It’s always a very good idea to have images just before shipping and during packing process.

I bought a used Sunfire Signature sub once. I pleaded with the seller to take images of the sub next to the unpacked double box showing all sides of the sub plus more images: the insides of the two empty boxes showing packing materials, with the sub packed inside the boxes before sealing, and the final, ready-to-go package. How very fortunate he did.

The box arrived apparently undamaged, but when I picked up the package, something was ‘clunking’ inside. Apparently the box fell off a shelf in a truck or of a truck onto the pavement, landing squarely on one side therefore leaving no dented corners or tears. When I opened the box, the 1” braced MDF side with the active driver had cracked away inward on two corners and along 1 1/2 sides. The magnet structure had broken away from the driver’s frame and was free to roll around inside the sub’s cabinet. The built in amplifier circuit boards had been smashed by the freed 25+ lb. magnet.

When I called FedEx, their over-the-phone response was, “Not our fault. It was either shipped damaged before shipment or improperly packed by the shipper, therefore the refund or repair is up to the shipper.” That’s when I sternly brought up the fact that we had about six images showing the condition of the item and how it was packed. I was asked to take the package to a FedEx location for inspection. At the FedEx facility, they merely said they would send a report to the claims department.

When I called the claims department again after two days, they said the box wasn’t damaged on the outside, so it couldn’t have been their fault. The shipper took over at this point. He sent an email with the six images he had taken attached, plus six more I took of the damaged sub, and filed a written claim. The twelve images were near infallible proof that the sub had been shipped in excellent condition and boxed properly in the original factory boxes with original Styrofoam and corner spacers, then was damaged by a force that caused the thick cabinetry to break inward. FedEx finally accepted responsibility when the images showed that my estimation of what had happened was almost certainly what did happen.

My advice: always, always, always ask the shipper to take a generous number of images of anything in used condition that can be broken in shipment.