Shipping my/your Camera -- How to do it?

[pridbor]

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I have decided to send my M7 to Leica US and am now asking myself the question How to? 

It's the most valuable entity that I will send by mail and am worried that it will be lost underway.

My question to you gents who have done it before, did you send it Certified and did you insure it?

And did you package it yourself or had a professional do it for you!

The latter is, at least sometimes, important as I have a friend who shipped a very delicate Sculpture and it broke. He got nothing from the insurer as they claimed that it could have been damaged beforehand, or because of his inadequate packaging.

Thanks 

Preben

[nwphil]

27 minutes ago, pridbor said:

I have decided to send my M7 to Leica US and am now asking myself the question How to? 

It's the most valuable entity that I will send by mail and am worried that it will be lost underway.

My question to you gents who have done it before, did you send it Certified and did you insure it?

And did you package it yourself or had a professional do it for you!

The latter is, at least sometimes, important as I have a friend who shipped a very delicate Sculpture and it broke. He got nothing from the insurer as they claimed that it could have been damaged beforehand, or because of his inadequate packaging.

Thanks 

Preben

it's a big issue, and maybe only USPS can be trusted, as they are a Federal entity, and therefore they can't really be sleazy as some private companies and get away with it

Other solution would be indeed to have a professional packing/shipping company do it for you - ofcourse it will cost more money, but if the item aside has sentimental and monetary value, only the the monetary will be refunded.

Do a search about the issue - but not before going to bed. I shipped expensive items with and without insurance - more  or as important as the carrier is indeed how much can you trust the receiver?

ps: all of them have bad and good stories, some more than others, and then that fine print....nothing beats diy: vancy for a vacation in the east coast?

[dkmoore]

7 hours ago, pridbor said:

I have decided to send my M7 to Leica US and am now asking myself the question How to? 

It's the most valuable entity that I will send by mail and am worried that it will be lost underway.

My question to you gents who have done it before, did you send it Certified and did you insure it?

And did you package it yourself or had a professional do it for you!

The latter is, at least sometimes, important as I have a friend who shipped a very delicate Sculpture and it broke. He got nothing from the insurer as they claimed that it could have been damaged beforehand, or because of his inadequate packaging.

Thanks 

Preben

I sell and buy a ton of Leica gear and I use USPS 100% of the time. I use priority service which is 2-3 days anywhere in the USA and shipping cameras with insurance is never more than $80.00.

The best ways to ship are as follows (1 being the best):

1. put camera in original box. put the Cheetos like packing pieces all around the original Leica box inside a larger box.

2. If you don't have the original Leica box, put the camera in a plastic clean bag, wrap it in bubble wrap, and then put the camera in the middle of a bunch of the Cheetos looking packing.

3. If you don't have the Cheeto's like packing I just use a ton of the bubble wrap. I wrap the camera a few times and then I put bubble wrap below, on the sides, and on top of the camera (not nicely - ball it up etc to make shock absorbers).

All of the packaging is available at USPS locations for reasonably cheap. Take a picture of the camera going into the box before hand and text it to someone so that you have the time stamp if you are overly concerned. If you are SUPER paranoid I would wait until have the holidays at this point to ship because if anything is going to happen it would probably be this time of year. 

[plaidshirts]

+1 for using USPS Priority Mail for shipping.

Pack in multiple layers and make sure to buy insurance.

I've also bought and sold many fragile camera gear over the years and the post office hasn't failed me yet.

[pridbor]

Maybe I should also have asked if anybody ever had an experience where they had a claim against the insurance company and what the outcome was?

Thanks for your advice 

Preben

[tommonego@gmail.com]

I put a body cap on the camera, wrap it in an Amazon bubble wrap envelope, then pack it with heavier bubble wrap or styrofoam peanuts. Make sure the box is much bigger than the camera. Youxin Ye has taken the box I sent the camera in (which I thought was safe) and put it in another bigger box also lined with styrofoam peanuts. For my M3 I insure it for $1000, for other M's it would be more.

[nwphil]

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5 hours ago, pridbor said:

Maybe I should also have asked if anybody ever had an experience where they had a claim against the insurance company and what the outcome was?

Thanks for your advice 

Preben

Indeed - luckily I don't have that experience; only with dealing with PP and credit card companies.,

There is a lot of fine print and exceptions and rules to follow. in short, you forget to place a period at phrase's end - the one justifying your claim, and it's all gone to hell.

[spydrxx]

I had a claim situation about 10 years ago on a lens I shipped across the country to a buyer. It got lost. I had everything well documented and the issue was resolved in about 2 weeks. Having said that, I'd merely state that I've sold and shipped hundreds of cameras, lenses and items over the last 20 years both domestically and internationally . As stated above...pack well, document, fully insure, and track. Use USPS, FEDEX or UPS. If you're not using USPS, have the shipper do the packing...it will make any claims handling much easier. 

[plaidshirts]

On 12/7/2019 at 1:35 PM, pridbor said:

Maybe I should also have asked if anybody ever had an experience where they had a claim against the insurance company and what the outcome was?

Thanks for your advice 

Preben

I never had to with any Leica gear, but I did submit a claim against the USPS once for an Olympus XA2 that came with a broken case (the camera was fine) and received the maximum $50 (the maximum for Priority Mail with no additional insurance purchased) in about 10 days without a fuss. Everything was done online and easy to follow.

[jaapv]

For packing I prefer to recycle those wonderful boxes Leica CS uses:

 

 

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[cbarber]

There is good packing and shipping advice in this thread so no need to add to it.

I have shipped lots of expensive photo gear over the years. Apart from packing properly I always make sure the item is tracked, with a signature upon arrival and always insured. I have an insurance policy solely for my camera gear, it goes back to when I was working and covers me for every event including shipping. If I didn’t have the policy I would certainly buy insurance through the carrier.

[pridbor]

Today I finally got the M7 shipped!

It was sitting at the UPS store for more than a week before they had time to package it. I did tell them it wasn't a rush, but I had expected 3-4 days.

I had it double packaged, insured, and shipped ground for $72. 

Hope now to get a price from Leica to fix Dx and viewinder at a decent level 🙂

Thanks all

Preben

[dkmoore]

2 hours ago, pridbor said:

Today I finally got the M7 shipped!

It was sitting at the UPS store for more than a week before they had time to package it. I did tell them it wasn't a rush, but I had expected 3-4 days.

I had it double packaged, insured, and shipped ground for $72. 

Hope now to get a price from Leica to fix Dx and viewinder at a decent level 🙂

Thanks all

Preben

What?!?!? Yikes. You should have listened to advice. For someone risk averse you opened yourself up to a ton of risk. 
 

not only that but USPS and even FEDEX are cheaper and faster and more reliable. I would never leave my camera sitting with a third party who does not care about your gear for 5 days. Whoops!

[pridbor]

I was pretty nervous too, but it's underway now so I feel much better.

Of course you are right, and only goes to show that I'm a novice (also) on shipping 🙂

Preben

[dkmoore]

29 minutes ago, pridbor said:

I was pretty nervous too, but it's underway now so I feel much better.

Of course you are right, and only goes to show that I'm a novice (also) on shipping 🙂

Preben

No worries, I'm sure most of us have learned the hard way, from experience. Glad to hear everything is on track!

[pridbor]

A short followup, the M7 arrived at Leica US on the east coast. 

I got a price quote of $750 whereof half of it is to remove and replace my perfect leather wrapping, as it seems that it's necessary to remove it for the CLA! Bummer!

Never had a Camera repaired before so I don't know if this is just the way it is 🙂

Anyone had it done who cares to share their experience?

Thanks

Preben

[andba]

Is there any reason NOT to UPS?

I am sending an M10-P to DAG, and unfortunately can't get to the post office or mailing centers during normal weekday hours.

UPS stores are open on the weekend so that's my plan, until somebody says otherwise!

And as for insurance, do you guys typically insure for the full value of the camera?

Thanks (also new at this).

[Jeff S]

UPS is fine.  Since this thread started a couple of years ago, USPS service has become unreliable.  I carry separate insurance on my camera gear, at full replacement value, so no need for me to add shipping insurance.  But if I didn’t have that, I would add whatever seemed reasonable. FWIW, I always call DAG in advance to coordinate and ensure that his workload and estimated service and turnaround is acceptable to both parties. 

Jeff

Edited August 8, 2021 by Jeff S

[BradS]

Wrap it is bubble wrap and back fill the box with either more bubble wrap or packing peanuts. Make sure the fill it very full so the contents cannot shift around much.  Go to the post office and get a US Postal Service medium flat rate Priority mail box. Mail it insured for the full value of yor camera - this gets three things: special treatment by the USPS, signature and tracking. Mail it in person at the Post Office. Relax. It's just a camera. It will be fine.

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[BradS]

59 minutes ago, andba said:

Is there any reason NOT to UPS?

 

YES!

UPS is a freight handler. Everything they handle gets treated as freight. That means at some point in its journey, your package will end up on a conveyor belt with other freight, an robotic arm will push you box off of the conveyor belt into a pile of packages headed in the same direction. If the next box pushed off the conveyor belt that is headed in the same direction is a 200 lbs wooden crate and it lands on you box...guess what happens? No. I would never ship something like this via UPS. 

 

Incidentally, DAG does good work but, you can expect absolutely zero communication from/with him until the work is complete and he asks to be paid. That means he will not let you know he's received your camera.