good habit to into is documenting your packing process with photos. Have the evidence you need just in case. I also always retain all original packaging.
Shipping fatigue and your audio habits
Hello my audio brethren. Recently wrapped up some sales and purchases and the reality of shipping is hitting me hard. It’s rough! The insurance, packaging protection, and the very high cost these days to move packages over 50 pounds, and for gear over 100 pounds… yikes. 😬 It has put a serious damper on the buy/try/sell habit I have been operating in for years. It’s good in a way as it helps me squash the audio nervosa 🐛 , but man does it sting to really think about the extreme high cost to do business anymore. Curious how this has affected y’all. For us non-dealer audio nuts:are you finding dealers out there that used to offer really great deals offering less of a discount ? For dealers: when buying large orders from your suppliers, if you can share, what strategies have you had to adapt to to keep your operating margins? For us used audio sellers on a’gon and USAM have you adjusted your sales to NOT include free shipping? Local sales only?
The Amazon effect “I want my crap and I want it tomorrow and I don’t want to pay for shipping” seems to be running out of steam. Somebody has to pay the bill. For me I have been much more strict on my sales on USAM. I’m not going to eat the cost of shipping all myself anymore, and more generally I’m pausing big ticket purchases.
Good luck out there and enjoy the music!
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@audphile1 - Both of those are excellent practices. I also double box whenever practical. The second box not only further protects the shipment, but it also helps retain the condition of the original packaging. |
Lots of good discussion here. After many years of buying and selling audio gear, I too discovered Pirate Ship and have been very pleased. It's a very easy platform to use and very convenient to print my own labels and pay my own shipping when buying gear. I simply email the seller my prepaid shipping label and that way I control the shipping process and can handle any damage claims myself without involving the seller. The key to packing is double boxing everything. I've found suitable boxes at my local Uhaul store and also Menard's, which is a local home improvement store in my area. Packing 50+ lb amps requires seriously overpacking with double wall boxes and assuming the box will likely be handled roughly. I only use my local UPS store to drop off my packages as they overcharge for their services and don't have the proper boxes, packing materials and know how to pack heavy equipment. I spend a lot of money on boxes and packing equipment but figure it's just the cost of doing business (and I despise damage claims) |
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