Selling Large Speakers - How to reduce shipping?

I would only sell or purchase such large items locally. For premium audio equipment someone should be willing to drive 3 or 4 hours to make a transaction. If both parties are willing to meet halfway that gives you a 400-500 mile market radius. It can be a hassle, but it completely eliminates the problems of shipping damage.

I have used Pilot Air Freight a few times now and there prices are great and so is there service and I have had no problems with damage. If I am shipping large speakers no matter what I will build a custom pallet for them and strap them together to it, that way they can only lift with a forklift and not topple individual boxes end over end.

I shipped some Von Schweikert VR4 SRs that weighed well over 300 pounds on the pallet from California to New Hampshire and it cost 300 bucks and took a week.

Bax is good to and Cheap. I shipped some Maggie 3.6s to Italy and it only cost 200.00. The only thing is they won't deal with delivery to residences. In fact they refused to come to my place for pickup since I live where I work, even though I have room to turn a large semi truck around and have a forklift on site.

Try Bax Global. Put them on a pallet. Borrow a banding machine or just get some plastice banding and a few of the clips. You can do it yourself using a pliers instead of the banding tool. Uhaul sells that stretch plastic, about $6. per large roll and definitely go around each speaker to keep out the rain.

Very important. If one gets damaged could you replace it with an exact match? I would insure for twice the amount of the speakers that way if one goes you are covered.
Also extremely important. The buyer must view the speakers before signing off on them. In other words he must remove the plastic wrap and have a clear view of the boxes to check for damage. Once he signs off on them it could be over.

Next time purchase smaller speakers...

I tried calling Bax Global now called DB Schenker. It seems they don't deal with private customers. I asked them if I could drop off my speakers at one of their locations. Their reply was that I am an unknown shipper and they will only deal with businesses.

Thanks for all the replies. I'm checking into some of your suggestions.

You may want to look into moving companies in your area.

My Infinity RSIIb's (pretty big speakers) were shipped from Florida to NJ (to me) via a moving company that goes up and down I-95 every 10 days or so. In addition to their normal loads they will bring along other items if there is room. Instead of the UPS Freight charge of >$1000, I paid them ~$475, and the speakers arrived in perfect condition.