What is the oddest or Most Challenging item you ever had to ship?

[bsarafian]

For any sellers who offer a wide variety of items  sometimes you can come across a real challenge even if you have had years of shipping practice.

For me, one of the items I sweated the most over was many years ago I had to ship an electric guitar to Israel from the US (so much distance, so many things could go wrong) Thankfully arrived safe and sound.

One of the more challenging items to pack up and ship was a blacksmith leg pot vise - big,  heavy, awkward. It was also many years ago and I was fortunate I had a very nice buyer who actually gave me some very helpful tips for how to prep it for shipping.

What are some of your most "interesting" shipping challenges?

[coffeebean832]

@bsarafian

How did you end up packing the blacksmith leg pot vise?

[bsarafian]

Just noticed I skipped a letter - meant to say leg post vise.  If you're familiar with them you know they're really top heavy - about 3 feet is just an iron pole and the rest is a big vise.  The buyer told me the best thing to do was to get thick pieces of cardboard and wrap them around everywhere and then shrink wrap the whole thing - so that's what I did and it worked.  Sometimes the simplest solutions are the best.

[evry1nositswindy]

I had to ship a balance board used for yoga.  It was shaped like a smile and as tall as  my waist.  I had to frankenstein a couple a boxes together and it was the weirdest looking thing!  But it got clear across the country with no problems.  I also sold a couple of boat fender holders that were large, rounded, and not fun to ship.  I used the creative side of my brain for those.

[thevintagesilvershop]

The worst thing I've ever bought and had to ship was a pair of long, long antique wooden skis.  I don't remember exactly, but they must have been 8 or 9 feet long, maybe longer.  I thought I got a real deal at an estate sale for $5 and then I sold them for $100.

A real deal, until I had to ship them.  It must have taken me 8 hours to get them taken apart and wrapped and boxed.  A million PM boxes that I had to tape together and rolls of tape.  A real PITA. 

It was this "deal" that made me think, before I bought at an estate sale, how I would ship the item.  If it was going to be too difficult, no matter how good the deal, I passed. 

[68barbie]

When I was selling with my ex under another ID it seemed like he was always bringing me the most awkwardly sized, and Herculean weighted items to sell. I've shipped skis, an antique drill press, vintage vacuum that was fully put together, transits and other things that just weren't worth the money once you factored in the time putting together a Franken-box. Thank goodness for FedEx Ground and USPS pickup, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to ship them at all. I am now back selling under my own ID and like you, will only sell what I can easily ship!

-C

[squinkercat59]

A folding Adirondack porch chair.  I had Local Pickup Only, but the person that bought it lived four states away and really wanted it, so paid for shipping. I "made" a box out of several other ones, padded it well, and used a whole roll of tape. They got it intact and loved it.

[18704d]

So,

do either of you have any advice on how to best ship skis now?

Thanks
Lynn

[moo*cow*corner]

Let's see...

A big vintage steel Coleman cooler. Boxed, it barely made the maximum size cut off for UPS. An inch or two more, and I would have had to ship it by freight.

Weirdest was probably a lot of about 100 vintage wooden clothing hangers. They took a box way bigger than I had originally anticipated. Glad I made sure before listing! Ended up bundling them and wrapping the sharp pointy ends of the bundles in bubble wrap so they wouldn't poke through the corners of the box.

I used to ship complete services of dinnerware all the time, but haven't done that in quite a while. Shipping just got too expensive and a SNAD return shipping bill would be brutal. They all get broken up into smaller lots now.

[yuzuha]

Not particularly odd, all things considered, but I once had a model kit with a box that was big but pretty flat.  That took a frankenbox because everything I could find that was big enough at the base was ALSO incredibly tall, so I ended up having to get a much bigger one than I needed and cut it down to size.

[escuintla]

I bought this nice made by somebody speaker. I listed it free shipping, not without weighing it.

Problem is that I forgot the packaging. 

I sold it, and instantly the buyer asked me to wrap it pretty good. That gave me the goosebumps so I can't remember what I did with it, but only shipping costs exceded the costs of what I paid for it. I learned a lesson that day by getting out of that deal in the red.

Golf clubs? A pain too if you don't have a bag for them. 

Nice story: In my rush to print because the mail carrier was in the proximities, I sent 2 items the same day to the wrong address of both buyers. I had to communicate to them so they could return to sender. I was lucky, both items were returned so I could send them back with the correct address. Of course,  couple of bucks in them.  

Funny story: 
I sold this lot of CDs. I usually send extra jewel cases for any broken during transit. So, I boxed them up, but relying on extra cases made me lose track of the care I should have put into protecting them with a good cushion. 
So, here I go to the post office, all smiling, saying hello to my friends there. I give the box of 36 pounds of CDs  to a new guy and he grabs the box, and with horror, I couldn't yell, he drops it in the bin. I could hear the cracking sound of the jewel boxes being broken. 

Now, whenever I sell a heavy lot of things, I rather split the lot. 

[turquoisetulips]

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@bsarafian wrote:

For any sellers who offer a wide variety of items  sometimes you can come across a real challenge even if you have had years of shipping practice.

For me, one of the items I sweated the most over was many years ago I had to ship an electric guitar to Israel from the US (so much distance, so many things could go wrong) Thankfully arrived safe and sound.

One of the more challenging items to pack up and ship was a blacksmith leg pot vise - big,  heavy, awkward. It was also many years ago and I was fortunate I had a very nice buyer who actually gave me some very helpful tips for how to prep it for shipping.

What are some of your most "interesting" shipping challenges?

---

If I answer this question  the nightmares may start again,, but okay   . It was several large scale  model airplanes   that had all come crashing down on the shelf  they  were sitting on  [ in the middle of the night ]  AFTER we had taken all the photos and created all the listings . Pieces  were everywhere .  Tulips

[relaxintowealth]

I made a custom box for a huge walking starwars ship.What a PAIN that was!

[bsarafian]

I once shipped a Singer industrial sewing machine head. The box was so bulky I couldn't fit the box in the car (the angle of the doors just didn't work) and it weighed about 65 lbs. I was so grateful for UPS pick-up. In that case it was well worth the few extra bucks.

[bsarafian]

I had to ship some antique wooden skis a while back, thankfully not as tall as the ones you had. I think I used the same technique, swaddle everything in bubble wrap then stack up Priority shoe boxes to fit. Happily they arrived safe and sound.