Pardon me for a moment, but I have to vent. I've bought a couple dozen kits through eBay over the last year. Most have arrived safe and sound, until this past week.
First I received a Trumpeter kit that I paid over $30 for and $15 for shipping on top of that. The kit was sent via USPS and arrived just wrapped in brown shipping paper. Nothing else. To my amazement, only the top left side had a small two inch dent. I guess the sturdy Trumpeter box helped. The seller was new to eBay with only 8 feedbacks. Five off which are for selling. My real complaint here is, if you are going to charge $15 for shipping, package it better. I guess I got lucking with this kit.
The second kit I received did not fair as well. It was a good size Revell kit I paid $10 for and $7.50 for shipping. This kit came from an experienced model seller with over 600 feedbacks. This kit was sent via USPS also and arrived crushed and beat to hell. It was wrapped in bubble wrap, then brown shipping paper. This doesn't help when other boxes are thrown on top of it. Fortunately, after inspection, none of the parts inside were damaged. However, if I was a box collector or planed to resale the kit, I'd be pissed. I feel this seller should have known better. I will not buy from this seller again.
I've been a Letter Carrier for the USPS for 19 years. I've seen a lot of damaged packages. A vast majority of those damaged packages were do to poor packaging. So, if you are a seller of models on eBay, please package the kits inside another box. I think most of us don't mind paying a little more in shipping if our kits will arrive safely. Thanks for listening to my rant.
Craig
Anyone one else have any issues with shipping kits?