Full Size Jeep Network

I'm putting some parts up for sale and could use some help with how mailing this stuff works. I don't ever go to mail anything, my wife handles that, but she'll be sour over greasy parts.

Could someone go over the process? Say, you have hood hinges and someone wants them in another state? How is payment dealt with? Who sends what first? Before I'm made fun of, I also don't do ebay or myface or spacebook. Thanks for the direction.

I may have put this in the wrong section. Stop, stop laughing!

Most people use paypal for payment. Ive sent checks and money orders to some who don't do paypal.
I always have just sent payment first on good faith and have never been burnt on dozens of transactions except one guy who sent me some broken parts. but he still sent them at least lol...

Thanks shagWagon. I don't do PayPal so, guess checks and money order will be it. So I'm suppose to find out what the shipping cost is? Then add it to whatever price and tell the buyer so they know what to send? Forgive me, this is Greek to me. Thanks again

Yep. Sounds right.

FYI: Moved this to general FSJ, as its not really forum related.

The easiest way to ship that I've found is USPS flat rate boxes. If you can get an item in a flat rate box, it makes the shipping costs very very simple. You can get right on their website (https://reg.usps.com) to buy labels. Stick the label to the box and drop it at the post office. Doesn't get much simpler than that. They have quite a few different sized boxes as well, and they will deliver boxes to your house for free if you order them through the website.

If you have things that are larger than the flat rate boxes, things get more complicated. At that point you need to find a box it'll fit in, or make one, and start getting prices. You can get price quotes from most of the big shippers (USPS, UPS, FedEx, etc.) on their websites. You can usually buy the postage there as well.

For really large or heavy items, freight becomes your only real option. FedEx and UPS both do freight, but it's usually crazy expensive. Fastenal (yes, the bolt place) will do freight. You have to completely crate up the item you want to ship and deliver it to one of their stores, then they will ship it to another store. The details and costs are on their website. Forward Air (think that's it) is another one. It's again a terminal to terminal type deal. Greyhound (the bus company) will also do larger stuff, but I've seen some horror stories of things being really beat up going through them. There are others for freight as well, just depends on what you're trying to ship and from where and to.

If you have any specific items, let us know and we can start pointing you in the right direction.

If all else fails, specify local pickup only.


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Jawzjeep wrote: but she'll be sour over greasy parts.

Don't ship greasy parts, citrus cleaner is a good way to keep everybody happy, no toxic fumes...

As for shipping sharp parts, the box in the box trick is good, newspapers are a good padding material, you want the parts to slide a bit, not being crushed when the bow is dropped, it will be dropped more than once.

For irregular shapes, you can reconstruct a primary box to fit the item. I bought a motorcycle 4 in 1 exhaust once, and the package was very creative.

i dont bother with USPS and i have shipped hundreds of parts - as said paypal only !

But get yourself a fedex or ups account ( its 10 -15 % cheaper) to ship, a small box is like 12 bucks a medium shoebox box is about 16 bucks and a large like 24 bucks....all depends on weight and dimensions and distance.... that way you dont have to waste time at the post office, ( post lines are like 30 minutes long here)...you can drop off and any mail station or they will even pick them up from your house......

its the only way to go, as buyers have limited funds and lowball on prices and expect free shipping.... so its not worth your time to drive there and stand in line to do them a favor... also add a surcharge for international as you have to fill out forms and stand in line...... i once sent a NOS bumper to germany with fedex

With flat rate boxes there are no lines. lol You can have them deliver the free boxes to your house, print the labels at your house, and have them pick it up with the regular mail. I am by no means a USPS supporter, I think they should have been disbanded a long time ago, but the flat rate boxes are something they've done pretty well. I think you can throw up to around 75lbs in one of them for the same price, too. Try that with FedEx or UPS...



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I make my own boxes using other boxes.. specially if the part is small or weird shaped.. Its cheaper to make a box to fit then use a large box.

I always use USPS whoever said dont use USPS must enjoy paying 2-3x more using UPS and Fedex.. ive sold over 10k$ in stuff on ebay and not once have i had a missing package or late package.. Only one time has something arrived broken.

USPS is cheaper by far.. and they also have flat rate shipping so for small things you pay 7$ for a bubble envalope.. and itll go anywhere in the u.s.a.. And wishing usps to go under is stupid.. less competition means the others can raise prices even more.. I remember trying to ship door panels out with fed ex and they wanted 80$ usps was 35$ .

Also i suggest you get a paypal account... Seriously its not hard to do.. Ive had people mail me checks before but that isnt something i enjoy doing.. Its to just get the money instantly.. mail the item out and be done with it

candymancan wrote:And wishing usps to go under is stupid..

Not really.

The moment the US postal service stops forcing garbage and wasteful advertising is the moment I'll be happy to support them again. At the moment, they are an agency of fraud and harassment, I would happily pay more to get rid of the entire organization. Supporting the current level of crap from the USPS is what's stupid.


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For what it's worth, I used to run a shipping/receiving department here in SoCal. In the event that something got lost on the way to our facility, FedEx and UPS would quickly resolve the situation. USPS would transfer me to an unhelpful representative that would "file a claim" — and that would be the end of it. I'd call to see what they were going to do to resolve the situation and get, "Yeah, we see that you have filed a claim. Have a nice day."

I don't WANT a "claim" filed — I wanna be compensated for the package you lost! But good luck holding a gov't agency accountable.

</rant>

There is no one size fits all solution to packing.

To candyman's point, UPS and FedEx can be more expensive — and most of the time USPS will get the job done. But, as with most things in life, you get what you pay for.

Most important thing on shipping is tracking ..I have had buyers email me and say that they have not Yet receive package . ..I email them tracking number and date of delivery ..AND THEY SHUT RITE UP!!!!!

Thanks for the info guys. You've given me lots options.

If using ups make sure the box is the exact size and weight you say it is. I actually stopped using them because after shipping an item a week later I'd get an email with a price adjustment costing me an additional $4 or more. They have machines that measure the boxes. I make my own and sometimes they are not perfectly square. Their measurement machine just picks up the largest area and calculates that as the final dimension. I got tire of eating the extra cost each time and switched to usps. I do everything online and they pick it up from my house. Prices are pretty much the same.

Thanks for the heads up