Small box is $4.85 or, if they want to play games and insist on 2" packing, wrap 2" of bubble wrap and put it in a large Envelope for $4.75. I'm thinking you didn't send it at the post office. Hell, even a medium box which is way huge for a HDD, is only $10.80
I always advise friends to use Advanced Replacement. It's hard to ship much of anything for less than $10. Not to mention the strict (on paper, at least) RMA shipping requirements of hard drive makers. With Advanced Replacement, you get your replacement quickly, everything is taken care of for you, and you're sure you'll meet the RMA requirements.
Ouch.lawl...
after a long long time they sent me back.... a drive that fails seatools diagnostics.
so win is seagate.