Super Hawk Pro

In order to save buyers and sellers some money, what is the best way you guys use to ship parts? Light parts and heavy parts.

captainchaos

Box things up (cut down and make your own boxes to fit so the size is as small as possible) and measure and weigh them and use fedex.com and usps.com to get very close estimates of prices. For most larger stuff I use FedEx because it's just easiest for me and close by. Usps is often the least expensive, especially when you're able to use flat rate boxes, and definitely so with international stuff and oversize items (you have to check the websites because at a certain size you get charged a balloon rate). I often wonder how UPS stays in business as I've always found them to be the most expensive. Their international rates can be comical sometimes.

You have to be creative with making boxes sometimes. Example. Boxing up a side cowl/fairing for our bikes. If you make your own box to fit JUST right the shipping price is reasonable. Once you go over the balloon size by an inch or two the price basically doubles. Again use the websites and if you sell/ship enough stuff you start to get a feel for it. Hope this helps. I also recommend taking the time to pack things properly and don't send things without insuring them, it's not worth it when something gets lost or damaged.

captainchaos

Also for Pete's sake don't pay for boxes or shipping materials. There are enough stores and warehouses around with recycle dumpsters for cardboard and packing. There's a gym equipment supply near me. Electronics stores are great too-TV and appliance boxes are great. Ask politely & I'm sure they'll be more than happy to let you take what you need. Measure your part, lay the cardboard out flat, mark your measurements, and get perfect clean folds by using a straightedge and a flat blade screwdriver. You'll be a pro in no time

Bubble wrap is easy and fast for stuff like bodywork or exhausts. I try to save any of the "good" packing from all the crap I buy and then reuse it. Again a little footwork and you may find a source who tosses this stuff out on a regular basis like I did at a previous job I had. In the interest of convenience and time I would say if you can't find any for free to buy some bulk bubblewrap. It really works well and really speeds up packing parts. Large pieces of Styrofoam are also very useful and can be sliced into thinner pieces with a hacksaw blade (beware though as it will go absolutely everywhere).