People don't know how to pack amps anymore, be careful...

[Wizard of Ozz]

Call me a traitor.
But my last 4 Amps I shipped......
Fed ex.

... nah... that's experienced and wise.

 

[Mailman1971]

Awesome.

 

[Kordoba]

Open the box and eat the candy.

 

[live4metal]

Wow that sucks. I just got a month ago some speakers as well from a "reputable" seller and they were packaged like shit in thin box with few bubble layers and both got destroyed. Even worst, I might have to pay broker fees that fedex is asking me.

I have been selling and shipping amps many times on ebay and reverb and here,s how I stand by my work:

- If you can,t drop a box from 6 feet high without any damage then your packaging is NOT good enought
- I personnaly dont want to have anything back and go through all this hasle so I plan accordingly
- Best packing method for newbees and retard, please take advice:
1. wrap the amp all around with 25 feet thick bubble wrap 2. Surround the amp with thick sheets of foam with at lest 2-3 inch thick. Put another few inch of foam sheets at each bottom of the box.
3. If you still have some space inside the box, fill the rest wih more sheet of foam or peanuts
4. Pack the amp inside TWO DOUBLE LAYER box into another which gives 4 layers of thick box packaging

I get what you are feeling. It just happened to me and I feel I got screwed and am not planning to buy online from private sellers for a while.

Regarding the right to ask about packaging. You SHOULD be able to ask. It is YOUR money and if the seller cares about his reputation and of others he will take the extra steps to accomodate you as I DO when I sell things

 

[Kordoba]

Wow that sucks. I just got a month ago some speakers as well from a "reputable" seller and they were packaged like shit in thin box with few bubble layers and both got destroyed. Even worst, I might have to pay broker fees that fedex is asking me.

I have been selling and shipping amps many times on ebay and reverb and here,s how I stand by my work:

- If you can,t drop a box from 6 feet high without any damage then your packaging is NOT good enought
- I personnaly dont want to have anything back and go through all this hasle so I plan accordingly
- Best packing method for newbees and retard, please take advice:
1. wrap the amp all around with 25 feet thick bubble wrap 2. Surround the amp with thick sheets of foam with at lest 2-3 inch thick. Put another few inch of foam sheets at each bottom of the box.
3. If you still have some space inside the box, fill the rest wih more sheet of foam or peanuts
4. Pack the amp inside TWO DOUBLE LAYER box into another which gives 4 layers of thick box packaging

I get what you are feeling. It just happened to me and I feel I got screwed and am not planning to buy online from private sellers for a while.

Regarding the right to ask about packaging. You SHOULD be able to ask. It is YOUR money and if the seller cares about his reputation and of others he will take the extra steps to accomodate you as I DO when I sell things

 

[RedB4Black]

Wow that sucks. I just got a month ago some speakers as well from a "reputable" seller and they were packaged like shit in thin box with few bubble layers and both got destroyed.

I just got a replacement speaker from a manufacturer who installed a defective speaker in my brand new Diezel cab. It was shipped to me in the Celestion box it comes in. Not even put in another box with padding. Even though when I shipped them the defective speaker, it was shipped packed in the Celestion box, then well packed and cushioned in a larger box. You'd think they'd have just swapped the speakers out and used my packaging to send back.

Fortunately it arrived without damage.

 

[Scumback Speakers]

I just got a replacement speaker from a manufacturer who installed a defective speaker in my brand new Diezel cab. It was shipped to me in the Celestion box it comes in. Not even put in another box with padding. Even though when I shipped them the defective speaker, it was shipped packed in the Celestion box, then well packed and cushioned in a larger box. You'd think they'd have just swapped the speakers out and used my packaging to send back.

Fortunately it arrived without damage.

I remember when Chad/pfapin05 sent his speakers back to me for a refund/replacement. Apparently his uncle works at a UPS Store. He had exactly 1/2 inch of newspaper at the bottom of the cardboard box for padding for four speakers, if that. Somehow he got that "certified" by Fedex before shipping. When six of the 8 speakers came back with bent frames, Fedex was obliged to pay them the insurance money due to the certification. Fedex sent a rep out to my shop to inspect the packing, and he just shook his head. I still have the speakers here, they make great doorstops. They frames were bent a minimum of 3/4" in two places on six of the eight frames. No, I didn't try to straighten the frames or rebuild them, they were just too damaged to deal with.

So consider yourself lucky that you got that speaker in one piece, sir!

 

[Oblivion DC]

I just got a replacement speaker from a manufacturer who installed a defective speaker in my brand new Diezel cab. It was shipped to me in the Celestion box it comes in. Not even put in another box with padding. Even though when I shipped them the defective speaker, it was shipped packed in the Celestion box, then well packed and cushioned in a larger box. You'd think they'd have just swapped the speakers out and used my packaging to send back.

Fortunately it arrived without damage.

I remember when Chad/pfapin05 sent his speakers back to me for a refund/replacement. Apparently his uncle works at a UPS Store. He had exactly 1/2 inch of newspaper at the bottom of the cardboard box for padding for four speakers, if that. Somehow he got that "certified" by Fedex before shipping. When six of the 8 speakers came back with bent frames, Fedex was obliged to pay them the insurance money due to the certification. Fedex sent a rep out to my shop to inspect the packing, and he just shook his head. I still have the speakers here, they make great doorstops. They frames were bent a minimum of 3/4" in two places on six of the eight frames. No, I didn't try to straighten the frames or rebuild them, they were just too damaged to deal with.

So consider yourself lucky that you got that speaker in one piece, sir!

By and large, people just don't give a damn.

 

[Wizard of Ozz]

Wow that sucks. I just got a month ago some speakers as well from a "reputable" seller and they were packaged like shit in thin box with few bubble layers and both got destroyed.

I just got a replacement speaker from a manufacturer who installed a defective speaker in my brand new Diezel cab. It was shipped to me in the Celestion box it comes in. Not even put in another box with padding. Even though when I shipped them the defective speaker, it was shipped packed in the Celestion box, then well packed and cushioned in a larger box. You'd think they'd have just swapped the speakers out and used my packaging to send back.

Fortunately it arrived without damage.

Service... you gotta love it.

 

[Mailman1971]

I pack my stuff. As if I could whip that box off the back of a speeding pickup flying down the highway at 75 mph. And survive.

 

[Kordoba]

When it comes to shipping speakers I've been impressed with Avatar. Very well packed and I was able to reuse the box to ship another item.

 

[Scumback Speakers]

Yep, last time I got something from Avatar it was well packed. I bought a TrainWreck Express clone from a guy on the TAG (The Amp Garage) forum awhile back. Holy crap, it's smaller than a 50w Marshall head, but it showed up in a box 24"x32"x24". It took me nearly 10 minutes to get it out, he had that much packing around it between bubble wrap, foam, double boxing, you name it.

Needless to say the amp was in great shape, all the tubes were individually bubble wrapped and nothing was bent or broken. Nice to see someone gives a crap. I used that same box to ship out my Koncorde clone to a buyer last year, and I'd had it for six years before I reused it. He was just as pleased with the packing as I was.

Good packing isn't that expensive, you just have to spend $15-20 to do it right plus the box.

It sure beats the hell out of a shipping claim, paypal dispute or angry buyers.

 

[JTyson]

If they have any doubts, they could ask Psychodave how to properly do it....
It took me 2 hours to unpack the last thing I got from him. You could literally drop it out of a plane at 40k feet and it would survive. You could put a .50 caliber round into the box at 100 yds and it would not hit the contents... You could drop it into the earth's atmosphere from space, it would not only survive re-entry, but also the crash into the ground... If it hit the oceans, it would survive that too, and it would be dry...
You could strap it on the front of the UPS truck and ram a brick wall flat out.... With complete confidence
By the time I got it unpacked, I was sure it was some kind of test, either of my IQ, or my sheer unpacking stamina
But I much appreciated it

 

[Kordoba]

Yep, last time I got something from Avatar it was well packed. I bought a TrainWreck Express clone from a guy on the TAG (The Amp Garage) forum awhile back. Holy crap, it's smaller than a 50w Marshall head, but it showed up in a box 24"x32"x24". It took me nearly 10 minutes to get it out, he had that much packing around it between bubble wrap, foam, double boxing, you name it.

Needless to say the amp was in great shape, all the tubes were individually bubble wrapped and nothing was bent or broken. Nice to see someone gives a crap. I used that same box to ship out my Koncorde clone to a buyer last year, and I'd had it for six years before I reused it. He was just as pleased with the packing as I was.

Good packing isn't that expensive, you just have to spend $15-20 to do it right plus the box.

It sure beats the hell out of a shipping claim, paypal dispute or angry buyers.

I've bought a cab and a couple of speakers from Avatar. Super thick double walled cardboard held together with massive staples. I take their empty boxes and put them away for special shipping occasions. They're like the fine wine, best china, and family heirloom silverware of shipping containers.

 

[RedB4Black]

I've bought several pairs/quads of speakers from Avatar and they've always made it safely, but I would personally be nervous about shipping speakers out the way they do it. Their speakers are individual boxes and then stacked into a larger box. Extra cardboard is used to make things tight, but there's really no cushioning around the individual speaker boxes. If the box took a hard hit, I'd be afraid the frames might be damaged. If I'm shipping speakers where I'm responsible if there's damage, they'll be double boxed and the inner boxes will be well cushioned.

 

[mnemonic]

Luckily I’ve had very good luck buying gear online lately. I bought a bolt-on neck guitar from Australia (hard to find model) and we agreed to ship it disassembled to save shipping cost. The guy built a box out of 1/8” MDF board, tons of styrofoam and padding inside, everything wrapped in bubble wrap. It took me a good half hour to get everything out of the box.

I got a Fryette 2/50/2 shipped to me in a 6-space molded plastic SKB case, I still use the rack.

Got my Dual Recto shipped in a flight case.

A Les Paul shipped in its hard shell case with special attention paid to the headstock, and the case was wrapped with a ludicrous amount of bubble wrap, then some tough plastic wrapping. That one also took me maybe 20 minutes to get through.

Even pedals I have bought have come well wrapped.

Stores seem to do the worst, I don’t think I’ve ever bought tubes that weren’t just dropped in a box and mailed out without any padding, but luckily none have arrived broken yet.

Now I’ve said this I’m sure the next thing I buy will be packed like shit.

 

[Scumback Speakers]

Now I’ve said this I’m sure the next thing I buy will be packed like shit.

You are now predisposed to being f**ked on your next shipment. LOL

 

[WizardSouth-JP]

I've shipped and received many an amp. I generally keep all the original packaging from amps I buy as sometimes they don't stick around too long. With that said, when I ship them off I add extra cardboard, bubble wrap, foam etc. to keep the amps secure, but without fail UPS beats the living crap out of stuff. I've heard they have packages up 40 feet in the air and stuff falls to the ground. Had 2 Friedman heads split in half and had a Mesa 4x12 get pretty much obliterated (in the original packaging) so much so that the box was so badly beaten that UPS took a TV box and taped it around the missing section. I hate shipping amps (and buying them from folks you've not dealt with.) At least ordering from a retailer that's reputable, if the gear shows up damaged, send it back and get a refund.

 

[RedB4Black]

UPS beats the living crap out of stuff

I will never ship UPS for this reason.

One time UPS actually delivered me half an overnight envelop. The delivery required a signature. The guy actually acted like nothing was wrong. lol. The $1600 airline tickets on a foreign airline were missing (back in the days before e-tickets). I had to buy new tickets and wait 6 months before the airline (ALM) would refund my $ back on the original tickets.

 

[Scumback Speakers]

I still remember my UPS / Marshall Studio 15 combo amp fiasco. Amp was overpacked,
tubes broken, chassis bent, baffle board broken. The driver was rolling it end over end
listening to the broken glass tinkle inside, and was pissed when I said I wanted to open
it right there with him watching.

6 months of UPS claims saying the packing wasn't sufficient, even though it had 2 more
inches than their guidelines, and packed in bubble wrap and foam.

I finally took them to small claims court, and won $900 plus as a decision.

Too bad the repair of the amp was $705. I only paid $575, but that's only because the
seller misspelled Marshall to Marshal with one L. Good thing I insured it for $750, but
they even fought me on that, saying I overinsured the amp beyond its value.

Never mind they accepted the insurance money for it, they didn't want to pay for what I
insured it for, either.

UPS, United Package Smashers, right? LOL