tulsavw Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 Good Evening Everyone, Last weekend, I purchased a 72 piece lot of blacksmith tongs at a local auction. Several people online have asked me if I would be interested in selling them some of the tongs that I'm not interested in keeping, which I am totally interested in doing, if not to at least help recoup the money I spent on the lot. I plan to have the buyer pay for shipping, and therein lies my dilemma. Have any of you ever sold tongs or small tooling (drifts, chisels, etc.) over the internet and shipped them to people? If so, do you remember what shipping service you used and which was the most economical to use? I know that may be asking a lot to recall for those of you who haven't shipped any tools that way recently, but for those of you that have, could you help me out with some advice? Most of the tongs I have are between 16" and 24". I know that USPS has a flat-rate shipping program (just thought of that one -- I'll see if I can dig up some pricing there). That seems like that might be one of the more cost effective options, considering several people said they would be interested in purchasing multiple pairs. I hope I posted this in the right forum -- I thought about posting in tools, but I figured that seeing as how this question is more about shipping, this might be a more appropriate venue. In summary, can anyone recommend a shipping service or cost effective shipping option? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSW Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 USPS flat rate is probably the cheapest solution, but you may have issues with the size of the items. Chisels and so on won't be a problem, but longer things like tongs will be. I sent a guy some welding stuff to Alaska last year flat rate postal. Normal rates would have been close to $90 for the weight I shipped, but I managed to shoe horn all the stuff he wanted and then some in a medium flat rate box and shipped it for something like $17. Down side of USPS is tracking and insurance. When I used to work for the dive shop we never wanted to ship USPS. If some one claimed they didn't get a package, it would be at least 6 months before they would even start an insurance claim. Tracking was a joke at best. We shipped everything we mailed out from internet orders either FedEx or UPS. We seldom had any issues with lost stuff and when someone claimed they didn't get a package, we could quickly dispute the issue if they tried to cancel the payment on the card. Some items we had no choice but to send USPS, usually FPO's and APO's for guys in the military. International stuff was also iffy. Many times guys would find the tariffs on items a lot more than what they actually paid for the items. Then we'd be stuck trying to get the stuff back. AMny times it was cheaper to just have them trash it, then send it back. A lot of times we'd have no idea what tariffs or brokerage fees would be added to items when we shipped, so it was impossible to tell the customer what to expect. ( Note I haven't shipped international for almost 10 years, so some things may have changed.) To box up largish items like tongs, I'd take a sheet of cardboard and fold it in half and possibly fold the edges back over the other side. Good heavy stranded packing tape or duct tape works well to secure the cardboard. Boxes usually are too large with longer items and you tend to fill them with "fluff" like newspaper or packing peanuts/bubble wrap. That adds weight and cost. Boxes work well for multiple items. That's assuming you have a stash of boxes to root thru to locate something and don't have to go buy one. A good heavy duty stapler also works well to help secure edges against things that tend to want to poke out, but you need to still tape them or the staples tend to get caught on things and tear open the package. On average when I worked at the dive shop, I'd pack and ship between 15 and 30 packages of all sizes every day. Every thing from small items I could fit in a letter sized bubble rap envelope to 24" x 36" boxes depending on what they ordered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tulsavw Posted November 5, 2014 Author Share Posted November 5, 2014 @DSW -- Thanks so much for the good information. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dogsoldat Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 Just had a thought and it may be of limited use but what about bending the reigns back on themselves to shorten things up to fit in a box. Since we all have a heat source to straighten the reigns back out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foundryman Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 Just a word of warning, I bought some tongs off the internet that were packed loosely in a box that was larger than necessary, when the box was delivered to me it was empty with a neatly punched hole in the side where the tongs went through! Pack them tightly with no room for movement and/or tape them to the box! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpankySmith Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 I recently shipped a Buffalo blower to someone in Texas, I boxed the item up completely and hauled it to several places to find out shipping costs, USPS was the cheapest AND fastest, which surprised me. They do have tracking and insurance, though I've never had to file a claim so I can't speak to that process, but I did get to watch the package's progress from Bama to Texas. It was a good/easy experience for me. In this case the buyer was willing to wait for me to figure out how much the shipping was going to cost, I imagine you could probably get a rough idea by just getting costs on a couple tongs and tools. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tulsavw Posted November 5, 2014 Author Share Posted November 5, 2014 Thanks for the replies and helpful information. After checking rates, USPS and FedEx seem like expensive options, but I'm having understanding why the cheapest option (in USPS's case) is 2 Day Priority, when I selected nothing about shipping speed. I would think they would be the cheapest method, too, but their lowest priced option that I could find is nearly $50 to ship a 3 lbs tong shapes tube. FedEx's price was just as high, and it also seemed to assume that I needed to get the tongs to their destination in a hurry (using Charleston, SC) as the test destination. UPS was the most reasonable, and almost so to the extent that made me think the prior two price checks were skewed. UPS was only $15 from Tulsa to Charleston. Anyways, it's starting to look like I might just put the whole bundle of tongs I don't want on CL, apologize to the people who inquired about shipping, and move along. Thanks very much for your help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSW Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 How did you determine the rates for USPS? I ask because I know you can ship 3 lbs a lot cheaper than what you say. I looked on line and shipping from Philly to Washington state ran roughly about what you posted if you use the online calculator and default to Priority mail 2 day that is the 1st option on the page. However if you scroll down and click on Priority Mail Options, you get a lot of different prices based on box size for flat rate boxes. A large flat rate box sized 23-11/16" x 11-3/4" x 3" or 12" x 12" x 5-1/2" comes out to less than $18 and cheaper if you pay online. If you scroll down to the very bottom where it says "other Options", Standard post lists at a bit less than $13. It says not available on line, but I assume that means you have to trot yourself into the Post Office and have them weigh it in person. http://postcalc.usps.com/MailServices.aspx?m=6&p=3&o=0&dz=98345&oz=19103&pob=0&MailingDate=11/6/2014&MailingTime=8:00%20AM&rgt=0&live=0&dop=0&hzm=0# Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farmall Posted November 6, 2014 Share Posted November 6, 2014 I have shipped a number of tongs and small tooling and the Post Office, First Class rate (not priority), which is only available if you walk in, is always the cheapest. For tongs, I just put them between two flat pieces of cardboard and tape them securely shut if it's only 3-4 pairs. That eliminates the need for additional packaging, they don't slide around, and are straightforward to mail. If the item is thicker, say, hammers and tongs, I just box them up and send them first class. I never use priority unless somebody wants it quick or it's a really heavy small item. I once shipped 45# of brass cutoffs in a large flat rate Priority box, and that was really the cheapest way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judson Yaggy Posted November 7, 2014 Share Posted November 7, 2014 I've shipped a LOT of tongs via USPS flat rate boxes all over the USA, not a single problem. (I wrap pack pad and tape assuming the worst). Flat rate boxes are the best value for anything much over 10 pounds or so, and delivery has always been within 3-5 days, even from Vermont to Utah or California. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaughnT Posted November 7, 2014 Share Posted November 7, 2014 Flat rate USPS boxes are the way to go. I like to get tracking and insurance on everything I ship, and my customers like it, too. There's nothing worse than a box getting lost and you losing money. I would definitely think about listing the tongs on Ebay. The decorators that frequent ebay pay crazy money for tongs, so you could make your money back. I watch the price on tongs simply because I'm always interested in adding more tongs to my collection, but I can't compete with what those people are willing to pay. I know for a fact that no working smith is paying $55 for a pair of rusty tongs when they can simply go to one of the supply houses and buy a new pair for $40. And if you bundle a few pairs together, all the better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 7, 2014 Share Posted November 7, 2014 I had a friend ship me a couple of pieces of round stock before---68 pounds in a 70 pound limit flat rate box; dead cheap!Though when I went to the post office to pick it up I was escorted behind the counter to where my "package" was sitting in a wheelbarrow an amorphous mass of USPS packing tape with only enough of the original box to show the shipping label...I had asked him to label the pieces individually as well as steel tends to go on a walkabout when shipped and without a label on the piece it can disappear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seldom (dick renker) Posted November 8, 2014 Share Posted November 8, 2014 i recently shipped a package to hawaii, weighed 11.1.4 lbs. cost 48 bucks and was a 3 day delivery, priority. insurance and tracking a bit extra. was more than happy with results and so was customer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tulsavw Posted November 8, 2014 Author Share Posted November 8, 2014 Okay. Well, I can see that the expensive result that I'm seeing as the "cheapest" option must be the product of online quoting. I'll stop into the post office this week and see what my local rates are. Again: many thanks -- especially for those of you that are using USPS, as that seems to be the factor that will salvage this idea. Have a good weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddie Mullins Posted November 8, 2014 Share Posted November 8, 2014 Not sure what you are looking at, but I recently started selling and shipping a camping grill from home, 28 inch long box, shipped USPS from $8 to $13 +/- depending on where it went. I even print the label at home, its cheaper on line than in the post office. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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