It's 2 am so I can't call them so I figured I'd just put this out here. I also did a quick search and nothing relevant came up.

We know that shipping with an airline is very expensive. If someone has inquired or actually done this, would Fed Ex or UPS accept a well taped bike box (cardboard from an LBS) and what is the cost range?

Domestic or International?

Noticed this site... looks pretty good to me... https://www.shipbikes.com/

Yes, they would accept a bike box. That's probably how your bike got to the dealer in the first place.

I've generally found Greyhound to be the least expensive means to ship oversized packages. I've sent and received a number of packages this way and so far they've got a 100% success rate for me. Nothing lost, nothing late, nothing damaged. The down side is that they don't do delivery to the recipient's door; the recipient needs to pick up the package at their local bus station.

https://www.shipgreyhound.com

Count me as another one for shipbikes.com. And they take cardboard bike boxes (in fact, they sell them). They use FedEx. Much more convenient than flying with your bike and often cheaper.

+3 shipbikes.com

yeah I shipped a bike to CO from GA....cost a butt load. You might want to ask your LBS...there are certain companies that get better rates

Never. You'll be the first one in the history of the human race. TOFTT. Tell us how it turns out.

Seriously, how do you think bikes get to your LBS?

I fly frontier and pay $25 to take bike in box.

I have shipped quite a few bikes and 90% of the time FedEx is much cheaper than UPS. I have never used shipbikes but have heard good things about it.

Not sure I'd want to be on YOUR team. I never really thought about how bikes get to the LBS. If I did, I'd have considered companies using commercial trucking companies or in some cases their own dedicated trucks. I would also have questioned whether the bike companies may have bulk shipping contracts with Fed Ex, UPS...etc. that may not be available to individual consumers. BTW, I've obtained bike boxes from several different LBS's in different parts of the country and have never seen a Fed Ex or UPS on any of them.

Chill, just yanking your chain. If you have a good relationship with your LBS, take your bike there, ask them to pack it and ship it to another LBS at the new destination. They'll probably charge you a nominal amount for the packing, and charge the shipping at their cost. I know mine would.

No problem mpath. I really hadn't thought about how bike magically appear at my LBS. It's about 95 degrees here with 102 degrees predicted for tomorrow. I need to chill in a number of ways.

I've shipped bike frames with bikeflights.com. They use Fedex and I got a better price using them than using Fedex directly. You buy a shipping label through the bikeflights website and drop your box off at Fedex. I shipped an ebay sale frame to Australia this way with minimal hassle.

I use UPS to ship bikes. I looked at shipbikes once, realized that they add a % on top of the shipper's fees, allow you to hand deliver the packed bike to the shipper. Why not just go to a LBS, ask nicely for a bike box. Pack it yourself, go online fill out the form print out the shipping label, tape it on the box, drop it off?

Last 3 bikes I shipped, cost between $28, and $56 to send, depending on how far.

easy, peasy...

Domestically at least, Fedex Ground is definitely the way to go. USPS is a distant third after UPS, both because they will charge you an exorbitant price and they seem to be the only carrier of the three (and I have shipped and received a TON of bike stuff over the last 15 years or so) that has managed to damage my goods - in both cases, wheelsets, including one where the wheels were packed like they were Faberge eggs.