Shipping costs for various items

Silent47Assassin

Hi all,

I am new to buying and selling used items and hence would like to know what are the typical shipping costs for parcels (weight, dimensions, courier partner, source and destination cities) and how do people hand over the items to the courier (drop-off vs pickup). I am from Kolkata (south) and hence more interested in my local rates, but please feel free to include rates from other states too.

Hope to see a good amount of response from all.

puns

dtdc app gives a shipping rate and pickup cost as well. is expensive compared to other options. you can go to dtdc shop and ship it from there also. As long as you honsetly declare weight volume and contents, you wont have an issue.
Post office is a little hectic but good reliability https://www.indiapost.gov.in/VAS/Pages/CalculatePostage.aspx
Delhivery used to operate with users but now it seems to be business only, maybe I am wrong so can check with them
Some startups have also opened up that operate in city or national levels but I havent used them like shiprocket.

chetansha

Silent47Assassin said:
Hi all,

I am new to buying and selling used items and hence would like to know what are the typical shipping costs for parcels (weight, dimensions, courier partner, source and destination cities) and how do people hand over the items to the courier (drop-off vs pickup). I am from Kolkata (south) and hence more interested in my local rates, but please feel free to include rates from other states too.

Hope to see a good amount of response from all.

Create an account with shiprocket. I recently shipped a package of speakers to baroda from coimbatore via FedEx surface I was charged some 200 for it. Box was quite big. See the dimensions.

puns

chetansha said:
Create an account with shiprocket. I recently shipped a package of speakers to baroda from coimbatore via FedEx surface I was charged some 200 for it. Box was quite big. See the dimensions.

what documents they need for signing up. Open to everyone or only businesses ?

chetansha

puns said:
what documents they need for signing up. Open to everyone or only businesses ?

Open to all. I don't have gst number. I had to do verification over phone camera. And I think pan card was uploaded.

ibose

chetansha said:
Open to all. I don't have gst number. I had to do verification over phone camera. And I think pan card was uploaded.

I had looked at the app sometime back but found it has got poor reviews.

rockstah

If you know the dimensions and weight, as suggested above dtdc mobile app gives you a good estimate. I shipped a GPU from Chennai to Kolkata recently using DTDC, it weighed around 1.5kg and was charged 450rs. I sent it through DTDC lite and it reached the buyer in 2 days. I asked bluedart and they said 800rs for the same.

Silent47Assassin

Thanks everyone. Appreciate the inputs. Looks like the first thing to do would be to invest is a small weighing scale to get things measured. Any suggestions?

nitin_g3

chetansha said:
Create an account with shiprocket. I recently shipped a package of speakers to baroda from coimbatore via FedEx surface I was charged some 200 for it. Box was quite big. See the dimensions. View attachment 100771

I created an account with shiprocket, and since that day they've been sending emails and calling to verify my business. Is it necessary to have a firm to use shiprocket?

chetansha

nitin_g3 said:
I created an account with shiprocket, and since that day they've been sending emails and calling to verify my business. Is it necessary to have a firm to use shiprocket?

Well i don't know about that.

truegenius · Apr 22, 2021

nitin_g3 said:
I created an account with shiprocket, and since that day they've been sending emails and calling to verify my business. Is it necessary to have a firm to use shiprocket?

I have an account with shiprocket, tried fedupex and nodelhivery to ship a product (amazon order) weigh 20gm, nobody picked it despite multiple tickets/escalations and calls to shiprocket, fedupex and nodelhivery, in the end i had to cancel after 12 days.

Edit, BTW, i will give shiprocket another try some other day, maybe it was because my order was of low vale (Rs69 for shipping , interesting number). Also i had recharged with Rs1000 and got Rs200 extra as an offer, but after this experience i told customer care of shiprocket to give back my money so they gave me whole Rs1131 instead of just 1k.
Prices offered by these shipping companies is straight loot, but via shiprocket its comparable to indiapost. (Bluedart even lies, i tried to ship a computer cabinet which had 15kg volumetric weight, bluedart customer care told me that its more than 30kg and said 5k for shipping.)

Also, i don't think you need business account to ship via shiprocket, as they have asked me multiple times ( during that above mentioned escalations ) if its a business account or personnel account.

iPwnz

If you don't want the headache just use India Post's Speedpost or the slower registered mail or parcel as required. They have many branches and you can meet the Station Master or the Manager whenever you need assuming they aren't busy with work. I'm lucky to have established a small personal connection to the India Post's officers (one of them is my high school teacher) in my area so I will keep on using Speedpost unless I'm requested to use alternatives.
DTDC and Bluedart are two of the worst private couriers which I've used. DTDC has never delivered the packages on time. I've used their "fast" shipping options to ship important documents but never reached on time. Bluedart's customer care was non-existent when I used it.
I've received a bunch of items via shiprocket but for some reason it's slower than Speedpost.

Silent47Assassin

iPwnz said:
If you don't want the headache just use India Post's Speedpost or the slower registered mail or parcel as required. They have many branches and you can meet the Station Master or the Manager whenever you need assuming they aren't busy with work. I'm lucky to have established a small personal connection to the India Post's officers (one of them is my high school teacher) in my area so I will keep on using Speedpost unless I'm requested to use alternatives.
DTDC and Bluedart are two of the worst private couriers which I've used. DTDC has never delivered the packages on time. I've used their "fast" shipping options to ship important documents but never reached on time. Bluedart's customer care was non-existent when I used it.
I've received a bunch of items via shiprocket but for some reason it's slower than Speedpost.

I agree on speedpost's reliability. Have had good experience with them. Just a little slow to respond when you visit them to hand over the parcel.

nRiTeCh

What happens when we disclose that its an computer item like mobo gpu etc. Do they even bother to take courtesy of it or just treat it like sarkari courier files like dumping /manhandling things!
Do they offer their own packaging material got a price?

iPwnz

nRiTeCh said:
What happens when we disclose that its an computer item like mobo gpu etc.

They will be refused if you are unlucky. DTDC didn't even want to ship honey when I asked. They said its labeled under "dangerous" items.
Try the form declaration way and see if they accept. You will need to add your aadhaar number too. Speedpost refused honey in the second batch and I signed the form but I haven't done it again since. For honey I just marked "honey" on the package.
I've also shipped computer components by Speedpost but I didn't disclose the nature of the items. My guess is if something happened to them during transit they will wash their hands off saying you didn't disclose and they don't ship such items. They just want deniability.

nRiTeCh said:
Do they even bother to take courtesy of it or just treat it like sarkari courier files like dumping /manhandling things!

Nope, the moment you pass it to them they will throw it to the rest of the group. A regular sight.

truegenius

Post office of my area refused to ship computer cabinet, they said that they don't ship electronics.
So i shipped it via dtdc for ~1.5k. The other person used indiapost for return shipping and was charged less than Rs300 for same item.
Also, dtdc managed to break corner of the acrylic panel while indiapost kept that broken panel intact (meaning nothing broke by indiapost despite already compromised part)

i_rock098

truegenius said:
Post office of my area refused to ship computer cabinet, they said that they don't ship electronics.
So i shipped it via dtdc for ~1.5k. The other person used indiapost for return shipping and was charged less than Rs300 for same item.
Also, dtdc managed to break corner of the acrylic panel while indiapost kept that broken panel intact (meaning nothing broke by indiapost despite already compromised part)

Indiapost is very hit out miss in accepting items. In the past couple of years they completely refuse to ship any item which is electronics. Like flat out refused even if I said I will take the responsibility of the condition. If they accept it though they are very good and prompt. But getting them to accept it in the first place is the biggest challenge.

iPwnz

i_rock098 said:
But getting them to accept it in the first place is the biggest challenge.

True. I suggest meeting the manager and trying to talk things out with him. This will also prevent future headache. That's what I did and things are much better now. Earlier I had to run back and forth from the post office and airport (which stopped my packages) and meeting the manager 3-4 times.
Also carry a signed declaration, signed by both the shipper (you) and the manager or whoever is in charge.

Shipping costs for various items

Silent47Assassin

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puns

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chetansha

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puns

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chetansha

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ibose

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rockstah

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Silent47Assassin

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nitin_g3

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chetansha

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truegenius

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iPwnz

Brutally Honest

Silent47Assassin

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nRiTeCh

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iPwnz

Brutally Honest

truegenius

Well-Known Member

i_rock098

Active Member

iPwnz

Brutally Honest