Be careful with Amazon cymbal purchases

roncadillac

roncadillac

Platinum Member
As a whole I love Amazon and I drink the prime Kool aid, occasionally I've had some minor issues but nothing like this. My brand new Paiste PST 7 heavy ride showed up today however they decided to just ship a loose cymbal in a comedically oversized box with no bubble wrap, box in box, or even layers of brown paper. Just literally a loose cymbal in a huge box. As you can probably assume the edge of the cymbal got beat to hell in transition, one particular area was so mangled it looked like someone took an angle grinder to an area about 3" long. Fortunately they accepted the return and refund so it's not a financial loss, just a big pain in the butt.

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I take it that it came from an Amazon warehouse and not a drum shop on Amazon. Amazon does that a lot with stuff they ship directly. They’re playing the odds to get more packages out quicker from the warehouses. I get a lot of items from them packed that way. Fine for clothes and light items that are hard to break, but not so much cymbals.
 
JimmyM said:
I take it that it came from an Amazon warehouse and not a drum shop on Amazon. Amazon does that a lot with stuff they ship directly. They’re playing the odds to get more packages out quicker from the warehouses. I get a lot of items from them packed that way. Fine for clothes and light items that are hard to break, but not so much cymbals.
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Whenever I ordered bass drum heads from them they simply slapped a shipping label on the factory box and sent it out. No outer packaging, didn't even tape the box closed. After several times of coming home from work with an open drum head box leaning against my front door and a bass drum head flapping around my driveway in the wind I stopped ordering any head larger then 16" from them.
 
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River19 said:
DCP........never order from anywhere else if I can avoid it. Plus I can drive there in 1hr......
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Totally, those dudes are the best! I typically only get small consumables like sticks and small heads from Amazon, I just decided to roll the dice this time.
 
They do weird packaging sometimes-I'd say vast majority of time no issues. But some poor packaging as you mentioned-once we got this huge square box that just contained two different smaller items with big bubble wrap-that didn't do squat for smaller object flying around in box. Most of the time it's fine-I wonder if it's because they buy from so many vendors and some are just doodoo?
 
Reminded me of my Zildjian shipment. They did a great job installing the rivets, but the cymbal was not secure whatsoever on the return and just loose in a box. There was a cheap pizza saver like thing to keep it secure but did fell off, luckily not damaged like this though.
 
GetAgrippa said:
They do weird packaging sometimes-I'd say vast majority of time no issues. But some poor packaging as you mentioned-once we got this huge square box that just contained two different smaller items with big bubble wrap-that didn't do squat for smaller object flying around in box. Most of the time it's fine-I wonder if it's because they buy from so many vendors and some are just doodoo?
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Funny part is I recently got a small bottle of after shave lotion from Amazon, they wrapped the bottle in plastic then stuffed the whole box full of bubble wrap. Enough bubble wrap to save my cymbal lol.
 
roncadillac said:
Whenever I ordered bass drum heads from them they simply slapped a shipping label on the factory box and send it out.
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Had this happen with poor results several times from Schmamazon. I returned a 20” Coated Ambassador two weeks ago due to it being contorted into roughly the shape of a seagull in transit.
 
roncadillac said:
Totally, those dudes are the best! I typically only get small consumables like sticks and small heads from Amazon, I just decided to roll the dice this time.
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No judgement I do the same sometimes because sitting on the can if I think "I need some sticks" they are on their way before I wipe...... just being real....

Now if DCP had an App, I would be screwed and possibly lose a house......
 
River19 said:
No judgement I do the same sometimes because sitting on the can if I think "I need some sticks" they are on their way before I wipe...... just being real....

Now if DCP had an App, I would be screwed and possibly lose a house......
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If that app came with two day shipping and a huge library of drum videos the drumming community would all lose a house haha
 
I bought one cymbal from Amazon, a 12" Wuhan china. It was packed in a comedically large pizza box type box with no packing at all. The cymbal was fine, but I was not impressed nonetheless.

My kids dog wasnt happy either. She loves popping bubble wrap.
 
roncadillac said:
Whenever I ordered bass drum heads from them they simply slapped a shipping label on the factory box and sent it out. No outer packaging, didn't even tape the box closed. After several times of coming home from work with an open drum head box leaning against my front door and a bass drum head flapping around my driveway in the wind I stopped ordering any head larger then 16" from them.
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Or better yet, don't order ANY drum gear from Amazon—or anywhere else that isn't a drum or music retailer. You're just asking for trouble, whether it's poor packaging, receiving returned/damaged gear, or even fake gear.

Amazon sells fake sticks??

So I ordered sticks from amazon recently (in the uk) rather than going into shops (due to lockdown) This is the second pair i've purchased now that I suspect to be fake!!!? The first were 'vic firth 5a' - they turned out to be really light, nothing like 5a usual weight, even the wood seemed so...
www.drummerworld.com
 
yammyfan said:
Disappointing to say the least, I know how much you were looking forward to that cymbal, too.
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I couldn't resist a light tap or two before returning it and it's exactly what I was looking for! Bright pronounced ping, solid fire alarm bell, and a beautiful under-note (is that a term?) that prevents it from being a one trick pony despite it's weight and profile. I'm looking forward to eventually having a non damaged one haha. I do see what you and others were saying... While certainly not being a 2002, it does have 'that type' of sound and vibe and for my needs and budget is perfect for my situation.
 
That's an Amazon pack job for ya.
I ordered a kick head from CME, it came boxed for the apocalypse. I ordered heads from Aquarian, the order was filled by Hollywood drum shop and they also boxed them to survive the apocalypse.
After seeing this, I will continue to only buy from music shops. With exception to the snareweights I got from Amazon, they can handle an Amazon "pack".
 
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