Thinking of buying your audiophile-grade audio products on Shopee because it appears cheaper? Hold on.. because we do not recommend it.

Before you click Add to Cart, read this first especially if you care about sound quality and peace of mind.

The Hidden Risks of Buying Audio Gears on Shopee

We get it. Big discounts, easy checkout, and fast shipping sound tempting. But for high-end audio equipment, those 'savings' could result in unexpected inconveniences, or even cost you more in the long run.

Many buyers (including our own) have ended up with:

• 📦 Empty boxes delivered and a nightmare refund process.
• 😨 Order marked 'delivered' in-app, but no actual delivery made.
• 💔 Speakers arriving dented, cracked, or even DOA (Dead On Arrival).
• 🤯 Weeks of dispute with no clear resolution leading to frustration.

Source: https://www.asiaone.com/singapore/now-i-know-why-sometimes-my-parcel-damaged-shopee-delivery-workers-seen-tossing-parcels

Why This Happens

❌ Outsourced to several 3rd party entities: Shopee outsources deliveries to 3PL companies to obtain the lowest possible cost. These companies hire part timers, housewives, foreigners who wish to earn extra pocket money, and they are not trained to handle fragile, high-value audio gear with care.

❌ Too many hands on each parcel: 3rd party logistics (3PL) companies achieves economies of scale through handling of parcels in large volumes, involving multiple individuals handling (or mishandling) your parcel until it reaches your doorstep. This gives rise to bad behaviour when handling the parcel, as every person will not take responsibility to handling parcels carefully.

❌ Maximising parcel count and improper handling: Mishandling tend to occur when parcel volume increases, as drivers will tend to force more parcels into their vehicles to maximise parcel count per trip, or personnels on trolley stacking heavier parcels on top of smaller lightweight parcels. We won't be surprised heavy parcels get thrown about at the various sorting venues as well. No amount of bubble wrap can protect a small product packaging when a large parcel comes smashing down onto it. 

❌ Paid lowly: Every personnel is paid between 20-40cents per parcel, almost regardless of the weight. Why would any person bother to handle a 20kg parcel, when they're paid the same for handling a 20grams one?

❌ Long hours of work: Odd job hirees to handle last-mile deliveries usually work after their main day jobs. While working at night, they're usually already tired but they just want to get the job done. It's worse when they're assigned heavy or bulky parcels. The same goes for the poor souls at the warehouses doing the sorting, past midnight.

❌ Shopee pressures 3PL partners with Next Day Delivery: This adds severe stress to the logistics system, demanding more from every person in the logistics chain round the clock, so as to meet the expectations that consumers will have when they purchase on Shopee. Getting the parcels delivered is top priority, nothing else matters. Your parcels are almost definitely ill-treated the whole way.

Did you know? Your parcels are being sorted at HDB void decks, multi-storey carparks, basketball courts, and being tossed around a lot! They're also left out in the open, susceptible to further damage by passers by.

And yes, we’ve heard all sorts of stories from our walk-in customers.

As the go-to audio store in Singapore since 2008, customers have come to us eventually purchase what they want. Through our conversations, both online and offline, we've had to hear of many unpleasant stories.

Remember: Just a single accidental drop while in transit, can affect the performance of sensitive equipment like speakers, turntables, and amplifiers.

What could be worse than that? You being completely unaware.

The sound quality may not be at optimal, off-centre, loose internal components not visible from the outside at all. Lifespan may be SEVERELY shortened, even though your equipment may appear to be working at the start.

❌ Shopee’s QC of sellers deteriorating: Shopee like every other marketplace, is fighting to be the top in providing the widest range of products being listed. They allow any wanna-be sellers, from multiple countries (Malaysia, Mainland China, Indonesia, Hong Kong, etc.), to be listing their products on Shopee Singapore. With such direct listing, the prices are no longer possible to be controlled by the local agents, hence what may appear to be 'cheaper', is simply because of varying product prices in the respective countries. This opens new cans of worms:

• Customers receiving counterfeit products
• Customers receiving empty boxes
• Customers scammed as they receive non-correct items (e.g. keychains, soft toys)
• Products received do not come with local official warranty
• Parallel importers posing as 'local authorised sellers' providing their own seller warranty with shorter periods (e.g. 1 month, instead of 1 year)

So if the prices are too good to be true, it usually is.