shipping chainsaws

[a7ecorsair2]

I have inherited my husband's chainsaw "collection" of books, parts, bars, chainsaws, etc.  When I sell these things how does a person ship the chainsaws?  I can figure out the chains, books, and parts but the chainsaw itself and the amount of weight - how to package them and who will ship them, FedEx, UPS?  Hopefully someone can provide information for me.

[Brian VT]

Very sorry for your loss. He was a great asset to this site.
If I lived near you I'd go there to help you with the chainsaw stuff.

Certainly the easiest would be local sales but you may get more $ if you are willing to ship.
Some buyers on Ebay will pay big $ for certain items.
Before packing you'll need to drain the gas and chain oil from the tanks. Remove the bar and chain, if attached.
Sometimes the bar and chain are shipped separately (due to being longer than the box the power head fits in) or even sold separately.
Put all in plastic bag(s) to seal against leaks, fumes, etc.
Pack it in a box and pad it with the assumption that it will be thrown or dropped hard several times.
If it will fit, I like to ship them in a cheap plastic tote or an old cooler.
Document your packing job with photos in case a dispute arises.
I usually use USPS "parcel post" (they call it something different these days). It often takes a while to get there (1-2 weeks cont. US) but it's affordable ($20-$45 depending on size/weight) and as long as the buyer knows this up front then it seems to be the way to go. Some have had good results with Greyhound bus. If the buyer wants to pay more for UPS or FedEx to get it quicker then I'd get an actual quote.
Feel free to ask more questions. I hope those here will help my wife when she inherits my collection. ;-)

I looked at the list of saws under his name. I'm sure some of the members here would be proud to own one of his saws.
The 750 certainly has some big $ value. Many (myself included) have been hunting for one for years.

[riseandrun]

Ditto to what BrianVT said. You don't have over 2200 posts without a heart to help people, and I'm sure there were probably 2X that in personal replies. The only thing I would add to shipping is when I send USPS parcel post, (which I always use) I ALWAYS get delivery confirmation, and if it's a higher priced saw I would get signature confirmation and insurance. Something with tracking.
HTH

[a7ecorsair2]

Thank you for the info on shipping.  Yes he did have quite a collection and not just chainsaws!  (Over 30 violins)  Very talented at fixing things.

[powerking]

I'll throw in my past experiences on shipping saws. It has been about 8 or so years since I last shipped one, but I found that Fed-Ex ground was the cheapest way over UPS or USPS and with excellent delivery time w/tracking and package handling also. The worst shipping experiences were with DHL; of the handful of items received via DHL, I think 75% of the time, the box was severely damaged and/or the item inside was damaged.

As far as packaging goes, if the bar is not terribly long, I wrap the bar well,with a little extra protection on the ends, then set it flat diagonally in the box with the power head padded well on all sides on top of it. This way the bar tends to be a good stiffener for the box.


Tom (PK)

[onlyhomelites]

I want to also offer my condolences for your loss...

In terms of the chainsaws, there's a lot of great advice on here, but I'd like to add a few things I've learned. If the bar is over 20" long (total length, not cutting length), you run a huge risk putting it in the box with the saw. USPS especially is really good about handling the packages so roughly that the bar ends up missing. When I pack a bar, I wrap in in a good layer of cardboard with the ends folded * taped, so that it can't slip out of the box as easily when man-handled. For the longer bars (above ~20"), I just bite the bullet and ship it separately. I wrap the bar in corrugated cardboard (you can buy rolls of this for relatively cheap through places like Uline.com) and ship it that way. PI also personally switched to UPS or FedEx because at one point with the USPS, I had about a 50% "error" rate with saws shipped through them. By "error" I mean damage to the saw, a missing guide bar or a lost package. For smaller stuff they do okay, but I got tired of issuing refunds on saws!

[xl76]

Aug 23, 2014 6:29:24 GMT -5 Brian VT said:

Very sorry for your loss. He was a great asset to this site.
If I lived near you I'd go there to help you with the chainsaw stuff.

Certainly the easiest would be local sales but you may get more $ if you are willing to ship.
Some buyers on Ebay will pay big $ for certain items.
Before packing you'll need to drain the gas and chain oil from the tanks. Remove the bar and chain, if attached.
Sometimes the bar and chain are shipped separately (due to being longer than the box the power head fits in) or even sold separately.
Put all in plastic bag(s) to seal against leaks, fumes, etc.
Pack it in a box and pad it with the assumption that it will be thrown or dropped hard several times.
If it will fit, I like to ship them in a cheap plastic tote or an old cooler.
Document your packing job with photos in case a dispute arises.
I usually use USPS "parcel post" (they call it something different these days). It often takes a while to get there (1-2 weeks cont. US) but it's affordable ($20-$45 depending on size/weight) and as long as the buyer knows this up front then it seems to be the way to go. Some have had good results with Greyhound bus. If the buyer wants to pay more for UPS or FedEx to get it quicker then I'd get an actual quote.
Feel free to ask more questions. I hope those here will help my wife when she inherits my collection. ;-)

I looked at the list of saws under his name. I'm sure some of the members here would be proud to own one of his saws.
The 750 certainly has some big $ value. Many (myself included) have been hunting for one for years.

[xl76]

Aug 23, 2014 10:43:48 GMT -5 a7ecorsair2 said:

Thank you for the info on shipping.  Yes he did have quite a collection and not just chainsaws!  (Over 30 violins)  Very talented at fixing things.

do you have a list of saws for sale