Don, I was reading your post on MMD for yesterday.  This happened to
a brother of my former next door neighbor of many years.  The brother
needed a computer type instrument called a plotter.  They cost about
$10,000 new.  He found one advertised on eBay and won the bid for
$4500.  He sent his money, and when UPS delivered the box to him, all
it contained was rocks.

The last time I talked to my former neighbor, a few weeks ago, the
brother had been unable to recover anything.  The seller says it was
there when UPS picked up the shipment.  UPS won't do anything about
the situation.  eBay won't do anything about the situation.

I guess the moral of this story would be to do like I used to do back
in the 1960s and early '70s when I sold a restored Duo-Art or Ampico
grand and was shipping it a long way off in the USA . I advised the
buyer to purchase an "all risk, warehouse to warehouse insurance
policy".  Aetna used to sell such a policy, and on a $2500 piano the
policy cost $45.  What I used to sell in pianos for $2500 go nowadays
for thousands of dollars -- wish I had them back to be able to sell at
today's prices.  Another moral: insurance purchased from the moving
companies is worthless if you try to collect on it.

Better yet: buy an airline ticket and go pick up the item in person.

I learned that Frank Adams communicates with you.  He bought lots of
things from me in the old days.  Wish I had some of those back, too.
<hehe>

Ellsworth Johnson
Spokane, Washington