Originally Posted by Kinetikx
From now on I'm looking for bikes locally. Screw Ebay for big easily damaged stuff from people who have no clue how to package things.
+1 I bought one frame on ebay. The guy actually padded most of the frame, placed chocks between the forks and stays. Then he wrapped the seat post with a cylinder of bubblewrap but did not secure the ends or secure the post in the box. You can guess the rest.
I do what Kinetikx says. I use the "distance nearest first" function on ebay for bikes and frames but typically find bikes on Craigslist and, my best source, yard sales. It's amazing what people sell at yard sales.