bike shipping?

Anyone done it? I'm selling my WR and have a lot of people interested in it from across the country and they are all asking me about shipping.

Who did you use, how much was it, how long did it take, etc

thanks

Which country?

Sorry, continental US.

99% of the time, anyone who wants you to ship it is a scam.

Agreed. Most of the time they will come to you to get it, if they want it.

I'm not about to ship a bike and its title off to someone unless I have a certified check in my hand.

So, does anyone have any actual experience with this?

Even certified checks can be faked. Never ship anything until the funds are in your account, and are verfied to be clear by your bank.

Ship but use Paypal. Factor in the 3%.

https://cms.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/?cmd=_render-content&content_ID=ua/UserAgreement_full&locale.x=en_US

We've shipped at least 3 over the years. Twice we used Forward Air; I can't remember the name of the other one a buyer arranged. I reckon U Ship is popular these days, too.

Sarah

I live in Colorado and just purchased a wr250x from a fellow forum member in New York.
It cost $500 to ship and had no problems at all. Both seller and transporter were great to deal with.
Just make sure you do a little homework on the seller and the actual bike you are planning to purchase.

greer wrote:

We've shipped at least 3 over the years. Twice we used Forward Air; I can't remember the name of the other one a buyer arranged. I reckon U Ship is popular these days, too.

Sarah

jimmy2020 wrote:

I live in Colorado and just purchased a wr250x from a fellow forum member in New York.
It cost $500 to ship and had no problems at all. Both seller and transporter were great to deal with.
Just make sure you do a little homework on the seller and the actual bike you are planning to purchase.

Excellent, actual answers to my query.

Thanks

The answer lies in the middle in all that. You can purchase/sell long distance and use reputable shipping for reasonable costs, you just need to use a little due diligence in how you set it up to protect yourself from a rip. We do this with firearms all the time, same concept. Smaller size and shipping costs, but frequently more valuable than a WRR.

As for Paypal... their virulently anti-gun policies and behavior ensures I'll never use them, even if I didn't remember the ripoffs they themselves committed when they first got started. Maybe still do for all I know. But that could just be me.

Toast,

I know you were looking for "actual answers to my query" but your query sounded like you were all excited about lots of people from far away asking you to ship your motorcycle to them.

Shewolf and myself, as well as many others who read it were probably all thinking the same thing:
"This guy put his bike up for sale on Craigslist, and someone is offering him good, if not great money for it, as long as he's willing to deal with some guy far away."

I STILL maintain that unless you KNOW this person (like the person who sold to someone on this forum), TALK to them on a PHONE several times and really protect yourself, you WILL get ripped off. There are just so many variables when it comes to this sort of thing, titles must be transferred or you will bear the responsibility if something illegal occurs with the bike, the seller could see the bike in person or claim that something is wrong with it (you NEED to have them sign an AS IS, NO WARRANTY statement) and so on and so on.

Personally I would NEVER deal with someone who didn't come to me with CASH in hand, and I will test the bills with a marker and make them fill out all the paperwork right there, AFTER checking their ID and photographing everything (then again, I live in Southern California, where I have access to millions of buyers and sellers nearby). You have NO idea how much of a headache a transfer of vehicle can be if it doesn't go right. I've had people "forget" to register the vehicle in their name, and then the DMV is breathing down my neck for registration money and I have to go stand in line for hours and go to get my signature verified for a "statement of fact" so the vehicle is no longer in my name. My roommate in college actually had the bike he sold used in a bank robbery in Sacramento and the cops showed up at our place. Go figure.

So, forgive us for not "answering your query" but what we DON'T want to see in a few weeks is a post titled "Never Ship Your Bike, Got Ripped Off!"... :)

toast wrote:

Excellent, actual answers to my query.

I shipped within Canada in 2007. Almost 3,000 miles was nearly $800 door-to-door.

But I knew the seller very well, a good friend of mine for over 10 years.
We joked that I was the most carefull buyer ever:
5,000 kms test ride, 5 years prior! And the test ride was in Europe.

I'd be very wary of a long distance sale with a stranger...

I looked into shipping the WR from Florida to Colorado. It was $700 one way. That was before gas went thru the roof.

Just sold two bikes. Both are taking advantage of Uship. One has already been picked up and is on its way. The other transaction is to take place next week. This buyer is also using Uship. I believe his price from Indiana to New Orleans was $300+. I simply got the money from one transaction via Paypal, the other is a bank to bank wire. The title is sent via Fed Ex. There was a degree of trust involved, but frankly, the buyers were the ones trusting and risking, much more than I was. I had cash in had before they got the bike or the title. David, the nice fellow who bought my WR, sometimes frequents this board. I'm sure now that he has my bike, he will be checking in more often. He would be able to speak to the question as well. We spoke often; one buyer even "put me to the test" by asking me a question about the company that I work for that he knew I should know. I don't blame him at all. Aside from photos and phone calls, I made a video of one bike and posted it on YouTube so he could see it run and that all the various lights and gauges worked properly. As a seller, I would consider it the buyer's responsibility to arrange for the shipping. My agreement is to simply meet them with the bike at an agreed upon time and location.

Shep

The Youtube video is a great idea.

My irritation is the assumptions that you are making. I'm not a moron. Any long distance transaction would require considerably more faith on the part of the purchaser than me. Until I have the money the bike and title don't ship. Had I posted the question "what do you guys thing about shipping a bike for sale?" people are certainly at that point invited to lecture on the dangers of commerce.

Looks like this may be a moot point since I might be meeting the buyer in the middle, but I will have to look into the UShip option.

GusinCA wrote:

Toast,

I know you were looking for "actual answers to my query" but your query sounded like you were all excited about lots of people from far away asking you to ship your motorcycle to them.

Shewolf and myself, as well as many others who read it were probably all thinking the same thing:
"This guy put his bike up for sale on Craigslist, and someone is offering him good, if not great money for it, as long as he's willing to deal with some guy far away."

I STILL maintain that unless you KNOW this person (like the person who sold to someone on this forum), TALK to them on a PHONE several times and really protect yourself, you WILL get ripped off. There are just so many variables when it comes to this sort of thing, titles must be transferred or you will bear the responsibility if something illegal occurs with the bike, the seller could see the bike in person or claim that something is wrong with it (you NEED to have them sign an AS IS, NO WARRANTY statement) and so on and so on.

Personally I would NEVER deal with someone who didn't come to me with CASH in hand, and I will test the bills with a marker and make them fill out all the paperwork right there, AFTER checking their ID and photographing everything (then again, I live in Southern California, where I have access to millions of buyers and sellers nearby). You have NO idea how much of a headache a transfer of vehicle can be if it doesn't go right. I've had people "forget" to register the vehicle in their name, and then the DMV is breathing down my neck for registration money and I have to go stand in line for hours and go to get my signature verified for a "statement of fact" so the vehicle is no longer in my name. My roommate in college actually had the bike he sold used in a bank robbery in Sacramento and the cops showed up at our place. Go figure.

So, forgive us for not "answering your query" but what we DON'T want to see in a few weeks is a post titled "Never Ship Your Bike, Got Ripped Off!"... :)

My irritation is that you didn't state any of that in your original post, such as "I am totally aware that there are scams out there and I fully intend to make sure everything is legit before shipping anything" and that you take our well meant advice as calling you a moron, even getting irritated that you didn't get any immediate shipping advice.

If it irritates you to get advice on anything other than exactly what you want, you should be more specific with your inital request, such as "please don't tell me about shipping scams, I know all about them, I'm just looking for shipping info"...

Please feel free to tell Craigslist (who obviously know nothing about this sort of thing) not to call you a moron since they post this warning on EVERY SINGLE EMAIL they send out (Please pay CLOSE attention to the last point, since you think I'm the only one trying to educate you):


You can sidestep would-be scammers by following these common-sense rules:

DEAL LOCALLY WITH FOLKS YOU CAN MEET IN PERSON - follow this one rule and avoid 99% of scam attempts on craigslist.
NEVER WIRE FUNDS VIA WESTERN UNION, MONEYGRAM or any other wire service - anyone who asks you to do so is a scammer.
FAKE CASHIER CHECKS & MONEY ORDERS ARE COMMON, and BANKS WILL CASH THEM AND THEN HOLD YOU RESPONSIBLE when the fake is discovered weeks later.
CRAIGSLIST IS NOT INVOLVED IN ANY TRANSACTION, and does not handle payments, guarantee transactions, provide escrow services, or offer "buyer protection" or "seller certification"
NEVER GIVE OUT FINANCIAL INFORMATION (bank account number, social security number, eBay/PayPal info, etc.)
AVOID DEALS INVOLVING SHIPPING OR ESCROW SERVICES and know that ONLY A SCAMMER WILL "GUARANTEE" YOUR TRANSACTION.

It was stated that one never gives there bank account number !! Correct me if I am wrong but isn't that what you do everytime one hands out a check?

Yes, that's why I would never use a personal check.

AND it states that cashier's or bank checks can easily be faked, which is why I use cash for transactions like this. WITH a marker to check if they're real...

Shipped my KLR650 from Illinois to Kansas for $518. The buyer made the deal with the shipper. I received a cashier's check. My bank called the bank on the check and verified the funds prior to it clearing. Once it cleared, I told the carrier to come in and get it. Never met the guy and it was a very clean deal.

"The buyer made the deal with the shipper" what does that mean, the shipper does all the title transfer and such?

What happens if the guy wasn't satisfied with it when it arrived or something, does the shipper take that on? Just curious.

So back on topic,

I am a piano mover by trade, and one of the major piano shippers now does motorcycles too. The company is called Keyboard Carriage. I have transferred pianos from their trucks many times and have seen everything from old Hondas to full race Ducatis. The guys are super careful with the bikes as they regularly deal with pianos worth up to $120k or better. Thats who I'd choose to ship my own.

Yes, I'm sure it works if you know the ins and outs, but pianos don't have titles, liabilities and registrations with a government agency.

Just seems easier to find someone local, but I guess that depends on where you are...