| Try going to a store that packages and ships things, and get an estimate on what it will cost. UPS Store packaged a bass for me for about $25. It was cheaper for me to take it down to the USPS and ship it parcel post, about $29 from Houston to New Jersey. Be very careful about maximum weights and package sizes for each of the delivery services. Find out what it will cost you to pack and ship the bass, and build it into your selling price. Get insurance for the full amount of the sale. This protects you, not the other dude, he won't want to pay for it so build it into your selling price.
Some of the shippers won't pay for damage if you reuse boxes, so don't be tempted to save a nickel and use an old box. Pay for someone to package it properly, and keep the receipt, so if something happens you can prove that you used proper packaging, or at least have someone else to blame other than yourself. It might be a good practice to take a picture of the packaging before you send it off.
Get a return receipt, so if whoever you're sending it to receives it, then you have proof. If he says he never received it (even though he did) and you can't prove it, then you'll have to send the money back, and you're out a bass as well. There are many many stories about this scam, especially when shipping internationally. Paypal, for example, won't recognize the delivery confirmation of some shippers outside the US (like USPS), even though they offer the service, because they use subcontractors.
And for goodness sakes, don't believe the scam where they want you to cash a money order or check and send them the difference. It's fake and you'll be on the hook.
Also, if you're sending a bass with a hard-shell case, disassembling won't do anything for you.
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Not in Houston anymore, I moved to Colorado Springs, but I guess you can't change your username.
Last edited by DrewinHouston : 08-16-2010 at 04:02 PM.
Reason: Correcting typro
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