What's the right thing to do? Shipping Costs.

[nphunter]

So I just traded a guy some old stabilizers I had for an old bow he had lying around, I traded for the bow for a backup/parts bow for my kids bow. The bow is probably worth $100 tops, has missing parts and needs strings, however they don't make the bow any more and I have a few bows at the house that share similar parts.

Anyway, I boxed up the stabilizers and side bars I'm trading and sent them yesterday, it was like $15 shipping so I figure I'll get a good deal on a parts bow. This guy had the bow advertised on a trade-only forum wanting to trade for stabilizers. So this morning I get a message from the guy who somehow ended up paying $180 to ship the bow to me. The stabilizers were probably worth no more than $100, maybe less. Anyway, he way overpaid shipping, shipping a bow with insurance USPS is $45-60 bucks depending on where it's going.

I assume the guy sent me the receipt with mentioned how much it cost hoping I would offer to pay part of the shipping? I probably wouldn't have paid $50-100 for the bow locally as a parts bow.

If you had this deal happened what would you do?

Just let the guy use it as a learning opportunity? He already paid the price and shipped me the bow.

Offer to send him some money to help pay for the outrageous shipping, even though I already sent him the items that I planned on trading plus paid the shipping?

I feel bad for the guy but also can't even imagine paying that kind of money to ship a bow, I don't even know how that happens, maybe too big of a box, took it and had the store box it and ship it and paid their labor?

Curious on others' thoughts?

 

[49ereric]

Oversized box will do it every time

 

[BigK421]

You must use a bow box and ship through UPS or Fedex. Most archery shops will give you bow boxes for free if you ask. USPS has a surcharge now for anything over 30" so don't ship a bow through the postal service. It helps to create an account with ups and print own shipping labels. You can use promotional discounts to help cut the shipping cost. Sounds like that guy hasn't shipped a bow before. Lesson learned. You could give him a few bucks extra if you want, but that's his fault for not getting shipping quotes and asking around.

 

[Gutshotem]

The life lessons of another grown man are not your responsibility.

 

[Mighty Mouse]

You held up your end of the deal, not your fault the other guy overpaid for shipping. He could have pumped the brakes when he learned the shipping cost and figured out a cheaper way to ship or offered to renegotiate the deal with you and just pay for the stabilizers. I personally might throw him a few sympathy bucks (after the bow arrived in good condition) but wouldn't feel obligated to do so.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

It's sort of on him, he could have looked for a different method of shipping. Some guys don't listen though. I've traded lots of gear over the years and bought several firearms and I've seen some crazy shipping prices on the labels when stuff gets to me. One example is the bag for a backpack, I told a guy to stuff it in a flat rate shipping box, he used a box from home and paid over 40 dollars when the flat rate box would have been half. I recieved a rifle that some guy had spent like 180.00 shipping as well.

 

[ScreamingPotato]

Man that stinks all the way around. I've been in his shoes though realizing shipping is WAY more than I expected, ended up just eating the cost. I also had my wife ship something once, sold it for $30 and asked her to go to USPS, she went to UPS Store and paid $47 to ship it. I think she may have been quietly teaching me a lesson on that one lol.

Having said that, everyone please start using Pirate Ship, it helps a ton on costs. I sold a backpack on here and was gonna end up paying $50-60 to ship it from all the vendors. The buyer told me to check Pirate Ship and sure enough $20ish later the backpack was on the way.

 

[cornfedkiller]

Having said that, everyone please start using Pirate Ship, it helps a ton on costs. I sold a backpack on here and was gonna end up paying $50-60 to ship it from all the vendors. The buyer told me to check Pirate Ship and sure enough $20ish later the backpack was on the way.

Pirate ship is awesome. Not to mention, you have the ability to compare the prices of USPS and UPS.

A buddy of mine asked me last week what I thought it would cost to ship him a bow, so I logged into Pirate Ship, typed in his address and the (estimated) box dimensions and weight... $16.50

 

[BRTreedogs]

I appreciate his desire to hold up his end of the deal.
But he easily could of walked back out and contacted you, for advice asking if he could back out and return or purchase the stabilizers. Ask for other ideas etc.
Its really on him Unfortunately.
If the strings were broken he easily could of disassembled it.

 

[Schism]

I shipped a rifle with $2000 insurance via USPS recently for less than $70. I took the package to the local USPS building to pay shipping, not some third party vendor. How large was the box he used to ship the bow? Something doesn't add up to me.

 

[WV Mountaineer]

I’ve seen similar on stick bows I’ve sold or traded. I’ve had my local post office price bows at $75-$100 dollars. I said no way, got back in the truck and drove to another post office, and shipped those three bows for less the $30.


Over size is a huge deal if the usps employee is new or in a bad mood. That’s been my experience. I chalk it up to employees with no intent to make responsible decisions. It’s a rampant problem for sure.

 

[Los4212]

Honestly as bad as it is to say, thats on him. Def depends on where you go. I learned the lesson the hard way years ago. Sold a golf driver shaft on ebay (we're talking less than 1lb) but because it was awkwardly long, UPS store quoted me $75...I sold it for $90...I was livid. Shopped around and finally found someone to do it for $30...but none the less, lesson learned...I figured shipping equated to weight...shape and size are actually more often the bigger factor as has been stated by others.

 

[BrentH]

I would say it’s kind of on him. Like others have said he could have chose another shipping option.

I think the online usps shipping tool is sometime jacked up. For instance, I am getting ready to ship something I sold on here. Box is 30x18x8 and weighs 7-8lbs. When I put it into USPS online, it wants $120 to ship it.

 

[Mighty Mouse]

I would say it’s kind of on him. Like others have said he could have chose another shipping option.

I think the online usps shipping tool is sometime jacked up. For instance, I am getting ready to ship something I sold on here. Box is 30x18x8 and weighs 7-8lbs. When I put it into USPS online, it wants $120 to ship it.

View attachment 510419

FYI Pirate Ship will get the package you described there for $34 via UPS or $108 via USPS.

 

[*zap*]

I do not pay for other folks mistakes if I have an option..

 

[CorbLand]

It’s a tough call and I can see both sides. I had a guy come back to me once and said, “too expensive to ship” and sent me my money back. Oh well. I bid on a backpack on eBay. It was an older MR and I put a bid in that if I got it, it was a good deal and I wanted it. Dude shipped it to me, sent a picture of the receipt and was like “it was really expensive to ship could you send me another 30 bucks.” That pushed it out of being a good deal and I refused.

I would say if you are asking the question, the answer is you don’t want to send him money but you feel like you should. I would say it’s on him but you have to be able to sleep at night.

 

[wyosteve]

Was it clarified before the transaction how shipping would be handled?

 

[sndmn11]

FYI Pirate Ship will get the package you described there for $34 via UPS or $108 via USPS.
View attachment 510431

Pirate Ship is amazing!

I sent something to MN instead of MI and it got returned to me. They automatically credited my account even though I typed it wrong.

 

[Yooper]

I've sold two bows recently (last three months) and both shipped via USPS, insured for full value, signature, etc. Both were in the lower 48 and both were in the $80 range. About double what I used to pay but still not $180! I'm going to have to look into this Pirate Ship shit.....damn!

 

[BWlongbow]

The life lessons of another grown man are not your responsibility.

I had a similar experience when I bought a pack from someone in Alaska. We settled on a price for the frame and he asked that I add $25 to help out with the shipping. I agreed and sent the funds. He contacted a day later stating that it cost him $125 to ship the pack frame. I acknowledged his pain with the cost of shipping but did not send any more money. We all have to learn from life experiences. I have lost money on an item that I sold because of the high shipping cost (only once though).