May have mentioned this before. Two years ago I shipped a 1000 lb skid from Northern BC to Niagara for $250.00. My friend and in BC got the quote, took it to the terminal and instructed them to ship to me and bill my account. The bill came in, $1200 or 1500 (can't remember). I called them and they credit down to a $250 fee.
What happened? I'll never know - was the 250 ->1500 increase an error, or is the policy bend the customer over he hasn't secured a quote first. I suspect the later. The quote was in buddy's name but when it came to shipping it was put through on my account so their system had no idea they'd quoted the shipment.
Moral of the story, always get a quote first, in writing.
As for used machine tool arbitrage? I'd think you'd make more faster flipping burgers. Transportation and time, paying someone to package/skid/crate, plus who wants to buy machines without seeing them first?