What service to ship Datavideo TBC?
 

What shipping service do you recommend for oversized items? When I enter the dimensions of a Datavideo TBC-3000, UPS tells me to use their freight service, which then lists a price of 5000 euros to ship from Europe to Canada! I am missing something? How do you guys ship these Datavideo items that are a bit bigger than the maximum length allowed for parcels at UPS?

Here are the these dimensions of the product (I assume that is the box dimensions and not the hardware dimensions):

Width: 420 mm
Depth: 240 mm
Height: 60mm
Weight: 3.2 Kg

Width: 16.5354 inches
Depth: 9.45 inches
Height: 2.36 inches
Weight: 7.06 lbs

I sometimes use Shippo when I send out of the US, that's a good one. UK->global though, Parcel2Go is another excellent service.

Quick update: when I entered the size in UPS, I messed up. I put the number in mm but it wanted it in cm. So it thought my box was 10 times bigger than it was. Oops. All good now. It's a typical shipping cost for something of that size from Europe.

I was going to mention this, as I know I sent items this big (and even bigger) without paying 5k€

That's actually 1000 times larger in volume :eek:
No wonder the astronomical price. :D

It depends on factors. In some regions, certain services are excellent. In others, infamous.

I need to be blunt here: If you ship on price alone, cheapest possible, you're an idiot. (Not "you" you, but generally speaking to everybody here.) This is why so much stuff is damaged or lost. And I'll touch more on this topic in a second....

A TBC is not "oversized" by any shipping metric.

Canada is special. I don't know if it's Canadian laws, or Canadian law loopholes, that demand (or allow) the price raping by shippers. You're fee'd to death, if using anything other than your local post office (USPS, etc) to Canada Post to Canada. The UPS brokerage fees are notorious (both USA>Canada and Canada>USA!). This is fine for lower cost items. But fees quickly get out of hand for expensive items.

You assume wrong.

The DataVideo TBC-3000 is about 17" (16.5" is not correct) x 9" (9.5" also not correct) by about 2.5" (2.4" is close).

But again, time to be blunt here: If you ship a TBC in the OEM box from 20 years ago, you're an idiot. Even when new, almost no padding in it. But the tape, padding, and box has aged to the point where it will be shredded in the shipping. You won't get a nice TBC in the mail, you'll get something ruined, possibly even e-waste.

More bluntness: If you squeeze a TBC in the smallest box possible, to attempt to save a few dollars on shipping, you're a damned fool moron. These item have delicate parts. The buttons, knobs, levers, switches, and input/output that is directly attached the the TBC boards. Anything less at least 3-4"+ on the delicate sides is unnacceptable, and at least 2" on the blank sides. Again, bottom board directly on bottom of unit, protect it well with cushioned adding. The top can cave, so again protect. And all TBC corners. I've had too many TBCs are to me over the years, damaged beyond repair, because some dumb SOB wanted to save $3 by using a smaller box and no padding.

Highly suggested that you double box TBCs. I almost always do.

Don't be that person. I expect that from eBay goobers, but never from members of this site.