Selling on Reverb, shipping across country

[RandyFF]

Would appreciate tips on selling on Reverb. I've got a Nord Stage 88 Classic, have tried local CL, no bites. Am postulating having to ship from California to New York (the most expensive). My questions:

 

1. Does Reverb have a deal to have the least expensive shipping rates? Was surprised to see that shipping from CAf to New York via FedEx was the least expensive option on their Estimator, $96. Using USPS it'd be $128. I thought UPS was the cheapest.

 

2. Any good / bad stories to share?

 

I'm moving after 22 years in San Francisco, going back to Southern California, San Diego area, where I grew up. As much as I've enjoyed the NS 88, I'm ready for an under 30 pound board with a wider range of sounds. I'm selling it for $1,000 obo, including shipping.

 

Thanks,

Randy

[George88]

I"ve had success shipping on Reverb. I typically add $100 shipping in the list price.

 

 

[mate stubb]

I sold my Stage with flight case on Reverb. I packed and shipped it myself though, didn't use their service. I might look into that next time.

[OB Dave]

It's been a couple years, but I've shipped a couple keyboards across country using Reverb's shipping service. It's heavily discounted from retail rates and well-insured.

 

One of the keyboards was an Sk1 that had developed a "hot" (high veleocity) note during transit. This is commonly caused by dust in the contacts and apparently in shipping some dust got in there. The buyer was able to take it to a local authorized repair shop for cleaning, I credited him the cost of that, and Reverb.com reimbursed me. It was a super easy claim process.

[KuruPrionz]

Ebsyer since 2000 with 882 feedback - 100% positive. I've sold a couple of items on Reverb, I like it and intend to sell any music gear on there from now on.

 

I had one return from damaged shipping, everything else has arrived safely.

 

You don't mention a case. Yes, Fed Ex is least expensive. In SF there is surely a FedEx Office where you can drop off your package (used to be Kinko's).

I would sign up for a free account on www.fedex.com, I'll explain soon.

 

At a minimun, I would wrap your Nord in at least 3 layers of bubble wrap with one of those layers being the kind with the bubbles that are about 1 1/2" long. Do everyone a favor and tape the bubble wrap with painters tape.

Then I would check with nearby appliance stores and print shops and see if anybody has large boxes broken down that they want to get rid of. Appliance stores will have better cardboard, if you can find the double layer stuff that's better still. Carefully measure and cut a tight fitting box to enclose the bubblewrapped keyboard tightly. Tape it securely with packing tape.

Next, wrap this box in 3 more layers of bubble wrap. Build another box for that one.

 

Mark "Fragile Please" in thick black letters on each side of the box. Mark the box with arrows so it says "This End Up" and points to one of the slim sides. You don't want to have the box laying flat, on edge will be much sturdier.

 

Measure and weigh your box. If you don't have a scale you'll have to find a way to get it weighed. They will have a scale at FedEx Office.

 

Check your buyer's address and see if there is a nearby FedEx Office or other FedEx pickup point. If possible, confirm with the buyer that they can pickup the package at this location. You will want to enter that information into your shipping label. Ebay/Paypal won't let you do that, stupid. If it can be picked up at the FedEx location you will not have problems with delivery. If not and the buyer promises that there is somebody home all day every day then you can ship to the home address with a Signature Required.

 

Enter your dimensions and weight and print out your package label. If you don't have a printer you can print it as a .pdf on a Mac and probably on Windows too, check the drop down menus in your Print window.

Tape over the entire shipping label with clear tape. Take it to FedEx and drop it off. They'll see the Fragile Please writing and put their Fragile stickers on it.

 

That should arrive safely, barring anything truly stupid. I've had great luck with FedEx but I am also a careful packer.

 

If the buyer wants the package delivered to their home without Signature Confirmation I would be inclined to refund their money. You don't want FedEx leaving an expensive item in a large box on the porch. If you don't take steps to prevent that, it will happen.

 

Hope this is useful, good luck!!! Kuru

 

If you have the FedEx account, you can track and redirect your package. If the buyer has an account, they should also be able to redirect to a FedEx pickup location.

[Biggles]

Great advice so far.

 

Recently I have sold a lot of kit and always made sure that I have had insurance set up.

 

As Kuru points out always buy delivery with a Signature receipt.

 

I have had problems in the past with one person who maintained that they had not received the item, the delivery company supplied an image of the signature and the address where the item was delivered to which was a house two doors away as there was no response from the actual delivery address location. The guy was trying it on and he stopped responding to my requests for confirmation he had now received the goods.

 

Currently I am waiting for an insurance claim to be settled as a $300 package has been so called lost in transit, which means it was stolen somewhere in the delivery companies handling system as the goods were in their original packaging and hence what the contents were was clearly visible.

 

The issue now for me is that the insurance claim can take up to three months to resolve.

 

BTW

Never ever buy delivery from the sales site, buy it yourself. I bought mine through the site where I sold the kit and as the delivery is bough via a third party dealing with them has been a nightmare, it took three weeks just to get to the stage of submitting a claim to the insurance company.

[Coker]

Reverb can provide your shipping label and has apparently discounted shipping rates. They also have an shipping estimator you can use when listing your keyboard, hitch can give you a little comfort when setting your price. Their system has a wide audience and provides both seller and buyer confidence. Costs are lower than eBay.

[Outkaster]

Haven't used their service but have done 9 transactions on Reverb in 4 years. I had a really good sale in 2017 when a church bought a Leslie 145 from me. They even drove up from SC to get it.

[tunaman]

From a buyer"s perspective, I bought a Kronos 2 73 last October and was thoroughly pleased with the transaction, including the shipping process. The Kronos was packaged well and arrived safely, and I"m now a very satisfied Reverb customer.

[RandyFF]

Thanks everyone for the input! I normally wouldn't consider shipping such a large, heavy and bulky item, but with the limited local audience it seems like it'd be worth the hassle. The hardest part is creating a custom box.

 

It's been a couple years, but I've shipped a couple keyboards across country using Reverb's shipping service. It's heavily discounted from retail rates and well-insured.

 

One of the keyboards was an Sk1 that had developed a "hot" (high veleocity) note during transit. This is commonly caused by dust in the contacts and apparently in shipping some dust got in there. The buyer was able to take it to a local authorized repair shop for cleaning, I credited him the cost of that, and Reverb.com reimbursed me. It was a super easy claim process.

 

I'm surprised that their shipping insurance covered that, esp since it'd be virtually impossible for Reverb to know if that was a pre-existing problem with the keybed contacts. Big plus for Reverb!

[RandyFF]

Ebsyer since 2000 with 882 feedback - 100% positive. I've sold a couple of items on Reverb, I like it and intend to sell any music gear on there from now on.

 

I had one return from damaged shipping, everything else has arrived safely.

 

You don't mention a case. Yes, Fed Ex is least expensive. In SF there is surely a FedEx Office where you can drop off your package (used to be Kinko's).

I would sign up for a free account on www.fedex.com, I'll explain soon.

 

At a minimun, I would wrap your Nord in at least 3 layers of bubble wrap with one of those layers being the kind with the bubbles that are about 1 1/2" long. Do everyone a favor and tape the bubble wrap with painters tape.

Then I would check with nearby appliance stores and print shops and see if anybody has large boxes broken down that they want to get rid of. Appliance stores will have better cardboard, if you can find the double layer stuff that's better still. Carefully measure and cut a tight fitting box to enclose the bubblewrapped keyboard tightly. Tape it securely with packing tape.

Next, wrap this box in 3 more layers of bubble wrap. Build another box for that one.

 

Mark "Fragile Please" in thick black letters on each side of the box. Mark the box with arrows so it says "This End Up" and points to one of the slim sides. You don't want to have the box laying flat, on edge will be much sturdier.

 

Measure and weigh your box. If you don't have a scale you'll have to find a way to get it weighed. They will have a scale at FedEx Office.

 

Check your buyer's address and see if there is a nearby FedEx Office or other FedEx pickup point. If possible, confirm with the buyer that they can pickup the package at this location. You will want to enter that information into your shipping label. Ebay/Paypal won't let you do that, stupid. If it can be picked up at the FedEx location you will not have problems with delivery. If not and the buyer promises that there is somebody home all day every day then you can ship to the home address with a Signature Required.

 

Enter your dimensions and weight and print out your package label. If you don't have a printer you can print it as a .pdf on a Mac and probably on Windows too, check the drop down menus in your Print window.

Tape over the entire shipping label with clear tape. Take it to FedEx and drop it off. They'll see the Fragile Please writing and put their Fragile stickers on it.

 

That should arrive safely, barring anything truly stupid. I've had great luck with FedEx but I am also a careful packer.

 

If the buyer wants the package delivered to their home without Signature Confirmation I would be inclined to refund their money. You don't want FedEx leaving an expensive item in a large box on the porch. If you don't take steps to prevent that, it will happen.

 

Hope this is useful, good luck!!! Kuru

 

If you have the FedEx account, you can track and redirect your package. If the buyer has an account, they should also be able to redirect to a FedEx pickup location.

 

Good advice on arrows indicating to ship it on its side and not flat down! Didn't think of that, though with the NS 88 it's less fragile than many keyboards. Yes, I wouldn't send such a package without A SIGNATURE REQUIRED!

[RandyFF]

Great advice so far.

 

Recently I have sold a lot of kit and always made sure that I have had insurance set up.

 

As Kuru points out always buy delivery with a Signature receipt.

 

I have had problems in the past with one person who maintained that they had not received the item, the delivery company supplied an image of the signature and the address where the item was delivered to which was a house two doors away as there was no response from the actual delivery address location. The guy was trying it on and he stopped responding to my requests for confirmation he had now received the goods.

 

Currently I am waiting for an insurance claim to be settled as a $300 package has been so called lost in transit, which means it was stolen somewhere in the delivery companies handling system as the goods were in their original packaging and hence what the contents were was clearly visible.

 

The issue now for me is that the insurance claim can take up to three months to resolve.

 

BTW

Never ever buy delivery from the sales site, buy it yourself. I bought mine through the site where I sold the kit and as the delivery is bough via a third party dealing with them has been a nightmare, it took three weeks just to get to the stage of submitting a claim to the insurance company.

 

"Never ever buy delivery from the sales site, buy it yourself. I bought mine through the site where I sold the kit and as the delivery is bough via a third party dealing with them has been a nightmare, it took three weeks just to get to the stage of submitting a claim to the insurance company"

 

Hmmmmm.... not following that. Would you spell that out please? Never buy delivery from Reverb/ebay?

 

By the by, did you sell your Pa700?

[TWB121234]

I have had good luck selling a few items on Reverb, never used their shipping as yet.

[o0Ampy0o]

A note regarding orientation arrows: Don't expect any major carrier like UPS, FedEx, OnTrac, DHL or USPS to make sure a package is placed in the orientation indicated by arrows. They are not that premium level of shipper that will or even can guarantee this. Only a premium shipper more like piano movers or fine art transporters can manage that and it costs premium prices. Depending on the distance, your package is likely to travel down at least two conveyor belts, get removed and placed into two trucks and probably also one can which is slid into a cargo plane. Maybe the final destination handler will place the box with respect to the orientation arrows where it will sit waiting for you to pick it up. But it most likely was every imaginable orientation by the time the buyer gets to it. Those arrows are mostly useful to the buyer when they go to open the package.