Auction shipping

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Looking at an equipment auction (IRS) in a couple east coast locations and thinking about shipping. Anyone want to offer advice on how to get it shipped to NE, specifically is there a service that will palletize well and get it on a truck? I'm casually interested in a wide belt sander and and maybe a molder, so big stuff that needs to be carefully handled.

[johnny means]

In my experience, you'll need to contract rigging and shipping seperately. IRS will likely have a rigging company on larger auctions that will get you out the door and loaded. Shipping will be another story. I've used UShip with success for shipping furniture, but always ended up road tripping for large equipment purchases. Though I've only driven as far as Ohio, I'm in Delaware. I would definitely advise to get a handle on those costs before bidding. I bought several machines from one very large auction and the rigging turned out to be the largest expense of the purchase.

[Alex Zeller]

I've bought several things from IRS. My first suggestion is to call up the person running the auction and ask them. I picked up my stuff but saw several pieces being wrapped for shipping. I got the impression that the contact person might work for IRS but the place where the equipment is located and the contact person there is just paid by the loading fees. That leads me to believe that they would gladly secure it to a pallet, wrap it, and load it onto a semi if you paid them. But I haven't confirmed this. It's hard to justify unless the price is so cheap it's still a great deal even with the extra costs. Obviously on a $500 table saw that you can buy for $300 it doesn't make sense.

I've won items at two different locations in Mass that were maybe 10 miles apart. Both were stuff that was transported to that location, not at a plant closing. Both times the person on-site was very friendly and easy to deal with. One didn't even charge me to load a table saw onto a trailer. Granted it only took a minute with the forklift but still. It was a Friday so I think I gave him $20 cash for some refreshments for the weekend after he said "no charge". I have been tempted to buy something and have it shipped but the virus has pushed up prices so now it must be a need, not a want, before I'll bid on something.

[Stewart Lang]

Honestly, I do quite a bit of shipping heavy equipment and I don't know if I'd ever want to rely on a third party to palletize a heavy piece of machinery at an auction site for shipping. A wide belt sander especially should be strapped down to a pallet and secured quite well for shipping due to it's height. I think you'd be much better off renting a trailer and driving there yourself. Probably be cheaper too, and give you much more peace of mind when transporting. Just my opinion, I know some guys that do do third party shipping though, but it's a risky move in my book.

[Joe Jensen]

PM me for a recent experience with shipping and IRS auctions.

[Phillip Mitchell]

I bought a shaper a few months back via IRS from the Billerica, MA auction house and the palletizing and freighting was a pleasant enough experience. This was a small-medium size shaper with power feeder and they attached it to a 40x48 pallet, stapled some 1x6 verticals, horizontals and bracing about 5’ high and wrapped it in plastic wrap to form a “soft” style of crate. Shipped freight via Estes and arrived in great shape. I think the freight cost was $320 for a 1k pound machine on a normal pallet from Mass to NC.

However, that’s not quite the same as a big wide belt or moulder and I would be hesitant to trust anyone I didn’t know and trust to properly bolt them to skids/pallet, etc.

IRS auctions can seem tempting, but I’m trying to limit myself to somewhat local auctions that I can a) potentially inspect in person if I really want something and b) be in striking distance to pick it up myself.

[Patrick Kane]

I almost responded to the OP, with "there was recently a guy with an $11,000 sander and a nightmare scenario with shipping from an auction...", and then i didnt need to. Sorry again, Joe, your story will haunt me for the rest of my days with buying used machines and moving them.

Ive shipped the following machines -- Grizzly 12" jointer, Laguna 20" bandsaw, Martin T17, Powermatic 72, Powermatic 68, Felder KF700, and Griggio 20" jointer. Almost 50:50 through a freight company and uship. I semi prefer uship, because its always nonstop point to point for me. Once its on their truck/trailer safely, i figure 99% of the risk is over with. Many of those pieces via uship were with absolutely NO packing/crating/palleting. Quite literally, it was the machine forklifted onto a trailer, at the most. So far, i havent had any meaningful damage or destruction. The 20" jointer ended up getting scratched quite a bit when we moved it out of the tiny trailer, but it already had scratches and some paint missing to begin with. For me, it all depends on what you are buying. I wouldnt ship a sander or moulder without paying top dollar for a rigging/shipping company. It sucks, because it will add thousands to your purchase price. One more opinionated example, i keep watching for a t72a martin slider--a few have been on IRS the last 2 months--and i would not trust that machine to an inexperienced ushipper or run of the mill freight company. In your case, i would advise to wait for stuff closer to home and pony up for a pro to move it correctly. However, i fully understand where you are coming from. I am in the same boat as you, i like good deals and i dont care for 15 hour road trips to move machinery.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

I "posted" yesterday, but apparently forgot to actually submit or something. If a similar post shows up later, I apologize.

Thanks for the info guys, you are confirming what I suspected. It's about 2000 miles, so I won't be driving it. Will probably just be patient. Anyone know of a west coast based auction house like IRS?

[Phillip Mitchell]

You might check out MachineryMax auctions. I don’t remember where they’re based, but seem to remember plenty of west coast auctions. IRS is national (Canada as well) but it does seem pretty East coast centric on the whole.