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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
tuberist
951 posts
 
It’s best to always do your own packing and double boxing your self.
edcyn
1,876 posts
 
When I shipped my SOTA Sapphire to my new home...and it was indeed shipped aboard a freighter...I specifically purchased full replacement insurance for it and for the rest of my stereo gear.  Because the SOTA uses lead shot as ballast and because the lead shot is a bee-otch to remove, I packed the 'table myself in the original SOTA packaging and veritably festooned the outside of the box with instructions to keep the box upright during shipping. 


Naturally, the box showed up at the destination sitting on its side.  A shake of the box would initiate a distinct maracas-like rattle.  My subsequent back-and-forth with the company's insurance desk was a bit comical.  Among other things, the lady on the other side asked me to prove there was damage to the turntable.  She wanted to watch it spin around via video.  I countered by telling her that a simple video would not suffice to show the turntable wasn't damaged.  I gave her a song-and-dance about how the device had to be connected to a high-end stereo and listened to in-person in order for any judgment to be made.  A settlement check was subsequently sent in the mail.  As for the 'table itself, I recovered as much of the lead shot as I could that was rattling around in the box and put it back in its proper place.  Bottom line, the turntable was able to be leveled.  The bearing, the part of the 'table I was most concerned about, remains silent.  Sound quality is fine.
bob540
407 posts
 
@n80, I feel badly just hearing of your experience.  I can only imagine how badly you and the purchaser felt to know that wonderful amp was battered like that.

The guy I bought my first audiophile piece of equipment from, an amp, told me to keep all original manufacturer packing for any equipment in the event I would ever sell it — now I know why (I drove to his home in an adjoining state to get it).  I have seen how sellers on CR state for pick-up only and will not ship.  I hope I never have to ship any equipment.  

One would think that the shipping companies would care more about the quality of their service than to allow any employee to drop, throw, kick, etc. any package.  If a competitor earned a reputation for taking care of packages, you can bet the rest of them better start caring or go out of business.  
isochronism
2,893 posts
 
The UPS stores I've dealt with, which I believe are franchised, have been consciencius. Once the package leaves is where poor handling may occur. I've heard similar bad stories, such as this. Sorry to hear about this, and a shame on the damaged unit. I mainly scrolled down to see if ebm responded. 😊
n80 OP
2,116 posts
 
I appreciate the sympathies. As mentioned, I have no financial stake in this exchange but it just kills me to think of such a nice piece of equipment ruined like that. Especially since it did not appear that is was just simply dropped. That kind of mistake is going to happen from time to time and can be forgiven. This unit was not simply dropped. I still can't imagine what happened.


Also as mentioned, I was selling this stuff for an estate. The former owner, a cousin of mine, did not keep the boxes etc for any of this gear. We looked all over for it. I don't suppose the audio dealer that sold him would have kept that stuff?


UPS says they are sending someone to pick up the amp from the buyer. I am assuming they will keep the unit which is their prerogative. I was kind of hoping the buyer would get to keep it and that it might still be functional so this would not have been such a bad experience for him. He apparently is an experienced audiophile and has been on both ends of these type of fiascos and has been very understanding. If I had been the buyer it would have freaked me out!

Anyway, I shipped out a pair of 10' Transparent Super G5 speaker cables that sold here on Audiogon today. I boxed them myself and it was still expensive to ship them because I was not taking any more chance.

At this point I'm not shipping anything else. Local pick up only or take it back to the dealer to sell on consignment.
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