Why can't people pack items properly?! - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: timb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2016, 02:19:32 pm
content: So, a few days before Christmas I was browsing eBay and ended up getting a great deal on a vintage precision power supply, an HP 6114A to be exact. The seller even included free shipping! I had a couple of other items in my cart, so I checked out and thought everything was good. I was busy with Holiday activities and pretty much forgot about it.On January 4th I get a payment reminder from eBay, saying the item hadn't been payed for. So I check and, sure enough it hadn't! Turns out the item had been moved to the "Save for Later" cart, so when I checked out it hadn't been included. Oops! No big deal though, I wrote the seller a note explaining the situation and paid immediately.I then wrote the seller another message, asking them nicely to make sure it was well packed with several layers of bubble wrap, etc. as I had recently gotten a similar item from another seller, which had been packed with only newspaper and was damaged.I never got a reply to either message. Three days after paying I got a shipment notification. Finally, two days ago, I got the package.Behold, the flimsiest used cardboard box:As soon as I saw the box, with packing peanuts leaking out, I knew... I sighed and cut the tape on the top of the box...This is exactly how it looked upon opening it:Surprisingly, there was very little outer cosmetic damage, aside from some bent heat sink fins and a broken banana jack.The real damage happened inside. One of the big 4 terminal caps partially snapped from the shock of bouncing around inside the box. The voltage reference board wasn't screwed in properly and came loose. It's just a mess, but appears fixable, which is good news as the unit has a high serial number (88-89 date codes on the parts) and is otherwise in very nice cosmetic condition.Anyway, I contacted the seller with pictures and asked why he would ship it like that after I specifically asked him to use bubblewrap. I also asked for a refund to cover the damage. He replied with the following:QuoteThis made me kind of angry, so I told him that I *shouldn't* have to tell sellers *how* to pack items properly, but after nearly 20 years and thousands of transaction and a lot of damaged items, I've learned that for heavy, delicate items, yes, I do. I went on to ask him why he thought a large 20lb item was going to make it cross country via ground shipping in an oversized box half full of packing peanuts. This is common sense stuff! I told him I'd be willing to return it, but he had to pay for shipping. I told him I'd accept a $35 partial refund, since it could be fixed. (Which is a better deal for him as postage to me was nearly $40.)After thinking about it, I opened a case with eBay explaining the above and including the pictures. 20 minutes later he offered me a $35 refund. I accepted it and eBay's system said they had a problem collecting the refund and the seller had been notified. So that's where I'm at now.Sorry, this ended up being a long rant, but it just crawls all over me. I literally told him what would happen if he didn't use bubble wrap, and he was either too stubborn, lazy or stupid to do it. Most likely all of the above.I just don't get the thought process that goes into this... Did he really think, "Well, once it's sold its not my problem anymore" and not realize if it was damaged due to poor packing eBay would make him either pay return shipping or give me a refund?It just boggles my mind...Anyway, feel free to use this thread to share examples of packing and shipping horror stories!

author: MrSlack
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2016, 02:30:08 pm
content: Had a hard disk posted to me loose in an A4 jiffy bag. Didn't work.

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 21, 2016, 02:31:04 pm
content: Wanting to squeeze the last drop out of my computer, I upgraded a few things - but the CPU was the most interestingly packed.Here is my envelope...A true exercise of 'Re-use' .... but it's a bit thin:... and the staples are far enough apart for you to look inside and see .... is that bubble wrap?!!!And here it is what was inside....I'm not sliding anything around. I don't want anything rubbing on anything or risk pins getting caught, so I'm just going to cut away the top layer and fold it back...and then the second layer, to reveal ....My ... new ... CPU. Gulp. Fortunately, it survived ... butreally?

author: timb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2016, 02:32:50 pm
content: Quote from: MrSlack on January 21, 2016, 02:30:08 pmQuote from: Brumby on January 21, 2016, 02:31:04 pm

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 21, 2016, 02:36:31 pm
content: I even included a note: "I trust you will ship with appropriate anti-static precautions. Thank you."

author: mij59
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2016, 02:50:05 pm
content: I ordered 5 PCS 1W COB LED Filament from china, I received about 15 broken pieces in a plastic bag.

author: timb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2016, 02:50:50 pm
content: Quote from: Brumby on January 21, 2016, 02:36:31 pmAs soon as you said "CPU" and I saw the side view of the envelope, with the white bubble wrap visible, I cringed. I'm surprised the pins were just bent and not broken. Glad it ended up working though!I don't know about everybody else, but when I order something online, I enjoy the anticipation of getting the package and opening it, even though I obviously know what's in it. It's awesome to come home and have a packages to open.It's like Christmas-On-Demand. So, when you get a item that's damaged, the feeling is like unwrapping a present, but instead of the Nintendo you were hoping for, you got... Socks.

author: MrSlack
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2016, 03:06:27 pm
content: Definitely.Occasionally you get a pleasant surprise though. I got someone else's Farnell order dropped in with mine a couple of years ago. Had some rather nice Pomona test leads and some BNC cables in it. Finders keepers!

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 21, 2016, 03:15:04 pm
content: Quote from: timb on January 21, 2016, 02:50:50 pmI skipped right over cringe and went directly toFortunately there weren't even any bent pins. The only additional effort I had to make was to pick out a small fragment of plastic from between some of the pins and then give a spray rinse with some IPA.

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 21, 2016, 03:24:55 pm
content: Gearbest packs most of the items in just a plastic or bubble wrap bag. Of course I received my new phone in a box which was beaten a bit (but could be much worse). If it received a hit in the middle, pretty sure the screen would be shattered. You know, there isn't a good feel of a new product when you receive it like this.On the other hand I do package my items really well and often see appreciation from many buyers about it in the ebay feedback. Not a single complain about mechanically damaged item after more than thousand of sales.

author: rich
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2016, 04:13:41 pm
content: Too many people reselling kit on eBay don't appreciate that whilst the case looks strong the inside is fragile and heavy items in flimsy boxes makes carrying it more awkward and so increases the chances rougher handling along the way.My horror was a small TTi 250mA power supply shipped with a Keithey 197 bench DMM. No separation packing and the oversized box was just filled loosely with scrunched up newspaperOne foot snapped clean off the Keithley and the TTi board split/smashed 2 out of 4 moulded case standoffs.

author: timb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2016, 04:34:10 pm
content: Quote from: rich on January 21, 2016, 04:13:41 pmThis exactly.I had a Power Designs 2005A come packed in a box barely bigger than the unit itself, with only a thin layer of newspaper as cushioning. The oven, which is a tube that mounts over a round Bakelite base and attached to the PCB by two screws, had completely snapped off.(The lady was very apologetic and gave me a full refund + told me to keep it. Which is nice, because it was in absolutely original shape. I ended up buying a beat to hell unit for cheap and transplanting the oven.)The best packed item I've ever gotten was an HP 3456A. As some of you might know, these are huge 1U full length 19" beasts. The seller used that expanding foam in the grey crinkly wrapping. That's the way to go if you ship high volumes.Also, I may have a spare 197 bottom-half if you still need it.

author: rdl
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2016, 04:38:45 pm
content: I received an HP E3610 power supply that was shipped in a priority mail box with almost no packaging at all. There was one layer of 1/2 inch bubble-wrap around the sides, but nothing on the end to protect the controls and binding posts. The heatsinks had a little bit of wadded up newspaper between them and the cardboard, but the binding posts were right against the outside of the box.I have no idea how it managed to arrive undamaged.

author: MrSlack
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2016, 04:41:34 pm
content: This thread is painful. I only go and collect large items. I don't trust people with them.

author: rich
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2016, 04:49:51 pm
content: Quote from: timb on January 21, 2016, 04:34:10 pmI could be interested, it depends on how you'd pack it

author: rich
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2016, 04:59:01 pm
content: Quote from: rdl on January 21, 2016, 04:38:45 pmThe sender's thought process was probably to use newspaper to protect the box from being sliced by the heatsink, rather than the other way around.

author: marshallh
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 21, 2016, 05:02:25 pm
content: My Lecroy (from bncnengineer on ebay I think) was extremely well packed. The box was the size of a small fridge and had about 10-12 inches of padding on all sides of the instrument. Unsurprisingly, there was zero shipping damage.

author: steve30
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2016, 05:20:08 pm
content: I remember getting a desktop computer off ebay once. That was very neatly packaged and I actually had trouble opening it.I got a 14" Philips CRT video monitor once from someone on a forum. There were quite a lot of packaging materials, but it was shaking around in the box a bit. Fortunately it arrived in fine condition.Don't think I've ever had any horror stories as such.

author: TheSteve
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 21, 2016, 05:49:10 pm
content: The last Agilent supply I bought off ebay (E3630A) was "packed" in a box smaller then the supply with no packing material at all. The box had to be stretched to get the supply in. Of course it was a damaged, before shipping it was brand new, after shipping, not so much.

author: edpalmer42
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2016, 06:13:17 pm
content: I almost always mention the packing when I give a rating on ebay. If you buy something that's poorly packed, be sure to say so - regardless of the rating you give. Unless we make it public that the item was poorly packed, the sellers have no incentive to change.Ed

author: AF6LJ
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 21, 2016, 06:33:36 pm
content: It amazes the hell out of me what people think is acceptable packing methods.Having worked for a small publishing company as their shipping / receiving / distribution manager I have seen some horror stories appear at out back door.I packed a box for shipment to Canada that weighed just over 24LBS, I was new there at the time and my boss questioned if it was packed well enough. We had seen a number or boxes with split seams.... I told her watch this; I threw the box down the hall ten feet and picked it up, and handed it to her for inspection."Good enough Sue".Rule of thumb;if you cannot drop it three feet and expect it to survive...Don't ship it.

author: fivefish
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2016, 06:54:41 pm
content: Looks like a re-used cardboard box too.... right there, that's already a big problem.And if a box is too big, and the packer didn't fill it up completely, it will collapse when weight is put on top of it, or it got crushed from the sides.

author: chris_leyson
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2016, 07:12:20 pm
content: Some people just don't think I guess, had a few TEK 7000 plugins arrive with broken knobs and bent shafts, lucky I had a few scap plugins for spares. A Redifon R551N packed in a cardboard box with a handful of polystyrene chips, good job they're boat anchors.Bought some stuff from Toronto Surplus and Scientific, comes well packed, but with surplus packing materials, astro turf and old matressesI even had an almost empty box delivered by UPS, still had the packing note and a few polystyrene chips, got a replacementUPS. It wasn't their fault the shipper didn't pack it properly.I've bought some fairly large items from professional test equipment dealers and they have always been well packed, usually in polythene sheet and expanding foam so nothing is going to move.Anybody got any recommendations for two part expanding foam, just in case I need to ship something.

author: KJDS
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2016, 07:54:47 pm
content: Quote from: chris_leyson on January 21, 2016, 07:12:20 pmhttp://sealedair.com/product-care/product-care-products/foam-packaging/instapak-foam-packagingbut unless you're sending lots then it's cost and space prohibitive.

author: timb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2016, 09:37:16 pm
content: Quote from: fivefish on January 21, 2016, 06:54:41 pmYup, what I thought too. I cut the tape and opened the top flaps of the box; when I did that the entire side just fell open, which is when I took the third picture. You'd expect packing peanuts to have gone everywhere, but they didn't. Only a handful came out, so pretty much what you see in that picture is what was actually in the box.Packing Peanuts/Foam Chips are *not* designed to protect heavy items! The item will bounce around and pulverize them, which is what happened here.Still waiting on the refund. I contacted the seller with the error from eBay and told him to try doing a refund directly through PayPal, he replied that the transaction was locked, so he couldn't. Then I told him to try the eBay Resolution Center instead. Haven't heard back yet.

author: timb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 22, 2016, 12:04:07 am
content: Quote from: blueskull on January 21, 2016, 11:54:04 pmI take it you've never seen how much static plastic can generate? I can take normal bubble wrap and static dissipating (which is the correct term as nothing is really anti-static) bubble wrap, rub them against themselves and then over my dog's back. Guess which one picks up an order of magnitude more hair?At any rate, it's not the use of regular bubble wrap that's an issue. It's the fact it was stuck in an envelope by itself with a single layer of bubble wrap. It should have been stuck to an anti-static pad and wrapped a few times in bubble wrap, to protect the pins from being bent or broken.Small thin Manila envelopes like that go through automatic sorting machines with normal letters, which can apply quite a bit of pressure.

author: bitseeker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 22, 2016, 12:57:24 am
content: Tim,Sorry to hear about the shipping mishap. That's a nice power supply, BTW!The quality of shipping sure does vary widely across eBay sellers. I worry most when I purchase from individuals. They're the ones who have no experience and/or common sense. Fortunately, none have objected to my request for certain packing methodology.The best shipping-by-request result was for a metered variac I purchased. I asked the seller to liberally stuff packing materials around the autotransformer inside the case and wrap a bare wire across the terminals of the analog panel meter. The former was done perfectly, which prevented internal damage. The latter was missed, but the movement survived.The best/over-the-top shipping, without having to request anything, was for a single analog panel meter. It was placed in a like-new corrugated box twice the size of the meter and filled using one of those plastic+foam packing systems. It was awesome.

author: MarkDennehy
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 22, 2016, 01:10:58 am
content: After enough years away from the hobbyist side that"you can hand-solder SMD parts"was up there with"$15 64-bit single-board computer"on the WTF-meter, I started mucking about with a small project recently. Needed some 100M resistors and some electrolytics, so I went and ordered a kit of different values for the capacitors instead of just the ones I needed in order to build up the parts stockpile for the new workbench/lab/thingamy. Here's what the postman delivered from ebay (from two different sellers - "anycircuit" for the resistors and name-redacted-to-protect-the-guilty for the capacitors. This is exactly as the capacitors were delivered, in a plain greeting card size envelope that had been wrapped in so much wrapping tape you'd need a class four laser to open it cleanly. About a hundred or so caps, all different values, all in the one, unsealed bag, no padding, no tape holding leads, nothing. He might as well have been selling them by weight in a pick-n-mix shop

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 22, 2016, 01:47:37 am
content: Quote from: blueskull on January 22, 2016, 12:24:26 amThe issue with static was not as great as the issue of mechanical protection of the pins. You only needed something to fall on it the wrong way to mash a few!

author: GreyWoolfe
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 22, 2016, 02:17:40 am
content: Paper padding was the order of the day today. I received some solder that was wrapped up in paper and a quart bottle of 99.9% IPA that was in a plastic bag that didn't fit and surrounded by paper. Thankfully, no leaks. When I ship something breakable, there is a minimum of 2-3 inches of bubble wrap around the item and then more in the box. if I ship multiple items, there is at least 1 inch of bubble wrap between everything and then the 2-3 inches surrounding everything. Never had anything arrive at its destination damaged. Brumby, I received a Metcal tip that had more bubble wrap around it than your processor

author: Cubdriver
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 22, 2016, 02:25:26 am
content: I can certainly relate to the poorly packaged thing. I received this little HP supply about a year ago stuffed into a USPS flat rate box (the smallest one it would fit into), wrapped in about a single layer of bubble wrap. (I can't recall exactly how it was "protected" for shipment other than, for all intents and purposes, not at all!) It's been sitting on the bench waiting patiently for me to decide I want to play 3 dimensional puzzle with super glue. Though it's hard to see, the ziplock bag contains all of the chips I was able to recover from the broken enclosure.Then at the opposite end of the scale are those that go a bit cuckoo-nuts with OVERPACKING. (I'm not complaining, mind you - given the choice I'd prefer overpacking to receiving a 65 pound spectrum analyzer that's wrapped in butcher paper and has had some postage stamps stuck onto it!) This arrived this week from Zorro Tools, and made me chuckle. It did, of course, arrive safely.The box (the 1 lb spool of solder is for scale and to hold the already opened box flaps closed.) It's 12 x 9 x 6-1/2 inches:The bubble wrap it contained. This is the really tough heavy duty stuff:A double layer on top, and a single layer on the bottom. The part (singular) is in a bubble wrap bag:Correction - the part is in a ziplock bag WITHIN a bubble wrap bag:What was in this huge box, you might wonder? This:Full credit to Zorro for packaging to survive the American Tourister Gorilla and all his relatives who work in the shipping business.-Pat

author: bitseeker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 22, 2016, 02:35:05 am
content: Cubdriver,Bummer on your neat little HP supply. Since the front panel looks mostly OK, maybe just go with an open-chassis look.You definitely beat me for the over-the-top well-packed item!So far, I haven't had a true shipping horror story. A close call that I had was with a 30-lb. toroidal isolation transformer. It had been shipped in a re-used box (fortunately one that still had structural integrity) filled with styrofoam peanuts/chips. The almost-horror was that the tape on the bottom of the box was a single original layer and was barely holding the flaps together. The contents nearly fell out of the bottom!

author: Dave
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 22, 2016, 02:36:14 am
content: I once had a 34401A shipped to me fromthis guy. It was one of those packages that you start taking pictures ofbeforeyou start unpacking, because you know there is going to be carnage inside. The retarded mongrel used a single layer of bubblewrap, scrap bits of cardboard and crumpled newspaper to pad the multimeter in the flimsy, thin, reused cardboard box. The front of the multimeter was bashed inwards, the whole case was skewed, things rattled inside and the poor thing, of course, didn't work. Had to pay the return postage costs out of my own pocket. Packed it up the exact same way it arrived, I can only imagine how the meter looked after the second beating.

author: rrinker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 22, 2016, 02:55:51 am
content: Now I'm getting scared. My Fluke 45 is supposed to be here tomorrow. I've bought and sold many things on ebay, including many fragile models, and never had a problem with poor packaging. This is only my second piece of test gear I've gone the eBay route for (my Siglent scope was brand new and shipped in the original packaging so no problems there). All these horror stories... well, hopefully it gets here before the huge snowstorm so I can give it a good test while I'm otherwise stuck inside.

author: bitseeker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 22, 2016, 03:53:59 am
content: Quote from: blueskull on January 22, 2016, 03:48:27 amYeah, what's with Amazon shipping (now that you mention it)? Even fragile items I've purchased from them are placed in the bottom of the box, unprotected, and then airbags thrown on top.Amazon should be #1 in the packaging/shipping hall of shame, because they should know better, yet choose to fail.

author: SL4P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 22, 2016, 07:20:18 am
content: That type of object - solid, heavy - should have had at least two inches of moderate density foam on all sides. - maybe a lighter foam directly up against the panel/connectors and some other protection to fill the gaps.Peanuts alone are no use for a heavy item- they shift around during transit - leaving the item exposed on the corners etc. Sealed air, or bubble wrap work in some situations - but not as the primary protection for a heavy/sharp item!!Packaging is a real art form- sometimes difficult for engineers (not 'artists')Having received hundreds of high-value packages from various manufacturers over the years - it has amazed me what thought and design has gone into the packaging... impact angles, rates of compression & vibration, moisture and other variable gremlins that want to hurt your valuable purchases!I took it as a personal challenge to educate my kids many years ago - working within the 3rd grade competition rules to protect an egg from a 10-foot drop onto concrete... enter "The Force Distributor" !The most common single mistake I see with otherwise 'well packaged' items - is they place the product against the 'bottom' of the carton, then protect all five other aspects of the packaging.First impact in the correct 'This Way Up' orientation knocks the crap out of the device!

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 22, 2016, 07:29:32 am
content: Quote from: blueskull on January 22, 2016, 03:48:27 amI assume those policies are to throw and drop boxes whenever practical. This is the meaning of the term "drop shipment" isn't it?

author: Galenbo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 22, 2016, 07:33:54 am
content: Quote from: timb on January 21, 2016, 02:19:32 pmThe pictures look like cheap shipping, I wouldn't do it better, for free.How much did you pay for the device?That must have determined the time the seller took for packing it too.

author: KL27x
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 22, 2016, 08:28:14 am
content: QuoteaAmazon is pretty good at packing things. I don't think I've ever received an Amazon-packed box with foam of any kind, come to think of it. Air filled bags are great. A few stabs with a knife, and it practically disappears. And their method of shrink wrapping a fragile item to a piece of cardboard that is too big to rattle around in the box is quite effective.I quite like receiving my things undamaged without the task of vacuuming packing peanuts or carting off armloads of bubble wrap!

author: Galenbo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 22, 2016, 08:34:20 am
content: Last week, an under-1000-dollar delivery truck stopped, the guy asked me if I wanted to help, because his side door was stuck.He starting throwing packages out, in the rain, and I eueuh, started doing the same.Halfway, he stepped onto the remaining packages and started turning them over, till mine became visible.Strange, but the contents were still fine. Not sure about the other packages.I have a video of it because my security cams captured everything.But I didn't make that public of course. The guy needs his job to support his family.

author: Galenbo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 22, 2016, 09:36:30 am
content: Quote from: blueskull on January 22, 2016, 08:50:07 amHere in Europe the new reality is that we only buy Chinese products, and only Afrikans delivers them.I speak 4 languages but it's nearly impossible to communicate with these hard working guys.It's also clear to me their bosses must know, it's organised this way. If I would ever had the opportunity to see the boss that organises this behavour, I surely will tell him.I have absolutely no control over the company that finally delivers, most webshops show different formulas, but in the end it goes by continually changing international exchange contracts that makes it a surprise every time again.

author: timb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 22, 2016, 09:52:12 am
content: Quote from: Galenbo on January 22, 2016, 07:33:54 am...so, you're saying you'd do a half-assed job packing it as well, resulting in my receiving a damaged item, causing you to lose even more money because you had to give me a refund, plus the time and hassle of dealing with me and the bad feedback I'm going to invariably give you? That seems smart to me.He's the seller. He chose to offer free shipping. According to the label, shipping cost him $37 via USPS Parcel Post (which is kind of dumb on his part as UPS Ground would have been closer to $20. You can even generate UPS labels through PayPal now, so there's no excuse).The seller was originally asking $2xx for the item with free shipping, I offered him $75 and he took it. It's not my problem that he sucks as badly at math as he does at packing.Keep in mind that, because he went the lazy route he's now out another $35. So I really got a slightly damaged power supply for free, plus the cost of shipping. (And who knows if it really even worked before the shipping damage. Not the seller because he never even plugged it in!)Awhile back, I sold a Power Designs power supply on this very forum, offered free shipping. I shipped it Parcel Post, cost me $20 and another $5 worth of bubble wrap. The result is the buyer received an undamaged item and actually commented about how well it was packed. (Though, if I'd sold it for $75, the buyer would have paid for shipping, with me packing it exactly the same.)

author: timb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 22, 2016, 04:58:47 pm
content: Quote from: bitseeker on January 22, 2016, 12:57:24 amYeah, I've found out these HP 6114/15A supplies are really sweet, my new favorites. Some how, HP managed to take an off the shelf Zener and make a power supply that's more stable and accurate than an Ovenized LM399 based PD2020B! It blows my mind. (Of course they temperature compensated the reference and used hand binned Zeners I'm sure, but still!)After buying this one for $75, I found another for sale about an hour and a half away, which is rare where I live. So I contacted the seller and offered cash off-eBay. I got that one for $75 too and despite being in a bit worse cosmetic shape, works perfectly. Took me a week to clean it up, looks brand new now, aside from some missing paint on the front panel. (I took a metal USAF ID tag off and paint came with it. Apparently they epoxied it down.)Quote from: Cubdriver on January 22, 2016, 02:25:26 amShame the guy who packed the Solder didn't pack the HP supply, and vice versa!Quote from: Dave on January 22, 2016, 02:36:14 amI know exactly what you mean. You see a package and *just know* by either the shape that it's in or how the contents rattles around. It's now become habit to take pictures of any package I suspect might be damaged.Quote from: rrinker on January 22, 2016, 02:55:51 amDon't be. Most of the people selling gear on eBay are professional dealers and pack well. What I do is look at their other items for sale:If you see only test and/or scientific equipment, you're generally OK.If you see a lot of tools and industrial parts, be cautious and send them a message requesting they pack the item extra well. These are generally people that buy large lots at government auctions and deal mainly in large pieces of metal (wrenches, ball bearings, pumps, motors) which are normally shipped with a minimum of packing. These sellers know how to pack, but may not know your power supply or meter needs that level of packing. As someone else said in the thread, these things look well built and heavy duty and some people don't realize how fragile the internal parts can be.If you see a lot of household items, trading cards or just a large assortment of random things, send the seller a message with specific packing instructions, they will almost always comply. These are generally either Pawn Stores, Thrift Shops or companies that sell items on eBay for other people.If you only see a few items and they don't have a lot of feedback, it's a normal person selling it, avoid them unless it's a very good deal *or* you contact them and they agree to your packing requirements.Quote from: SL4P on January 22, 2016, 07:20:18 amWhen I was a Cub Scout, I did the egg challenge too. I spent weeks engineering a special drop proof container using several densities of foam padding around the egg and an elaborate bungee system. Made it to the final round, but lost when it finally impacted on one of the corners, which I didn't anticipate.The winner used a net to catch the egg. Seriously. They allowed that. I couldn't hard boil my egg (my first idea) but they could use a net? Talk about cheap.Anyway, when I pack a large item like this, I make a cocoon 4" thick of large bubble wrap, place the item in a box that'll just close, making sure to use styrofoam in the corners, then place that box into a slightly larger box with a single wrap of large bubble wrap, and a layer of packing peanuts on all four sides. The key to using packing peanuts in this scenario is to put *more* in than you think is needed and shake the box as you go, so they settle. The box should bulge a bit and you should have to hold the flaps down when taping it shut. Then shake the box more and make sure nothing rattles.The idea is that the packing peanuts will compress, so after an hour or so, it will be a perfect fit. The other tip is to *stretch* the tape as you go around each side. Clear plastic tape has a good deal of elasticity to it and by stretching it before adhesion, it will not only add support to the box, but it will account for the packing peanuts compressing.Kind of Long but Funny Side Story: I started selling on eBay in 1997 when I was 13 and have never once had an item arrive damaged. I started out selling computer parts;I cruised thrift stores, which had racks of PS/2 and AT class machines for $5-$10 a pop. I'd part them out. Then I found a guy who ran a tractor-trailer leasing business. A leasee had returned a trailer (the 18-wheeler style I mean) full of used Lexmark/IBM dot matrix printers. I sold hundreds of them at $150 a pop and gave the guy 25%. Those were fun to ship.That bought me a car when I was 16! Which I used to drive around to every Wal-Mart, Game Stop, etc. in a 50 mile radius the night the GameCube was released, to buy as many as I could. I ended up with 15, which I sold for a hefty markup. This resulted in the only negative feedback I've ever gotten, plus a stalker!You see, I had pictures of the box, front and back, and the back of the box showed pictures of various GameCube games in action, as is common on Nintendo boxes. Well this woman thought that meant those games were included. Even though I explicitly stated in the description what the box contained. So she wrote me an irate message, telling me how I ruined her children's Christmas, how she was a Christian, how I was going to hell for being such a deceitful person, blah blah blah. She opened a case with eBay, they sided in my favor. She tried to have the payment reversed with PayPal, they sided with me, then she tried doing a chargeback, which was ultimately denied. Then she started sending me vague threats in the mail. It went on for months!Finally, I got really pissed off and said, "She wants a game? I'll give her a game!"Looking back, I have no idea how I thought this would be a good idea, but I was 18 and thought I was clever; we've all been there, right? You see, around that timeframe, Goatse was a thing. So I printed Gostse out, on large glossy high resolution photographic paper. I had a (defective) game disc sitting around, so I glued it over his gaping chasm. It looked like he was opening his own personal Anustindo and loading Super Monkey Ball, right next to his, super mo...well, you get the idea. It was a work of art, really.So I mailed this to the woman. I don't know if she had a stroke after opening it, or what, but I never heard from her again. Maybe I ruined Easter for her kids, too? Who knows.In retrospect, it was stupid and immature. But, it *was* an impressive "package".

author: Cubdriver
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 22, 2016, 05:31:34 pm
content: Quote from: timb on January 22, 2016, 04:58:47 pmTim, actually I just used the spool of solder to hold the flaps down when I took the picture. The actual item enclosed was the incandescent lamp in the final picture, shown next to the quarter for scale. But yes, for sure, the power supply probably would have arrived unscathed if it were packed even in that slightly bigger box.-Pat

author: timb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 22, 2016, 05:41:51 pm
content: Quote from: Cubdriver on January 22, 2016, 05:31:34 pmDoh! I *did* read your post and saw all the pictures; I knew it was a bulb but I guess I just couldn't get the solder out of my mind for some reason. The Snowpocolypse must be messing with my head!All Electronics sent me some "Grain of Wheat" bulbs once in a padded mailer. Made it safely, though I'm surprised they weren't crushed by the automatic sorting machines.

author: PlainName
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 22, 2016, 07:24:48 pm
content: Not electronics, but still Ebay...I won a couple of plates of a particulat manufacturer and style. The photos show would could possibly go wrong: the fist is the package coming out of the polythene postage envelope (yes, it is that thin - not even a layer of dust for padding) and the second photo shows the inner packaging intact apart from the single protective cardboard wannabe tube.The vendor said she thought it might be a bit skimpy on the padding but her hubby said it'd be fine. Got a full refund without quibbles, FWIW.

author: Cubdriver
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 22, 2016, 08:19:16 pm
content: Quote from: timb on January 22, 2016, 05:41:51 pmTim -You know what you want to type, but for some reason your fingers go rogue and type something different. I do that more often than I'd care to admit.It is surprising sometimes the things that manage to survive less than stellar packaging. I suppose the grain of wheat lamps were small enough to be pretty strong.Re the snowpocalypse - I'm not sure where on the east coast you are, but have you gone to buy your new snow shovel? I'm in New England, and every year at the first storm, it seems the TV stations are at Home Depot or a local hardware store showing lines of people buying snow shovels. Come on. It snows here. EVERY YEAR! Snow shovels are not consumable (at least not insanely so - you should be able to get at least a FEW years out of one), and I can't believe that ALL these folks are transplants from warmer climates where they are not needed. WTF did you do with the one from last year? When it got warm in the spring did you think "Oh, I won't ever need this again - I'm going to throw it out" and toss it?Hell, I'm using an orange plastic one that's got to be at least 20 years old and has the bottom 2-3" worn off of it. That's definitely one of those things I don't get. Maybe you're supposed to buy a new one every year and I somehow missed the memo.Hopefully the white stuff doesn't hammer where you are TOO hard. I don't ski and it no longer gets me out of school, so I really have no use for it at this point in life.-Pat

author: Cubdriver
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 22, 2016, 08:22:05 pm
content: Quote from: dunkemhigh on January 22, 2016, 07:24:48 pmHow in the wide, wide world of sports could ANYONE possibly think that would be adequate packaging to ship something breakable?Her hubby's a dope. Sheesh!-Pat

author: karoru
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 22, 2016, 09:24:33 pm
content: I've once got rack-mounted size, 7 kg precision multimeter (Datron one) wrapped in 2 cardboard pieces and very big "bubblewrap" envelope (from a "reputable gear reseller"). If I had not known what package I was receving I would suppose it was a guitar (because of the shape). To this day I have no idea how that piece of gear actually arrived to me unharmed and in original packing.

author: Sal Ammoniac
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 22, 2016, 09:46:56 pm
content: Worst packed thing I ever bought?When I was a kid I went to the local Woolworths store and bought a goldfish. They put it in a plastic bag and then put that bag in a paper bag. Finally, they stapled the paper receipt to the bag.When I got home I found that they stapled the receipt right through the plastic bag and right through the goldfish. The bag didn't leak enough for me to notice until I got home.

author: timb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 22, 2016, 10:08:37 pm
content: Quote from: Sal Ammoniac on January 22, 2016, 09:46:56 pmAnd that was the day Sal Ammoniac lost his innocence.

author: Towger
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 22, 2016, 10:24:32 pm
content: Two HD PTZ cameras. Wrapped in a layer of tolet tissue. WTF. 1 layer of bubble wrap. A layer of birthday paper. Then both but into a black plastic postal bag. Needless to say they arrived in parts. She claimed they were well packed!

author: grumpydoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 22, 2016, 11:15:44 pm
content: Quote from: Sal Ammoniac on January 22, 2016, 09:46:56 pmOK, I can believe that they stapled through the plastic bag but how the f*** do you staple through a goldfish without noticing??

author: MrSlack
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 22, 2016, 11:44:29 pm
content: My cousin sliced his middle finger clean off on a band saw and didn't notice until the piece he was working on "went all red".His nickname is fingers now.

author: Sal Ammoniac
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2016, 12:13:38 am
content: Quote from: grumpydoc on January 22, 2016, 11:15:44 pmThe plastic bag containing the goldfish was inside an opaque brown paper bag.

author: GreyWoolfe
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 23, 2016, 04:23:01 am
content: Quote from: MrSlack on January 22, 2016, 11:44:29 pmI cut the very end of my thumb (flesh only) off on a table saw and didn't notice until the piece turned red. Luckily, the end grew back without scaring. I was cutting large sheets of white 3" Styrofoam into small pieces and had my feed angle in relation to the guide wrong and the piece bucked, that's when I got bit.

author: timb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2016, 08:35:15 am
content: Quote from: GreyWoolfe on January 23, 2016, 04:23:01 amYeah, that's how it goes for some people. I bet it took you a few seconds to even understand why the styrofoam turned red. When you looked at the finger, did you feel the pain? Some people do, some don't. I wonder why that is?When I was a teenager, I was trying to cut one of those impossible to open plastic clamshell packages with a very sharp pocket knife, in a moving car. The knife slipped and went 3" into my hand, between my thumb and pointer finger. Didn't realize what happened at first; I remember looking up at the gray headliner and wondered how ketchup got all over it. Then down at my hand. Then I put it together... (It didn't hurt, never did.)That's an example of overpacking a product!

author: grumpydoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2016, 10:56:20 am
content: Quote from: Sal Ammoniac on January 23, 2016, 12:13:38 amPaper and plastic are thin; goldfish are, ummm, not.Edit: unless the poor thing was stapled through the tail.

author: crispy_tofu
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2016, 11:13:47 am
content: Quote from: blueskull on January 23, 2016, 08:46:24 amI like the vivid description.

author: PlainName
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2016, 11:43:37 am
content: QuoteI bet it was after being stapled.

author: Stonent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2016, 08:46:32 pm
content: I bought a 8x8 led matrix that was mounted on white Styrofoam with the pins sticking through the padded envelope and bent. I didn't get around to complaining because likely it was not damaged beyond needing to carefully straighten the pins.

author: GreyWoolfe
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 23, 2016, 11:32:32 pm
content: Quote from: timb on January 23, 2016, 08:35:15 amNo, it didn't hurt and I was also a teenager then. Last year I was making my own wire spool holder and shot a brad long ways into my thumb with my brad nailer. It went straight in on the tip and curved out next to my thumbnail. Took me a moment to realize what I did and I said to myself, 'did I really just do that?' No pain and very little blood when I pulled it out. SWMBO just shook her head.I absolutely hate clamshell packaging. Have come way too close too many times to cutting myself with a knife trying to open them. Now I just get out the bandage scissors-it cuts right through them.

author: timb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 24, 2016, 01:12:06 am
content: Quote from: GreyWoolfe on January 23, 2016, 11:32:32 pmHaha, I hear that. I ended up buying one of those special tools to open clamshell packages. You just slide it along the sides and it opens right up. Those angled bandage scissors also work well, I've used them before for it too, sometimes a bit dull though.Sucks about the Brad nailer! I've seen that a number of times. (In another life I managed a pallet repair plant. Lots of nail gun, saw and forklift injuries.)

author: bitseeker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 25, 2016, 11:50:09 pm
content: This auction is a great candidate for packing practice.Quote from: EEVblog on January 25, 2016, 10:20:32 am

author: timb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 26, 2016, 04:02:47 am
content: Quote from: bitseeker on January 25, 2016, 11:50:09 pmHaha, I saw that in the other thread earlier. The seller might as well not even bother packing it and just slap a USPS label on the top of it. It can't arrive in any worse of a condition.USPS will ship pretty much anything as long as the label is on it and it doesn't violate size or weight guidelines. There was a magazine that encouraged people to ship the craziest items they could without a package to them via USPS; they would feature an item every month (and send the person a T-Shirt or something if I recall). I can't remember what magazine it was! I remember someone sent an original IBM PC! It actually got there with very little damage.

author: chickenHeadKnob
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 26, 2016, 06:38:55 am
content: QuoteWhen I was a young lad I had a part time job at an air cargo terminal-warehouse. It was nominally owned by Air Canada but used by other carriers as well. The taciturn manager was showing me the place on my first day when we passed by the un-deliverable package cage. It was a cage maybe 10 meters by 7 filled with a pile of nondescript and damaged boxes that reached past the top of my head. At the very top, surfing the whole flotsam triumphantly was a stuffedsailfish.I start chortling uncontrollably like a school girl so boss-man pulls down the fish and hands it to me. It is surprisingly lightweight even though its body is as long as a man's because it is just the fish skin stretched over the frame. The bill or beak is broken off and the dorsal fin "the sail" is fake. It is a piece of hard cardboard type materiel with an image of a sail printed on it. Now the real thing must absolutely beautiful in vivo, with its shimmering iridescent rainbow of bues, purples and other colours but this fac-similie is hideous, just a sheet of pressboard glued awkwardly into the back of the real fish skin.Me, incredulous: "you mean someone just shipped this without a box?"Boss "Oh yeah, we get theseall the time, A vacationer goes down south and charters a fishing boat, gets his big fish and then wants to have itstuffed, you know, so he can hang it on the wall of his den. So the taxidermist takes about a month. He replaces the sail because they can'tpreserve that and puts an address tag on the tail and then just mails it! ""The customer comes in to pick it up and sees how crappy it looks and then they just abandon them."The boss-man takes the fish gently from my hands and flings back ontop of the pile, breaking off some more bits, and then we continued our tour.

author: rrinker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 27, 2016, 07:24:20 pm
content: So my Fluke 45 arrived today, after being momentarily lost due to the snowstorm we had. I was rather worried when I picked up the box - it looked like it had taken a beating and the tape was coming off in some places. However, upon opening I found it stuffed with those air bladders plus the meter itself was wrapped in several layers of bubble wrap, both around the body and around the front/rear panels. A separate bubble wrap bag held the power cord and probes (actual Fluke probes even!), so the contents made it through just fine. Phew. Powered it up and it works great. There's only one small ding halfway back along the right side of the case, but that was there in the eBay photos - I have a nearly identical ding in the edge of my iPad.

author: bitseeker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 27, 2016, 09:41:01 pm
content: Quote from: rrinker on January 27, 2016, 07:24:20 pmSoul mates, LOL.

author: MarkDennehy
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: February 01, 2016, 02:34:18 pm
content: Quote from: MarkDennehy on January 22, 2016, 01:10:58 amAnd just to ice that particular cake, the resistors were fakes.Which I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around. What's the profit margin on 100 "resistors" (which are all dead shorts instead of 100M) over the real thing, given the overhead of nice packaging and ziploc bags and labels and padded envelopes? Surely it can't bethatmuch, can it? I could understand high value-per-part stuff being faked, butresistors?!?!?!

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 01, 2016, 02:40:00 pm
content: Quote from: MarkDennehy on February 01, 2016, 02:34:18 pmAre you sure you haven't ordered 100 milliohm resistors? What is the color coding? Anyway I have not seen 100M resistor in such packaging.EDIT: quick search on ebay shows they are indeed 0R1 resistors.

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 01, 2016, 02:47:44 pm
content: 100misrather different to 100M...

author: NilByMouth
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 01, 2016, 02:55:00 pm
content: I never berate a seller if I'm trying to negotiate a refund because of poor packaging. Just take photos and send them an email "Oh dear look it's broken..." with the photos attached. I've always received an apology, kept the item and received a partial or full refund. Telling them what they should be doing just risks conflict. I've got some really good bargains thanks to UPS or MyHemes.

author: MarkDennehy
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: February 01, 2016, 03:08:29 pm
content: Quote from: Brumby on February 01, 2016, 02:47:44 pmSuffering carp.It's going to be one of *those* days, isn't it.../sighTime to go message the seller and eat crow...

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 01, 2016, 03:22:49 pm
content: Quote from: MarkDennehy on February 01, 2016, 03:08:29 pmI feel your pain.

author: Cubdriver
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 01, 2016, 04:06:33 pm
content: Quote from: MarkDennehy on February 01, 2016, 03:08:29 pmSome days you're the windshield, some days you're the bug.Good on you for messaging the seller and acknowledging your mistake - I think a lot of people these days would not do so.-Pat

author: mmagin
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 20, 2016, 04:28:52 am
content: Had an experience like this that ended happily. Bought a HP 6002A (heavy power supply) on ebay. Seller (or seller's helper perhaps) sent it in a box that it just fit in without padding.After evaluating it, I asked the seller for a partial refund (thus bringing it down from a good deal to a really good deal) and fixed it up. All it needed was new binding posts and a new nut holding the power switch. Also needed to recalibrate the current/power limiting. Back part of the enclosure is bent a little, but it has no effect on functionality.They built those things tough. Fan is a bit loud. But if you need a linear 200W supply, it's nice.

author: XOIIO
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 20, 2016, 05:19:15 am
content: Good god, when I ordered the pushbar for my car from someone in the states, it arrived in a big ass box, so full of peanuts that you couldn't see anything else, and then the pushbar itself was wrapped in some pillows that were taped together so it couldn't get out, four I think. The thing is a hunk of metal and it had packaging that could probably have survived a nuclear blast, It's pretty big too, so the shipping wasn't super cheap. Sadly I didn't think to take any pictures of it in the box, but it goes on the car well. (and gives you an idea of scale)I still have a good half a garbage bag of packing peanuts sitting around from it.The fact that they have such a crappy effort put in to actual delicate equipment is insane. The packaging on cheap arduino bits from china is better than the stuff that cpu was in.

author: linux-works
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 20, 2016, 05:29:03 am
content: my HP precision also got banged up by a clueless seller:this seller let me keep the unit (which I think works ok once I bent it all back again) and refunded me.but still - its a crime to treat fragile classic gear like this!ebay sellers, for the most part, are 'flippers'; which means they buy and resell and could CARE LESS about what the item is or how rare or special it is. they only want to buy and resell; adding essentially no real value to the world (sigh).

author: HwAoRrDk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2016, 03:29:34 pm
content: A few years ago I bought a used PC motherboard from an eBay seller.When it arrived, I found the only packaging it had in addition to the outer plastic bag was a huge length of bubble-wrap that had been wrapped round-and-round-and-round the bare motherboard about a gazillion times, then smothered in tape. The thing was almost round like a ball! However, the corners of the board still had virtually no protection, as the bubble-wrap had been applied only in a perpendicular manner.I suppose I should have been thankful they at least used anti-static bubble-wrap!Miraculously, after close inspection, there appeared to be no damage to anything. It ended up working perfectly, and still runs even to this day.

author: bitseeker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2016, 09:21:45 pm
content: Sometimes? Amazon normally packs things improperly. So many things I've received were placed in the bottom of the box (no cushioning) and then had the pillow packs thrown on top. I've complained multiple times, but no one's listening.Recently, they put a six pack box of soy milk on top of unprotected boxes of crackers and similarly fragile items. Amazon can't pack, period.

author: bitseeker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2016, 10:37:27 pm
content: LOL, you may be right about that. It all boils down to the numbers.

author: ChunkyPastaSauce
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 21, 2016, 10:52:39 pm
content: I've had someone send me an optical assembly. It was broken when I opened the package... but I was pretty sure it was broken before being shipped. The seller then said must be shipping! He filed an insurance claim with the shipper, never heard from him again. I didn't have time to follow up on it then, but the seller made off with 2x sale price of a functioning unit on a non-functioning unit. Kinda lucrative for high value items..but it was only $100 (so he netted $200), maybe keeps the shipper from investigating or something.

author: firehopper
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2016, 08:03:50 am
content: Quote from: bitseeker on March 21, 2016, 09:21:45 pmI worked at a amazon warehouse in 2010 for 3 weeks before xmas, as a picker. but was told packers are supposed to pack 25 orders a hour I think it was. its hard to work in there. its like 90+ degrees in the middle of winter.

author: timb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2016, 09:06:24 pm
content: Also keep in mind that, with Amazon, a lot of items ship from a warehouse close by. Everything I've gotten that was packed in just a box with a couple of air cushions or even just a bubble envelope came from the warehouse two hours away. Which means it saw, at most, two trucks.Stuff that comes from the other side of the country is generally packed a bit better, with more air cushions, etc.

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2016, 09:48:38 pm
content: timb, the packaging in your original post is very similar to what I received yesterday: a HP3314A packed with loose cardboard slices and very little popcorn material around, wrapped in bubble wrap with the corners of the equipment piercing the external crappy cardboard box. A big label on top of the box from the USPS said: "Received damaged". (pictures to follow)Fortunately the exposed corners had just minor scratches and bends, which I can't tell if they were from the shipping or not, but I was angry anyways...OTOH, a Keithley 191 I received a few days ago had a completely different packaging.

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2016, 12:50:52 pm
content: This week I've received an Atmel dev board from china. It was the shipping label folded into two, taped together. Some 5x5cm. I'm surprised it wasn't swallowed by some machine at the post office.

author: PedroDaGr8
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2016, 01:21:43 pm
content: Quote from: linux-works on March 20, 2016, 05:29:03 amIf you ever want to part it out and sell the feet and stand off of that bad boy, hit me up. I have one that is near immaculate condition that is just missing the feet and stand.On another note, I got a second 6114A to match my first one (it is funny knowing my post a while back followed by Robrenz research helped popularize these models). It seems like it was used in an environment with a lot of dust/grease because the switches are gummy and the pot is gummy as well. Which is just fine, because I did a Best Offer based on it having a the dent and assuming it broke something (so I got it for $50 shipped). Other than the dent the physical condition is immaculate though, no major damage. Even the dent looks better than in the pictures, certainly no damage. The seller shipped it DAMN well, packed it in bubble wrap followed by being encased by empty boxes in a much larger box. No way it was getting damaged.

author: sony mavica
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 25, 2016, 05:59:21 am
content: i brought a collectors edition of a ds game once shipped from the usa to new zealand and the when i got the item in the post it looked like it had been run over with a steam roller seller was nice and gave me a refund and said just keep the item

author: Galenbo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 26, 2016, 02:44:39 pm
content: The same chinese seller can also pack properly and non-properly.Because chinese LedCobSpots with a value of 4euro have to be sold here for 30euro for a Belgian business to not go broke, I ordered some on Aliexpress.They were not good packed, but apart from a little scratch on the back of one they were OK.So I ordered 75 units from the same seller, and this time they were packed very decently in a strong box.Unfortunately this time EU-import-duties apparently based their import tax on how the box looked.Next time I ask for the cheapest plastic bag.

author: batteksystem
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 26, 2016, 02:49:46 pm
content: Quote from: mij59 on January 21, 2016, 02:50:05 pmThat's because majority of the chinese seller are not profession in what they selling. They sell every kinds of things, it would be okay for common household products, but for electronics like this, sometimes they just don't have the sense to take pre-caution on that.

author: bitseeker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 26, 2016, 09:22:22 pm
content: Yes, it's a good idea to see what else a particular vendors sells and how often they sell the kind of product you want vs. other things. If, for example, most of their sales is clothing and you want a fragile piece of electronics, they may not be well versed in proper handling.

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2016, 02:11:21 am
content: The answer to the title, is that many people are simply stupid, and also many people flatly don't care about anything. Just going through the motions.A couple of my experiences with idiots carelessly packing:http://everist.org/NobLog/20130215_The_Q_meter.htmhttp://everist.org/NobLog/20160429_first_of_the_last.htmAnother one was back in 2003. I bought a large rackmount HP 3964A instrumentation tape recorder. Very cheap apart from the expensive shipping from the USA. The seller sort-of tried to pack it adequately, but didn't really think about the large heavy box being tossed around. So the recorder arrived with some damage. I complained to the seller, and he offered to send me a replacement for just cost of shipping. (He had several.) I accepted, he sent it, and it too wasn't adequately packed and was damaged in shipping. So now I have two. Was able to put one together with some patching of a broken fiberglass cover.

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2016, 10:52:20 am
content: Inspired by this topic, I've asked the inverse question atwww.eevblog.com/forum/repair/how-do-people-pack-delicate-instruments-properly/Your thoughts and experiences are welcome.

author: pelule
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 11, 2016, 07:23:42 pm
content: Have made a lot of bad experiances. One of the worst was a prior fully operating precision tools (Datron 1281, $3k) after global shipping. It was such badly packed it got heavily damaged.Good thing: seller refund the tool, thus I had no loss.But my heart is still crying as this very nice tool died such a stupid useless death.PeLuLe

author: azer
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 11, 2016, 08:12:44 pm
content: I hear TiN is looking for a new projectThough I think it would be worth it to hack a new display on there and get it to a working state.

author: Cubdriver
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 11, 2016, 08:47:28 pm
content: PeLuLe, that's horrible! I wonder what people are thinking the way they pack things sometimes.-Pat

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 12, 2016, 03:35:49 am
content: That was indeed cringeworthy.* shudder *

author: lowimpedance
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 12, 2016, 05:02:43 am
content: Jeez I feel your pain just looking at the result.With a bit of attention to the packing the seller would have had his money, but now they got nothing to show for it. Just dumb.

author: Assafl
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 12, 2016, 05:16:40 am
content: Try to send artwork (I mean the kind that the insurance company gets involved).They'll send you to a real packer that will build a wooden box - with screws - not stapled! Fit it with foam insets. Wrap the artwork with art cloth (leaves no residue). In a huge bag (to protect from dampness) and fit it perfectly in the wooden box. Foam cubes are then added to support it in the middle. Sides are then screwed in. Takes them 20-30 minutes per box.It ends up costing >100$ but no carrier will touch it otherwise.Got to wonder how one packs Chiuli glass vases and installations...

author: Cubdriver
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 12, 2016, 10:00:19 pm
content: FWIW, I just added a post showing the packing process I use for heavy things over in the above linked 'how to pack things properly' thread in the repair forum.-Pat

author: TiN
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 13, 2016, 05:18:03 am
content: PeLuLeAuch...That hurts..

author: karoru
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 13, 2016, 09:46:22 pm
content: Quote from: pelule on August 11, 2016, 07:23:42 pmOh boy, I didn't want to know what happened to it on its merry way, these rack-mounted Datrons/Waveteks are build like a tank and one has to have really malicious intents to break them like that...

author: timb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2016, 12:27:44 am
content: And of course the corner of the box that the rear of the item was pressing against, unprotected, is crushed in. The PCB mount fuse holders were crushed and the fuses shattered. *Sighs*The worst part is I was charged $20 for UPS Ground shipping, so I asked the seller if he'd do USPS Priority instead, as I knew the Large Flat Rate box would be $17.95. He put it in a Medium Flat Rate box instead, which cost $12.50. I assume he did this so he could pocket the extra cash...Now I need to contact him; I want my $20 shipping back.I'm so tired of lazy/incompetent assholes ruining perfectly good items!

author: Cubdriver
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 22, 2016, 01:48:18 am
content: Tim -Tek plug in? People are idiots. I d0on't understand how they think that allowing the item to be in direct contact with the inside of the carton is acceptable for shipping.Hopefully you can get something of a refund.-Pat

author: timb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2016, 02:21:47 am
content: Quote from: Cubdriver on August 22, 2016, 01:48:18 amYup, an SG 504 250MHz to 1GHz Leveled Sinewave Generator! Picked it up for a very decent price, though it didn't include the leveling head.I managed to get the fuse holders fixed, so it's working now. I completely stripped it, cleaned it and got it back together last night.Here she is before cleanup:I verified the signal up to 1GHz via the Frequency Monitor output. I still need to figure out what to do about the leveling head... I've got three options:1) There's a guy in the UK who sells a kit with parts and a PCB for making your own head. Cost is £68.2) A guy on eBay sells handmade, calibrated replacement heads for $120. Apparently these have better specs than the original Tek heads.3) Wait until I find a real Tek head on eBay for a decent price.

author: Cubdriver
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 23, 2016, 03:07:44 am
content: Nice! Those 500 series are typically relatively small and lightweight - there's no excuse for not packing them properly. All you need is a box that's bigger than the plug in. Why must sellers be such idiots? Glad to hear you were able to get it back into shape. Good luck finding the leveling head. I'm unfamiliar with them - how common are they, and (I suppose as an influence to that), how delicate and prone to belching forth their magic smoke are they?-Pat