Packaging Standard

Effective August 10, 2026 · Nate Evan Lukas Inc. (doing business as "SPKRS")

SPKRS does not provide transit insurance and does not purchase insurance on your behalf. Under the Seller Agreement the item is your responsibility until it arrives safely with the buyer. This page is the standard you are packing to.

The packing schedule

Every order shipped through SPKRS must meet all five. They are not suggestions; a parcel that fails them is a parcel you will not be compensated for.

01
Two inches of cushioning, all six wallsEvery interior wall — including the top and the bottom — carries at least two inches of cushioning between the item and the carton. The item must not shift when the sealed box is tilted.
02
Double-walled cartons over 10 lbAnything above 10 lb ships in a double-walled carton with corner foam. Single-wall board collapses under stacked freight and is the most common cause of a crushed corner.
03
H-pattern tape on every seamTape the center seam, then both edge seams, top and bottom. Three strips per face, pressure-sensitive packing tape.
04
Box-in-a-box for electronicsAmplifiers, DACs, turntables, and anything powered ship inside an inner carton suspended in an outer carton with six inches of clearance on all sides.
05
Newspaper and duct tape are not packing materialsNewspaper compresses to nothing in transit and duct tape releases under temperature change. Neither is acceptable on a SPKRS shipment.

What a carrier claim actually recovers

Read this part twiceBecause no insurance is purchased on your shipment, a claim can only recover what the service already includes by default. USPS Priority Mail and USPS Ground Advantage include up to $100 of coverage in the price, and USPS does not pay compensation on articles carrying no coverage at all. On a $2,000 pair of speakers, the claim is not your protection.Packing to the schedule above, and photographing the parcel while it is open and again once it is sealed, is your real protection. It is what stops the damage happening, and it is the evidence that decides the claim when it does.

Filing a carrier claim

1
Photograph the parcel before it shipsThe packed item, the cushioning, the sealed carton, and the label. A claim without evidence of how it was packed is decided against you. Do this on every order — it takes thirty seconds and it is the only record that exists.
2
Keep the packagingUSPS may require the item, the box, and all packing material to be presented for inspection. Tell your buyer not to discard anything until the claim closes.
3
File as the mailerEither the sender or the recipient may file a USPS domestic claim, but the filer needs the original mailing record — on SPKRS that is you, the seller. File at usps.com/help/claims.htm. Don't leave it to the buyer.
4
Bring the tracking number, proof of value, and photographsUSPS asks for the tracking/label number, evidence of value (the SPKRS order receipt works), and photographs showing both the damage and the packaging. A repair estimate may also be requested.
5
File within the windowFor a damaged parcel or missing contents, file no later than 60 days after the mailing date. For a parcel that never arrives, the window depends on the service used — check the USPS page for your service before you wait.
6
Refund the buyer regardlessThe claim is between you and the carrier. The buyer's remedy is with SPKRS under the Seller Agreement, and it does not wait on the carrier's decision.

If the buyer reports damage

Report it from the order screen the same day. SPKRS reviews damage reports alongside your packing photographs; a shipment that plainly did not meet this standard is treated as seller-caused under section 6 of the Seller Agreement.

Carrier rules change. The filing window and evidence requirements above follow current USPS domestic-claims guidance; the USPS page linked above is authoritative if the two ever disagree.