Posting iMac — is the original box enough?

kimoni said:

Hey all.
It's time to move on from my iMac 2009 model that I've had for years, I'm upgrading to retina Macbook pro.

I need to sell the thing now, probably on eBay. I'm quite good at saving boxes generally and I still have the original iMac box. What I'm trying to decide on is whether this would be all I need to post, or whether it's necessary to put that in another, bigger box with extra protection.

Will be insuring the iMac either way.

Can anyone advise?

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I wouldn't send it in the Apple box alone....Do what Apple do, and find a slightly larger box to put the Imac box in...if you get my drift... Sending it out "Naked" is also a potential invitation to thieves.

Try a "moving" supply store. Boxes in a wide variety of sizes, bubble wrap, packing tape, etc. They should have everything you need.

Thd post office sell boxes. Wrap the first box in bubblewrap before puting it in.

Macman45 said:

I wouldn't send it in the Apple box alone....Do what Apple do, and find a slightly larger box to put the Imac box in...if you get my drift... Sending it out "Naked" is also a potential invitation to thieves.

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Furthermore, most insurance will not cover a loss due to theft if the item is shipped in packaging that clearly identifies what it is.

kimoni said:

Hey all.
It's time to move on from my iMac 2009 model that I've had for years, I'm upgrading to retina Macbook pro.

I need to sell the thing now, probably on eBay. I'm quite good at saving boxes generally and I still have the original iMac box. What I'm trying to decide on is whether this would be all I need to post, or whether it's necessary to put that in another, bigger box with extra protection.

Will be insuring the iMac either way.

Can anyone advise?

Click to expand...

I'd be really interested on how you go, I'm also in UK and am going to sell my 2007 iMac and also just have the original box.

Would you post on here what you decide please, how you package it, how much it costs to post, with who etc.

I'm also looking at option now, I've seen parcel2go.com where you can get a quote?

Cheers

if your not sure that you have enough shipping protection, you dont have enough!

garden centres sell big bales of bubble wrap for £15-£10 and you can get boxes from places like staples or the post office.

You can never have too much packing when your posting something expensive and fragile.

*edit* the key to keeping things safe in shipping are keeping parts separate and immobilising them inside the box. Make sure everything is tight in the original box and that nothing rattles. Then you can think about exterior protection like extra boxes and bubble wrap.

kimoni said:

Hey all.
It's time to move on from my iMac 2009 model that I've had for years, I'm upgrading to retina Macbook pro.

I need to sell the thing now, probably on eBay. I'm quite good at saving boxes generally and I still have the original iMac box. What I'm trying to decide on is whether this would be all I need to post, or whether it's necessary to put that in another, bigger box with extra protection.

Will be insuring the iMac either way.

Can anyone advise?

Click to expand...

I've shipped a Mac Pro in it's original box. I just required signature confirmation and explained that it would ship this way. The reason I did was that the packaging in that box is extremely good. Also, Apple apparently ships them to the Apple Store that way, as it had a UPS stick of its own on the box already.

I've ordered an iMac from Apple before through the refurbished store. They had a brown box that was the equivalent of the usual iMac box, but then it was inside of a second box. There was no additional foam or packaging material. Just a box in a box. It wasn't damaged or anything.

With all this being said, I think that if you insure the shipment, require signature, and explain that it is shipping in a box that says what's inside, that you shouldn't have a problem. For added security, add some packing peanuts or foam between the front of the iMac and back of the iMac to fill that empty void a bit more.

Assuming you're in the US, try using the Post Office. Their rates are good and they don't handle the package like a bunch of destructive imbeciles like other shipping companies. I've had success with USPS.

Also, another side note, Bose ships their products in the retail box right to people's homes. They use UPS. They have a disclaimer that it will ship like that.

EDIT - I realized you are in the UK... so I guess some (most that I mentioned) couriers don't apply.