Hi all - well as I enter the ever-dark forest of Ebay and Paypal transactions (trying to move a keyboard out of the rack)....can you "vets" help me decide which shipping option is best (safe and economical if that's even possible)? Hoping to not have to spend half my selling price to pay off Ebay, Paypal, and to ship...

Thoughts and suggestions are most appreciated!

I always use FEDEX Ground never had an issue to ship.
price smartly, "make a bid" works well in most cases as
Ebay will take their fees, tax, etc, after the sale.
Also try your areas "Facebook Marketplace" feature it's freewhich is surprisingly effective also,
& they usually pick it up or meet them somewhere public,
cash only no shipping, etc,..
good luck...

Hi Randy,
over here, eBay sometimes does specials on selling stuff, even some free listings on weekends. Don’t know if that is also the case in the USA. Just check.

Shipping here is usually paid by buyer and is listed or quoted seperateIy in the advert. One could get badly caught out with shipping so check out pricing.
I sold a 3ft. teddy bear from my collection last year, Shipping was $120 on a $200 Bear. She lived on the other side of the country, lucky for me I had listed ask for quote before bidding because of the size of the item. She was happy to pay
it , but I could have been badly caught out, if I’d just put in a flat rate, because if she’d been more local , it would have only been a quarter of the price.

Also make sure that you put you’re only posting within your own country.
I had someone bid on my keyboard the other day from Bulgaria, other side of the world, even though my advert was listed as Australia only, ( not international. ) I was able to cancel bid without any hassles.

Good luck.

Thanks Donny and Rikki - yes, I am aware that you can easily get stung on selling on Ebay. I will tread carefully.

Sadly, I live in an area where arrangers are unheard of by the general population, so selling locally is never an option (suspect that's similar where you are Rikki). So I will give it a go and specify "Buyer pays shipping". Last board I sold was an S910 but it was a while ago and I remember the shock when I got my "final value" tabulated...

Wish me luck and thanks for the input!

I use Post Office whenever possible. Quicker, less expensive and they never damage the boxes like UPS and FEDEX.

Thanks Don! I will check the size/weight restrictions with USPS. Will keep you all posted....that is if I find a buyer! One step at a time! Thanks again!

I also have used the USPS the last dozen times I shipped gear.

Hi Randy,
Yes, I live in an area now, where I don’t think too many people have arranger keyboards.
3 hours from a major city now, used to be 5 minutes to get to the music store.
Oh, the good old days .I used to just about live in that shop, they gave me a part time job, just so I’d go home once in a while. Haha

Yes the fees by the time you pay eBay and PayPal can be horrendous, but not many other options if you don’t live in an area where people buy them. Just check for those freebie or cheap type listing days, unless they don’t do them in the US.

Meanwhile, so far so good, sold my keyboard the other day, and the guy wants to pick it up
rather than posting, he’s happy to drive the 3 hrs up and back. I feel a bit more comfortable too not having to post, though I’m pretty sure our postal service would do a good job.

Discovered our couriers won’t carry second hand goods , and that they only insure up to $1500. Don’t know if that is industry wide or just some of them around here. That gave me a shock as I’d already placed the advert.
Thank goodness for postal service , even though the box would have been an inch bigger than the max. allowed, they were more concerned about the weight , which was well under limit, so they would have taken it.

Gee, stress we go thru for our new toys. Haha

Thanks to all for the help! Will definitely check with the USPS on their size allowances.

Rikki - I hear you - local pickup would be a great way to move the keyboard stress-free. Congrats!

After considerable consternation, this week I finally sold my old '94 Mazda pickup truck - was in great shape and only 120,000 miles...that truck took me to work every day and back for 23 years! Once I retired, the poor thing just sat and had developed a couple expensive problems....cost me a lot to fix them. Now some other guy got the fixed up vehicle....I did make back what I put into it. Well, the wife saw the mini-withdrawal when the truck was finally gone...she said "you can order the new SX900 now". HA HA. Bonus! So now to move the S970 and/or PA900. Fun fun fun!

Thanks again to all for the assist on the shipping!

Hi Randy,
Sometimes think we hang onto stuff for too long. I don’t enjoy the selling process, not because I’m unhappy about losing it, but, because I hate the hassle of the sale.

Gave the pa800 to the granddaughter , because the old psr 1500, I’d given her years ago, finally broke down. I got the pa800 back the other day, ( with a snapped key), apparently they discovered it didn’t have any sound. Obviously it hadn’t been used at all, I’d forgotten to remove a headphone plug , when I gave it to her 2 years ago. Haha.

If I’d sold the pa3x after I bought the Pa4x , I wouldn’t have ended up with the sticky surface problem some of them are now developing, though I wouldn’t have been happy about selling it and someone else inheriting the problem, there again the problem wasn’t showing up 3 years ago.

My s950 is going as soon as I get the SX900, better to get something for it than leave it sit.