Not today

[jtuba]

Anyone ever have someone offer to send a label? My loss I guess.

I want to know what carrier they use that can ship a tuba box for $50

[bloke]

I've offered to email shipping labels several times, and most everyone accepted.

As far as what a used Eastman tuba is worth, that's between you and the eventual buyer.

As far as paying for something, there's one thing that can't be scammed, and that's a postal money order. Even if a post office doesn't have enough cash on hand to cash all of your money orders, they can sure as hell tell you if they are real or not.

[Grumpikins]

In my attempt to purchase a long distance tuba, i talked with my co-worker who handles all our co shipping. Business/commercial shipping rates are significantly different than residential. He showed me that he can ship a 25lb package to a customer half way across the country for less than $30. I had him and my employer on board for shipping the tuba. He was going to set the whole thing up so that i could mail the certified check and shipping label to the seller and all they had to do was box the tuba and drop it off at ups. Shipping through a business is the way to go.

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[jtuba]

IC, I might have taken the offer, but I read of scams where someone sends a shipping label, then redirects the shipment claiming they never received it. Then they make a claim with PayPal and you're out the item and the money.

Being so quick to dismiss me made me more suspicious. The only other used in good condition model of this tuba I know about at a similar price will cost them considerably more in shipping from a retail storefront. No waiting at least

[Mary Ann]

Always, always, if it doesn't feel right, just don't do it. Even if you find out later it was totally legit. If you can't get reasonable discourse going, just nope. The "right" buyer WILL come along.

[Grumpikins]

Your judgement of the person/situation your dealing with is most important. There are no guarantees. Face to face, cash is the best. But most of the time thats not possible.

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[YorkNumber3.0]

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[the elephant]

In my world, "lowballers" and "poor mouthers" are what drove me out of my small business after only a year. You simply can't make an agreement, even one that is in writing and signed by both parties whereby some of these losers feel compelled to treat you and your business as a street Mercado in Juarez, Mexico, where haggling is de rigueur.

THE PRICE IS THE PRICE.

As to this specific case, yeah, when they start to do this to me, even if it is 100% legit, I walk away. I have heart problems and do not need *anyone's* games and BS. No time wasting. No haggling. No Ross Perot-esque stories about how Grandpa got one of these about 75 years ago and it only cost him $XXX and such inflation is just criminal and part of the secret Deep State to take everything from us… Dude, STFU. We're done. I don't want to sell my horn badly enough to sell it to you. Good day.

HAHAHA!!!

[bloke]

me...??

I sell very well made Chinese instruments for a low markup. I know what they cost dealers. Were I interested in buying a used one for whatever reason, I just couldn't see any reason to offer what a new one would cost me. I realize that other stores mark up their prices a lot more, and that end users/retail buyers base their used prices on what they paid. I never make lower-than-ask offers to people selling used Chinese instruments for this reason . They would not like to see my offers, because those offers would be based on offers that are lower than my wholesale new cost, and things would begin to get a little bit too real for them. Enough said.

[YorkNumber3.0]

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[bort2.0]

I'm at the point where I'll only do in-person sales, or ship to people I know/can trust.

I had one sale a while back which seemed a little strange at first, the guy was kind of light on communication... but he was totally into the tuba, and it seemed to be a personality thing and not a scam. He was in Texas, and said his brother would come up to pick it up when he had a few days off and could get from his Army base in Nebraska up to Minnesota. I said okay, but let's meet in the lobby of a police station (the police themselves have advocated for this as a safe place to do craigslist handoffs).

And sure enough, a few days later I met his brother (a very muscular young man, proud to be in the US Army) in the lobby of the police station, and handed off the tuba in exchange for the money. He said he was heading to drive straight back to Texas and drop it off with his brother. I forget where, but he said it was a 20-hour drive.

The next day -- literally, not even 24 hours later -- the person who bought the tuba sent me an email saying that his brother dropped off the tuba, what a great horn, thank you... Which was obviously good news, but jeez -- brother man needs some sleep!

Ramble ramble ramble... @jtuba -- good for you to call it off. As the seller, you set the terms and do what you feel is right. If that person really wants it, they'll figure out a way. Otherwise... NEXT!

[bloke]

"Low-balling" is only a term that I've seen used for buying, and (up until now) not for selling...(??)
To be clear, I make money selling new instruments, and not just a few dollars per instrument.
I also make money selling used instruments, but I do NOT make money selling my old used cars, because I never sell them to anyone - other than scrapyards...I drive them until they're no longer (either/neither) worth repairing (or/nor) repairable. I've sold my personal instruments (both factory-built and me-built) when the "bloke rule" kicked in. I advertised them for the most I though they would quickly bring (without a bunch of "bumps" or price reductions). I may (??) have guessed too low, occasionally.

My mark-up is probably considerably more than (referring to "back in the day") WWBW's typical markup, no consumers have complained, nor accused me of gouging, nor taking advantage of their ignorance. I'm only interested in customers. I'm really not interested in what other retailers do nor what other repair guys do, nor what they charge, nor the quality of their goods/services.
Further (unlike WWBW of old), my market share is microscopic. Endless thousands of parents do the "rent-to-purchase" thing for their beginner children, whereas - by Christmas or certainly by February, depending on how high a rental fee the local economy will support - they've covered the local store's complete cost of that instrument (including road salesman's commission, CODB, taxes, everything), everything else is profit...and then, there's the "step-up" racket (ie. dressed-up/pimped-out beginner instruments, sold for full retail which is the equivalent of competitive pricing of professional-quality instruments). People who buy online love to clickity-click/add-to-cart, and almost no one is interested checking around for pricing or quality or other aspects of consumption (because that sort of thing requires one-on-one communication - for which so many people today have a phobia). Rather, a very large percentage prefer to click-and-buy (probably Amazon) download that next episode of whatever (maybe Amazon as well), grab a Bud Light, and fall asleep with the TV on.

I'm not referring to any particular individual sale (and not-at-all to this particular person's instrument), but - rather - to a large percentage of individual sales, in my previous comments. Most people offer their used instruments for sale for more than dealer cost, so dealers (rather than offering them some below-new-cost offer) simply scroll on down (whether fb, eBay, or whatever)...and I do the same.

I believe I've picked up (via previous comments/posts) that you fix horns...I believe I'm now also picking up that you also work for a store, yes?
I too might still own my old brick-and-mortar. At that time, our mark-ups were just about the same percentage as they are now. We did quite well. It's just that - as societal metamorphosis occurred - we didn't like buzzing everyone in, staying after sundown in the wintertime (whereby people outside could lurk in the shadows, behind our car, etc.), and keeping an armory stored under the back of every counter and back in every workroom.

I probably am a bit more frank (blunt) than most people, who might prefer that certain things about certain things not ever be discussed. I'm sure that's cost me some friendships/sales/advantages/whatever. meh...I'll be dead someday, and none of that extra sh!t - that I would have had - will go with me, and I'm doing OK without it...and most people's adult kids (so I'm assuming mine as well) piss away everything, anyway.

[YorkNumber3.0]

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[bloke]

talking in circles/can't possibly state it more clearly/read about a fourth (key words) of your last response

I'm OK; you're OK (actually: really, and not this mumbo-jumbo...)

[YorkNumber3.0]

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[bloke]

I never do.

[aarongsmith]

Anyone ever have someone offer to send a label? My loss I guess.

I want to know what carrier they use that can ship a tuba box for $50

I usually offer to send labels through work. Since we ship so much these days we insure everything for replacement cost through at outside agency not UPS. Plus it is much cheaper since we get a commercial rate. For instance, my Willson 3400 FA-5 was $250ish to ship from Reno, NV to Wheaton, MD with insurance.

[bort2.0]

You should use Shippo... which is basically just a company that exists as a marketplace for buying shipping labels. They handle such a massive number of labels, they get really good commercial rates from FedEx, UPS, US Mail, DHL, etc... For individuals, I think you can buy 3 labels for free, and then you have to pay a small (cents) fee for additional. Businesses pay a subscription fee or something like that...

I think I heard that due to Amazon and eBay sellers, they process they process millions of labels each month... and that it's a $1 billion company.

[aarongsmith]

You should use Shippo... which is basically just a company that exists as a marketplace for buying shipping labels. They handle such a massive number of labels, they get really good commercial rates from FedEx, UPS, US Mail, DHL, etc... For individuals, I think you can buy 3 labels for free, and then you have to pay a small (cents) fee for additional. Businesses pay a subscription fee or something like that...

I think I heard that due to Amazon and eBay sellers, they process they process millions of labels each month... and that it's a $1 billion company.

Amazon uses their own system now for their fulfilment, but at the small businesses that use their marketplace there is Shippo integration. When my wife still worked in operations they made the change from a contracted service to something designed in house through AWS due to the expansion of Amazon Logistics (their delivery service).

We use Ship Station because they offer better integration with our database and web store. I think Shippo is a little more limited at scale, but for smaller scale business they offer great rates.
*Edit* Caught one of the web team guys at the coffee machine, it was between cost of subscription and lack of integration with our web store automation system at the time. Shippo would work now, but we are too well established with Ship Station to justify any change.

We still have to maintain a UPS contract for pickups, re-routes, COD, international shipping, and so on.

[jtm]

You should use Shippo... which is basically just a company that exists as a marketplace for buying shipping labels. They handle such a massive number of labels, they get really good commercial rates from FedEx, UPS, US Mail, DHL, etc... For individuals, I think you can buy 3 labels for free, and then you have to pay a small (cents) fee for additional. Businesses pay a subscription fee or something like that...

I've tried Shippo twice, now, and it's failed to deliver a UPS Ground label both times. It teases me with a great rate, and then complains about an auth error (using their default UPS account !!). This time I dug enough in the help and troubleshooting pages to confirm that I don't need to have an online store to connect to, and that I don't have to link my own UPS account, and other odds and ends. So I don't see how it can be my error at this point, and it's very frustrating because there're a couple hundred dollars at stake

Edit: Next I tried ShipStation, which does basically the same thing (or a lot more, maybe). New customer setup was a little more involved, but it was also more guided, and it had a place to choose, up front, the option "I'm trying this out and just want to ship one thing," which is just what I wanted to do anyway. And it succeeded in making a UPS label for the same price as Shippo, so that's a win.