitars since I had the headstock broken off a Brazilian Rosewood D-28 about 40 years ago. Fill all the voids in the case with newspaper. I really prefer it to plastic bubble wrap for instruments. I go to my local guitar shop and get a box that the companies use to ship their guitars of similar case size. That way the case is protected also.

[Kelly Coyle]

You must box the bass in the case. Music stores will often just give you a box, or you can drop $10 at U-Haul for a box you can cut to size.

It takes a couple of weeks to get a PayPal account fully operational so allow for that. But it is a great service.

Never ship anything until you literally have the money. Let checks settle (even money orders and bank checks). Don't agree to any financial weirdness. Don't allow Western Union -- it's scam city.

Get the shipping costs first -- at least the shipping costs to the lower 48. Add that to your target price and offer to ship for "free." Works better.