Shipping damage becoming a real issue

Ghanson sorry you've had those experiences with dealers and I hope they make good on any issues for you. All my transactions here have been with private parties with good results other than some dealer purchased tubes.

I bought most of my system on Audiogon about 6-10 years ago. Back then communication between seller and buyer was not restricted and offers could be customized (made conditional on certain packing procedures being followed). I would sometimes agree to pay for more for shipping to make the seller commit to proper double boxing. As I understand it, current sales procedures prevent, or make much harder, this kind of communication and pre-sale agreement on how packing is to be done.

What are the current restrictions other than communicating via Agon and not via direct email externally?

I did a couple buys earlier this year and do not recall any restrictions on communicating otherwise.

Some kind of agreement on how to safe ship and cost should be part of any large transaction I would think. Otherwise the risks to buyer are considerable especially for fragile big ticket items common in these parts.

Mapman. I'm not referring to restrictions set out in some formal policy statement, but rather the way the contract process is structured. With its "fill-in-the boxes" method of creating a contract, Audiogon prevents inclusion of any contract terms other than the price - other terms such as how the seller is going to package the equipment. Whether or not the "Memo" box can be used to add provisions to the contract is unclear.

Audiogon now also restricts communication between the parties, so you have to submit your offer without any chance to discuss packing with the seller and judge how enthusiastic or reluctant the seller is on that topic. I may be wrong on this, but I think e-mail communication is also not possible until after the buyer is committed to buying the item. I'm not saying anything new - these complaints were aired when Audiogon restructured the contract process.

After you've made your deal with the seller, you can ASK for certain packing procedures, but the seller doesn't have to agree to them because the contract has already been made.