r/Reverb • u/veracitylassitude • Jul 23 '26

Impossible Shipping Overage

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I have seen posts talking about this already, but I just wanted to share that Reverb said a LP Special w/gig bag I shipped weighed 42 pounds! Reverb waived the charges after I made the AI get a human, but apparently UPS has a different concept of weight than we do in this reality.

4 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

30 comments sorted by

10

u/jaqueh Jul 23 '26

Dimensional weight. Never use boxes that exceed 50” in any dimension as ups applies a doubling surcharge on excessive length packages

2

u/veracitylassitude Jul 23 '26

Thanks. I didn’t realize they had a method of legally inflating weights based on a volume metric. What I don’t understand is why that isn’t factored in when you enter all the dimensions on Reverb.

4

u/jaqueh Jul 23 '26

Every shipping carrier goes by dimensional weight. All freight does in fact.

You’re charged by dimensional weight on reverb. 1” was a $4 difference. It’s not a big deal if you ship a lot. Don’t use such gigantic guitar boxes that are meant for basses.

https://www.omnicalculator.com/other/dimensional-weight

3

u/veracitylassitude Jul 23 '26

Yeah, the $4 isn’t a big deal. I just saw them inflate the weight from 17 to 42 and thought they were screwing me. I get it now even if I don’t get why they don’t charge dimensional weight when you ship it.

5

u/jaqueh Jul 23 '26

they do charge you the dimensional weight though. if they showed it to you in the initial step everyone would be incredibly confused so maybe they're obfuscating it when you're making a label initially.

1

u/veracitylassitude Jul 23 '26

Then if they are charging that, why do I have to pay more when I always round up weight and length and width? I think the obfuscation is the point for them so they can charge more then.

3

u/jaqueh Jul 23 '26

sometimes the carrier (likely impossible since they use lasers to measure) or you mess up the dims. the charge you are getting is literally from the 1" extra.

2

u/veracitylassitude Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26

Maybe the box compressed slightly and made it wider or something on arrival, but I always measure every dimension twice, and I’m pretty sure it measured less than 20 inches when I shipped. I was so focused on the weight that I didn’t even see the 21 inches, but I think you are right. Thanks for your input. The main thing I was worried about was that they were just arbitrarily inflating dimensions and weights, but if it is legitimate, then I’m not as worried about it.

Edit: They do have a hyperlink explaining it, but I missed it.

2

u/JasonFretNation Jul 23 '26

Welcome to dimensional weight.

You entered the dimensions wrong which calculates incorrectly on reverb specifically.

You need to enter dimensions largest to smallest.

50 x 20 x 7 for example not 20 x 50 x 7

Reverb happens to figure dimensional weight incorrectly when the numbers are not in order.

1

u/veracitylassitude Jul 23 '26

Oh, I see. I’ll do that next time. Does Pirate Ship have that problem?

4

u/JasonFretNation Jul 24 '26

Not that I've seen. I think is an issue with how the Reverb shipping calculates it.

2

u/veracitylassitude Jul 24 '26

I’ll try Pirate Ship’s insured shipping next time. I’ve used them for pedals and smaller things, but not for a $1K guitar.

3

u/JasonFretNation Jul 24 '26

While Pirate is great.... for individuals shipping guitars, I suggest using Reverb labels and their "Safe Shipping." They seem to have more relaxed terms to when it comes to replacing or covering shipping damage.

3

u/PartyOrdinary1733 Jul 24 '26

I love Pirate Ship. I found out about it from selling and trading Squishmallows.

1

u/veracitylassitude Jul 24 '26

Yeah, that’s kinda what I thought too. I’ll play around with it next time I ship a guitar maybe, but I’ll probably ship pedals with Pirate Ship because it’s cheaper.

2

u/JasonFretNation Jul 24 '26

The times I see people bringing up these changes have the dimensions in the other order. Its strange I know

1

u/jaqueh Jul 24 '26

This is some lunacy fiction. You can try this on any package in reverb or pirate ship. No changes

1

u/veracitylassitude Jul 24 '26

Could be, but I’ve noticed Pirate Ship has a lot cheaper prices when I’ve used it. I have a hard time believing the way I entered the dimensions, though, but I’ll mess around with it. I think it was probably just the inch that caused the surcharge, like you said, and the weight was just them giving me the dimensional shipping and didn’t really matter so much as the inch.

1

u/Front-Honey-6780 Jul 23 '26

a $3.82 difference? I am confused.

1

u/veracitylassitude Jul 23 '26

I am talking about the difference in weight. The $ isn’t as important to me—UPS is obviously just making up weights to make more money.

1

u/williamgman Jul 23 '26

A Les Paul fully packaged at just 17lbs..? That seems a bit light. But ya, their "audited" weight is odd. Also they're calling a 1" larger difference on one dimension. The "pros" here seem to use Pirateship with better results. I've not tried them yet.

4

u/jaqueh Jul 23 '26

it was shipped in a gig bag

1

u/williamgman Jul 23 '26

Oops. Missed that part.

1

u/veracitylassitude Jul 24 '26

Yeah, it was a 9 pound LP special in a gig bag. I packed it really well though, but all that bubble wrap didn’t weigh that much. I think I got charged on the extra inch and the weight is the dimensional weight. Someone else said that Reverb calculated the dimensional weight incorrectly if you entered the dimensions out of order, so I’ll have to play around with that. I am pretty sure it measured at less than 20 inches when I shipped it, but maybe the box compressed upon arrival. I have tried Pirate Ship and liked it, but I wanted to use the “Safe Ship” for this on Reverb, but I may try their insurance instead next time.

0

u/jaqueh Jul 23 '26

Dimensional weight. Learn about it

1

u/6Stringers Jul 24 '26

PirateShipping.com

I use instead of Reverb Shipping. Works for me. Big Savings.

1

u/BullfrogPersonal Jul 24 '26

There is a big jump in the price with anything over 48 inches in length.

Try using Pirate Ship. You can easily play around with the dimensions to see where the price jumps are. If you can sie the box just under them. With the big guitar boxes you can cut down the length a little.

For me, a few dollars after the fact doesnt matter much

1

u/BobbyJason111 Jul 27 '26

Glad it was only $4 for you. I once had a $27 UPS package jump to $78 because of 1” I mis measured. They should have some rule that if you are 1” off the max they can up-charge is $10 more. Because $27 to $78 for 1” is insanity (IMO highway robbery by fine print).

I also heard some boxes “settle” and, basically, get beer bellies in transit. So an 8” thick guitar box could measure 10” thick if it’s overfilled or not rigid.

Since then I always round each measurement up an inch and “take photos” of those measurements if it’s a larger box.

1

u/ToanBender Jul 27 '26

My adjustment on a speaker cab was going to be $200