Getting Crate Shipping Quotes is Easy on Shiply

How To Ship A Crate

Gumtree is a great place to buy and sell online. Whether you are shopping for a new sofa or selling your old bed, you can often find great items at great prices. The issue, however, is that Gumtree does not have a delivery service for the platform, meaning that any item too big for the conventional post will need collection and delivery to be organized by the buyer or seller.

Thankfully, Shiply can be used to find Gumtree courier companies to deliver your items, often at prices up to 75% less than standard rates, and it only takes a few clicks. No matter whether you need to move one box or an entire van-full, there will be multiple Crate Shipping services on our platform ready to take on the job.

How Much Does It Cost To Ship A Crate?

Giving an estimate for a crate shipment is difficult as the item/s could be any size or weight. To get a better idea of what a crate delivery service would cost, see the factors that can affect pricing below:

Distance - If your crate needs to go on a longer journey, or abroad, then you can expect to pay more for the shipment as more fuel and resources will be needed to move it. However, it is expected that the cost per mile lowers for longer journeys, so this may help to bring the price down.

Size/Weight - This is what will really determine how much your crate shipping costs as it will indicate what size vehicle is required to carry out your job. Larger vehicles such as trucks and haulage vehicles may be able to give good prices, but generally, the larger the vehicle required, the higher the cost will likely be.

Timings - If you need your crate shipped by a certain time, or on a certain date, then you may need to spend a bit more. Most of the drivers on our platform are making similar journeys already and looking to fill up their extra space. This means that if you can work around their schedule you are likely to get the best pricing as costs are already sunk.

Locations - This is rarely an issue, but something to be aware of is that if any pick-up or drop-off location is particularly remote then pricing may be a little bit higher as drivers will have to go way out of their route to fit your crate in.

How Can Shiply Help Find Crate Shipping Companies?

Typically, you would have to shop around to get quotes to move your wooden crate. This would involve trawling through search results pages, flicking through phone books, and manually retrieving each quote. Shiply aims to take all of the work out of finding a crate delivery service by bringing them straight to you.

All we need from you is some simple information about your delivery, such as the size and rough weight of the crate that needs moving, the collection and delivery locations, and the desired timings. Once you have provided these details, your listing will go live on Shiply and you should start to receive quotes from transport providers within 30 minutes. Our platform gives you the ability to collect and compare quotes all in one place, allowing you to use feedback scores, reviews, and direct messaging to select the crate shipper you would like to carry out your delivery.

Shiply doesn’t just make finding a crate delivery service easy, it also makes it cheap! Many of the drivers bidding on our platform have spare space in vehicles on journeys they are already making and are just trying to ensure they travel with their vehicles as full as possible. This means that, as costs have mostly already been sunk, quotes can be up to 75% cheaper than standard rates. As an added bonus, using Shiply also means you are helping to reduce the amount of CO2 released into the air by unnecessary delivery vehicles as you are using one already making the journey.

Preparing For Your Crate To Be Shipped

Once you have selected a company to ship your crate there are a few things you can do to prepare:

Documents - If the items in your crate are restricted, require proof of ownership, or are travelling abroad, then you may need to provide some documents with the crate when it is picked up. To avoid any issues during the shipment we highly recommend researching and preparing all of the documents required before pick-up.

Packing - When packing a crate, you want to ensure that nothing is going to rub against either the edges or against another item in the crate. We recommend individually wrapping delicate items, and always recommend filling the crate completely with packing material before closing it up. The less the items can move, the less the risk of damage during transit.

Cleaning - Depending on what your item is, it can be a good idea to give it a clean before packing it into a crate. This can help ascertain its condition before it is picked up.

Photographs - Following cleaning, we recommend taking some good-quality photographs with a time stamp so that you have evidence of the condition of your item before it is picked up. This will come in handy should any damage occur during transit.

What To Do After Delivery

Once your crate has been received, you should ensure that it is checked over for any damage (use the photographs you took before to compare with). If there are any problems, raise these with your chosen crate shipper as soon as possible.

Finally, we ask that you leave some feedback and a review for your crate delivery service so that users of Shiply in the future can know what level of service to expect from them.