I was looking into buying an older garden tractor that was about 500 miles away and found this;
http://www.uship.com/. It's a reverse style auction for shipping. You post what you want shipped, from and too and people bid on the "job". I didn't use it, you are potentially taking a chance, but the cost is very competitive. If I was going to buy a large item, some distance away I would give this a try.