How to get my bike from Manchester to London

So,
I bought myself just recently a new winter beater on ebay. The seller is happy to post it, but I have to take care of it. It seems that the seller cannot get a bike box from a LBS to pack it, though.

What can I do? What options are out there to get the bike from Manchester to London? I heard that there are some pick-up couriers, but they are probably around 30 Punds. Is that the only way to go?

What kind of posting options would you guys recommend?

cheers

Whereabouts does the seller live in Manchester? I could provide a lengthy list of LBS's up there who all hemorrhage bike boxes and are more than willing to give them away!? Has he tried non-LBS's like Halfords etc? They also have box for fun. If he's willing to post it sounds like he's not really making much effort to fulfil that!

The seller lives in M46 area. The problem seems to be to get the box from the shop to his home. He has no way to carry the box, he said.

I feel like he is not really into shipping the bike as in getting a box, packaging and stuff. Rather he is in like pick-up on the bike. But maybe its just the lack of proper knowledge of how such things are done, I dunno.

I on the other side would much rather prefer to get the bike in a box, but I don't know anybody from Manchester and cannot just get there and take it. :-/

Pop a post in the manchester thread?

but they are probably around 30 Punds

Sounds like a good price: the postage alone will cost you the best part of that.

If they are prepared to collect the bike without the seller having to package it, then that's £5 well spent.

I couldn't find it anymore, unfortunately. So now I just posted a request on anyvan. I also considered a train ticket, but there are no cheap fares left.

Whatever you do, do not use GoParcelExpress.

I had a nightmare with them on a customer service front and had to open a paypal dispute to get a refund months after paying. finally organised it via TNT and it took less than a week to arrive. cost 30 odd quid but by that time i didn't care!

From what I see on anyvan it would me cost around 60 pounds to get the bike. So, 30 sounds like a hell of a deal! Did you get your bike as it was without packaging and stuff?

So, By now the seller got a box, and boxed the bike up. Unfortunately, the seller is only available from 5:30pm onwards every day, making choosing a pickup service kind of hard to choose. Any pick-up service I have seen so far offers only wide time slots. Does anyone know a service where I can define a more precise time slot for pick up?

Drop off seems not to be an option, according to the seller. Things are really complicated these days.

You could try bla bla car. And hunt for someone doing that trip then ask very nicely if they could take a bike instead of a person :)
I've been asked before to fetch a flight case of cloths from Newcastle to Bristol. Charged them one seats worth and did door to door. Actually made money on that trip too, they were well happy and gave me some beer