Shipping a guitar

[grindercb]

Could use some help regarding shipping a guitar.  I recently scored a nice acoustic guitar for a song (pun intended) but am running into trouble figuring out shipping before I list it for sale.

I've located an appropriate box that measures 50x20x8 and fits the guitar very well with appropriate bubble wrap, etc.  When ready to ship it goes just under 9 pounds.  Using both pirateship.com and stamps.com to anticipate shipping, its gonna run well over $100 to ship.  Yet I see several of the same model for sale and having already sold where the seller quotes either $50 or less or even free shipping.

Am I missing something?  Or maybe I should just try to unload it on FB Marketplace or CraigsList for local pickup and call it a lesson learned.

[bonjourami]

From what Ive seen on the boards thru all these years,guitars dont do well with shipping. You could always list it here with local pick up only.

[nobody*s_perfect]

Larger packages ship at a "dimensional" weight rather than at the scale weight. For instance, via USPS the dimensional weight is applied to all packages that are over 1 cubic foot; the formula is volume (in cubic inches) divided by 166. So the USPS dimensional weight for your package would be 50x20x8/166=48.19; it would ship at the 49-pound rate.   The online Priority Mail postage cost for 49 pounds ranges from $33 to $129, then add the $15 surcharge for length over 30 inches and another $15 for volume over 2 cubic feet. (USPS clearly doesn't want to handle large packages!) .  Unless this is a very special item, it's probably better to offer it with local pickup only, or through a site that's more oriented to that type of transaction.

Here's the eBay shipping calculator. Note that you can choose to see either the retail ("in store") or online ("eBay") rate.

http://www.ebay.com/shp/Calculator

[a_c_green]

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@grindercb wrote:

Am I missing something?  Or maybe I should just try to unload it on FB Marketplace or CraigsList for local pickup and call it a lesson learned.

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You can list it here for Local Pickup Only.

I usually use this line when talking about laptops and smartphones and such, but no one halfway across the country or halfway across the world has a pressing need for your specific guitar. If you did ship it and it arrived damaged (e.g. dropped, squashed, whatever), you would be on the hook for either refunding or paying more to get it back first. Best to hand it over to the buyer in person.

[simba6]

The problem is it needs to be double boxed with bubble wrap in between the boxes.  Two to three inches.  That makes the outer box huge and shipping goes by both size and weight.   A very expensive package to ship.  As others have said, such an item does not do so well in shipping and local pickup might be best.

[1tuna]

a lot of naysayers here so I   have to chime in

selling a guitar on ebay is about half the cost of my watch fees

it has been that way for 10 years with low low rates I wish I had

as a first time dimensional shipper ? I think you woud be upset at the prices

add to that the fear of breakage ..........local pickup looks way  better than shipping

[queenelizabethduck]

I am a guitar player and have bought many guitars that are shipped through both usps and ups.  No issues.

[emmetr]

The problem with limiting yourself to local pickup is that sometimes there may not be a local buyer and you need to expand your reach.  There are certain guitars that are unique or hard to find, and a small town may not provide a large enough potential customer base.  In these type of situations, you're not going to know the exact weight until the item is packed.  I prefer to have FedEx professionally pack it.  They have the experience, the proper box sizes and other material, and you can insure the guitar for the full amount in case it's destroyed in transit.

That said, it still leaves a dilemma as to how to fill out the shipping section of the Ebay listing form.  I hate to spend the money on packing before I know I have a buyer.

[kh-vince]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.