Where to get boxes to ship skis

 Anyone have a tip on where I can get a box or two to ship used skis i'm selling?

Ski shops.  My local ski shop has a whole room in the basement full of ski boxes.  They save them for just this occasion.  Or, last week I shipped a pair and it was quicker to go to the UPS store.  For about 9 bucks they'll sell you two 10x10x48 "halves" that fit together over a pair of skis.

Shipping skis is time consuming and expensive.  I do a fair amount of it.  Next season I think I'm gonna start shipping them in one of my sportubes and just pre-pay the shipping for the buyer to return the sportube.

Greg,

Glad to know my new skies are being shipped in a very well preserved method.

I once got a pair shipped in "bubble wrap" w/o a box and think this is a great way of protecting skis. I'm not sure if all carriers will accept this skis packaged this way but it worked well.

 Here are some that are not too expensive:

www.uline.com/Product/AdvSearchResult.aspx

 every time I ask at my local shop they say they've already put them in the dumpster.  I'll check out the UPS store idea though.  

Quote:

Originally Posted by skier219 

 

 Here are some that are not too expensive:

 

www.uline.com/Product/AdvSearchResult.aspx

Yeah, saw those, but minimum order of 20.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SkiMangoJazz 

 

 every time I ask at my local shop they say they've already put them in the dumpster.  I'll check out the UPS store idea though.  

I've shipped skis via the UPS Store (Ebay sales) several times without any problem.

BTW, I find that a 6x6 box works OK in most cases, if you pack the skis topsheet to topsheet with tips and tails reversed.  This nests the bindings inward towards each other and saves 2-3" of space.  Just need to put a chunk of cardboard/padding etc between the binding heel piece and the other ski.  I also stuff paper or scrap cardboard between tips/tails to space the skis apart.

An 8x8 box ought to cover all bases; diagonally, you'd have 10-11", which should accomodate a pair of skis/bindings stacked base to base. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by SkiMangoJazz 

 

 

Yeah, saw those, but minimum order of 20.

Depends on the box -- if I buy 20 of a 8x8x48" box @ $1.55 each, that would give me 10 ski boxes (ie, two boxes to ship one pair of skis) at $3.10 per pair of skis.  Of course, shipping the boxes to me adds another $16, so it really ends up costing me $3.90 per pair of skis.  That's really not so bad.  I have probably shipped 6-7 pairs of skis this season -- some were sales, others doing mounts/tunes for friends -- and it was a hassle finding boxes a few times.  So, I may just order a 20-pack of the boxes and keep them on hand.

One problem I have is that I tend to buy/receive skis flat, and those shipping boxes won't accommodate mounted skis with bindings that I generally am shipping out later on.

UPS store did have ski boxes- $14.95