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Frame Shipping Question

1110 Views 19 Replies 9 Participants Last post by Rumpfy, Jun 30, 2006

alexk

Discussion Starter · Jun 27, 2006

Hi all,

I guess this is more of a question for Rumpfy or Veloculture but here goes, what is your experiences with shipping a frame outside the USA?

In this case I'm sussing out shipping a frame to Australia that I've seen on Ebay. I've seen Rumpfy's and Veloculture's Ebay auctions from time to time with frames and being willing to ship out of the US and I would like to get an idea if possible of what shipping cost and the company the frame was shipped with. Was it fully trackable, how was it packed what kind of checks did you put in place so it wasn't damaged in transit and any other pointers or factors to be aware of? Was the buyer satisfied upon receiving the frame?

Any help and thoughts would be appreciated as I'm totally inexperienced in this regard.

Thanks,
Alex

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Veloculture

· #2 · Jun 27, 2006

with most countries including all of Europe shipping a frame is easy with USPS. it's fairly cheap too. maybe about $65. it's much more expensive with Fedex or UPS but at least they have tracking (not that USPS has ever lost anything of mine). shipping a bike is possible but very difficult with USPS. the box must be 108" (length plus girth). it can be hard to cram a bike in a box that small.

now, as far as Australia goes.....your up against a wall. shippers really dont like going there. USPS will not ship anything large there. Fedex is the cheapest for a bike is like $450. keep your trasactions with that corner of the world limited to very small items.

Shayne

· #3 · Jun 27, 2006

I've Shipped USPS Exclusively

Never gone to Austrailia but have shipped to Japan and pretty much everywhere in Europe.
I haven't a frame damaged or lost (knock on wood) in the last 10 yrs or so that I have shipped.
I've received damaged/broken things from all the other carriers that's one reason I go USPS. Also they are generally faster and less expensive.
As far a packaging I'd say I pack pretty minimally compaired to how some people describe their packing methods. I pack a bike and or frame exactly how the manufacturer does which involves a few pieces of cardboard and some zip ties.
As far as price that can vary a lot depending on destination and how good you are at packing. I've sent frames internationally for as little as $30 or as much as $80.

G

· #4 · Jun 27, 2006

USPS size limits to Australia are

Max. length 42", max. length plus girth 79"

only a very small frame will fit into such a box and the box probably will have to be "custom made", most sellers don't want to do that.

you can get all the USPS shipping info here, incl. prices

http://ircalc.usps.gov/

FedEx and UPS have onlince calculators as well.

shipping a bare frame is easy, just some bubble wrap and a spacer between the rear drop outs. and a sturdy enough box of course. that will protect from most potential hazards. if something worse happens, like a truck running over the box, you cannot protect it from damages.

Carsten

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Rumpfy

· #5 · Jun 27, 2006

I'll second Sky's thoughts on shipping.

Inside the US, I tend to use FedEx for frames. Runs about $28-35 depending on distance and weight.

I've shipped several frames to Italy, UK, France, and Japan...all via FedEx tracked and insured for the full value of the auction. It ran between $250-280 USD to ship...which is pretty spendy.

I have a frame that I just sold (that I'll have to relist) because the buyer (in Italy) felt that $60 USD was too expensive to pay for shipping a bike frame. That quote was USPS. It was a smaller frame that I ducked inside the measurement requirements.

Shipping things 'Down Under' is pretty spendy unfortunately. I've only shipped small items there.

alohachiimoku

· #6 · Jun 27, 2006

USPS EXPRESS is best way to ship internatinally, cheap, fully trackable, insured.

G

· #7 · Jun 27, 2006

alohachiimoku said:
USPS EXPRESS is best way to ship internatinally, cheap, fully trackable, insured.

Hi Hideto, i just sent a package to Switzerland USPS Express and it took just as long as USPS air usually takes. I think the packages arrive in Europe after two days with USPS air and then the customs clearance holds them up. Express cannot be much faster in that respect. But yes, it is online trackable which is nice but only until it leaves the US. Insurance is the same with USPS air.

Carsten

colker1

· #8 · Jun 27, 2006

ok..i have shipped frames from the us to south america. fed ex used to be cheaper. now it's very expensive but.. it walks things through customs. usps is cheap($65 is cheap) but i have an old, used up frame shipped through usps as well as a midge bar hold in customs for 2 weeks now. i suspect trouble.

alohachiimoku

· #9 · Jun 27, 2006

Carsten said:
Hi Hideto, i just sent a package to Switzerland USPS Express and it took just as long as USPS air usually takes. I think the packages arrive in Europe after two days with USPS air and then the customs clearance holds them up. Express cannot be much faster in that respect. But yes, it is online trackable which is nice but only until it leaves the US. Insurance is the same with USPS air.

Carsten

Carsten

Yes, ship to Europe takes for awhile,(especially to Germany took forever!)
I guess Europian customs are tighter than the other,,,,

richieb

· #10 · Jun 28, 2006

I tried shipping a Medium Manitou frame to Australia last Xmas and, no matter what I did, I couldn't get below the max box girth with USPS.

My only options were UPS, FedEX or USPS Global Superexpress (whatever it's called) which all quoted me $300- plus because for the size box it needed, they were billing it as a 75lb package...unless it's a full suspension frame that you can break down and make REALLY compact, it'll likely not be cost-effective...

Let me tell you, I had one VERY disappointed Aussie ebayer when I discovered this...

-Richard

alexk

Discussion Starter · #11 · Jun 28, 2006

OK, thanks, this is all really helpful.

How do you interpret the max length plus girth at 79"? I see this as a single measurement along the longest side of the box added to the thickness of the shipping box but USPS might see this differently. I did check the shipping guides on the USPS web page too and it just contained the info Carsten quoted. Thanks richieb for the Manitou frame experience, can you recall what the size of the box was? I was informed by the seller that the frame would fit into a box 38" x 7" x 28" for US$115. What do you think?

EDIT: Forgot to add that it is medium frame only, no fork but with seatpost.

Shayne

· #12 · Jun 28, 2006

Lenght+Girth=

It is the single longest side (plus) a measure all the way around the rest of the package (ie. 2*width+2*height)

So a box with dimentions 30"x18"x6" would just squeek by

Sometimes you can fudge it by a bit depending on the person at the counter.
I've had a few boxes that were closer to 112" pass as 108"

Your 38x7x28 box fits in the 108" guidline but that's not the requirement for Australia.

G

· #13 · Jun 28, 2006

alexk said:
OK, thanks, this is all really helpful.

How do you interpret the max length plus girth at 79"? I see this as a single measurement along the longest side of the box added to the thickness of the shipping box but USPS might see this differently. I did check the shipping guides on the USPS web page too and it just contained the info Carsten quoted. Thanks richieb for the Manitou frame experience, can you recall what the size of the box was? I was informed by the seller that the frame would fit into a box 38" x 7" x 28" for US$115. What do you think?

EDIT: Forgot to add that it is medium frame only, no fork but with seatpost.

38 + 2*7 + 2*28 = 98"

that box would be too large for USPS Global Express and USPS air to Australia (max. is 79").

The max size for USPS Global Express Guaranteed is 108"

For a 14pound package i get these prices

Global Express Guaranteed® Document Service
See Service Guide Before Mailing 2 - 3 Days $131.75
Global Express Guaranteed® Non-Document Service
See Service Guide Before Mailing 2 - 3 Days $311.00

I have no idea what the difference between Document and Non-Document Serivce is but i am sure it is explained somewhere.

Carsten

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Rumpfy

· #14 · Jun 28, 2006

Shayne said:
It is the single longest side (plus) a measure all the way around the rest of the package (ie. 2*width+2*height)
.

Yep...thats how my local USPS guy measured it when I brought it in.

alexk

Discussion Starter · #15 · Jun 28, 2006 (Edited)

Yes, those last figures Carsten mentioned are similar to the rates I came up with when I went through the USPS postal calculator page and plugged the box dimensions in. In my case the calculator assessed the parcel weigh at 75lb based on the box dimensions, ouch! 14lb sounds realistic for a frame and packing material.

I also had a look at the country conditions mailing information page which gives a table of postage rates for document versus non-document parcel using Global Express Guaranteed (GXG) and for a 14lb parcel (Group 4 country), but with no specification for box size, it looks like US$139.25. The difference between the document and non-document service for GXG looks as though it relates to possible customs inspection in the receiving country and the GXG document service is free of that requirement. The non-document service isn't so the goods may be examined to see if custom duties need to be charged.

Thanks for the girth info too, either I didn't look hard enough through the USPS site or I couldn't make a physical sense of it.

EDIT: Just had a another look at the GXG non document service calculation and the reason for the US$311 shipping charge is that the dimensional weight works out to be close to 45lb and that is greater than a suggested actual weight of 14lb so the calculator uses the greater value. Heaven knows if this would apply when you physically presented the package at the post office. Hmmmm........

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filegiant

· #16 · Jun 28, 2006

alexk said:
Hi all,

I guess this is more of a question for Rumpfy or Veloculture but here goes, what is your experiences with shipping a frame outside the USA?

In this case I'm sussing out shipping a frame to Australia that I've seen on Ebay. I've seen Rumpfy's and Veloculture's Ebay auctions from time to time with frames and being willing to ship out of the US and I would like to get an idea if possible of what shipping cost and the company the frame was shipped with. Was it fully trackable, how was it packed what kind of checks did you put in place so it wasn't damaged in transit and any other pointers or factors to be aware of? Was the buyer satisfied upon receiving the frame?

Any help and thoughts would be appreciated as I'm totally inexperienced in this regard.

Thanks,
Alex

I didn't see it mentioned, but if it's a full-suspension frame, an option would be to take the frame apart and ship it in a smaller box. I've done this with several FSR frames to get around some countries tight dimension requirements.

alexk

Discussion Starter · #17 · Jun 29, 2006

filegiant said:
I didn't see it mentioned, but if it's a full-suspension frame, an option would be to take the frame apart and ship it in a smaller box. I've done this with several FSR frames to get around some countries tight dimension requirements.

No it's a hardtail, frame only and no fork, thus it can't be partially dismantled to fit into a smaller box.

This is proving to be very helpful, it's actually one of the reasons why I didn't jump on to that Montana Team that Sky mentioned was at Pacific Coast Cycles in the Montana Team post that I submitted a while back.

Thanks again.

alexk

Discussion Starter · #18 · Jun 29, 2006

PM'd Rumpfy about the frame in question.

Arran

· #19 · Jun 30, 2006

My advice would be to give up looking on Fleabay. It just brings you down when you see something you really want but know you can't have... even though it sells for a song.

I'm in Aus too and had to pull some major strings to get my Alien ACX over here from L.A.

Basically anything bigger than a suspension fork and you're screwed. Good thing for you Yanks! I'd be driving up the price of VRC crap if it was easier to get stuff sent to Australia!!!

Rumpfy

· #20 · Jun 30, 2006

Arran said:
My advice would be to give up looking on Fleabay. It just brings you down when you see something you really want but know you can't have... even though it sells for a song.

I'm in Aus too and had to pull some major strings to get my Alien ACX over here from L.A.

Basically anything bigger than a suspension fork and you're screwed. Good thing for you Yanks! I'd be driving up the price of VRC crap if it was easier to get stuff sent to Australia!!!

Yeah, but we get smoked by the majority of Europe on our domestic auctions! :nonod:

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