Shipping large (but not heavy) items

[samsters_attic]

What is the best way to ship large but not heavy items? For example, I have an item which has a 30x17x17 retail box (probably not suitable to ship the box unpackaged) and weighs about 20-25 pounds. Just buying another box to fit this into would probably be $50--how do I include packaging costs in addition to actual shipping costs?

Thanks!

[stainlessenginecovers]

You can add 'handling' costs (which would be time/packing materials etc.) to the actual shipping amount. 

Best to try all 3 websites, you can get pricing from them all and figure out what is the best. 

[donsdetour]

best to be sure of the dimensional weight factor: it can be a lot more expensive now days than you think due to such.

DIM weight is length X width X height divided by some number the shipper uses to calculate it.

[nobody*s_perfect]

Dimensional weight can make it infeasible to sell large, lightweight items.  For a box that's 30x17x17, the USPS formula yields a dimensional weight of 53 pounds. Which means that the online cost of Priority Mail would be $35 - $127, and if you put that in a larger box the cost would be even higher, plus the cost of the box.  It's unlikely that UPS or FedEx would be cheaper.