joe englert

I checked with fedex and they want around 1000.00. My local bike shop will box it and send it ups for around 800.00. Another BF member suggested sending just the frame and fork in one box and then the rest of the parts in another usps. The buyer must pay shipping but im trying to find the most inexpensive way to do this. Im assuming he would also want it insured and im not sure usps can insure it for the amount he paid for it. Any advice much appreciated

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

Don't drive yourself crazy finding the best deal for the buyer. Its nice of you but the buyer paid a solid amount of money for the bike and at this point I doubt a couple hundred bux on shipping is gonna matter much to them.


I just don't see that a person who'd spend that much on a bike would be terribly concerned over a difference of a couple hundred dollars on shipping.
It should definitely be insured for the purchase price and sent with some kind of delivery confirmation.

Little Darwin

I just went through the process of shipping a package to Japan at usps.com just to see how much they would insure for... It said maximum value $2499 but I had no option to select insurance, so perhaps it is automatic. You can ask at your local Post office, or poke around on usps.com to determine the details.

Especially if you go with two boxes, the value of each could fall below that limit.

flash2070

If you choose FedEx, ask for a box from the bike shop with dims of Lengh 52-53" x Height 28", and width 8", or less. The total of the three must not equal 130" This will avoid the oversize fee (52-53" plus two times the width (28+28) plus two times the height (8+8)= 52 or 53+56+16=125")). There are two services International Priority, and International Economy. Choose Int Economy. You can indicate a declared value at an additional cost, and a direct signature required. Meaning that the box will not be left unattended, and a signature must be obtained (highly recommened). Additionally, I would ask the buyer (recipient) to provide you with his FedEx account number so that yu can bill the transportation and the duties and taxes charges to the recipient. In doing this, you will avoid getting billed for the duties and taxes, which will more than likely be high if the recipient refuses to pay for them. With FedEx, the shipper is ultimately responsible. Good luck!

Flash

Picchio Special

+1

Dude/dudette knew what he/she was doing - do the best you can, but don't bend over backwards.

joe englert

Your right. i guess i shouldnt worry until i see what the buyer wants to do. I cant think he would want to pay 800.00 for shipping but who knows??

frantik

as flash mentioned, find out what the biggest box you can send for an inexpensive rate is, and then see if you can it the bike into one of those boxes

JunkYardBike

What did you do with the box I sent you? It took me an entire day to build that!

Don't tell me you used it for kindling...

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

Well if he bought it on ebay (i'm guessing) he sorta acknowledged that he was gonna pay. Otherwise you've got a canceled sale on your hands.
It would seem there's some Japanese buyers who have some money (and i think the exchange rate is pretty good) and seem to have a thing for high end italian stuff. You know those listings for $300 buy-it-now italian stuff that you're like "Who in their right mind is paying that for a Brake Caliper?" ....its probably being sold to someone in Japan.

toytech

Try usps parcel post, or ship in separate boxes by priority. It cost me about 75.00 to ship a frame and fork to Japan. Ups was considerably more as was fedex.

mapleleafs-13 

where are you located?!

I just sold my GIOS to Taiwan about a couple of weeks ago. I shipped it in two boxes. Frame and fork with random parts, then wheelset, with the freewheel removed and the wheels zip tied together.

Canada post was the cheapest shipping totaling 740 dollars. Fedex wanted 1100 at the time, and DHL wanted 1500. My post office had the 5 day express guarantee, It got there in 4 days and the seller was extremely happy with the bike.

so ship your bike out in two packages it should save some money.

and yes that 130 max measurement does apply for the post office in canada

joe englert

That box was amazing!! never saw one like it before and probably never again. I gave that to a friend a couple months ago who wanted to send out a bike-wish i would have kept it!!!

kenhawkeye

I sent a '78 Bianchi to Taiwan from UK last year and packed it myself with tips from C & V plus other information from the internet and friends who'd done similar. If you let me have your email address, I'll send the info plus pictures somebody else provided.

randyjawa 

I ship to Japan now and again and this is exactly How To Pack & Ship A Bicycle across the pond. Price will be in the $200.00 range if you send your package via Surface Post and takes four to six weeks to reach target.


Hope this is a help.

maym036

That`s how I do it too, only that I put more bubblewrapping around it for protection.
Here from Europe I pay around 140 dollars. Really expensive over there in the States!!

repechage

Look at:

https://www.shipocs.com/

For tracking and timely delivery to Japan.

Snydermann

Okay. . . now I want to see this box!

JunkYardBike

I'm okay with a wrench, but my carpentry skills are woeful, hence the time penalty.

mapleleafs-13 

that bike box might be a little over excessive, but i'm sure it got to it's destination unscathed, I sent my Gios to taiwan in a carboard box, with lots of piping insulation and bubble wrap and it got there great all in one peice.

Just be careful to not make that package too heavy, cause it will cost you more

randyjawa 

Good point and in addition to weight, size does play an important, up to deal braking, role. I figured out the cost differences for a box with identical height and width, for each of several lengths. Here are the actual results. The 46" = No Go means the price jumped to over $600.00 due to container size...

stronglight

Size matters. Smaller is better. I shipped a fairly large (58cm) frameset to Japan a few years ago. I used a sturdy corrugated cardboard bicycle box picked up from my local bike shop and then carefully cut down to size as fit my needs. Carefully wrapped the frame and fork in bubble wrap and then braced the entire carton as much as possible with large solid blocks of styrofoam (salvaged from a local furniture store dumpster), to brace the center from crushing and protect the corners from drops.

UPS and FEDEX each wanted over $350. I checked out the USPS shipping calculation web page https://postcalc.usps.gov/ and determined that "almost" regardless of the weight (mine was around 18 lbs after careful packing) a "Large Package" could ship to Japan for well under $100... And, that was shipping by what was called Express Mail International - which is step faster than Priority Mail International... and arrival time was literally only 5 days from my post office to the overjoyed buyer in Japan. USPS has no air fleet of their own, so they actually ship virtually all overseas mail and parcels using FedEx as their contracted carrier.

USPS rates have gone up slightly, but not too much. I just checked and currently the same carton would ship for $121. You could save a few dollars more and pay only $111 (that is, for my hypothetical shipment) if you buy postage online. You would just print out the shipping label on standard 8 1/2 x 11 paper... along with all the simple customs forms you'll also need to enclose. With online purchase you can also schedule a free pick-up of your parcel!

Even if you do not set up everything online, your local post office will have all the blank forms and a transparent self-adhesive carton envelope needed for the forms. So, you can fill out everything in advance and not need to stand in line forever.

Check out the website CAREFULLY. You can factor in your point of origin, the exact size of the "Large Package", and the International destination via the required drop-downs and fill-in boxes. Always allow to the higher fraction of an inch when measuring. Your goal is to keep the "girth" (width + height x 2) plus longest size as small as possible, and it always should measure under 108" for best rates. This means something around 25" x 8" 41 will squeeze in nicely under the mark. If you're shipping with wheels, deflate or even remove the tires if necessary. Just toy with the online calcualtor a bit to see the variables, and your options.

Japanese addresses will look unfamiliar. They typically include:
If you were shipping to Taiwan or to Italy... THEN you might have reason to panic.

Fortunately, Japan has a very efficient postal service and the US does lots of shipping to Japan, without incident or delay. USPS is definitely my choice.

55/Rad

I ship framesets to Japan all the time from the U.S. west coast. USPS Priority with insurance - about $85 depending on actual box size. 8-12 business days...usually the lower end. $200 should easily get a whole bike there in 2 boxes.