It might be cheaper to invent a Time Machine so you can do all your shipping in the past.
I just checked my records: $34.80 to ship a bass in 2004!
I just checked my records: $34.80 to ship a bass in 2004!
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Shipping prices are insane.
- Thread starter AccursedBass
- Start date
At least we might start seeing more groovy local deals again. (Remember when small music stores & pawn shops were fun?)
Don't use the UPS Store to ship your bass and then be shocked at the price. Pack it yourself and shop around. Shipping costs are higher, but about 50% of the increase is coming from the shipper's choices.
Its the only way I ship anything. Paying retail for shipping is a joke
No. If it would cost me $4000 and a lot of physical effort and time to get a package to Paris myself,.....then I wouldn't complain if I could pay a company to do it for $400 and little more effort than putting something in a box and a few clicks on a computer screen.
My logic is that there was a time when people had to do everything themselves and now we have all these services that other people created that make it possible for us to sit on our lazy asses and do nothing for ourselves, for a fraction of the cost of what it would be if,....god forbid,....we actually did it ourselves,......yet, we still feel the need to whine and complain about absolutely everything.
I'm using local area Facebook now, and it's been fairly good I have sold a number of things on Craigslist too. My eBay and Reverb days are probably over just because of shipping unless it's a local pickup. Fees are getting higher as well. Trades work too, and trades could be just about anything.
Yeah I won't ship anything. At this rate I don't know how retail stores will be able to keep offering shipping.
It used to cost me $300 to ship an upright bass across the country.
Now if I can get a $750 quote, I consider it a win.....
Now if I can get a $750 quote, I consider it a win.....
Yes they are.
Back in the 90's, many australian business were trying hard to crack into the US market, so many would sell their wares in the US dirt cheap.
At the time, I could buy them new from the US, ship them to me in Australia, and sell them cheaper than new. It was great for me!
I used to buy a LOT of stuff from the USA, from shoes to clothes as they were less than half the price, even with the poor conversion of AUD to USD.
Can't do that any more. Post prices both in USA & Aust. has been steadily getting more prohibitive since. Cost/gouging of air-travel i suppose?
drumvsbass
Commercial User
- Aug 20, 2011
- 1,985
- 4,325
- Disclosures
- I work for Long and McQuade Musical Instruments Canada in Sales.
Have you checked gas prices?
Wonder why shipping would be more expensive now? 
I'd never remove the neck from a bass to ship it, I I would be very unhappy if the seller did so. However much it would save - and I can't imagine it would be too much - it would be be worth the hassle, not to mentioned the potential for damage.
Plus it's a moot point if there is a case.
Plus it's a moot point if there is a case.
I did once many years ago at the buyer's request. Shipped to Australia for not that much more than domestic due to the smaller package, but I ran into a situation where one inch extra on the length was going to push the shipment into a different category and cost another two or three hundred. Was able to cut an inch off the box and saved a lot. Wait, actually, I did it twice the other time was to send a Stingray body and neck in two separate shipments to a guy in Argentina. Now that I think more about that one, he was probably trying to avoid a completed instrument import tax.
Ten years ago I was blaming Amazon. It felt like UPS and Fedex were overcharging regular customers to pay for the huge discounts they were giving Amazon. But I can't blame them any more. If anything, the competition from Amazon's own delivery should be incentive for UPS and Fedex to lower their prices.
As people have said, you should definitely shop around. Also, if you're shipping to another country from the USA, try to find out where there are groups of their ex-pats in the USA. You'll often find a consolidator business, someone who collects packages that the locals send to their families back home, and sends them cheap by sea and has a person at the other end who separates them and gets them forwarded to their ultimate destination. Around me there's a bunch of Polish people, and there's a guy who ships stuff to Poland very cheap. It takes 2 months, but it's much cheaper than mail, UPS, Fedex, everything.
As people have said, you should definitely shop around. Also, if you're shipping to another country from the USA, try to find out where there are groups of their ex-pats in the USA. You'll often find a consolidator business, someone who collects packages that the locals send to their families back home, and sends them cheap by sea and has a person at the other end who separates them and gets them forwarded to their ultimate destination. Around me there's a bunch of Polish people, and there's a guy who ships stuff to Poland very cheap. It takes 2 months, but it's much cheaper than mail, UPS, Fedex, everything.
If you can...avoid the FedEx/UPS/USPS etc 3rd party stores. Are there any regulations about what they choose to charge? However, they are very convenient and I'll sometimes pay the surcharge to save time (time is money, right?) I've had too many post shipment fees charged to my account even several days after the package was delivered. What is up with that?.
Find out where the main FedEx/UPS shipping facility for your town and do your business there. That way you cut out the middle-man (i.e. 3rd Party Store) and the FedEx shipping center is straight-forward and consistent on prices. Also, it helps to to register for a business account with FedEx/UPS/DHL or whoever as it simplifies the shipping process (print labels from home, payment is pre-setup, etc... Is there a price advantage? I think so but I have not taken the time to do real math so....
Just Sayin',
C
Find out where the main FedEx/UPS shipping facility for your town and do your business there. That way you cut out the middle-man (i.e. 3rd Party Store) and the FedEx shipping center is straight-forward and consistent on prices. Also, it helps to to register for a business account with FedEx/UPS/DHL or whoever as it simplifies the shipping process (print labels from home, payment is pre-setup, etc... Is there a price advantage? I think so but I have not taken the time to do real math so....
Just Sayin',
C
It's interesting navigating the shipping crisis from Canada.
Even before the pandemic, USPS was the most affordable way for me to import instruments from the States. I found them just as reliables the couriers, not that much slower, and a heck of a lot less expensive.
Unfortunately, the destruction of postal machines in the States during the last election cycle put paid to that. That has created an environment where the couriers can charge as much as they want. As a result, a lot of US vendors are putting minimums of $25 or even $50 on small packages to Canada. Not just pedals, but even small purchases like knobs and switches or strings. That pretty much puts most US vendors out of reach to us for small orders.
Meanwhile, our postal service is still intact, and prices haven't risen proportionately. I can easily ship a bass halfway across Canada for $70 via Canada post, but shipping the same instrument 2 hours away to Detroit? Not happening.
I'm actually choosing vendors according to their shipping rates now, instead of their advertised prices.
Even before the pandemic, USPS was the most affordable way for me to import instruments from the States. I found them just as reliables the couriers, not that much slower, and a heck of a lot less expensive.
Unfortunately, the destruction of postal machines in the States during the last election cycle put paid to that. That has created an environment where the couriers can charge as much as they want. As a result, a lot of US vendors are putting minimums of $25 or even $50 on small packages to Canada. Not just pedals, but even small purchases like knobs and switches or strings. That pretty much puts most US vendors out of reach to us for small orders.
Meanwhile, our postal service is still intact, and prices haven't risen proportionately. I can easily ship a bass halfway across Canada for $70 via Canada post, but shipping the same instrument 2 hours away to Detroit? Not happening.
I'm actually choosing vendors according to their shipping rates now, instead of their advertised prices.
...then saw the bass case in half and put each half into two smaller boxes along with a tube of Crazy Glue.
I shipped a package that was the size of a cell phone through FedEx and it cost me $50 for standard shipping. Its ridiculous.
