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Cost to ship a bass nowadays?

#41
I have a UPS personal account.
I just spent 45 minutes trying to open a commercial account for my small buisness and could not get directed to the commercial division either online or via phone
Years ago I had a shop that shipped about 30 boxes a day via UPS but it is miserable trying to work with them today

FedEx?
5 minutes and approval in 2 to 3 days
Boom
Edit: Approval for FedEx was 1 day
 
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#46
In the past three years, I've shipped: 2 Strats, 1 Ibanez Artcore, 2 Ibanez SR basses, 1 Dean acoustic bass (all eBay sales). They went from as close as from Texas to Oklahoma (Artcore) to as far away as Texas to New York (SR bass). The most expensive was $45, and that was the SR which had a hard case. All of these were sent FedEx Ground except one as FedEx was the the lease expensive. The one that wasn't sent FedEx was sent USPS at the buyer's request, even though it was twice the cost of FedEx and USPS. In my experience, the order from least expensive to most is: FedEx, UPS, and USPS, with USPS being WAY more expensive in some cases. I've got an classical guitar on eBay right now. The estimated cost for USPS is $10 higher than FedEx and $5 more than UPS. I give all three options, but the buyer (since they are paying) seem to always choose (except for one) FedEx, meaning it is probably the least expensive. USPS is great for smaller items (I usually ship smaller instruments - flutes, clarinets, trumpets - through USPS), but they are too high for larger things.
 
#47
Ontario, Canada to West Coast USA is about $150 CAD

Ontario, Canada to East Coast USA is about $125 CAD

This is shipping a bass in a gig bag

Add a Fodera Case and it’s easily $150 to $200 CAD

Overseas from Canada is $500 CAD for most of Europe and Asia.

South America and Australia are very costly. It’s like $700 to $1500!!!
I came close to shipping to Oz...but unfortunately never to Brazil.
 
#54
Fleece3 said:
How does companies like Sweetwater (as well as some Ebay sellers) get away offering free shipping. How is it even possible? I have seen Ebay sellers, sell a bass for like $100 (not the best bass) and offer free shipping!!!
Click to expand...

Easy...it’s built into the price.
They know roughly what it costs to ship most places. There’s no such thing as a free lunch...just like free shipping isn’t really true either.
 
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#55
bassballs27 said:
Easy...it’s built into the price.
They know roughly what it costs to ship most places. There’s no such thing as a free lunch...just like free shipping isn’t really true either.
Click to expand...


I get that shipping is factored into the pricing. That is just the cost of doing business. My question is how can they afford to sell a bass for $150 (or higher), when it cost them $80-$100 to ship it?
 
#56
Fleece3 said:
I get that shipping is factored into the pricing. That is just the cost of doing business. My question is how can they afford to sell a bass for $150 (or higher), when it cost them $80-$100 to ship it?
Click to expand...

Loss leaders. Costco sells a fully cooked chicken hot and ready to eat for $7.99 CAD down the street from my house. They do this because they gamble on you spending more money. Capitalism at its finest! So in this case, they’re picking up profits from other items to balance their books. Did you buy strings with that bass? How about a pick? Or maybe tuner or pedal? No one is obligated to buy more but sooner or later, they will.
 
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#57
Just shipped a strat , purchasing a Reverb shipping label. 18x6x45 @19# for $36 ..NC to Tx. Price included insurance.

This is a really good service offered by Reverb . It's almost worth using Reverb to handle the transaction. The shipping savings to the buyer would allow the seller to get a few bucks more to cover Reverbs fee.
 
#58
FedEx was $180 CAD to ship from Toronto to Texas for a bass in a box 53”L x18”Wx8”H weighing 25 lbs.

Shipping an Aguilar DB751 was $174 CAD from Toronto to Texas in a box that was 26”Lx19”Wx11”H with a weight of 65 lbs.

Shipping has gotten stupid expensive up here!
 

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