Literally never happened to me. Ive even had pre-war standards shipped and they all arrived intact. I just got lucky.

Tho nowadays I wouldn't take the risk to ship most standards anymore. With proper packaging its fine to ship pretty much anything but in my experience sellers wont do it right even when you tell them how.

Post war portables are, for the most part, far less fragile. 
 

Hi mikeytap, 

It definitely makes a difference in who did the packing. I recently bought an Olympia SG3 from Lucas Dul and I have to say I was concerned about how well it would travel. I think because he is a typewriter aficionado he packed it well. Since the SG3 has an easily removable carriage he packed each piece in separate boxes. My other three standards have all been in person transactions.  

I have received a couple of portables that were packed with care from a business. I have also received a portable from the same business not packed with care that I had to return to be fixed. Some people packing seem to think that being in a case is good enough because, well, it’s in a case.  

When I was into electric guitars and amplifiers I packed with the idea it might have to survive a train wreck. I also received items where someone felt that a liberal sprinkling of packing peanuts was good enough because, well, they are packing peanuts.  

Buying used anything that needs to be shipped is always a gamble. 

George

 . . . . or I can find another clipper to use for parts for this one. ...sigh... no end in sight. 

mikeytap wrote:

Is it expected that a certain percentage of shipped typewriters are going to be damaged in shipping? As a relatively new collector I've had a couple of hits. 

The Adler J5 I bought a month ago had a carriage knob busted into pieces. Same damage on a SC Sterling I received today. Both from shopgoodwill.com. They wrap the heck out of the cases but put nothing around the typewriter itself. The Adler had either popped loose from its clamps or been knocked so it was loose in the case. The SC was still locked down to the case but I guess the carriage was moving. Sad. I bet you veterans chalk it up as a minor miracle when you open up and find everything ok. 

 

After my perfect QDL was destroyed by reckless shipping (no padding anywhere, not locked into case) I sent videos of how to pack a typewriter to them when I found another, asked them t PLEASE make sure their shippers watched, and it arrived very well packed. It was clear they watched.

Of my 35 machines, around 25-26 of them came to my home via shipping/delivery.

None have had a mishap and they have come via UPS, Fed Exp, US Postal, and even no-name couriers.  Several even came "Across the Pond".  These included Standard machines such as Olympia SG1, Facit T2, and big heavy electrics weighing 25, 35, and even 52 lbs.

I do work with my sellers and ask them if they need tips for packing and all have welcomed my input.  For a couple of sellers I have even kicked in an extra $ 10 to beef up their shipping box (double walled, heavy duty from U-Haul) and more robust packing materials.