If you paid for shipping, and the right amount was applied to shipper's insurance,...
then it's your claim with UPS, based on you being the paying party.
However, the seller's at fault, and you may gain more in recourse if you pursue and pressure the seller. It's the seller's fault that these items were not packed properly. Upon inspection & description of the way the items were packed, UPS will not likely honor any insurance, because they have packing standards, which this shipment will obviously not meet.
In the end, it's between you and the seller. The cool, reputable sellers will give you a refund, full or negotiated partial, and will take their lumps, with or without requesting the damaged goods back. It depends on the seller, and the rapport you may have, in influencing them to step up to their responsibility. Their ultimate responsiblility lies in the shoddy way they packed the items.
I've had more than a few cases of damage, and in at least half of them I was simply left holding the bag. Even though the seller always said "sorry", less than half of them ever cared to issue a refund.
On the other hand, my own experience with the smashed Tascam 38 yielded me a full refund by the seller, AND I was able to keep the damaged goods. Likewise, a Technics cassette deck I got that was cracked yielded me a full refund, and I kept the goods.
The majority of other damaged goods I got,... several Fostex A8's in a row, an A2 & a 350 mixer,... I really bit the big one on damage.
Likewise, f/i, the "famous" wayward M520 that took me a month & a half to recieve, and it came less the important power umbilical cable, and is therefore rendered totally useless. My $800 door stop. I'm being totally stiffed by the seller on this cable, by oversight or deliberate omission, and that's the way the Ebay game goes, sometimes.
