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So how do you go about shipping a 3/4 size tuba in a case? Do you need a box to put the case in? And how expensive is it?

I know. Dumb question. But I aint the brightest.

Not really a dumb question but the answer will depend somewhat on the shipping/receiving points and the method of transport.

As bloke says, you might get better advice/help if you posted your location and the tuba's destination. For example, I expect to be making a 450 mile tuba-tryout-trip next weekend and could pick up and deliver a tuba if it were along my route. . .sure there are others traveling, too.

royjohn wrote:As bloke says, you might get better advice/help if you posted your location and the tuba's destination. For example, I expect to be making a 450 mile tuba-tryout-trip next weekend and could pick up and deliver a tuba if it were along my route. . .sure there are others traveling, too.

Im in Mississippi and its being shipped from Minnesota. About as far away as ya could ask for. lol. Too far, I think, to reasonably expect it to be piggy backed without passing thru several hands. Ill just have to settle for whatever shipping method the seller uses and hope its in good shape when it gets here. Right now, its in great condition.

I do appreciate the help and advice though.

LazyGhost wrote:

royjohn wrote:As bloke says, you might get better advice/help if you posted your location and the tuba's destination. For example, I expect to be making a 450 mile tuba-tryout-trip next weekend and could pick up and deliver a tuba if it were along my route. . .sure there are others traveling, too.

Im in Mississippi and its being shipped from Minnesota. About as far away as ya could ask for. lol. Too far, I think, to reasonably expect it to be piggy backed without passing thru several hands. Ill just have to settle for whatever shipping method the seller uses and hope its in good shape when it gets here. Right now, its in great condition.

I do appreciate the help and advice though.

Although, if someone were to be able to transport it half way or so, that would work.

LazyGhost wrote:Ill just have to settle for whatever shipping method the seller uses and hope its in good shape when it gets here.

One of the good things about buying on eBay is, as a buyer you are completely protected if it should
arrive to you damaged. It certainly wouldn't be any fault of yours if the seller doesn't package the horn
properly for shipping & you would be entitled to a complete refund (including shipping).
Just curious, what method is the seller using for shipping this tuba?

TubaMusikMann wrote:

LazyGhost wrote:Ill just have to settle for whatever shipping method the seller uses and hope its in good shape when it gets here.

One of the good things about buying on eBay is, as a buyer you are completely protected if it should
arrive to you damaged. It certainly wouldn't be any fault of yours if the seller doesn't package the horn
properly for shipping & you would be entitled to a complete refund (including shipping).
Just curious, what method is the seller using for shipping this tuba?

I dont yet know what method of shipping he is using. Ill be sure and reply back on this post with the end results though.

The seller offered to drop the price by a good bit if we would have pruchased it outside of ebay. Had the seller been a dealer it would have been an option. But being an individual, we chose to pay more and use the ebay safeguards. Several years ago, my wife went and purchased a pool cue for me on ebay without my knowledge. When it came in, I checked it out and found it to be a piece of crap. The description on ebay did not accurately represent the pool cue. The seller wouldnt agree to take it back so we protested the sell with ebay. Ebay had us return the cue and credited out account. And then the seller had to deal with ebay.

So, its sometimes worth paying a little more for peace of mind.

LazyGhost wrote:So, its sometimes worth paying a little more for peace of mind.

You are absolutely correct sir!
Asking you to make a deal outside of eBay is against the rules & YES you would lose all of the buyer
protection that eBay offers. Having sold (and shipped) several tubas on eBay myself, I can completely
side with the seller for asking to do a deal outside of eBay because it's outrageous what eBay and PayPal
charge sellers these days. On a $2,000 sale, an eBay seller will get hit for nearly $300 It just isn't right!

Update

The tuba was shipped by the seller tuesday and arrived today, thursday. It cost the seller $46 to ship and insure. It was not damaged during shipping.





I picked it up and shakily played the Bb scale in tow octaves. Been over twenty years.
The higher octave notes gave me no problems, surprisingly. The lower octave notes, I had a little trouble locking in the tone. Plus, it takes a whole lot more air to operate this sucker than I remembered! I kept looking for a leak! Guess me being a smoker doesnt help much. I tried to double/triple tongue but I aint got it in me. Anyhoot, Ive got a lot of work to do to get "decent" once again, so I can motivate my son to practice.

Thanks yall for the help!

TubaMusikMann wrote:.....On a $2,000 sale, an eBay seller will get hit for nearly $300 It just isn't right!

I haven't sold anything on Ebay for a while but I thought the listing fee for a 'regular' auction was about 3%... or maybe $60 on a $2,000 sale.

TubaTinker wrote:I haven't sold anything on Ebay for a while but I thought the listing fee for a 'regular' auction was about 3%... or maybe $60 on a $2,000 sale.

Dan, it is actually pretty cheap to "list" items on eBay...........it's what they hit you with when the item sells
that sucks! They assess a final value & then they also assess a final total plus shipping, so it ends up being close
to 13% and that is on top of the 3%-4% that PayPal takes right off the top!
Why they think they have a right to charge you ANYTHING based on the shipping cost is beyond me, especially
since they aren't involved in the shipping in any way in most cases.

LazyGhost wrote:Update

The tuba was shipped by the seller tuesday and arrived today, thursday. It cost the seller $46 to ship and insure. It was not damaged during shipping.

You didn't tell us what method of shipping was used?
I sold/shipped a similar size tuba (west coast to east coast) and FedEx charged me $160. Of course that
was boxed & packaged properly to survive just about anything. I really don't see how anyone can send a
tuba any distance for $46 and that surely couldn't include ANY insurance coverage for that amount.
Was this tuba packaged in a box? You can't even hardly box up a tuba for shipping for $46!!! let alone
ship it.

TubaMusikMann wrote:..... Dan, it is actually pretty cheap to "list" items on eBay...........it's what they hit you with when the item sells that sucks! They assess a final value & then they also assess a final total plus shipping, so it ends up being close to 13% and that is on top of the 3%-4% that PayPal takes right off the top!
Why they think they have a right to charge you ANYTHING based on the shipping cost is beyond me, especially
since they aren't involved in the shipping in any way in most cases.

I haven't sold anything on Ebay for years and had no idea the fees had gotten so stupid.

TubaMusikMann wrote:

LazyGhost wrote:Update

The tuba was shipped by the seller tuesday and arrived today, thursday. It cost the seller $46 to ship and insure. It was not damaged during shipping.

You didn't tell us what method of shipping was used?
I sold/shipped a similar size tuba (west coast to east coast) and FedEx charged me $160. Of course that
was boxed & packaged properly to survive just about anything. I really don't see how anyone can send a
tuba any distance for $46 and that surely couldn't include ANY insurance coverage for that amount.
Was this tuba packaged in a box? You can't even hardly box up a tuba for shipping for $46!!! let alone
ship it.

twas shipped fedex ground

LazyGhost wrote:

TubaMusikMann wrote:

LazyGhost wrote:Update

The tuba was shipped by the seller tuesday and arrived today, thursday. It cost the seller $46 to ship and insure. It was not damaged during shipping.

You didn't tell us what method of shipping was used?
I sold/shipped a similar size tuba (west coast to east coast) and FedEx charged me $160. Of course that
was boxed & packaged properly to survive just about anything. I really don't see how anyone can send a
tuba any distance for $46 and that surely couldn't include ANY insurance coverage for that amount.
Was this tuba packaged in a box? You can't even hardly box up a tuba for shipping for $46!!! let alone
ship it.

twas shipped fedex ground

was shipped fedex ground, in a uhaul box stuffed with popcorn, with 2k worth of insurance for 46 bucks. Arrived in two days.

eBay fees are now done on a sliding AND particular scale, depending on how "good" they think you are as a seller. Plus, the "protection guarantee" only applies if you use PayBorg, so they will take another chunk for using that.

I gave up on using PayBorg for big-ticket items and process my own credit cards now.

Overall I can see losing $300 on a $2K sale. Greedy SOB's.

Dennis