Couriers - Eye opener

[40hz]

The costs of shipping a bass and the potential risks involved, I'd rather just use the £50 on fuel and deliver the thing myself to avoid any hassle.

[EBS_freak]

1 minute ago, 40hz said:

The costs of shipping a bass and the potential risks involved, I'd rather just use the £50 on fuel and deliver the thing myself to avoid any hassle.

It does seem the sensible option doesn't it?

[40hz]

2 minutes ago, EBS_freak said:

It does seem the sensible option doesn't it?

Indeed, with my own sales, this is what I always try to do! (Where possible). Granted it might take a few hours out of your day/weekend, but if you want to make a sale, then you've sometimes got to put a bit of effort in.

Edited February 18, 2021 by 40hz

[Woodinblack]

12 minutes ago, 40hz said:

The costs of shipping a bass and the potential risks involved, I'd rather just use the £50 on fuel and deliver the thing myself to avoid any hassle.

In a non lockdown scenario, that is probably a good idea if you have the time to do it.

[BassAdder60]

So many used sales never happen as sellers reluctant to ship 

The solution ( when allowed ) of hand delivery or meet half way etc at cost would move a lot more goods 

Whenever I see something secondhand I like it’s mostly .. collection only 

Lets face it you are really limiting your market by asking for collection only.

I do agree about the high priced insurance issue when shipping as it really pushes up the price. People just don’t like paying shipping when it’s much over £20 or better still free 👍

[Beedster]

I've used Shipley a few times https://www.shiply.com/lp/land/delivery?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc-brand&utm_campaign=Shipley. 90% of quotes will be very expensive, but on occasion you get lucky because one of the drivers bidding for the job happens to be doing the journey anyway, or looks at it and plans another visit at the same time (I had a guy deliver a bass to me from Hampshire who did it cheap because he was able to combine the journey with a visit to relatives). In my experience, if you wait around for a couple of days eventually a cheap quote lands for one reason or another. This is really useful if the item is hard to pack, or too large for a commercial courier etc (I had my 3m x 2m heavy studio desk delivered for £90, a commercial courier simply wouldn't have touched it, in part because the two Shipley guys had to go into the studio from where I bought it and carry it down a few flights of stairs). I also had a large number of used acoustic tiles delivered for virtually nothing, again, a commercial courier would have charged a fortune on account of the 'volumetric weight' (they weighed a couple of kgs but were about 2m x 2m x 2m).

I will say that on the whole I still use Interparcel, and with a couple of exceptions - such as their recent failed attempt to charge me for alleged poor packing - prices are still good, and service times especially with TNT are still good. My major issues with couriers recently have been with incoming stuff that I've bought, often commercially as opposed to privately, but also with a couple of things I bought on here (including a rather badly mauled Mesa head). On more than one occasion with private sales the damage has been the result of the packaging being nothing like up to the task; a frequent disaster is people assuming it's OK to send a heavy item using the sort of rigid foam packaging that is used to protect flatpack furniture in very tightly and precisely engineered boxes, but which simply explodes into a thousand small polystyrene balls the moment it receives any impact in a box that it wasn't designed to fit. This, I guess, is a significant part of the reason that couriers make people pay for insurance, because so many people's packaging is complete pants

[Woodinblack]

58 minutes ago, BassAdder27 said:

Lets face it you are really limiting your market by asking for collection only.

At the moment you are restricting your market to your own town. Which when your own town has 45,000, of which there must be quite  a small number of bass players, I think that isn't much of a market.

 

12 minutes ago, Beedster said:

I will say that on the whole I still use Interparcel, and with a couple of exceptions -

I am happy with interparcel mostly, seeing as Eurosender are no more, but noted that their price to ship this bass was £20 higher than UPS on their own site.

[BigRedX]

Currently Interparcel items sent to Europe are experiencing 4 week customs delays even with all the correct paperwork. I don't know if anyone else is doing any better at the moment in this regard.

[EBS_freak]

4 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

Currently Interparcel items sent to Europe are experiencing 4 week customs delays even with all the correct paperwork. I don't know if anyone else is doing any better at the moment in this regard.

Columbia still doing OK getting it's shipments in across the borders. Business as usual.

Maybe we need to get in contact with the cartel and see if they would be interested in a side hustle of delivering basses...? Or have I been watching too much of Ozark?

[Beedster]

10 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

I am happy with interparcel mostly, seeing as Eurosender are no more, but noted that their price to ship this bass was £20 higher than UPS on their own site.

Interparcel's site can be a bit emotional, a few weeks ago it quoted me a really high price to send a bass via TNT, so I decided to try other sites. But for various reasons I went back to Interparcel the next morning and the same courier for the same package was back to normal price. I assume this was a tech or data entry problem, but it's happened a couple of times before as well. 

[Beedster]

1 minute ago, EBS_freak said:

Columbia still doing OK getting it's shipments in across the borders. Business as usual.

Maybe we need to get in contact with the cartel and see if they would be interested in a side hustle of delivering basses...? Or have I been watching too much of Ozark?

I suspect the cartels have an even higher loss rate than Parcelforce 

[EBS_freak]

4 minutes ago, Beedster said:

I suspect the cartels have an even higher loss rate than Parcelforce 

Maybe - and I guess your request for compensation may not go down too well.

[Paul S]

I think the couriers are highly motivated - their families will be shot if the mess up.  Then they will.  A system that works but is perhaps a bit brutal for basses  

[stewblack]

41 minutes ago, Beedster said:

Interparcel's site can be a bit emotional, a few weeks ago it quoted me a really high price to send a bass via TNT, so I decided to try other sites. But for various reasons I went back to Interparcel the next morning and the same courier for the same package was back to normal price. I assume this was a tech or data entry problem, but it's happened a couple of times before as well. 

They're up and down like a whore's drawers. Best bet is never let yourself get backed into a corner, don't promise you can get it there Tuesday. Wait for the price to be right! 

[Beedster]

1 hour ago, stewblack said:

They're up and down like a whore's drawers. Best bet is never let yourself get backed into a corner, don't promise you can get it there Tuesday. Wait for the price to be right! 

Do they change in line with (perceived) variations in the market or with simple workload Stew, there must be more to it than randomness?

[Woodinblack]

23 minutes ago, Beedster said:

Do they change in line with (perceived) variations in the market or with simple workload Stew, there must be more to it than randomness?

Any sufficient market change adjustment that you don't have access to would appear pretty random!

 

[Beedster]

4 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

Any sufficient market change adjustment that you don't have access to would appear pretty random!

 

Agreed, but the day I looked they TNT wanted almost £80 to send a bass UK-UK insure, next day it was closer to £40, that's a hell of a market adjustment? 

[Woodinblack]

21 minutes ago, Beedster said:

Agreed, but the day I looked they TNT wanted almost £80 to send a bass UK-UK insure, next day it was closer to £40, that's a hell of a market adjustment? 

Yes, a bit crazy. I must admit I wouldn't have looked the second time after getting the first price

[BigRedX]

Serious question.

Does anyone know of a courier service that is currently able to ship to Europe within the standard 3-5 working days including customs clearance?

I've tried asking the companies themselves but no-one will commit to a definite schedule which makes a mockery of the various services they are offering. I'm happy to pay more for a guaranteed service.

[stewblack]

1 hour ago, Beedster said:

Do they change in line with (perceived) variations in the market or with simple workload Stew, there must be more to it than randomness?

I assume there is an algorithm at work. I don't know, but I guess in its simplest form if the delivery slot is still free then it becomes cheaper as the last possible time to book it approaches. 

[Beedster]

On 15/02/2021 at 20:28, Beedster said:

Tread very carefully with couriers at present, they're feeling the pinch and systematically albeit unethically handing it on to customers. I sent a bass to Walshy a while back, and the courier TNT tried to charge me a substantial surcharge for poor packaging. Luckily having been here before I photo every stage of the packing process, so I sent them the photos and notified them that I would sue their flipping derrières off should they choose to test my resolve in the matter. Oddly and almost immediately they discovered that it wasn't my package that had caused offence after all

Thought I should mention that Interparcel/TNT have just done the above again with another very well packed box, email below. I get the sense that they are doing this on a systematic basis. Once again I have sent them photos. I'm starting to have second thoughts about using Interparcel again, they seem to be trying to scam customers

 

Interparcel order - 19668917 

 

Dear .........

 

I am writing with regards to the above order, your shipment going to............ This order has come to our attention as the shipment has attracted an additional handling surcharge.

The additional handling charge is applied for any package that is not fully encased in cardboard.

The total amount outstanding is £10.74 for which we require immediate payment.

As per our Terms & Conditions you are responsible for ensuring that goods are sufficiently encased in cardboard prior to the collection of the item.

Please confirm if you would like us to automatically charge this amount to the Card or PayPal account used to pay for this order. Please note we are unable to deduct funds from a PrePay or Amazon account.

Alternatively, if you would like to use a new card, please respond to this email and we will arrange for a payment link to be sent.

If you have a valid reason why you believe you are not liable for this debt then it is essential that you contact our Revenue Protection department by return email straight away to discuss this matter. 

We regret that we are unable to discuss this matter over the phone and can only take disputes in writing.

Kind regards.............

Revenue Protection Controller

[yorks5stringer]

2 hours ago, Beedster said:

Thought I should mention that Interparcel/TNT have just done the above again with another very well packed box, email below. I get the sense that they are doing this on a systematic basis. Once again I have sent them photos. I'm starting to have second thoughts about using Interparcel again, they seem to be trying to scam customers

 

Interparcel order - 19668917 

 

Dear .........

 

I am writing with regards to the above order, your shipment going to............ This order has come to our attention as the shipment has attracted an additional handling surcharge.

The additional handling charge is applied for any package that is not fully encased in cardboard.

The total amount outstanding is £10.74 for which we require immediate payment.

As per our Terms & Conditions you are responsible for ensuring that goods are sufficiently encased in cardboard prior to the collection of the item.

Please confirm if you would like us to automatically charge this amount to the Card or PayPal account used to pay for this order. Please note we are unable to deduct funds from a PrePay or Amazon account.

Alternatively, if you would like to use a new card, please respond to this email and we will arrange for a payment link to be sent.

If you have a valid reason why you believe you are not liable for this debt then it is essential that you contact our Revenue Protection department by return email straight away to discuss this matter. 

We regret that we are unable to discuss this matter over the phone and can only take disputes in writing.

Kind regards.............

Revenue Protection Controller

I'd be tempted to ask them for photographic evidence that your parcel  was outside of their T&C and thus put the onus on them to prove it. Then you could send your photos and blow them out of the water. Suspect their bottom line is suffering so they are just doing a little fishing ( sorry. that's 2 Brexit metaphors)

[Downunderwonder]

On 20/01/2021 at 00:27, taunton-hobbit said:

Many years ago, I worked for a major fruit machine manufacturer. It was decided to send a machine to a customer on BR since they were next door to a mainline station. The machine was heavily packaged (on a wooden base as well I recall) and arrived completely smashed. The next attempt (!) was to send the machine completely unwrapped, with just a consignment note on the playglass - it arrived intact & unmarked .............

😎

 

That is the logic of a luthier I know. Tape up the bass case and hope the courier isn't a belligerent idiot.

[Drax]

11 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

That is the logic of a luthier I know. Tape up the bass case and hope the courier isn't a belligerent idiot.

That's some hope 

[Beedster]

On 01/03/2021 at 15:27, Beedster said:

Thought I should mention that Interparcel/TNT have just done the above again with another very well packed box, email below. I get the sense that they are doing this on a systematic basis. Once again I have sent them photos. I'm starting to have second thoughts about using Interparcel again, they seem to be trying to scam customers

 

Interparcel order - 19668917 

 

Dear .........

 

I am writing with regards to the above order, your shipment going to............ This order has come to our attention as the shipment has attracted an additional handling surcharge.

The additional handling charge is applied for any package that is not fully encased in cardboard.

The total amount outstanding is £10.74 for which we require immediate payment.

As per our Terms & Conditions you are responsible for ensuring that goods are sufficiently encased in cardboard prior to the collection of the item.

Please confirm if you would like us to automatically charge this amount to the Card or PayPal account used to pay for this order. Please note we are unable to deduct funds from a PrePay or Amazon account.

Alternatively, if you would like to use a new card, please respond to this email and we will arrange for a payment link to be sent.

If you have a valid reason why you believe you are not liable for this debt then it is essential that you contact our Revenue Protection department by return email straight away to discuss this matter. 

We regret that we are unable to discuss this matter over the phone and can only take disputes in writing.

Kind regards.............

Revenue Protection Controller

So, the reply from Interparcel below....

 

Apparently the fact that I put 'Fragile' tape on fragile items, in the hope that the courier will not trash the item in question, results in extra cost. This was the package

Makes me launch that they can add a fee like this for the reason above, yet they lose or damage the item and you'll spend months getting your money back (assuming you paid for the insurance).

You've been warned folks