E-BAY and SHIPPING ARE GETTING OUT OF CONTROL

I am looking for a shipper as we speak for 2 speakers that weight around 285 lbs total. I want to ship them on a pallet.

Seko says they can not inusre them because they are used?

any suggestions

When shopping on Audiogon, to avoid the cost of the frequently encountered phrase, "please add 3% for PayPal" on a heavy, expensive item, I offer to send a certified check by FedEx with next day delivery and the actual cost of FedEx Ground shipping with full insurance once he knows how much that is. If it's more than the seller estimated, I offer to pay the difference. My policy as a seller is to charge only actual shipping costs and to refund any excess if the seller has over-paid. Although I continue to "buy-buy-buy" and haven't sold on Audiogon or eBay for several years, I have quite a few great items that I need to sell (mainly audio and camera equipment), and I'm considering adding the average shipping cost to my asking price so that I can offer "shipping included" to the buyer, or set a fixed shipping rate that will cover at least most of my actual costs. I'll still refund any overages, but I'll either absorb losses or work with the buyer to reach a mutually fair agreement on the actual cost of shipping. I always strive to treat buyers and sellers as though they were family members or close friends in order to maintain the highest level of integrity and service, and this goal appears to be shared by 98% of Audiogoners in my experience. In the last 15 years on Audiogon (and 20 years on eBay), virtually every person I've dealt with has been completely honest and fair, and even on the extremely rare occasions where I wasn't completely happy with what I received, everything turned out OK. I am continually amazed by and appreciative of how honorable the Audiogon community is. With hurricanes devastating the southeast and wildfires here in northern California, there's no doubt that shipping costs will continue to rise, but honest and clear communication between buyers and sellers helps insure that the costs are fair and not hidden profit for the seller. A non-communicative seller is someone you don't want to buy from. Please don't let your desire for a particular brand or product to lead you into a transaction you will regret.

skeepowder.....John Bedini was a good friend and him and his brother and myself build quite a few pieces together.....I have tons of Bedini stuff.......Most of the transformers were made by Mercury transformer company.........They are still in business......I repair some of the Bedini amps

Warning: this is slightly off topic.
Hey Autospec,
Bedini is a word you don't hear often. One of the best sounding setups I ever had was the Bedini 150/150 (I think) and the Bedini pre-amp and PSB Alpha speakers and the first gen Velodyne 15" sub. It was magical until my live-in girlfriends daughter stayed home sick from school and played everything at totally full volume and fried the transistors. Bedini had just gone out of business and my repair guy couldn't find any markings to identify the trannys (not those trannys) so the amp was trashed literally. So sad.
I want one and I also follow eBay for these.

Whenever I think ebay shipping costs are excessive I tell sellers that I will prepay for shipping and send them a label to be taped to the box.  Never had a seller refuse.  I have done this for several heavy amplifiers and other things.  I some cases my shipping cost was 1/2 of the Ebay quote.   In your case, if a seller insists on using Ebay quotes and shipping methods and you decide to pay their excessive price, you CAN leave negative feedback and low DSR scores to warn future prospective buyers.

Seller definitely sets the shipping cost. Once I was looking at purchasing an amp on Ebay,  the seller listed shipping @ $175.  The amp was very heavy,  but I figured shipping on my FedEx account and it was about $50 for me.  I contacted the seller before offers.  The seller did drop shipping to $75,  but that was all they were willing to do.  
On the few things that I've sold on Ebay, I have always figured shipping before listing.  I haven't tried any of the lowball price game with hidden cost in inflated shipping.  

Never has a problem with shippjng charged by the seller on eBay. The highest shipping I paid was on a pair of Quad ESLs at $1000.

I see mr jaybe has 18 transactions on Audiogon, so I wouldn't say he's doing much from a experience standpoint....autospec has 741 transactions..........

I sell some on eBay since it's the best exposure for certain items, even though the fees are high. The seller has choices for shipping. He can set a fixed amount or choose a service, then enter the weight. I have only used USPS and UPS, but the rate eBay calculates is less than a standard calculation from the carrier's website, however that discount is lost since eBay gets a fee for the total sale, price plus shipping. If anyone gets stuck with high shipping costs on eBay, it's not them. It's the seller or the service the seller uses.

Sometimes a person needs to learn to add and subtract ??   40.00 from 90.00 ??

You're complaining about a $4 difference? Really? Maybe you should get a second job if $4 is a lot of money.........

Where's the beef ???    Sometimes there are things on e-bay that are no where else......I collect Bedini amps and parts, when I see something Bedini I have to act on it quickly......When I buy something on e-bay I need to play by the rules, like paying for items.....The last Bedini I bought was sold on e-bay with 90.00 shipping, so when I bought it , I ask for the person selling to check on the shipping and correct it before I paid for it......The seller wouldn't answer e-mails and I ran out of time so I paid for the item and then tried to get a adjustment...His answer to me was it was out of his hands......so I check who's shipping the item and find its NEX who ever that is,,,,,,The bottom line is if you mess with the seller too much they get mad and cancel the whole thing and the whole reason you started this is over...........THAT'S THE BEEF !!!

For many things eBay is the perfect marketplace for buying and selling. Plus eBay guarantees items sold. Where's the beef? 🐂

If the seller chooses the option for Ebay to set the shipping cost, it calculates a price. The other option is to set a price. That’s where the seller inflates the cost to make up for a low selling price and to offset fees. Ebay now takes a 10% selling fee.

It sucks because Ebay does not allow for a calculated shipping price after the sale. That’s a good feature that Audiogon offers.

I have shipped to buyers and have received from sellers. USPS, UPS and FedEx. They are ALL rather expensive and NO bargain for sure! It's a BIG country we live in! Right now I am trying to find a shipper for a pair of JBL 65's that I bought and paid for in Illinois. They are big and heavy! I called Micro Moves and they quoted a price of $839 to pick up and deliver to me in Florida (Tampa). To me that's excessive! I don't think EBAY rigs the shipping costs - we are at the mercy of a limited number of shippers!

That's the seller inflating the shipping, not eBay.

Is it definitely eBay's control? It's been common on eBay for a long time to sell low to win auctions and attract sales, then pad shipping to get to the price you really wanted. Obviously I don't know what seller this is and maybe it's true that they don't have any choice... but, that would be a significant change since the last time I sold anything there....