Shipping costs

[52089]

Shipping costs are a combination of weight, distance, and package dimensions. Some shippers do better depending on what combination of these you have. For example, USPS now surcharges packages over 22" long, but UPS and FedEx don't.

I continue to recommend PirateShip.com for shipping. They show you both UPS and USPS prices sorted by ascending costs so you can decide what to do. They also provide lower prices than you would get at the PO retail counter.

[Raphael]

FedEx now assesses a surcharge for 22” boxes. I noticed this just last week.

Raphael

[Garret]

FedEx now assesses a surcharge for 22” boxes. I noticed this just last week.

Raphael

Omg..

[ducretet]

Rafael, I have bought several phonographs from you and the packaging you do is extraordinary. The distance between my residence and Florida must be about 6,000 km. Everything has arrived perfectly. And another thing, we all know that Fedex is more expensive, but it's worth it. Between 4 and 5 days the package arrives. They are very professional. When the package arrives at the headquarters in the USA to process the export, I receive an email so that I can proceed to present the import documents. In this way, time is not wasted in customs clearance and when it arrives in Spain the package can be delivered to me without delay. I prefer to pay a little more and have the phonograph in a very short time. With other transport companies, the merchandise has taken me from 25 to 30 days. I am very satisfied with the latest acquisitions.

[Raphael]

Ferran,

Thanks for the kind words. To me, it doesn’t matter if the stuff goes 100 miles or 10,000, the packing is the same. All it takes is one careless handling person, or one conveyor belt snafu, and the stuff inside had better be able to withstand the shock, or the customer receiving the goods will be very upset when opening the box, for sure.

Raphael

[Steve]

I once received from the US to UK, a 1500 USD machine in two cereal boxes and two plastic bags! If that makes zero sense to you, get this: the machine had its own purpose designed travelling case which it fitted into for safe transportation including all its removal parts.

Although the case was included in the sale, obviously, and i expected to receive the machine intact within a package containing it inside its own snug travelling case, the seller forgot to send it! So what did I receive? Two crushed cereal boxes with a mangled soundbox, missing parts and no case. Can you believe the soundbox was just put in a plastic bag? No bubble wrap no packing material to protect it. I had to pay two lots of customs clearance charges (for two unnecessary lots) and THEN go back to the seller to ask where my case was?

Luckily they still had it and sent it to me so I ended up paying THREE lots of clearance charges! Luckily as the soundbox is brass I was able to restore it and all parts are now back together in a complete machine with case where they belong.

But seriously, how can anyone get everything so wrong? I stopped short of calling the seller completely braindead but I did wonder what they were thinking.

It took two letters to UK import authority to right the wrongs and injustice of the handling charges but after 3 months I was back to where I should have been.

I won't say who it was directly but the machine is a very rare British item featured in one of Fabrizio & Paul's books and the owner's name is acknowledged there. It's also very similar to a certain machine I flagged up recently on UK Ebay which was being sold by British Heart Foundation charity.

The worrying thing is that it might have easily been lost or destroyed for posterity. As far as I'm aware it's probably one of only half a dozen survivors in the world. The seller knew its value because they were selling it for more than that when I bought it. There was no excuse for such ridiculous incompetence and rank stupidity.

[1923VictorFan]

I guess I must confess to ignorance. I purchased (on eBay) an Edison Home, 11 panel horn from a seller who said shipping would be $24.99. Of course it arrived broken and in a ridiculously inappropriate box-like-thing shown below. Ebay said that I am entitled to a full refund (because it was not packed appropriately) + the seller will have to pay return shipping costs if they want the broken horn back. The whole experience has been a huge hassle and it certainly was no bargain. I still need to find a horn, this time under more realistic conditions.

[Granby]

With ebay, I filter my search results to show items relatively close to me.... If I can't drive there or make arrangements to have it transported in a respectable manner, I tend to shy away. The only exception would be buying from somebody reputable [Raphael, fellow forum members, etc.]. In that case, I don't have as much anxiety...

But, buying a quality phonograph from some random person across the country who says they can ship it for less than $25 or something..... nope...

[Raphael]

With ebay, I filter my search results to show items relatively close to me.... If I can't drive there or make arrangements to have it transported in a respectable manner, I tend to shy away. The only exception would be buying from somebody reputable [Raphael, fellow forum members, etc.]. In that case, I don't have as much anxiety...

But, buying a quality phonograph from some random person across the country who says they can ship it for less than $25 or something..... nope...

I agree 100%, especially the part about Raphael, haha. But seriously, most people can’t or won’t ship properly. If I do agree to buy something from a stranger, I do not pay until it arrives safely.

Raphael

[Garret]

I guess I must confess to ignorance. I purchased (on eBay) an Edison Home, 11 panel horn from a seller who said shipping would be $24.99. Of course it arrived broken and in a ridiculously inappropriate box-like-thing shown below. Ebay said that I am entitled to a full refund (because it was not packed appropriately) + the seller will have to pay return shipping costs if they want the broken horn back. The whole experience has been a huge hassle and it certainly was no bargain. I still need to find a horn, this time under more realistic conditions.

Wow. Is there no way to salvage the horn?