Who has used uShip? What kind of experience was it?

hjames

We are all just walking each other home.
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I gather uShip is somewhat like uBer for shipping larger items and packages. You create an ad describing what you have and want shipped, and from where to where, and folks bid on what they want to be paid to do so at the end you select the shipper you. and can buy insurance and such, and - it gets shipped!

I have not used it before - but I have a large pair of Altec speakers to move from a storage locker near Cleveland OH to me in Fairfax, VA (a bit below Wash, DC) ...

Any comments? Any troubles? Anything you'd do different?
 
If you have any degree of ebay experience, uship works in a similar fashion.

We've probably moved about 2 dozen shipments using Uship with a 99.9% perfect history.

When you place your ad be fairly specific about your parcel, vintage hifi equipment(read moderately delicate), fine furniture finish (request double blanket wrapped and handled accordingly).

Uship holds the shipper's payment until you have received and approved the condition of your goods. Typically, we unload, look stuff over thoroughly, and when satisfied i run in and release their payment. They are usually equipped with an iphone or tablet and can immediately verify that you released and they have received payment and away they go.

If you;re going for tangerine equipped Altecs, i strongly recommend a heated ride or you will likely be repairing loose phase plugs down the road, they don't like the cold. The dissimilarity of materials pops the glue joint very often.

Most important is to get all special requirements stated up front, This way the shippers get a fair shake bidding, and there is no need for re-negotiating or additional charges after you approve a move.

Uship used to involve a lot more small and private individuals. It seems like more recent deliveries here have been from larger carriers. The last big speakers i Ushipped rode in a North American moving rig along with someone's household. I think my move was along part of the route the truck was already going to be traveling.

Good luck getting your new babies home. :)
 
I put in a request a few weeks ago on a large pair of speakers. There wasn't an option for indicating whether the shipper or recipient could pick up or deliver the item to a shipping depot, or whether it would have to be picked up and delivered door to door. I got several messages from potential bidders asking about that. If you have a truck and can deliver or pick up at one end or both, it can save a lot of $ as well as broaden the list of bidders, because not all shippers have local trucks with lift gates to pick up and deliver.
 
When you post your ad on Uship wait a few days and respond to none of the responders. Shippers who have submitted high bids will slowly but surely start paring down their bids until you find one you like.

Speak to them on the phone to make sure your happy with their personal presentation.

If your selling have the buyer make arraingements.

Good luck

Eric
 
I have used them several times now. I usually post an ad with the amount I want to spend and let the shippers respond. If I you don't get any responses you can decide if you want to up the price or end the ad.

I have had several items shipped including speakers. They blanket-wrap them like movers if there are no boxes and deliver right to your door. I've also shipped motorcycles, pinball machines, and even had a large La-Z-Boy sectional theater seating shipped half way across the country. Everything has always arrived 100% perfect. If the shipper comes through and the stuff arrives undamaged I always give them a tip too.
 
Well, my single experience with them was good. From Western Ohio to me in Fairfax, VA (375 mi.)
They picked the pair of 50 year old Heathkit "Valencias" (110lbs ea) from a storage locker via the seller's daughter Wed at noon, dropped them off to me Thur evening around 9:30pm
[They had a delay delivering another customer's audio Console to a storage location - it didn't fit so they had to deliver it to the home - a couple hour delay].
2 guys in an enclosed 14 ft truck - speakers were blanket wrapped and then plastic sheet wrapped to keep the padding in place. The cabinets had some dings via eBay pix already.

But the truckers hand lifted each speaker from the truck and hand carried it to my living room.
Overall cost was around $270 - $25 to uship (their fee), $45 for insurance, and $200 to the shiiper, (Plus I tipped the guys $30 cash - not a fee, thats just me)

No complaints - I could not go chase them myself like I've done with many other speakers I've owned!
(seller's pix from the Ohio load point)

ALTEC-uShip_0238 crop.jpg ALTEC-uSHip_0242.jpeg
 
Cool! I did not know they would do any wrapping and loading. Depends on the particular shipper I guess but it's certainly good to be aware of this in case it is actually available for a particular job. I was looking at a pair of 7-ft tall line array cabinets, brand new and unpopulated, from Seattle to MO. I assumed the seller would have to palletize and get them to a shipping point. Maybe not.
 
Glad it worked out. Another resource for casual point-to-point shipping of heavy-but-valuable (to you) items is Fastenal back-haul. They will tote stuff from city store to distribution center, then DC to DC, then back out to store in your area. No personal experience, but they're a decent company otherwise...
 
When you place an ad on UShip you can specify how you want the item packaged or protected. Blanket-wrap is one option but if you feel the need you can specify a pallet or whatever. Of course you usually will pay more the more complex the packaging is. Sometimes the guys will have a professional truck and sometimes you will get a guy who uses a minivan or his SUV the deliver the stuff. It really doesn't matter to me as long as the stuff arrives undamaged.
 
I used uShip for a classic truck. The number I called would ring and no answer - left messages. After about a week, I started to get real nervous. I read stories online about how people would never get the stuff. I FedExed certified funds to the seller. Seller said yeah, the guys came and picked it up a week ago.

I thought for sure I been had. Turns out I had the guys number wrong by one digit. He called and said - you got a sweet truck and I'll be there tomorrow with it. I told him about the phone mix-up and he felt real bad, because it was entered wrong on the website, not that I had it wrong. Super nice guy.
 
I used USHIP to have a nice 8x10 ft carpet shipped from IL to NH, and arrived in a very timely manner, the shipper was great guy & his wife who travel around and do this as a hobby/make some money & see America... Very good experience. I'm at least considering using them to ship a large, heavy receiver for restoration... If I don't decide to try someone more local... Glad to see other good experiences...
 
The lone Unship bid for my $800 console is $2400 and nobody wants to transport my Quad 63s. There is a huge shortage of shippers.
 
an old thread comes back to life, but here is my one and only experience...

years back I got my suburban via an ebay auction from Kalispell MT (thats in the GNP...) it was winter so this mint 90 sub goes for almost nothing - $3000. this was circa 2015 I think, long before they started selling for 10x that. so now, to get it back here. having watched 'shipping wars' and THAT cast of idiots, I thot, well how bad can it be if you get someone smart enough to avoid being on reality tv.

So I place the order for service aka auction...but no one was bidding down. Turns out MOST (like 75%) of the 'providers' on Uship are not actual truck/van owners but brokers. It is terribly easy to get your DOT plaque to be an ICC (old)/ STB (new) approved freight broker. You dont even have to own a truck. OR actually know anyone who does. so what they do is bid the job and if you accept, they put it on the 'boards', a service that lists loads from/to found at local truck stops and an online service - indy truckers needing a load from LTL to full scan them to keep the dollar flowing, indy truckers have to pay into a service that finds loads for them which is often as much a hassle as working for a company with a dispatcher that convinced you to go indy in the first place.

so my sub sat, and sat and sat. The broker kept promising a date 4 days out, but it moved every 2. then each week he would ask if I could add more money. so my initial hyper low bid of $750 is now at $1500. The problem was not the load, while the bus takes a good bite out of any actual car hauler, its not THAT heavy being only 2wd, but up there in Kalispell, to my place requires use of I80 and except in PA, I80 is heavily tolled AND given it was the winter, chain laws were in effect all the way into Iowa. Real truckers just dont go up there in the winter - thats what Canadian national and BNSF are for.... since the tolls would be in effect hundreds of dollars, brokers were telling me that time of year $2500 might be needed.

Well My trucker brother had just left the slave wages of one job and had a month to start his next...so I have a sister that married a delta employee...free flight into kalispell and he drove it back. after paying him for driving and fuel and car based tolls, it was 1500 and I had it in 2 days. so aside from half assed tv shows, when dealing with cars at the least, you are not technically dealing with pros. you are talking to a broker who sucks 10-15% off the top for typing into a computer and prolly works a real job somewhere else and your actual driver is who knows. sure, they have a STB registration but that is ALSO easy to do. If you want a dedicated car hauler, you are gonna pay such that self-drive becomes an option. and no, I would NEVER use a driveaway. check out reliable from MN, they used to be a large allied agent who got their own hauling rights, including the right to keep the allied paint colors and deal with LTL-full freight and a dedicated car fleet. and it aint cheap. But the guy who shows up cut his teeth or at least was trained by an actual humper.

check out forward air. IF they are still around. when I was restoring bikes and the like, a lot of stuff came and went via forward...from engines to completed machines.
 
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