Have you recently won or thinking of bidding on furniture (or other large items) on eBay?  Is the item local pickup only?  Or are you struggling to get a decent price for delivery? Here's what you need to know : -

Many items listed on Ebay are for local collection only as people do not want to spend time sorting out delivery.  This often means that you can pick yourself up a great bargain if you arrange your own delivery and find a cheap courier.  These items could include anything from; office equipment, white goods, electrical appliances, garden items to sporting equipment.

There are however a number of factors which you must consider when trying to find yourself a cheap courier to carry out a delivery:

o    Is the quote all inclusive?
o    Does it include VAT?
o    Are they insured, will your item be insured?
o    Will the driver collect only from kerbside, or are they willing to come to 3rd floor if necessary?
o    Do they want the item to be packaged, if so, how?

To get the best possible service and price it is advisable to get quotes from a number of companies, one website that allows you to do this for free and is easy to use is Shiply.  They run an online marketplace where couriers and transport companies actually bid and compete for your business like an auction.  So not only will you save a lot of money but it also removes the hassle of having to phone around for quotes, Shiply is an eBay certified solution.

You can read more about Shiply on eBay's own web site here:
http://cgi6.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?SolutionsDirectory&subgroup=9&page=details&solutionId=7226

When I moved furniture using Shiply I found that I received many bids from different companies competing against each other which meant that I achieved a much lower price.  Many of the companies were already doing similar routes and therefore were just filling their load to a greater capacity, so it’s good for the environment too – keeping Lorries on our roads running full!