# How to Ship Skis



## BeanoNYC (Nov 30, 2007)

I want to sell a pair of skis on Ebay.  How would you ship them?  What's the average cost to ship?  I'm tempted to hit a "I Sold It on Ebay" storefront to do the work, but their commission is steep.  Any ideas?


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## Greg (Nov 30, 2007)

Stick them in a long box with some newspaper. Not sure the cost to ship. Count on a ~18 lbs box. Maybe $20-$30? Don't outsource your eBay auction. They are pretty simple to set up yourself.


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## cbcbd (Nov 30, 2007)

Depending on where they're going they should be around $20 to ship even across the country. When I ordered skies from SAC they just arrived in a long and skinny cardboard trapezoid (or collapsed rectangle if you get what I mean) with the ends folded over. I figure the only damage you can cause to a shipped ski if you drop it is cosmetic and the cardboard takes care of that protection - you won't really need extra padding. I would just make sure the ends would have extra beefiness just in case.
I've shipped some skis by taking apart cardboard boxes and wrapping them around them in sections up the ski and then just taping the whole thing together - seemed to work fine.

If you sell on Ebay make sure to ship them with delivery confirmation, at least!! You can easily get screwed by someone claiming they never received it - happened to me and it sucks.


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## wa-loaf (Nov 30, 2007)

BeanoNYC said:


> I want to sell a pair of skis on Ebay.  How would you ship them?  What's the average cost to ship?  I'm tempted to hit an "I Sold It on Ebay" storefront to do the work, but their commission is steep.  Any ideas?



Check with your local ski shop. They usually have a lot of long boxes hanging around (some may even be willing to ship it for you). Bubble wrap around the tips, tails, and bindings should protect the skis well enough.


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## tjf67 (Nov 30, 2007)

Bring them down to the UPS store.  They will box them up and ship them for you.  It cost about 35bucks.  
Call down to them and they will give you exact pricing.  

I would not go out of your way to keep the price down the buyer pays for it anywyays.


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## riverc0il (Nov 30, 2007)

USPS is cheaper even with insurance and delivery confirmation added. UPS is upwards of $35+ due to abnormal dimensions, the weight isn't much but the dimensions kill you. UPS stores are a rip off, been there done that. Hardest part about shipping skis is finding the right size box.


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## Mildcat (Nov 30, 2007)

riverc0il said:


> USPS is cheaper even with insurance and delivery confirmation added. UPS is upwards of $35+ due to abnormal dimensions, the weight isn't much but the dimensions kill you. UPS stores are a rip off, been there done that. Hardest part about shipping skis is finding the right size box.



This is true, USPS is a lot cheaper which means you can stick the extra money in your pocket or if you set a lower shipping price the buyer will be willing to bid higher. The tracking for USPS sucks but that's not a big deal. 




cbcbd said:


> Depending on where they're going they should be around $20 to ship even across the country. When I ordered skies from SAC they just arrived in a long and skinny cardboard trapezoid (or collapsed rectangle if you get what I mean) with the ends folded over. I figure the only damage you can cause to a shipped ski if you drop it is cosmetic and the cardboard takes care of that protection - you won't really need extra padding. I would just make sure the ends would have extra beefiness just in case.
> *I've shipped some skis by taking apart cardboard boxes and wrapping them around them in sections up the ski and then just taping the whole thing together - seemed to work fine.*
> 
> If you sell on Ebay make sure to ship them with delivery confirmation, at least!! You can easily get screwed by someone claiming they never received it - happened to me and it sucks.



When I bought some skis last year they just had bubble wrap and a makeshift box like that and they were fine. One thing though, they were new still in shrinkwrap. I don't know if bindings mounted on them would make it harder to pack. Maybe someone who's bought used skis with bindings can chime in on that.


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## severine (Nov 30, 2007)

I just bought some new skis off of eBay.  The seller wrapped them in a sort of foam paper first, then paper, then paper-coated bubble wrap.  They traveled well this way.  They were shipped via Fed Ex ground for $25.  Fed Ex ground is usually more reasonable than UPS.  I would be leery of shipping USPS these days as, with the new regulations that went into effect in the spring, they do charge extra for odd-shaped or oversized packages.


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## BeanoNYC (Dec 1, 2007)

severine said:


> I just bought some new skis off of eBay.  The seller wrapped them in a sort of foam paper first, then paper, then paper-coated bubble wrap.  They traveled well this way.  They were shipped via Fed Ex ground for $25.  Fed Ex ground is usually more reasonable than UPS.  I




Hmmm...did they have binding mounted?


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## severine (Dec 1, 2007)

BeanoNYC said:


> Hmmm...did they have binding mounted?


No.  The bindings were in a box that was attached by wrapping a lot of saran wrap around it and the skis, LOL.  But I imagine you could find a way to wrap the whole lot on a pair of skis with bindings mounted.


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## wa-loaf (Dec 1, 2007)

BeanoNYC said:


> Hmmm...did they have binding mounted?



I received new, mounted skis last year and the bindings, tips and tails were wrapped in bubble wrap and large cardboard box was folded over the whole thing.


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## BeanoNYC (Dec 2, 2007)

wa-loaf said:


> I received new, mounted skis last year and the bindings, tips and tails were wrapped in bubble wrap and large cardboard box was folded over the whole thing.




I guess that's how I'll do it.  I wish I could get a flat estimate for shipping so I can put it on the auction.  (It's my first auction without a consignment shop and I would like for it to be seamless)


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## cbcbd (Dec 2, 2007)

BeanoNYC said:


> I guess that's how I'll do it.  I wish I could get a flat estimate for shipping so I can put it on the auction.  (It's my first auction without a consignment shop and I would like for it to be seamless)


I'd put $25-30 for shipping out West with USPS. You can calculate shipping on their website and it will probably be no more than that.

I shipped some mounted 185cm Salomons to NJ via USPS for I think around $15.

It's tricky doing flat shipping because there is a big difference between shipping around here and out West, especially for something heavy.


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## BeanoNYC (Dec 11, 2007)

Ok, well I got a box from the maintenance worker at my job.  It was originally for shipping mop handles.  I got some bubble wrap as well.  It's up on ebay and hopefully someone will bite.  If all goes well with this sale, I have a bunch of other stuff I'm going to get rid of on ebay.


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## severine (Dec 11, 2007)

Good luck!

I hate all the fees between eBay and Paypal.  But it's so damn convenient.


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## billski (Dec 11, 2007)

I bought a pair used from a ski shop.  they simply shipped them in an original heavyweight cardboard ski box.  No padding at all. They arrived fine,bindings attached.  I probably beat up and abuse my skis on the slopes far worse than the Samsonite Gorilla who works in shipping.  At least, that's how I rationalize it


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