How much to ship a guitar...

[brammy]

I like the remove-the-bolt-on-neck option.

Reminds me of a guitar shipping adventure I went through a few years ago.

I sold a guitar on ebay (approx $350) to a mother who was getting it for her teenage son. One day I get a call from "the father" who said that he wanted to change the "ship to" address. Like A COMPLETE IDIOT, I said "sure, no problem". Sure enough I shipped the guitar to a the scam artist's address which was an unoccupied house.

Then I got lucky..... the Colorado police had been on to these guys for a while and finally busted the perps (who turned out to be teenagers) and recovered my guitar. The real buyer was nervous and skeptical but was patient and finally received the guitar.

Apparently these kids had pulled successfully the same scam many times. I sent the cops a thank-you note and an extra large box of chocolate covered macadamia nuts.

[wj350]

What's strange is even USPS's calculator contradicts itself. If you go through their self help window, it shows EMI or PMI as being limited to packages 36" or 42" max length (respectively), and 79" total girth, which won't work for a guitar.
USPS Int'l Services

But if you use the "calculate function for GXG, using a 46" length, 20" width, and 6" height (typical Fender Strat/Tele box), it gives you a price of $345, and also lists prices for the other services (EMI, PMI, etc.).
GXG Est for AUS

I guess if I were offering to sell to Australia, I'd quote the high estimate, but refund if USPS accepted the package for one of the lower rates, such as EMI or PMI.

I recently became a convert to USPS shipping at least for the US and Canada though--(thanks Brian!!). Much more economical than the FedEx and UPS services I'd been using.

Bill

[collin]

Everyone knows that Ebay's shipping calculators are completely out to lunch and frustrating.

But, Collin, the Tele could be just a tad shorter or thinner. As I recall, all of the boxes I was trying to ship to Aitch were 1-2" too big in the cumulative. And, I was told that the PO uses go/no go gauges and if the box doesn't fit, it doesn't ship.

I'd like to see the results from attempting to ship a normally-sized Rick with a proper box.

Whups.

I just flipped through my box of receipts and saw that I had shipped it USPS Int'l Priority, not Express mail. They must have different size restrictions.

I have shipped Ric Cases and guitars to other countries more recently using Express Mail, but they weren't going to AUS. Seems our friends down under might be the only country left out. Shame, really......it's a great service for the money. I think the recieving country sets the package limits too, not the USPS.

[weemac]

All of my Waterstone basses and my 74 4001 came from the States, they were all shipped USPS in a dirty big box, not one of them cost more than $120usd and arrived in about a week....
Eden.

[longhouse]

Thanks for all the responses. I'll be packing it up for shipment tomorrow (the auction doesn't end for a few days) and I'll pay USPS a visit to get some estimates.

A guy from the Netherlands inquired about it today too.

[gellkeller]

I have used USPS previously and I have been extremely happy with their service. All of my recent acquisitions have not been able to be shipped by USPS. I believe there was a change over a year ago but I don't know exactly what changed.

Good luck with the sale Noel.