To me, the original box is always a very good thing but may be offset by a trustworthy seller. With lighter, or older items like CD players and cables, I don't care as much. It really depends. The bad thing is when the seller makeshifts inadequate packing material. You just have no way of knowing.
When I ship without the original box, I just make sure it is 1) in plastic all around for dust 2) bubble wrapped on top of that, and 3) padded with 4-5 inches foam/buble on all sides with a sturdy, sized box. It costs $20-40 for this much material and I think most people just don't want to spend it. It's impossible to guage if a seller will pack something that well. Another big problem can be 'how' do you pack a 200lb amp ? Most of the commercial packing material and boxes I've seen are not rated to protect something that heavy. A last point is that I am much more comfortable handing over $X,XXX dollars for a box that actually says 'audio research' on it rather than 'bobs fig farm'.
When I ship without the original box, I just make sure it is 1) in plastic all around for dust 2) bubble wrapped on top of that, and 3) padded with 4-5 inches foam/buble on all sides with a sturdy, sized box. It costs $20-40 for this much material and I think most people just don't want to spend it. It's impossible to guage if a seller will pack something that well. Another big problem can be 'how' do you pack a 200lb amp ? Most of the commercial packing material and boxes I've seen are not rated to protect something that heavy. A last point is that I am much more comfortable handing over $X,XXX dollars for a box that actually says 'audio research' on it rather than 'bobs fig farm'.