Shipping charges for TIRES?!?!

[Zishan]

Hey, I just sold some used Audi S4 tires on Ebay. They closed at $162 and some change. I asked the guy for $45 to cover shipping. I thought this was reasonable since my 18/19 inch tires cost me about $40 bucks to ship to me. I tried getting an estimate online, but no luck due to the shape.
So..... I go to the UPS store today and they tell me that it will be $120 to ship them to Endicott, NY 13760!!!!!!
Whats up with that? I know I wasn't going to get the same rate as large tire vendors, but 3 times more??
The tires were 4 Dunlop SP9090's. They weighted 21lbs.
For future reference, hows the cheapest way to ship tires and large items like this?
Thanks, sorry for venting!!
Z

 

[bangbang001]

use fedX ground service.

much cheaper

 

[Zishan]

use fedX ground service.

much cheaper

Thanks very much! Too late this time, but will definately keep this in mind for my other things that need to go out!
Regards
Z

 

[nsxtasy]

Keep in mind that it's not just the vendor, but also the outlet.

"The UPS Store" was formerly known as Mail Boxes USA. It was an independent shipping store chain, that has since been bought by UPS. They charge MORE than the standard UPS rates. You can get standard UPS rates from actual UPS facilities (those designated on their website as the "UPS Customer Counter"), but you pay a premium at "The UPS Store".

bangbang001 is also correct. If you go to a FedEx customer counter, you will find that FedEx Ground is cheaper than UPS Ground, even at the UPS Customer Counter. (At least, I have, every time I have made the comparison.) Like with UPS, you will get cheaper rates from an actual FedEx store than from a "Mail Boxes" type store that charges a premium over standard FedEx rates.

The last piece of good news is that there are lots and lots of FedEx offices around, whereas UPS Customer Counters are few and far between.

 

[Ojas]

Another NSX Prime member and I were recently discussing this. I'm curious if the $120 you were quoted was entirely shipping or if the UPS Store charged you UPS shipping plus their markup plus the cost of boxing up the tires (they may not have realized that it's not necessary to box up the tires).

When it comes to wheels and/or tires, UPS (and FedEx) pretty much go by the weight and it's not necessary to box the wheels/tires. You can ship each tire individually. I just checked the rate on UPS's site: It's about $15 per tire (21 lb.), if you use your own packaging (ie stick a UPS label to each tire), it's going to a commericial address, insured for $150 each.

So $60 for the set of four.

You can also tape or otherwise bind pairs of tires together and ship in two pacakges. It works out to about $27.50 per package or $55 total for the four tires.

Shipping as one package does not save you any money: about $61.

Wheels pretty much work the same way. It's probably best to send in pairs with the faces of wheels towards each other seperated by cardboard and bubble wrap.

 

[Zishan]

Awesome information guys! Thanks
Yes, it used to be a Mail Boxes Etc! But when talking to the guy, he said now that it was a UPS store, the rates have gone down.
And before I brought the tires in to the store, I asked the gentleman if it was ok to ship tires without them packaged. He said that they could be shipped like that, no problem.
And I thought UPS gave MBE a slight discount as where they could earn a profit without raising the price. I guess I was wrong. From previous experiences, the MBE prices seemed pretty close to what the UPS site was quoting me. And I always thought FEDEX was expensive.
Ojas, I will also use your advise in the future when I sell some wheels I have laying around.
Regards
Z

 

[ak]

I got fooled in the same way. I was shipping something and the damn store said UPS store so I figured it'd be the regular UPS rate...turns out it is actually MailBox ETC! They told me they'd have to repack what I was sending which cost me $2 for labor and $4 for parts(just bubble wrap) and then shipping was twice as much as I had calculated online. What a rip off!

ak

 

[true]

I just shipped 2 18", and 2 17" corvette c5 tires using UPS direct for $70 total. They were sent with no package, and weighed about 32 pounds a piece..these are BIG tires. MailBoxes Etc. is really expensive, I've made a mistake like AK and won't be using them anymore.

 

[JAM]

Another suggestion:

When I used to own an on-line performance parts business, I found you can ship heavy or large items through a company called Forward Air. I know there are some other cargo shippers out there, but these guys always seemed the cheapest. The only downside is they only go to major airports, as they are a freight forwarding company, so the receiver of the item would have to pick it up at a participating airport. I did send many sets of 4 wheel/tire combos this way, as well as engines, transmissions, etc...

 

[ChrisK]

Wow, $120 is kind of high. It usually cost me about $100-$140 depending on the actual size to ship rims or tires from Hawaii to the mainland. It usually cost me $75 to ship tires from Tire Rack. I'm used to the higher shipping cost but I thought you guys in the mainland supposed to have cheap shipping.

 

[beckertb]

Another often unutilized resource is grayhound bus line. They ship, too, and often VERY inexpensively. I had a front bumper cover and rear wing shipped in a HUGE box for $80 from FL to MO. Interestingly, it got here in 1 day.......usually it takes a state per day, but I've used them several times. Only inconvenience is that you have to go to the bus station to drop off and pick up........fortunately, it is only about 3 miles away........well worth it to me.

Best regards,

Ben

 

[nsxtasy]

Yes, it used to be a Mail Boxes Etc! But when talking to the guy, he said now that it was a UPS store, the rates have gone down.
And before I brought the tires in to the store, I asked the gentleman if it was ok to ship tires without them packaged. He said that they could be shipped like that, no problem.
And I thought UPS gave MBE a slight discount as where they could earn a profit without raising the price. I guess I was wrong.

I asked our local "UPS Store" (Mail Boxes Etc) about this. They told me that, when it was Mail Boxes Etc, each store was free to set its own rates (including surcharges over standard UPS rates), and many of the stores had extremely high rates. Once they changed over to become the UPS Store, the surcharges were set by UPS and are the same for all stores. But there are still surcharges.

You can get estimated shipping costs from the various websites, including UPS, FedEx, etc. I notice that you will get quoted a higher rate on the UPS website if you say it will be shipped from a "retail location" than from a "UPS Customer Counter".

 

[WOODY]

the good old US post office has decent rates. i shipped a set of 4 stock wheels for ~ $65

 

[nsxtasy]

the good old US post office has decent rates.

The nice thing about these choices is that all of them:

Federal Express (FedEx)
United Parcel Service (UPS)
United States Postal Service (USPS)

have websites where you can get an estimate of your shipping cost.

Whenever I have done so, I have found that FedEx beats the other two in price in virtually any category (ground, overnight, etc).

The one exception is for smaller packages (under 2 pounds and particularly under 1 pound), when the post office's Priority Mail service is often cost-effective.

 

[steveny]

Airbourne. Set up an account and ship them for about 11 bucks a tire. The nice thing about an Airbourne account is if you buy something Airbourne will pick it up for you at the business or residence from which you purchased. then Airbourne charges your account for it. I have found that almost always Airbourne is cheaper than the seller would have charged me in the first place.