Both. Some folks advertise "professionally" packed, which can easily add
$50 to shipping costs. I think the physical transport of a bike in a box
from A to B usually maxes out around $50 from coast to coast in the US.
This price is for an average size MTB. A road frame or larger sized frame
might tip into another class of oversized, as another poster mentioned.

The last bike that was shipped to me was something like $75, which I
considered fair. The packing materials were effective (lots of old cardboard
shoved between all metal parts), the bike was only slightly disassembled
(pedals removed, steerer loosened, seatpost/seat and wheels removed and hubs
padded). I suspect the pack job was a 20 minute effort mainly because that's
about how long it took me to re-assemble it. On the few occassions where
I've shipped bikes I haven't charged for my time, but, hey, some folks do.

Certainly I've seen other items on eBay that have outrageous shipping costs
to offset "deals" on pricing. At least with bikes you can argue the case for
proper packing.

"Velo Psycho" wrote in message
ups.com...
Look at some of these shipping prices for bikes on Ebay... $60, one
seller even has $100 shipping charges.

What gives? Any theories? Is this just "price padding" or is it
something with a legit explanation?