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Shipping. Hard Lesson.

I'm selling some high end audio gear for the estate of a relative who passed away. I've never done this before. I'm using C's List, eBay and A'gon. It has been a lot of work and not a lot of fun.

Tons of scammers on C's list but excellent experience selling to a local audiophile.

Got a sale pending here at A'gon. Not too bad.

One good experience on eBay.

But then the Bryston 9B SST2 amp sold on eBay. I had actually about decided to purchase it myself when it sold via eBay. Super nice, experienced buyer.

Took the amp to UPS. It weighs 65 pounds. Asked them to double box and was ready to pay the price but the clerk convinced me that there was no need. They would wrap it well and the box she chose was supposed to handle 85 pounds.

Well, it gets to the buyer and he sends me a picture and it looks like the box has rolled down a mountain. The handles are broken off of the amp and it is dinged all up. Have no idea if it works or not. I'm not sure double boxing would have mattered in this case.

We insured it for the price paid. Buyer was very understanding but disappointed of course. I will get paid (by UPS) what I was going to get paid anyway but both the buyer and I commiserated over a fine piece of equipment destroyed. Or at least marred.

Anyway, sorry about the long sad sop story but I will probably have other gear to ship in the near future possible even the gorgeous Aerial Acoustics 5Ts which, even thought they are bookshelf speakers, are large and heavy.

So all of this is basically to ask: Who do you use for shipping large heavy delicate audio gear?
n80
facten
2,962 posts
 
n80

Here's an example of the threads I was referring to

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/shipping-large-speakers?highlight=shipping%2Bspeakers
If you type in shipping speakers in the discussions search a number of them individual threads will come up
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three_easy_payments's avatar
three_easy_payments
2,097 posts
 
Last couple of large items I’ve shipped on a small pallet using a freight service using liftgate trucks. Yes, it cost $300 but was well worth it.
mofimadness's avatar
mofimadness
5,649 posts
 
I just had this happen with a really nice cassette deck.  The unit was packaged correctly by the seller, but UPS did a number on it anyway.

Both of us also " commiserated over a fine piece of equipment destroyed".  Nice way to say it.

Sorry for your loss...
sengr
8 posts
 
Have you ever seen those fellows in Walmart wrapped up a column of merchandise with those 2 feet wide shrink wraps? I would use those to get her water tight after you pack her in the first box with foam corners and bubble wrap (quarter size bubbles), then wrap the outside of the first box with the wide shrink wrap. Then put the wrapped box into the second box and packed it with foam corners and bubble wraps again, making sure there is no movement between the outer and the inner boxes. I am quite sure this will take care of the occasional "accident" the shipping company may have. I have a MC2200 which has some loose connection issue with no sound from the right channel. Luckily, I have a choice of 2 local places to take her into. Whew!
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