Sometimes customers ask if they can arrange their own shipping to save money. The answer is "yes you can" but we consider the package to be "delivered" when the representative you hired picks up the package from our shop. So, if the package is lost in transit, then you would need to seek compensation for that loss with the freight company you hired. Also, if you hire your own freight company to deliver your package, our warranty would not cover repair of shipping damage because, again, our responsibility for safe delivery ends once the freight company you hire picks up the package from us. So, in the event of shipping damage, you would need to make sure that you have enough insurance coverage on the package to cover repair (and possible loss) and also shipping back to us and then back to you once the unit is repaired. Ultimately, the price we charge for freight is actually less than what it often costs us to ship but we subsidize the shipping a bit to encourage international orders. Now, if we were to ship by postal, we could probably cut the price of shipping by about 60% or more. However, once the postal package left US air space, it would be impossible to track. Since we must have tracked shipping and delivery confirmation via signature, we use UPS which is tracked door to door. I think once you start looking at how much shipping costs for a package of that size, weight and value, you will find that our shipping fee is quite reasonable, especially since we assume all responsibility for safe delivery and proper working order of the unit on arrival.