Many of you ask me about shipping and I always start with the same line. It sucks. If you are not a large company and you are trying to ship items that are heavy & awkward – like furniture – then it is expensive and hard to schedule. Shipping from your house? Even more of a challenge. Once you wrap your brain around this then you can figure it out if need be.
I have shipped my pieces for about 4 years now all over the country using USHIP. USHIP is a bidding process that allows you to list an item to be moved and shippers going that way will bid on the item. These are basically truckers or individuals that need some extra cash and are willing to come to your front door to help if you can pay them. If you are shipping for a client then you have to do alot of back and forth to make sure you find a price and pick up/drop off that works for all parties. It takes quite a bit of time. Hence why I put on my Etsy shop – “serious inquiries only.” However, when you get all the stars to align it can work. First task is making sure clients know that shipping state to state from a small business is not cheap.
Back to my chicken cabinet. As I posted yesterday, I purchased this item from Ebay kinda by mistake. Now I needed to find a way to get it all the way down the east coast. Ugg. Turns out the chicken cabinet was nestled in an antique shop near Niagra Falls! Oh boy. It took me less than a day and no USHIP bids to realize that no shippers were going to upstate NY. The seller was super patient with me and even gave me a few names of trucking companies to call. The problem with these is that if they are the big boys then they charge big bucks. Like more than the $799 I paid for the piece.
Back and forth.
Back and forth.
I finally found a shipper that gave me a price that I could work with. Three months later and the piece arrived. Whew! I took a huge breath as the boys unbundled it from the moving blankets. You never really know what you’ve got on your hands until you get it to your door, yea?
It was a miracle.
It was beautiful and it was…..oak! What’s so exciting about oak? It means that I can use the Weathered-Wood Painting Technique. What is this? Stay tuned.
Shipping is definitely a bear! I love your new piece and I can’t wait to see it done with your whitewash technique. Loved your video on it!
dealing with shipping is a huge drag…but the piece is AMAZING! I can’t wait to see this when your done…are you going to do a tutorial on it?
It’s gorgeous! I am looking forward to seeing the finished piece. I had to pass up on a few items because the shipping was horrible. You found a treasure in this piece!
Your new piece is amazing! Funny…I live about 30 minutes from Niagara Falls, NY. I will have to start looking on my Local Ebay site more often!
This is so funny. I’ve been looking for one just like it. Get to work girl!!!! hikchik