Question about Shipping

Hey Guys,

Question about shipping a product.

I wanted to ask for advice from people who have sold equipment and how they went about shipping their product.

I am contemplating selling an integrated but before I get to that point, I am trying to get baseline numbers on shipping.

I went to Fedex today to talk to them, inquired about double boxing, provided value  and weight of product and gave them the furthest zip code from me (within the lower 48 states to get an idea of how much shipping would be).

They do not insure the product and stated I would need to insure with a 3rd party.

Anyways, here are my questions, hope people who have gone through this can chime in:

1) Who is your preferred shipper?

2) I am assuming you probably choose to ship ground unless the buyer wants it quicker?

3) Do you insure with the shipper or are you forced to go through a 3rd party?

4) I am assuming you include all the shipping costs in the price of your product or do you eat some of it so that you can sell your product?

5) Besides Audiogon, do you prefer some other site for selling?

6) Do you prefer to use Paypal or some other form of transaction?

7) I suppose a local sell would always be better to avoid the headache of shipping?

I appreciate any feedback.

Thanks