A simple request---Please pack audio gear well.

Poschecab,

Sage advice.... I too have used the UPS stores and other pack and sends for just this reason. It costs, but i don't worry. I just received a watch winder I bought from a guy in state. He had the UPS store pack it. I must say they outdid even my! Wrapped in bubble wrap, then cardboard, then more bubble wrap. Int the first box, then foam peanuts and a second box.

Yeah, I paid for it, but my winder made it here in perfect condition, and that was worth the extra $100 to me!

KT

When you pack audio gear especially heavy gear, go on the assumption that someone will drop it from a height of 8 feet. That is the rule of thumb I use when I pack. You really must pack it "bomb proof" as I call it. Shippers will not take care of anything heavy.

Just my 2 cents

I just had a similar problem. I ought a cdp off of Audiogon a few weeks ago. The seller had good rep and was selling a barely used unit. It was double boxed and shipped in the original box, well packed. Well i had bought off of Ebay a few weeks before that another used cdp unit and it was not as well packed and when played skipped.

So the delivery guy hands me the package and i hear a metal sound scraping. So i get it in house see the box has some crunched edges so i get my digital camera out and take some pics. I fire up the cdp and nothing it wont play the cd. The outside of the unit is in mint condition. So the seller sends a pick up notice and files with the company. They email me asking about the package, seems they dont believe him. I send them a note explaining what happened then i realize i had taken some photos of the box. So i send a second email with the pics. Seller tells me thats what forced the company to pay for the drop "ped" shipping.

So shoot some digital pics of the box before you open it. Cheap insurance.

Speaking with a former electronics dealer, now a part of a major manufacturer of pro and counsumer audio gear, he told me when he was a dealer the greatest obstacle he had to overcome were common carriers.

Not recessions, manf. price hikes, inflation, or seasonal activity. Carriers.

His experience and on site tours of two major Fed Ex hubs showed him that in two locations the cnveyor belts used to do the sorting of the incoming & outgoing parcels took 4 - 5 ft. drops in at least one place during the transition at both Northern hubs.

4 to 5 foot drops are remarkably large drops. If the package doesn't drop well and rolls or bounces off of the lower conveyor belt, yet again the package falls further onto the (I assume) concrete floor!

I doubt seriously that makers of very heavy gear package them well enough to sustain themselves without issues by dropping a few off their loading docks in testing their packing.

Those two hubs he noted as having visited were Ft Wayne, In, and Ann Arbor, Mi. There may well be others.

I know of one person who used UPS and UPS packing to transmit some item and it was damaged upon arrival at the recipients address. UPS denied the claim initially, indicating improper packing of the item as fault. The shipper pointed to the check box where he had paid additionally for UPS packing on his receipt.

UPS then, paid the claim.

Comments and tips,
1."Overinsuring" is not necessarily insurance fraud. I just sold and shipped a preamp that now sells new for $5K. I did not sell it used for that, but I insured it for that. UPS treats items insured for $5K or more as higher value items and requires special procedures for drivers, and I believe for handling the package all the way down the chain. The higher value insurance in this case was a small price to pay for supposedly more careful shipping service.
2.Anyone who doesn't want the problems associated with damaged goods and dealing with shipper's insurance, should get in the habit of double boxing electronic components they sell. I routinely purchase a second box a little larger than the first from the UPS store, and double box all component sales, whether the buyer pays for it or not - geez, it only costs 6 bucks! As stated above, try to get about an inch of styrofoam or bubble wrap in the space between the boxes, especially for heavier stuff. Most buyers will also appreciate that the original Mfg's box inside is not the one getting beat up.
3.Something I have learned from other experienced Audiogonners is that most believe it is safer to ship via air, even the 2 or 3 day variety, as the package is reportedly treated better than a "ground" package.
4.I believe I have had relatively fewer shipping problems by subscribing to the idea it is the seller's responsibility to deliver the item safely to the buyer, then treating the packing, insuring and shipping as carefully as I would want it treated for items I purchase.
Just my experience, YMMV.