Shipping

[65Buick]

I have someone who's interested in one of my pieces but they are a couple hundred miles from me. Has anyone ever shipped one of their pieces and if so what was the experience?

[byhammerandhand]

Be sure this is legit -- this is a common scam.   Pay the delivery guy when he picks it up and I'll mail you money to cover it plus the work.

[SteveA]

Tell your client to find a long distance mover who is home based in their city.  Ask your client to make arrangements for that carrier to provide a trucking estimate.  Get paid in full before releasing the item with the understanding returns are their responsibility.
SA

[gene]

Mike802 builds maple sofas and I believe he has shipped them common carrier. You can pm him to see if he has any info he's able to share.

Are you going to ship it on pallets or in boxes? Someone local may be able to help you with how to package the furniture.

Be sure to understand the difference between UPS and common carriers.

You can stop in a furniture store and see if the owner would let you look at how their furniture is packaged when they receive it. Maybe get some old packaging materials for your furniture?

Yes, a lot of stories floating around where the seller did not get paid before it shipped and troubles ensued, or cash was exchanged up front with the shipping person and troubles ensued.

Best of luck,

gene

[sofadoc]

If this is just a one-time thing, and the customer is only 200 miles away, you might be better off to just charge a nominal fee for delivery, and take it there yourself. Or get the customer to meet you halfway.

[65Buick]

Thanks for the input everyone.

Gene: I don't know the difference between common carrier and UPS.

After reading about it if I understand correctly, UPS is for basically anyone. Common carrier is a little more complicated, you may have to search for them, but may get a better price if you're shipping a lot of stuff.

Would that be a correct assessment?

Ian

[Mojo]

Ian:

I believe Gene meant that Common Carriers are freight companies like Old Dominion, etc. They handle the big heavy stuff that exceeds UPS sizes and weights.

We ship daily through UPS & Fed Ex. We have a policy, nothing is shipped until payment is made. We accept credit cards and Paypal. If they want to pay by check then the shipment sits till the check clears.

There are way too many scams going now days to trust others. Certified checks which are bogus and on and on. If it is a straight up transaction like credit card then you should be good to go. If it is anything outside a normal transaction then my radar would go up and I would probably not do the deal.

Depending on how big and heavy the item is will determine how your going to ship it. UPS & Fed Ex have max sizes and weights.

Chris

[65Buick]

Thank you Chris. Ideally I would not have anything so big and heavy as to need a common carrier.

And forgive my naïvety, but there are scams involving people trying to get a custom piece of furniture? Seems like a lot work for something other than a pile of cash.