A used 20 ft box runs roughly $1,177 to $1,950 on live listings, and a new one-trip 20 ft box lists at $2,625 — 40 ft one-trip units run $3,600 to $4,100 depending on style. The exact figures below, by size and grade, come from a national marketplace's own listings read on 2026-09-01. People buy from three kinds of seller: national marketplaces that list by grade and ZIP code, local depots and dealers that quote by phone, and peer-to-peer listings on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace for a used box someone no longer needs.
Two containers of the same size can differ by more than a thousand dollars once condition enters the picture.
Container One, a national container marketplace, prices its own inventory by size and grade rather than by ZIP-gated quote, which makes it one of the few sellers that shows a real number without a form. Live listing prices read 2026-09-01, sale price where the storefront lists one separately from the regular price.
| Size | Grade | Price |
|---|---|---|
| 20 ft | One-trip (new) | $2,625 list $2,750 |
| Cargo-worthy | $1,950 list $2,050 | |
| Wind-and-water-tight | $1,725 list $1,825 | |
| Economy grade | $1,177 list $1,675 | |
| 40 ft standard | One-trip (new) | $4,100 list $4,200 |
| Cargo-worthy | $2,300 list $2,500 | |
| Wind-and-water-tight | $2,100 list $2,200 | |
| Economy grade | $1,950 list $2,050 | |
| 40 ft high cube | One-trip (new) | $3,600 list $3,700 |
| Cargo-worthy | $2,325 list $2,500 | |
| Wind-and-water-tight | $1,975 list $2,075 | |
| Economy grade | $1,825 list $1,925 |
Grade is the biggest lever on this table, bigger than the jump from 20 ft to 40 ft in most rows. A 40 ft economy-grade box at $1,950 undercuts a 20 ft one-trip box at $2,625, purely because condition, not size, is what the grade name is describing.
The four grades on that table are the standard vocabulary of the used-container trade, running from best condition to most weathered. One-trip is a container that made a single loaded ocean voyage new from the factory and is sold rather than reloaded, so it is functionally new with cosmetic evidence of one journey. Cargo-worthy has passed an inspection certifying it fit to go back into ocean freight. Wind-and-water-tight keeps out rain and drafts but has not cleared that inspection. Economy grade is the bottom of the sellable range, sound enough to hold a shape and a roof but showing real wear.
| Size and condition | OnSite Storage range | Container xChange range |
|---|---|---|
| 20 ft, used | $1,300–$2,000 | $1,500–$3,000 |
| 20 ft, new | $2,850–$4,350 | $2,500–$5,000 |
| 40 ft standard, used | $2,000–$3,200 | $2,000–$4,500 |
| 40 ft standard, new | $4,350–$4,800 | $3,500–$6,500 |
| 40 ft high cube, used | $1,850–$3,200 | $2,500–$5,000 |
| 40 ft high cube, new | $4,500–$4,800 | $4,000–$7,000 |
Both guide ranges sit above Container One's own live listings for most rows, which is normal rather than contradictory: a guide range is trying to describe every seller in the country at once, while one dealer's lot is whatever grade and quantity happens to be sitting in their yard that week. Treat the marketplace table as what one seller has today and the guide ranges as the outer edges to expect if that seller is out of stock in your area.
The obvious guess is that a port city sells containers cheaper because that is where they arrive. OnSite Storage's own city comparison, read 2026-09-01, does not support that as a clean rule.
| City | Used 20 ft | Used 40 ft |
|---|---|---|
| Chicago, IL — inland | $1,350 | $1,800 |
| Los Angeles, CA — coastal | $1,550 | $1,850 |
| Salt Lake City, UT — inland | $2,650 | $3,050 |
“Inland cities or remote regions often see inflated container prices due to shipping container delivery costs and drayage costs.” OnSite Storage, Tracking Shipping Container Prices, onsitestorage.com, read 2026-09-01
Chicago, an inland city, priced below coastal Los Angeles in this comparison, because Chicago sits on a major inland rail and depot hub with heavy container turnover of its own. Salt Lake City, also inland but far from a depot, priced well above both. The pattern is distance from the nearest depot or port, not distance from a coastline — a city can be inland and still cheap if a depot is nearby, and a coastal city offers no guarantee if the nearest depot with stock is two states over.
Container One prices its own inventory in the open, as shown above. Boxhub and Container Alliance run the more common model: enter a ZIP code or request a quote and the price comes back for the depot nearest you, both read 2026-09-01 with no dollar figure published without that step.
Search "shipping container" plus your city and a regional yard usually turns up, the kind of seller that quotes by phone rather than listing online — Interport in Newark, NJ and Steel Box Containers in Austin, TX, both read 2026-09-01, are two examples of that pattern rather than a price source.
Where a used box someone no longer needs turns up, priced and negotiated directly with the owner rather than through a dealer. No dealer means no grading standard behind the listing, so the buyer is the one confirming condition before money changes hands.
Whichever route a buyer takes, the paperwork looks the same afterward — there is no title office for a shipping container the way there is for a vehicle, and ownership rests on the bill of sale and the container's own stamped ID number instead. That is covered in full on the container titles guide, worth reading before a private-listing purchase specifically, since a dealer invoice does that job automatically and a Craigslist handshake does not.
SMKlog's own checkout is built for parcel labels within the United States, not for pricing or selling a shipping container. Getting one bought, delivered or moved is freight territory instead, handled by a person working from the details of the specific job rather than a self-serve form.
Two related questions have their own guides rather than being folded into this one. Buying the box and having it set down on a lot is the trucking job covered on moving a shipping container: tilt-bed versus flatbed, site access, empty versus loaded. Sending goods packed inside a container across an ocean is a different question entirely, covered on shipping a container by sea: the three-leg cost structure, the weight declaration, the export filing. Neither page repeats the purchase prices above, and this page does not repeat their trucking or export detail.
Container prices move with steel cost, ocean-freight volume and regional depot supply, and every figure above is one seller's or one guide's number on the date it was read, not a fixed market price. Confirm current pricing with whoever you are actually buying from before treating any figure here as a quote.
Three places, mostly. National marketplaces such as Container One or Boxhub list units by size and grade for a metro area near you. Local depots and dealers, the kind that come up when you search "shipping container" plus your city, sell off their own yard and often quote by phone rather than posting a price online. And for a used box specifically, Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace carry listings from people selling one they no longer need, priced and negotiated peer to peer with no dealer in between.
Live listings on Container One on 2026-09-01 ran $1,177 to $1,950 for a used 20 ft box depending on grade, from economy grade up through cargo-worthy. Two pricing guides read the same day put the national range wider, $1,300 to $3,000, which is the gap between what a specific seller has on the lot and what the broader market spans.
$2,625 to $4,100 on Container One's live listings on 2026-09-01, depending on size, for a 20 or 40 foot one-trip box. National guide ranges read the same day run $2,500 to $6,500. One-trip means the container made a single loaded ocean voyage and is being sold instead of reloaded, which is why it costs more than a used box but less than a container that was purpose-built and never left the factory to work.
Distance from a depot or a port, not distance from the coast. A pricing comparison read 2026-09-01 put a used 20 ft box at $1,350 in Chicago, an inland city with a major container depot hub, and $2,650 in Salt Lake City, also inland but far from one. Los Angeles, a coastal port city with heavy container turnover, priced closer to Chicago than to Salt Lake City. The trucking distance from the nearest depot moves the number more than whether the city sits on a coast.
Cargo-worthy is the higher grade: a container inspected and certified fit to go back into ocean freight, structurally sound with no more than light cosmetic wear. Wind-and-water-tight is a step down, meaning the box keeps out rain and drafts but has not passed the inspection that would clear it to ship cargo again, which is why it runs cheaper on every listing that offers both grades side by side.