Definitely check with a shipping company. I have been told, but do not know for sure, that when shipping UPS or FedEx the item must be in a cardboard box or they will not cover damages. In other words, if you ship in a hard or soft case with no box around it, then it's on you if something happens. However, if you put a cardboard box around your hard case, the shipper will cover damages. Makes no sense to me, but that's what I was told. Anyone out there know about this? I would also think shipping this way would be very expensive because of the size of the box. When I shipped with both UPS & FedEx I used cardboard bike boxes from my LBS. Never had any major damage but lost a few parts here and there (skewers, etc.)