Freight Shipping

[Bassmaster96]

Anyone regularly ship freight? I'm talking items around 150-250 pounds, such as automotive transmissions and then oversized items like door shells, fenders, etc. I've checked with craters and freighters a few times on quotes for buyers, but they're just way too high. I would like to be able to move these larger items easily on eBay, but packaging time on them currently just doesn't make it worth it. Any tips?

 

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[Indigo Knight]

You are right in thinking that large heavy items can mean larger profit margins and less competition, but there is more work required.

If you have an account with a freight company, then what they actually charge you will be much less than the quotes they give you if you call them out of the blue for a single piece of freight. Often it's 25-50% of the quotes they give for non-account holders. If you regularly ship freight with the same company, costs will be lower. Business to business is also less costly than if any residential addresses are involved.

At my work account we have a warehouse with a loading dock and plenty of shipping supplies. We routinely ship LTL, and have accounts with multiple carriers so can compare bids and go with the lowest bidder or most reliable service. Often freighting a 100-150 lb item is cheaper than UPS or FedEx ground services, and it's almost always cheaper than breaking up a shipment into multiple 100-150 lb packages.

At my personal business, I do not have a loading dock. When selling a large bulky item online I offer free local delivery within 50 miles and a delivery charge within 100 miles. A lot of large equipment buyers prefer to use their own freight accounts to save on cost and to get more reliable service on their end, and I have done this a couple of times over the years. If I absolutely must freight ship something, I deliver it myself on the "first leg" to a freight terminal, either with my own truck or with a rental truck. This saves on fees and complications of the first leg (i.e. liftgate fees).

Having a service build a crate and package a large item for you is very expensive. You are almost always better off building your own or salvaging a crate from another shipment.

 

[Bassmaster96]

So in order to get an account with a freight service, do you need to meet a certain amount of shipments per month or anything?

 

[smokeythecat]

Freight shipping is very expensive. All shipping is getting expensive. I have seen most folks who list large items either offer local pickup only, or will drive up to 50-100 miles for a set fee. They don't even mess with freight. And they don't mess with cross country deliveries. I have bought a couple used cars off Ebay over the years and had them shipped. The cost was about $600 each and both cars were within 150 miles of me. I just didn't have the tags or a second driver to go get them. So to ship across country, forget it.

 

[Indigo Knight]

So in order to get an account with a freight service, do you need to meet a certain amount of shipments per month or anything?

It's usually as simple as calling them and opening an account. They will quote you better rates if you ship more frequently. This is why you see sellers that specialize in heavy items. They have a good loading dock setup and accounts with multiple carriers.

Freight shipping is very expensive. All shipping is getting expensive.

This is nothing new. I've been shipping for 17 years and prices go in one direction - up! This past year we've had an unusual increase in prices because of driver shortages and labor shortages among other reasons. Much like how in 2007 and 2008 we had increases in shipping costs because of the spike in oil and fuel prices. The later price hikes and adjustment to services remained even after oil prices plummeted, but the adaptive online sellers endured.

 

[Bassmaster96]

How about packaging/palleting? How rough are the freight companies with your items normally? Do you have to really package/crate well?