I'll answer your question first: shipping a bike is expensive. $500 would be a bargain. You'd probably be looking at the $700 range, and $1000 isn't unthinkable, depending on your timeframe and flexibility (willing to drive to, say, Albany to pick it up?). Given that an '03 FZ1 is probably only worth $3-4k, that's a hell of an added cost. I flat-out wouldn't recommend shipping it unless you've got oodles of money to burn.
Have you at least seen the bike in person? It's generally a bad idea to buy a bike sight-unseen and have it shipped to you unless you're very familiar with the seller.
Beyond that, unless you're really concerned about mileage, there's no shame in flying out there and riding the bike home. Indiana->Vermont isn't THAT far and can be done in a weekend pretty easily. Of course, the weather right now isn't very conducive to riding. If the buyer can't hang on to it until the spring, then I suppose you'll have to ship it. There are plenty of reputable shipping companies out there (just google them). The main thing you want is insurance with ZERO deductible if your bike will be transported in an open trailer. You probably want that even in an enclosed trailer, too. Depending on how the bikes are stored on the trailer, yours might be scratched up as they load/unload other bikes around yours. Get good, high quality photos of the whole bike from the seller before they load it up. Take another set of quality photos *before* they unload the bike. Beyond that, you'll probably be set.
