Shipping a bike

[sayek1]

Help. Just won a bike on ebay, but now need to sort delivery. Any experts on who is best to use - cheap. Any advice on pick-ups etc. I am fine to collect the bike once its delivered to Glasgow area, but need help on the cheapest and most convenient courier service in the Midlands.

Thanks

 

[gavintc]

I would have presumed that this was the sellers problem not the buyers. Certainly, when I sold a frame earlier this year, I had the box and the carrier already planned. I suggest that you ask the seller for some assistance in this one. It is not unreasonable to expect him to box it and get it to a local carrier. You will need to pay carriage costs.

 

[sayek1]

Thanks. I'm hoping he will be OK to drop it off at a courier, but was hoping to have an idea as to who might be the cheapest/good-option. Thanks, K

 

[MrRidley]

Parcelforce 48hr delivery £25.

 

[jay clock]

Agreed parcelforce. Look at their website for standard parcels....may be under £20 in fact. Just needs boxing in a box (free from LBS)

 

[ColinJ]

I used parcel2go.com to ship my bike from Penzance to Hebden Bridge for about £12.

 

[Mista Preston]

Just remember that no one carrier is really geared up to carry a bike through the their network. Parcelforce are ok but you get no real tracking and if they break it you may have to wait up to 18 days to make a claim.

If you have spent good money i would suggest one of the bigger companies just for peace of mind. A brown one springs to mind....

Using a third party such as inteparcel.com or parcels2go.com is a good way of getting it cheaper and choice but you loose the ownership and can only deal with them if something goes wrong.

If it was my bike I would go and get it and make a day out of it !

 

[Fiona N]

I've sold a few bikes on Ebay and used Parcelforce to deliver them without any problems.
The only thing to check is the total domensions of the box - I can't remember what the number is but the length + circumference (other two dimensions) must be less than some value and it's quite tight for a bike box. I had to remove the wheels and tape them alongside the frame (with plenty of bubblewrap between) to get inside the target and my bikes are small (21inch TT).

 

[jasonmccullum]

i used parcel monkey ( fedex) cost me 16.00 for a rcing bike in a bike box weight 16.6kg next day delivery

 

[MichaelM]

I've sold a couple of bikes/frames and used Send it now. The only "issue" has been if I selected between 2pm & 5pm, then they turn up at 5pm - but they do turn up!

 

[sayek1]

Guys. Thanks for all your comments/ideas. Parcleforce were the logical one, but they have some strange calculations which meant they wouldn't take it - 175x100x30cm was too big. Tried parcel2go which looked great, but again size restrictions - I gues I could have squeezed both.

I've since found wheelcourier which looks pretty good - about £25 and they specialise in bikes and car bits. I'll try them later this week and feedback on their results.

Lesson learnt - make sure the seller sorts the postage!!