I've only shipped my own bike a few times, so I'm sure there are many people on here that know much more than me, but the one thing that saved me lots of money was making sure the box was as small as possible. At a certain point, larger boxes are classified differently and cost significantly more to ship. The first time I used a box that was an inch or two too long and it cost me $40 or $50 more. I'm thinking of shipping my bikes in two or three boxes, components in one and frame/wheels in another, though I'm not sure thats better.