Buying solar panels online: pallets, freight, and what to do when one arrives broken

Solar panels are the one part of a home battery system that arrives on a freight truck. They are big sheets of glass, they travel hundreds of miles on a pallet, and now and then one shows up broken. One of mine did.

This post covers what to order, what delivery day looks like, and what to do in the ten minutes while the truck is still in your driveway. Those ten minutes decide whether a damaged panel gets refunded.

Before any of this, work out which panel fits your battery and how many go in each string. That is a separate job, covered in choosing solar panels for a home battery.

Why panels come on a pallet

A residential panel of 400 W or more is about six feet long and weighs roughly 45 to 55 pounds. Parcel carriers handle them badly, so online retailers ship them by freight, stacked and strapped to a pallet.

That shapes what you can order:

• There is usually a minimum. Signature Solar will not palletize fewer than 10 panels for shipping. Smaller quantities are for in-store pickup only, on some panels. A1 SolarStore showed a 10-panel minimum for delivery on the listing I checked.
• A full pallet is a lot of solar. Full pallets on Signature Solar's site run 31 to 36 panels, which is 13 to 16 kW. An EcoFlow DELTA Pro Ultra takes in 5.6 kW and a DELTA Pro Ultra X takes in 10 kW, so one battery cannot use a full pallet.
• The price per watt falls with quantity. Full pallets carry the lowest price per watt. A part pallet of 10 or more costs somewhat more per watt and still ships on a pallet.

For one battery, that usually means a part pallet sized to your strings. A full pallet makes sense if you are splitting it with a neighbor or have inputs you plan to fill later.

What panels cost, and where to buy them

Three retailers, and the prices on their sites on November 13, 2026, for panels in the 385 to 450 W range. Prices are per watt, before freight and tax.

Put ten 440 W panels through those numbers, 4.4 kW in all. At Signature Solar or A1 SolarStore that is roughly $1,500 to $1,800 before freight. The same ten bought as five brand-name two-packs at Outbound Power is about $5,000. Outbound's low price per watt comes on a full pallet of 32 panels, which is more than one battery takes.

The two-pack earns its place when you need fewer than ten panels. A three-panel string for a low-voltage input is below both freight minimums above, and two two-packs cover it with a panel to spare.

Freight is quoted at checkout, so compare the total delivered to your ZIP code, not the list price. Prices move week to week, and the table is a snapshot.

Order a spare

Count the panels your strings need, then think about adding one.

The reason is how damage gets settled. Signature Solar's policy is a refund or store credit for a damaged panel, and a replacement only when four or more are damaged. A refund is fair, but it leaves you one panel short, and a single panel is below the minimum that ships by freight. That is what happened to me: I ordered exactly ten, one arrived damaged, and the refund left my array a panel short.

The retailers say the same thing. SanTan Solar's terms state that it will not send replacements for panels damaged in shipping, and recommend buying extra panels so a project is not delayed. A1 SolarStore's product pages offer to add two spare panels to an order for the same reason.

A spare also covers the longer term. A string has to be one panel model, and panel models are replaced by new ones every year or two. If a panel fails in year six, the matching one may not be for sale anywhere.

What delivery day looks like

Freight delivery is different from a package at the door.

• It comes to the curb. The driver lowers the pallet on a lift gate, usually at the end of the driveway. Carrying it up the driveway is not part of the service.
• Check how the lift gate is charged. Some retailers include it and some list it as an extra that has to be ordered in advance. Look for it at checkout.
• Someone has to be there. The carrier calls to schedule, and the delivery needs a signature. You want to be the one signing, for the reasons below.
• Have a plan for moving the panels. A pallet of ten panels weighs around 500 pounds. Two people can carry panels one at a time. Keep them flat or upright against a wall, out of the way, until they are mounted.

While the truck is still there

This is the part that matters most. Every retailer I checked ties a damage claim to what is written on the delivery receipt, and the driver takes that receipt away.

1. Photograph the pallet before unwrapping it. All four sides, while it is still on or beside the truck.
2. Look for crushed corners, punctured wrap, a leaning stack, or fork marks low on the sides. Check the edges of the panels you can see.
3. Photograph each damaged panel on its own.
4. Write the damage on the driver's copy of the delivery receipt before you sign it. "One panel damaged, left side" is enough.
5. Make sure the driver sees the damage, and ask for an exception number. That number is the carrier's record that the freight arrived damaged.
6. Accept the delivery. Refusing the pallet feels like the safe move and usually costs more. Signature Solar advises taking possession and filing a claim, and says a refused shipment can carry a restocking fee and shipping that is not refunded.

If the driver is in a hurry, take the photos first and write on the receipt second. Those two things are what a claim rests on.

Filing the claim: how mine went

I ordered ten panels from Signature Solar. One arrived damaged along one side. It looked like a forklift had caught it somewhere along the way.

Here is what I did:

1. Took pictures of the damage while the driver was still there.
2. Made sure the driver saw it, and got an exception number.
3. Filed the claim on Signature Solar's website, with the pictures attached and the details filled in.
4. Called to confirm they had received the claim.

It took a couple of weeks. They refunded the cost of the one panel, including the tax and the shipping on it.

Nothing about it was difficult. What made it work was having the photos and the exception number before the truck left, and filing the same day.

How long you have

Deadlines are short, and they differ between retailers and sometimes between two pages of the same retailer's site.

These are from each retailer's shipping, FAQ, claims and terms pages, checked November 2026. Policies change, so read the current page before you order.

Picking the panels up yourself avoids freight, and it is rarely practical from Charleston. Signature Solar's pickup is in Sulphur Springs, Texas, and the nearest A1 SolarStore pickup point for the panel I checked was in Connecticut. Once you load panels yourself, any damage after that is yours.

The simple rule that satisfies all of them: unwrap and inspect every panel the day it arrives, and report anything the same day.

Buying used or local instead

Facebook Marketplace and similar local listings are worth a look. Installers sell panels left over from finished jobs, and homeowners sell arrays they have taken down. Prices can be well under retail, and you collect the panels yourself, so there is no freight and no minimum order.

Four things to keep in mind:

• Assume there is no warranty. A manufacturer's warranty generally needs proof of purchase from an authorized seller, and a private sale does not come with one. Price the panels as if any failure is yours to absorb.
• Look each panel over. Cracked glass, brown or burned spots on the cells, a melted or loose junction box on the back, and a bent frame are all reasons to pass. So is a missing label, because without the label you cannot do the string math.
• Test before you pay. A panel can look perfect and still be weak, and the only way to know is to measure it. In full sun, set a multimeter to DC volts and measure across the panel's two leads. The reading should be close to the open-circuit voltage (Voc) on the label, a little lower on a hot day. A panel far below that has a problem. A DC clamp meter will also show current, to compare with the label. Test one panel at a time, never a wired string, and cover the panel before plugging or unplugging its leads.
• Buy a full string of one model. A mixed lot of three different panels cannot share a string, because the weakest one sets the current for all of them. Know before you go how many of that panel your input needs, buy that many of the same model, and take a spare if there is one. You are unlikely to find that model again.

There is also a route between a retailer and a stranger's listing: someone in the trade you already trust. The six Silfab panels in my array came through my electrician. An electrician can sometimes source panels directly, and you are buying from the person who will be there when they are wired in. Ask before you order anything.

The short version

• Work out your strings first, then order that many panels plus one.
• Expect a minimum order of around 10 panels for freight.
• Be home for the delivery and sign for it yourself.
• Photos of all four sides before unwrapping.
• Damage written on the driver's receipt, and an exception number from the driver.
• Accept the pallet. Claim for the damaged panels.
• Unwrap everything and file the claim that day.
• Call to confirm the claim was received.

Once the panels are in hand, the solar simulator shows what your array delivers to the battery across a day. The mounting and the DC wiring are work for an electrician.

The links to A1 SolarStore and Outbound Power are partner links: I may earn a commission when you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. The Signature Solar link earns me nothing. How this works.