How does everyone ship their drum kit?

gmiller598

Senior Member
Just wondering.

I see plenty of drum kits on ebay as well as knowing people sell their gear on here. I'm just wondering what the best way is to handle shipping.

I'm considering selling my large kit and downsizing to smaller new or vintage jazz kit. I don't really have the room in my basement to have both set up but I don't know if I'd find a local buyer for it if I decide to sell.

Do you basically find boxes big enough for each drum and fill with peanuts or bubble wrap to ship it Fed Ex or UPS? I know shipping itself would be expensive for something of size but the cost of shipping materials would be pretty pricy too.
 
Do yourself a favor and try to sell first through Craiglist. Shipping can be a big pain in the butt. Shipping boxes, packing materials, insurance can be costly and time consuming.

Then try nearby cities too like Cleveland, Akron and agree to drive one hour to meet a potential buyer.

Or considering selling to Guitar Center for cash or trade in value.
 
Yeah, shipping a drum set really sucks IMO. Try to condense it down to as few boxes as possible to save on shipping (like packing drums inside drums). Pack the crap out of it with bubble wrap, packing paper, etc... and ship it via UPS or FedEx.

But yeah, it sucks. I always try locally first, but it seriously limits the audience and usually have to go to eBay anyway.

Shipping can be really expensive (the supplies and shipping charges themselves.)
 
Just wondering.

I see plenty of drum kits on ebay as well as knowing people sell their gear on here. I'm just wondering what the best way is to handle shipping.

I'm considering selling my large kit and downsizing to smaller new or vintage jazz kit. I don't really have the room in my basement to have both set up but I don't know if I'd find a local buyer for it if I decide to sell.

Do you basically find boxes big enough for each drum and fill with peanuts or bubble wrap to ship it Fed Ex or UPS? I know shipping itself would be expensive for something of size but the cost of shipping materials would be pretty pricy too.

Thats pretty much it. I went to UPS and got a 24x24x24 and 18x18x18 boxes. You should be able to get up to about a 7 pc kit in those boxes. You break down the kit and nest shells inside shells with lots of bubble wrap or peanuts. Bag up all of the other lugs and small hardware. Wrap the hardware bag, legs, hoops and anything else in heavy bubble wrap and pack carefully in the corners of the box or inside the shells etc. lay a piece of cardboard over the drums and lay the stack the heads together on top. It depends on the size of the kit etc but generally over pack as much as possible and insure for the full amount. Sometimes even the best pack job is not enough in the hands of the big logistics companies
 
How the heck to I post new discussions.

Go to the forum you want to post in and click "New thread" or click on forum tools and click "post a new thread".

As for the OP, I've never shipped drums but I have bought a kit from an ebay seller. He did a pretty good job of getting 3 drums (13-16-22) into one box by taking the heads off and nesting them with packing material in between. Then I believe he put all the heads on top of that with the holder/legs in the corners with packing or cardboard. The only thing that happened was the reso bass head was cracked at the port hole but otherwise everything arrived safely.
 
Thats pretty much it. I went to UPS and got a 24x24x24 and 18x18x18 boxes.

I just paid almost $11 just for the 24x24x24 box at UPS. Then there are packing materials. Then the cost of actually shipping the box. Then the prayers hoping they make it to their desitination without being damaged. Enough to give someone heart disease.
 
Shipping is a huge PITA. Not only costly in terms of carriage & packaging materials, but surprisingly time consuming as well. We package drums so you could literally play football with them. Why? - because they will! Seriously, to be reasonably sure of safe arrival (from a damage pov), as a minimum, pack so the box can be dropped from 6' onto a hard surface without damage.
 
here is the problem with shipping drums. For their size,they are relatively light in weight. This means all of the boys in brown are going to toss them around. They need to be double wrapped with 2 inches of packing between the drum and the first box, then 2 inches between that and the outside box. Unless Andy packs them for you. If you pack one drum inside of the other the inside drum must be packed so that it doesnt move inside of the outer drum. Anyone you ship to will cry like a baby if the inside of the larger drum is full of dents from the inside drum bouncing around. Try rea lhard to sell them locally.
 
Well, having done this several times, it's not that much of a PITA. But usually when I do this, I'm just shipping drums, I don't do hardware - that's just more money going out. And usually people I sell drums to don't want hardware anyway.

But, what I usually do, if you have a 22" bass drum or smaller, is just go to FedEx and get the 24x24x24 box (about $11), and some packing material. Then the drums get dismantled and packed inside each other. How you pad it is up to you, but a regular 4-piece will fit good. A 5-piece might be a bit tricky because you have the two small rack toms. Anything larger or more pieces will just require more boxes and a higher shipping price. I shipped one standard 4-piece kit (13/16/22) with spurs and tom mount in a box that size, it weighed around 50 pounds and to get it from California to Colorado cost about $68 for ground shipping (slowest) via FedEx.

Nowadays I'll do a "local pickup only", or charge a flat rate of $100 to cover shipping in the lower 48 states if I have to ship. To Alaska and Hawaii will require more money, and you don't want to ship out of the country. It could cost hundreds. One guy told me to ship three drums in a big box that weighed 70 pounds from the US to Argentina via FedEx was like, $1500!
 
I just paid almost $11 just for the 24x24x24 box at UPS. Then there are packing materials. Then the cost of actually shipping the box. Then the prayers hoping they make it to their desitination without being damaged. Enough to give someone heart disease.

I didn't say it was cheap, easy or fun. Just that it could be done
 
Thanks for all the feedback.

Just out of curiosity, how does Guitar Center handle buying used stuff. Do they lowball the offer like I expect they would?
 
Thanks for all the feedback.

Just out of curiosity, how does Guitar Center handle buying used stuff. Do they lowball the offer like I expect they would?

They sell used kits for 1700 when the new kit sells for 3500. Believe their market is like 20% on used stuff. Hell I've seen them selling a Pearl Masterworks (Not just Masters, Masterworks) for 900 dollars.
 
I've bought and sold many items on eBay, including drums. I've been involved in over 2300 transactions since year 2000, mostly as a seller. I agree that selling locally is preferred, if you are in an area with a lot of this kind of activity. You can try Craigs, but you can also list on eBay, and state 'local pick-up only, no shipping.' That way, you expose the kit to a wider range than just Craigs, but you aren't commiting yourself to shipping. If someone likes what you have and needs it shipped, they will generally contact you and ask. At that point, you can make a decision. If none of that works, you can always list it again, offering shipping the 2nd time.

I don't know if you are experienced on eBay, but there is a lot to know about it, too much to describe here. If you aren't experienced with it, it would be wise to sell a few lower priced items first, so you can get a feel for it. There are a lot of wacky people out there, it would be good to get some eBay smarts before selling an expensive item.

Now, as far as the shipping, here is my take on it:

How you pack and ship a drum kit depends on how valuable it is. Look at how most of the manufacturers ship their kits. Yamaha, for example will ship a Stage Custom kit in 2 boxes, as guys are describing here. However, they would never ship a Recording Custom kit that way. The higher valued kits are shipped one drum per box. I recommend you follow that example. For me, I would ship a kit that has any significant value that way. If you have a lower valued kit and you want to disassemble and nest it, I would disclose that in the ebay listing so the buyer is not surprised.

As Grunt stated, you want to get boxes that provide space around the drum so you can pad all around the drum. peanuts, bubble wrap, any of that is fine. Make sure you position the drum in its box so that any protruding items are positioned in a corner. For example, tom mounts and bass drum spurs should not be hitting up against a side of the box. They should be in a corner, so there is space to pad. Those are areas which can get hit and damage the shell with any kind of impact, if they are flat against a side of the box.

Extra care needs to be taken with bass drums. Those suffer more damage than others. Besides positioning the drum how I described, I also put more padding in the bottom of a BD shipping carton. I do this simply because, being the biggest and heaviest drum, they get dropped and mishandled more than others. Both BD hoops and shells can crack from impact. Make sure you ship each drum with insurance, tracking and signatures for optimal coverage.
 
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I've sold a few drums lately, so thought I would document the packing process (in case anyone is interested):

Get a box big enough to pad all around. Start with the bottom. I sometimes do a 'false bottom' so the drum can float. You put your padding in place then a piece of cardboard. creating the floating false bottom. Reuse old boxes and materials.
 

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Cover up protruding items. This drum has a RIMS mount, so I covered it in cardboard in case the mount moves around at all, it won't harm the shell. Put the drum in a plastic bag to protect the finish from any scratching. Place the drum in the box with the mount in the corner, rather than against a side of the box.
 

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Pad all around and on top, insert packing slip, attach the label, and its done.
 

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Just wondering.

I see plenty of drum kits on ebay as well as knowing people sell their gear on here. I'm just wondering what the best way is to handle shipping.

I'm considering selling my large kit and downsizing to smaller new or vintage jazz kit. I don't really have the room in my basement to have both set up but I don't know if I'd find a local buyer for it if I decide to sell.

Do you basically find boxes big enough for each drum and fill with peanuts or bubble wrap to ship it Fed Ex or UPS? I know shipping itself would be expensive for something of size but the cost of shipping materials would be pretty pricy too.

what kind of kit? Im looking for another.

F
 
what kind of kit? Im looking for another.

F

It's a 7 piece Ludwig Epic in Mahogany Burst finish. It's the Euro set up with and 8" Tom add on.

Since I've acquired a Grestch bop kit, I'm also considering moving my Ludwig a Breakbeats kit too.
 
I will just add a couple of tricks I have learned.
Instead of bubble wrap I use foam mattress toppers. They cost a little more but the foam is better. It can be squished when going in then expands to make a tight fit. Especially good when nesting drums. You don't want anything shifting around inside of the box. I would not use peanuts.
Also, when shipping a box that size, you are being charged for the size not the weight. It will cost the same to ship whether 10lbs or 50lbs. I cut thin plywood pieces to fit inside the sides, bottom, and top of the box. Between the plywood and the densely packed foam, that box is near indestructible.
This method costs a little more for packing materials but it's the best you could do in my opinion.
 
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