NAH

Ok, so a little back story before I get to the brunt of it. I've been negotiating with a guy over the internet to buy a Fuji Roubaix (56 cm). So, we came to terms on a price, and he went on and shipped it. Now, he then sends me an email with the total, and says that shipping is about $130 including COD charges, shipping by UPS.
With that said, does this number seem wrong to anyone else out there? I know my brother just had his road bike shipped a similar distance and it cost a total of $35. I can't find a reasonable way to make the shipping charges nearly four times what they should be, am I missing something? A little info from people with more experience shipping bikes would be greatly appriciated.

djbrod

I've had three bikes shipped to me now. Two with FedEx and one with UPS. The FedEx shipping was more in line with the $35 range. The UPS shipping, without COD, was around $65. All of the bikes are roughly the same frame size (60cm) and shipped in similar boxes but UPS just charges a lot more.

Schumius

where the shipment goes to and where does it come from?

i bought a 54cm frame from spicercycles and the shipping costs me around $110. if itīs international then itīs about the same price i paid, but if domestic then thatīs really way too expensive.

Waldo

Not necessarily. Depending on how the bike is packaged, it can end up in a box that is classifies as OS3 by UPS, as opposed to the more common OS2 for bikes. It's only a matter of an inch here or there. At the shop I've had it happen twice, and it can easily take shipping from $40-50 to the range described.

Patch29

I shipped a trico iron case with bicycle, 59lbs total from Arizona to Georgia for $40, $8 of which was for over $2K in insurance, via FedEx Ground in December. They did raise their rates at the beginning of the year. COD can add $5-10 to the bill. He may be billing you for the box, packing materials and his time to pack it and drop it off (or add a few dollars if they are picking it up). The shipping rate can also have extra fees added on for home delivery (vs a business address) and if you or he are in a rural or out of area surcharge from the shipping co.

phantomcow2

If i am shipping a set of wheels will that be very costly? ITs only from NH to MD. I was thinking about sticking them in the box my old computer came with

NAH

Ok, so when the OS3 rate was mentioned I ran the numbers at the UPS site, and it does come out to about that much if the box is big enough.

Phantomcow, your wheels should not cost near that much to ship, esp. over that distance. If you go to the UPS or FedEx site you can calculate shipping, they also list what makes a package be "oversized." You might want to check and compare your box to those so you don't end up in a situation like I am.

ngateguy

your bike is should not be OS3, it is OS2 which should run you about $50, even at the OS3 rate it shouldn't be much more than $90.

OS stands for Oversizes. OS1 would be billed at the 30# rate OS2 at the 70# rate and OS3 at the 90# rate plus $40

I have shipped bike for my personal use as well as business and no bike has ever shipped out at the OS3 size.

Now if he is taking it to a bike store they maybe charging him a packing fee but that really shouldn't be more that $20-$25

Poguemahone

Tell him to shave down the bike box dimensions. Last time I shipped a bike, UPS quoted me $125 at first; I shaved two inches off one side and the price dropped all the way down to 40$. Many bike boxes are right at the diffenrence between the Over-size ranges. If you land in the larger one, the price soars.

130$ is, IMHO, ridiculous.

Rev.Chuck

He probably is using a to big a box. A couple of times we had to mark the demensions on the box because they were right at the limit and UPS assumes oversize if it is close.

Trailrider54

Sounds like your guy went to one of those package stores to get a price on shipping.
Yes they will make a box, pack it right and send it off, for an arm and a leg a $$$$$$

molten

I've never bought a bike on the internet yet, or whatever. Not have a personalne transported yet. But I only came to spill out that Lickbike.com is very aggressive. On their website (consistently) aboout the display/selling of the triangular - shaped shipping box. For bikes.

alanbikehouston

I have gotten bikes shipped via UPS and Fed Ex from just about every part of the USA. The charge has been around $35 to $50. I got a bike via DHL from Florida for around $20. Most of the guys shipping me bikes have shipped via commercial accounts, and are shipping to a bike shop that has daily delivery. A shipment from a private home to a private home might cost a lot more.

The key to a low rate was careful packing, using very compact boxes. Recently, I bought a bike that was wrapped by someone who built their own "custom" box. The box was about six feet long. I don't know what the person paid to ship the bike, but I'm guessing it was at lot more money then I paid him (I sent him $60 for the bike plus $40 for shipping).

I bought a wheel that cost $60, including shipping. The seller packed the wheel in a box that was about three feet high, three feet long, and a foot wide. The Post Office charged him about $50 postage...gotta learn how to pack...

al-wagner

If you go to the UPS web site you can find out what it will cost.
To ship my Trek 4500 from Vermont to Texas it cost me 28.50 ground If I ship it 2 day it is about 60.00 ond next day is around 90.00

Although I do get a discount because I am the UPS shipper at work so I get my companys discount.

gpelpel

Fedex Ground is the cheapest way to send a bike. For a complete bike I recommend 2 boxes, one for the frame and one for the wheels. For a bike the cost of shipping is based on the box(es) size, not on the weight. 2 smaller boxes will be cheaper than a larger box including the complete bike. Depending on distance you should pay between $40 and $55.

slowpedal53

I just bought a steel frame mountain bike on E-bay and it's being shipped to me via FedEx Ground. I'm paying $36.00 for shipment from Savannah, GA to Chicago.

motomickey

The info on the box size is right on-the box is making it OS3 and that's what it costs. Suggest he put it in a little bit smaller box and it will save you a bunch of money.

Makai

sorry to bring up an old thread, but i've done a bit of research on this recently and thought i'd offer my $0.02...

i've found that shipping bikes by FedEx, in general, is lower cost than UPS (unless you are a high-volume business shipper with UPS and get a big discount already) FedEx seems to offer better rates for heavy/bulky stuff.

we ship all the bikes from our online store (makaibikes.com) via FedEx

Reesh

Mega bump:

Has anyone ever shipped the wheels separately to save some $$$?

I'll be shipping a 17.5" Gary Fisher Supercaliber mountain bike with 26" wheels and I'm looking for the most cost effective insured shipping method.

eofelis 

I recently sold a bike frame to someone in Australia. I found a bike shipping service (Bike Flights, google it) where my buyer could arrange and purchase the shipping himself (much cheaper, by half, than quotes I got from carriers on my own). He probably paid around $380 vs the $700+ I got on Fedex.com. He then forwarded the shipping label .pdf to me and I dropped the bike box off at Fedex. 10 days later he got his bike.

theri_

Don't know if my tale is typical but from my present experience, if you're thinking of shipping a bicycle from the U.S. to Canada, stay away from UPS. They have charged me $189.00 for brokerage fees and I see from the tracking info that the bike was cleared for customs in Lachine Quebec three days ago but was then returned to the U.S. for a couple of days! God knows why. It was then sent back to Quebec for clearance and is, finally, in transit from Quebec to my home. One last little gem: I had to pay the brokerage fee by Visa over the phone and was later called and told that someone at UPS would have to contact the driver of the delivery van and tell him to remove the COD sticker from the parcel; but they could not contact the driver until he had arrived in my city. Therefore, I was informed, if the bicycle should arrive with the COD label still on it, I must refuse delivery, in which case it will have to be re-delivered at some later date! My God! Talk about buerocracy gone mad!

fietsbob

Girth + weight, is part of the pricing, and if Air cargo is part of the route,
the prices can be quite elevated.
And soon the remote purchased bargain is a Moot point.

I have had an air cargo shipped frame set priced by girth of box ,
and assigned a weight-price, based on the box size,
that was higher than the actual weight of the carton.

HappyStuffing

Maybe he is trying to make money off shipping?