http://reviews.ebay.co.uk/How-to-post-a-cycle?ugid=10000000006950823Very simple guide, written by me a long time ago.
To sum up, over the one/two hundred bicycles I have received none have ever been damaged in the post, its far more likely that something loose will fall out of a hole in a box than be damaged.
Nothing has ever been properly lost, I did once have a bike that was sent by dhl but turned up a month later by parcel force though. Big things, hard to loose and easy to find are bikes. So for me insurance on them getting here is a loss making venture (course if I am posting them to someone else it can be very important but that doesn't apply here)
I would rather use a big courier than the little ones you find on ebay, they might get the job done but they are normally reselling postage from a big courier, which means if something did go wrong there will be a lot of inertia as you talk to them, they talk to parcel force, they finally get back to you with an answer.
Parcel force is my courier of choice, only ever had to make an insurance claim once for a fork, was able to speak directly to their insurance claim guy and resolve the problem
