What's the best way to ship an iMac

I am trying to find a box for my 17" iMac. The Apple store only had boxes for the current iMacs. Staples and Best Buy both said the have a compactor and no boxes available. The UPS store said nothing about special computer boxes, but did have boxes for sale. They said it had to be double boxed with bubble wrap on the inner box and 2" of peanuts all around in the outer box. The two boxes would cost $20. But for $49 they would box it up for me... plus the cost of shipping was $60 from Maine to Georgia! Ouch. Uhaul is my next try for boxes. Stay tuned.

THINK TWICE ABOUT UPS STORE! I have two iMacs for sale on eBay.

UPS Store prices have gone up dramatically as of Jan, 2015. The price to box an iMac 27" is about $40. The (additional) price to then ship from NC to Ohio is $180 via UPS Ground from the UPS Store.

If you sell your iMac on eBay, the going price for shipping (as of Feb, 2015) is $50. If you have a UPS account, you can ship via UPS Ground for about 25 percent of the UPS Store charge.

I just went through this and thought I'd add to this thread. An earlier post suggested going to an Apple Store and having them pack it. This did not work for me. When I called my Apple Store (Lenox in Atlanta) they first said that they had just gotten rid of all their boxes but to call back in two days. When I did that, they HUNG UP on me when I asked if they could pack my computer! I called Apple phone support to ask whether the bit posted on the online support community, about Apple Stores packing computers, was wrong. They said it depends on the store. So I called the Atlanta Perimeter location, and they were very helpful. They would have been happy to get a box for me, but my iMac is six months old so the new boxes would not fit my iMac. I ended up going to UPS to have it boxed. It cost about $25. So, if your computer is new (exact same size as new ones), I recommend calling an Apple Store but there is no guarantee they will listen to your question (in Altanta, Perimeter store = very helpful, Lenox store = hangup). If that fails, go to UPS.

Go to a UPS Store where they have special containers for shipping computers.

It'll cost a little extra, but if you don't have the original box, I'd second just having the UPS store pack and ship it for you.