I understand the horror stories but having just had three completely different experiences, I believe a lot of fault, most of the time, lies with the seller or company packaging the unit.

I recently purchased a Parasound HCA-855A power amp on ebay. The seller first shipped a 1.5" tall Yamaha tuner which he had sold to someone else for the $30 which is what he also charged them for "shipping and handling". His "packaging" for the tuner was a single layer of cardboard that gapped around the product. Suffice it to say it did not arrive in pristine condition. Fortunately for me, the seller had no idea what had happened to the HCA-855A, so he arranged for a credit before it arrived. Three weeks later the power amp arrived. It was in a box with a footprint smaller then HCA-855A and enough paper in the bottom to allow the amp to fit by having the sides of the box bulge around the amp. He then bubble wrapped it enough to cover the top and front of the amp only and dropped it the box. The box was so tall, that there was at least 6" of open air over the top of the amp. Finally he (or USPS) wrapped the box in plastic straps. Several of these arrived broken. The amps rear handle is now bent, all 4 bottom corners were dinged and buckled and there are broken parts inside the amp that rattle around when you move it. To make matters worse when the amp did arrive, he:
1) claimed that was not how the amp was originally packaged and claimed the USPS must have reboxed it
2) told me that he did not insure it for what I had paid for it.

My third experience was with the Outlaw 750 I purchased to replace the HCA-855A. The person or packing company used some type of self forming foam pad that came in a plastic bag. There was a piece at the bottom, a piece around each corner and one on top and the box was completely filled and the amp was locked in place. Needless to say it arrived working perfectly.

The final thought was that the first seller also charged more for shipping and handling then the second seller, so clearly its not what you pay that determines the quality of the shipping.