Some time back I bought a used OEM Pantera pressure plate from someone on this BB. He tossed it into a flimsy cardboard box and sent it to me UPS. In shipping, someone tossed/dropped it on one of the mounting flanges, bending it in the process. Not wanting to try to hammer things flat, I instituted the claim process. The insurance money went to the seller, I spent the time to repackage it, and I got my purchase money back. Despite my suggestion that we split the loss on the cost of shipping, the bastard cut me a check ONLY for the item cost.
Bear in mind the insurance money always goes to the seller, not the buyer.
Heavy, bendable items like that need a wooden mounting plate or some other secure protection.
I worked for USPS for several summers back-in-the-day. If it is light enough to get picked up, it WILL get tossed. Package accordingly.
But the best shipping tale to date is the Italian that shipped me a set of supposedly NOS Carello GRP 4 lenses ---- in an envelope with ONE 1/2" piece of styrofoam.
And then he refused a refund, and EBAY was worthless in fixing the problem. I placed a liar/stupid/thief feedback and Italy eBay rules allow such to be removed, which he did. eBay refused to allow me to enter a second, approved feedback BUT also refused to remove his negative feedback he left for me.Anyone want a pair of nice, used, broken lenses?
Be careful out there.
Larry