Good thinking, to get pictures.
It would be interesting to know what was going through the seller's head, when he or she decided to go with UPS after talking about freight.
I live in the land where espresso machines grow on trees, but we got ours on a pallet. It worked out fine, and wasn't terribly expensive, but it requires some extra trouble and expertise on the seller's end. My seller, for one thing, knew how to get it shipped at half the price of anything I could dig up, and presumably knew how to make up a half-pallet that would stay together, and maybe delivered that 200lb lump to the freight office since door-to-door can be a hefty extra fee if they'll do it at all (have a loading dock?)