I recently purchased a DeHavilland Mosquito 73" ARF from Giant Scale Planes. The Mosquito sold for $299.99 and was shipping to California from Coopersburg, PA. I received my VISA statement and GSP charged me $44.56 to ship UPS Ground to California.

When I contacted GSP and asked them to justify the Shipping & Handling charges, here was their response: the box dimensions are 14x22x54, with a shipping weight of 23 lbs. GSP stated that the box weight and dimensions was "Oversized", thus I would pay at the 70 lb shipping rate of $37.58 to CA. The handling charge from GSP was $6.98.

I will verify with UPS the exact charges based upon the actual weight and box dimensions after receipt of plane. I'm somewhat confused on how a plane that when built with two engines would weigh between 11-11.5 lbs, but when shipped it weighed 23lbs! GSP receives the Mosquito Twin ARF from China Model Products, shipped in large boxes containing 4-6 planes. I'm not disputing or questioning the $6.98 "Handling" charge, however, the "Oversized" shipping box weighing 23 lbs seems unrealistic.

More to come on my dealings with GSP. My plane should arrive in California on Monday, 11/29/04. I'll weigh the box and take actual measurements and then contact UPS for actual "Shipping" charges.