I'm working with a seller that's getting quotes for packing a vintage touring bike from his LBS's in Fresno, CA. So far he's been quoted $85 and $100. Is it just me or does that sound excessively high?

I was just looking at a LBS website that listed the charge at $50.

However, I've never paid for the service myself.

I recently paid my LBS $75 to pack a 58cm Schwinn Passage, and felt all right paying that.

I could see $85 in other places, I feel that $100 is pretty steep though.

Doesn't seem too far off IME. That said, the price has no bearing on how well they will pack the bike. I have received bikes packed by shop "professionals" that had wheels rolling around in the box and small parts strewn throughout. Good luck!

The LBS in my small town charges $75. Does a very nice job too!

Dean

A box runs about $25-30 from a packing place. You can check those as well. I have only done one with one of those stores and total was $40 including material and labor. It arrived safe but did not have spacers for dropouts. Was well packed and then filled box with peanuts. So it depends on risk you want to take and if you trust them or give good instruction. I got a smoking deal so I was not too concerned and it was not like a grail bike.


Up to $100 does not sound excessive as most shops make their money off services.

Hmm, $60 for an hour of shop labor to do it right. $15 for materials. $25 to help cover their asses if the customer tries to blame them after UPS tosses the bike box 10 feet off the loading dock...

PS
never send anything valuable via UPS

A box runs about zero dollars from the cardboard recycling in the back of most LBS's. Or just walk into a store that sells a lot of bikes and ask for a bike box. They'd probably be happy to give you one, since it's one less to take out back.

I packed one for a forum member once and charged a minimum fee, had them email the bikeflights tag to me. I can box a bike properly in about 30 minutes if I have the right size box and dropout spacers.

But an LBS has to make money somewhere, can't knock 'em for that.

So, seller has agreed to box himself for $50. He claims to have all tools and box + packing material that his LBS gave him. I directed him to bikeflights.com as they have some good info on there. Should be fine?

As far as the postage, how does that work through bikeflights.com? If I purchase online do I receive a label that I can forward to him to print-out and adhere to the box or does he actually need to purchase through the site?

[MENTION=469097]tarsi[/MENTION] I can't recall the process as it has been a year or so since I used, but you can chat with them online and ask questions. Was simple.

Exactly. The bike shop here has more boxes and packing materials out back than you can shake a stick at. I just use the same boxes and take all the foam and bubble wrap I need. There is tons of it for free. Of course you can't make another seller pack items up for free either. But I would not charge someone that kind of money for packing when I can do it for free. Shipping charges are expensive enough.

Packing a bike to withstand shipping damage and yet minimize box dimensions takes time and skill. I’ve never seen a bike shop optimize the box (make it smaller) and I doubt the seller will either. So expect the postage to be higher.

Do it yourself sometime and you won’t question the charge.

Bike flights sends you the label via email so you will need to forward it to the seller and have him print on his end. Should not be a big deal. I’d worry more about the packing. Bike will have to be packed first to provide you weight and dimensions.

And even if you pay for insurance, if it arrives damaged be prepared for them to not cover it. “Poorly packed” is the default answer on any claim. Funniest claim I ever had was on UPS, they of course claimed it was poorly packed. Seller paid a UPS store to pack it for him....

Unfortunately there are several shops in my area who want $5-$10 dollars for a box. They tried to charge me and I asked if they wouldn't reconsider as it would impact whether I ever came back into the shop. They didn't and I have not been back. Drove a little further to get the box, but I will be back at the second shop. Some people are short sighted.

Local shop in my town charges for the box unless you are a regular customer.

Make sure he uses an axle block in the fork ends. The bike shop might give him a plastic one. We used to toss them in the trash. Easy to carve from wood too.

As the recipient of said Passage I can say it was money well spent.
I wish I hadn't been in such a hurry to unbox it and make sure it was ok because they took packing precautions that I probably wouldn't have thought of without it seeming "over packed". I should have slowed down and taken pics for future reference.

Just offer the seller $50 to meet you 1/2 way to LA and be done with it.

$100 does sound high to me, but $50 labor + $25 materials isn't unreasonable IMO.

Btw, my LBS (Co-Op) requests a $5 donation for a box, which I don't mind paying.

If I were to pay someone to box a bike, and they quoted a price near $50 - i would be happy. That probably means that they would take an existing box with original packing, and added their tape, zip ties, and a few extras. The consequence would be that they took no time to cut the box down in order to minimize the shipping cost, which could be significant.

I have only shipped one bike frame. It took me about 4 to 5 hours to trim and rebuild the box, prepare the frame properly, pack it, seal it, contact Bikeflights, and it take to a FedEx shipping location.

What does your LBS charge per hour?

The quoted price doesnt seem unreasonable to me. Still expensive though of course when you add the expense to the bike you're buying.

I would encourage you to help the seller/shipper as much as you can, they are really the one in control here. When it comes to goods and services quality can suffer when the task is challenging as shipping bikes can be. Having just gone through this the other thing that I consider a requirement is the insurance, it worked and it paid but I still have to fix the bike, hopefully it turns out good. So at the end of the day it may be expensive, so is damage with no recourse.

The way they get around that is that the UPS Stores are a franchise, and not operated by UPS- therefore, UPS did not do the packing.

Agreed.

After going back and forth with multiple options including meeting half-way, having him pack the bike himself etc, I finally gave him the option to choose whichever was most convenient for him (including paying the shop $85 to pack). In the end, he chose to have the bike shop pack. Although it does drive the total purchase price up somewhat, I keep reminding myself that this is a grail bike after all (1984 TREK 720). Been looking for one of these for a while and they are not easy to come by at a reasonable price.

That's awesome, a 720. I missed one once by "some guy is on the way but I'll let you know if he flakes out". On packing, doing a good job is work. Add on top of that they are a business with overhead. I personally would not do it for someone for less than 50.00, and I use material I get at a shop for free.

Yep. Of course, UPS charges the store a franchise fee and a percentage on the business. But they walk away on a damage claim.