mistermnkim

My Feedback: (153)

I have taken a break from the RC world for the last few years, we moved, started a new business but now its time for me to pickup the hobby I love again or so I thought? It seems every plane Im interested in is WILL NOT SHIP! Don't get me wrong I know its a choice but come on! I had a friend once tell me if they can ship the space shuttle, well? LOL I have shipped several very large planes and understand the time and money it takes to get it done, but im seeing ARFS in the box, 40 size being listed as wont ship. I guess I wish people to be a little more open minded about the shipping process, as long as the buyer is willing to pay for the service maybe its worth the effort? Being a long time kit builder im sure is part of the reason I don't mind building a box, packing and making sure its safe for the ride to its new home. I sure hate missing out on so many planes, guess Ill keep sending the message- IF YOU DECIDE TO SHIP PLEASE LET ME KNOW.

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

Its actually pretty narrow minded to expect every one who advertises something automatically to ship. Now just suppose one is in a wheelchair and lives alone, Its struggle enough to get to the field on an almost daily basis to fly and train folks. Now lets say that person has literally hundreds of airplanes of all types and wants to advertise a couple for sale or barter, Its become almost impossible for that individual to crate and ship stuff and there is nothing wrong with advertising for for sale or barter local pickup only.

Now when you ask "what is the deal with will not ship" the answer is as shipping difficultys and costs increase It likely you will see more and more 'will not ship or local pickup only' adverts and nothing wrong with that.

John

FLAPHappy

My Feedback: (209)

In this market place, it is really very expensive to ship aircraft in the box. I sold a person a Nexstar 40 size, quoted $35.00 shipping.I was asking $120.00 for the plane. He bought it, I got it ready to ship, took it down to the local shipping store, it cost me $110.00 to ship it. I did not back out of the deal because it was my error,not his. So with that being said most sellers wont ship large boxes just because of that example. Another big thing is most buyers want free shipping and won't pay the actual cost for shipping.
I have a lot of new planes in the box, but I will not ship them for less than the actual cost.

mistermnkim

My Feedback: (153)

First guys trust me when I say im not NARROWED minded about this, I understand there are people not able to ship, that being said I just question why so many people advertise on a world wide site like rcuniverse without even considering the option to ship. Might be a better option to advertise locally? Just a thought, im not trying to step on toes just thought it might be an interesting discussion on the subject. Thanks for all the comments for sure!

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

Because sales and connections are still made even with 'local pickup only' and people have crossed oceans to make such deals. In the past I have made some sales as well as buys over a great many miles and made connections at major and some more obscure events. Without us being able to run adds in a world wide site as you noted these sales and barters could never have taken place.

Now if someone runs an add and neglects to advert "local pickup only" when in fact that is the case, then of course this is something to complain about. However as long as the notation is included in the add then agine there is nothing wrong with that. Its quite likely you will start to see more and more of this as the prices of shipping even average kit size boxes become prohibitive such as Flaphappys case above and shipping was as much as the airplane almost and he had to eat it, Yes likely to see more of this.

John

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

Shipping damage is another problem. I built a nice little bipe for a nephew, built a box and shipped, even with all the safety measures I took it got to him with damage. Sending completed planes is a major problem. I have a sought after ARF I'm assembling just to sell but I wouldn't ship it. If it doesn't sell locally I will give it to a club member to sell for me and pay his fee that he charges for selling and shipping but I wouldn't bother doing it myself.

TLH101

My Feedback: (90)

I fully understand not shipping a built plane, it a PIA and a big gamble. What I don't understand are the guys who will not ship a NIB kit or ARF. "Too large to Ship" they say.. ??????????
So how did they, or the LHS get the kit?

FLAPHappy

My Feedback: (209)

Usually, like me I was stupid. I paid full shipping from online stores. The LHS also pays shipping but at a discount rate because they ship in volume, total sales,. The LHS doe's charge you for the shipping, you just don't know it, because it's in the total sales price of the item plus they received a discount from the Vendor which you don't know about either.. Nobody is in Business to lose money, only make a profit. If you don't you will not survive. Basic Business 101.

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

I was in my LHS when two people wanted to send a huge ARF box to Mexico to a nephew there. The guys in the shop were up front about it and told them how much the shipping was for them to get the kit and that they tacked on the shipping to the price. Being an over size box it was a steep price but less then if one of us had it shipped to there homes. They would then again have to tack on the shipping costs needed to get it to Mexico.
In turn they looked it up on the computer for the customers to see where he could get the kit closest to the nephews home in Mexico for them and the total price was a lot cheaper. As Flap said, the LHS pays a lot less then we do for shipping.
Terry, if you need a kit or ARF kit then it pays to order it from a local hobby shop. You will save money and help the shop out at the same time. It's not a big deal and it's just normal with the high prices charged for shipping these days.

OliverJacob

My Feedback: (12)

Get some shipping quotes and you'll understand why most people do not offer the option.
If you own a business and are a frequent customer, you'll get much better rates via UPS or Fedex. Otherwise it'll cost a fortune.
Greyhound may be an option for some, but the risk of damage is high.
So I accumulated around 30 planes over the last few years, I'd be happy to sell a few. But shipping is always the deal breaker

acerc

There are several in my club that sell here and "Local pick up only" is the only method they will employ. Why, cost for an individual is just to much and most often the buyer would not be willing to pay it. After all most are looking for a good deal and doubling the cost because of shipping negates the "Good deal". Why advertise here if only local, simple, there are hundreds within local that look here and will pick it up. And local, depending on the buyers willingness to drive, could be another state away. I have drove two states away to get something I wanted that was no longer available but is local pick up only. So, in the greater view of things "Local only" only means he won't ship.

049flyer

My Feedback: (18)

There was a time when most modelers built planes from kits or scratched their own. If one of these types receives a plane with some damage it's not too much of a problem, they'll fix it and move on.

The problem is that now we have an entire generation of "modelers" who can't glue their fingers together. If one of these guys receives a plane with wrinkled covering they'll complain like crazy. If the plane arrives with any damage at all they'll not only complain but they will call you all sorts of names and flame you on every hobby web site they can log on to.

Unless you know who you are selling to it often is just not worth the risk.

308jockey

I don't like it as I have had to pass on several that wouldn't ship. Can't just ride out to California to pick up a model. Still there have been many problems with ARFs being damaged in transit, I can think of a couple of well know series of pattern planes that had huge problems getting delivered intact. It would be an even bigger risk to ship a completed plane. So I get it but wish more could be done to fix the problem at reasonable cost.

Rick H.

steph69

I live in the UK and I buy most if not all my rc planes from Tower hobbies even with the cost of shipping and customs tax in the uk I still get it cheaper, most shops in the uk don't hold most of the up to date new versions for a long time. so even though I buy from the US I have never had a damaged plane yet, maybe just luck but I would say shipping is a lot easier than people say.

microdon2

My Feedback: (47)

I live in NY, and I bought at used 73" Carl Goldberg Sukhoi from a man in Mississippi. I could not believe the size of the box he created (from other boxes) and the amount of packing material he put inside to protect this plane (took me days to clean up). And the plane arrived undamaged. But I highly doubt many people would put in that kind of time and effort to sell a $200 plane. Now I search on RCU by distance and dont' look over 100 miles out.

flycatch

My Feedback: (26)

Shipped once and the buyer claimed he received damaged goods. From that point on I listed "local pick-up" only.

bigbri

My Feedback: (287)

Yup it's shipping damage I dread! It has to be an expensive plane to justify shipping and the time needed to pkg proper, I sold a jet and it took me about 10 hours to pkg properly for shipping. Shipping was 300 dollars and I sweated out the whole week praying there would not be damage! It arrived safely. I have sold a couple sport planes and they arrived damaged. Two times I lost the money for the sale, shipping expenses and time to pkg! Better to give them away!

ocrcdude

My Feedback: (179)

Yea, I can see shipping a built plane could be a problem. But kits, or ARF? I've shipped a few kits and ARF's I guess I've been lucky. But what about engine? I've wanted to buy several engines in my time gas and glow. And have got a few guys who won't ship these. I understand some folks can't make it to a store or post office to ship. But engines? I've may have shipped about 25 or more without any problems. So go figure.

scale only 4 me

My Feedback: (158)

I've had great luck over the years too, but I see a lot of post where USPS is flat loosing stuff, I can see where guys don't want to risk it

porcia83

My Feedback: (8)

It's a sellers personal preference and it should be respected. Doesn't matter why they won't ship, either built or "new in box". It's a hassle to some people, it's costly in many cases, and it's a risk for the seller even if they buy insurance. Local pick up works great too, the buyer gets to see the item and the seller gets cash. For the right price pretty much everything and anything will sell.

jester_s1

If you want a plane shipped, make them an offer they can't refuse. It's about half a day's labor plus materials to build a suitable container for an RTF plane. So offer the seller a fair price for the plane plus the shipping costs and a fair fee for his time and cost in building the container. For a .40 size plane, that's probably $150 over the cost of the plane. For a 50cc aerobat, it's more like $300. I'd be glad to ship a plane to a buyer who would pay me to do it, but I've gotten offers from goobers before who wanted planes shipped and the offer was less than just the materials and freight would cost. That's the norm on RCU, so most sellers don't even bother with offering shipping because there are too many annoying people who think it should be free.

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

I have never seen an engine being sold that the seller won't ship but if the price doesn't include shipping I can understand that. I have sent out a lot of engines to friends as a gift and the cost isn't very much. I have even build a plane for a customer that I shipped to him and it worked out well with no damage but he paid for the UPS shipping and I had them box and send it. That wasn't cheap but I didn't foot the bill. It was also a small plane so not a big over size box.
When I scored big on a bunch of old kits I sold them on line and stated plus shipping. One was a really big box and the guy at UPS sort of squished the box a little when he measured it so it didn't come in as over size. That was nice of him.
I have a story about a very popular ARF, I'm assembling one now to be sold that everyone that got one thought it was shipping damage. I discovered it wasn't from shipping but from a manufacture problem. Horizon no longer sells them and I can see why.

BobbyMcGee

I've found that many buyers seem to think that shipping should be FREE. Like the "small cost" of $24.00 should be absorbed by the seller who is selling a $100.00 item?!!

Then there is the built plane that someone lists for $500.00 and the prospective buyer who is on the other side of the USA offers $250.00 and wants FREE shipping! REALLY?!!
Yep! Those types of "buyers" exist!

When I sell a .60 sized plane, I sell it locally only. Not too many people want to pay $90.00+ to crate, $30.00 worth of packing material, and another $120.00 to ship a $300.00~$500.00 or even a $1,000.00 plane.
And I don't want to spend five+ hours building a crate and packing a plane into it, then driving 20+ miles to a shipping facility. So I can understand someone else not wanting to do that either. What a waste of a whole day just to sell a plane! It's so much easier to sell it locally ... Someone comes to your house and drives it away. Done! And in less than 20 minutes. Isn't that easy!

Add to the shipping scenario that the seller is "on-the-hook" for any damage during shipping.
And paypal is not your friend if you are the seller. Since the "buyer" is usually too cheap to want to pay for insurance (cause they want to pay as little as possible), a seller might ship the plane without the $40+ insurance cost, or ship through Greyhound where they don't offer insurance for any item that is shipped further than 300 miles. Either way here, the seller is really exposed for all risk and a total loss.

Plus, have you ever tried to collect on an insurance claim with a carrier? What a nightmare that is!


It's a total nightmare if anything goes wrong. For the seller, it's not worth the risk. So, I understand when someone refuses to deal with that risk, problem, and time it takes to crate a plane.
Been there, done that ... Never again.
If I can't sell a plane locally, then I just don't sell it.

raptureboy

Shipping a new in box arf or kit is not a problem. done all the time by Tower and others. Really not all that expensive for a 40-60 size plane. If you ship to a local UPS store or terminal instead of a residential address it is cheaper because they are dropping off all kinds of packages there. But it is what it is. A fully built plane I would never bother with, that is way to much trouble.

skippyc5

My Feedback: (244)

I have also wondered this same thing. I have sent many built aircraft with UPS ,FEDEX, bus lines and truck. I have our local shippers supply build the boxes and pack them. I have never had a problem. If someone wants what I'm selling and is willing to pay for the shipping and insurance then why deprive them of what they want when I'm willing and able to do this!!