I was about to post this, but you beat me to it!
Someone PLEASE buy these ASAP - I am super-tempted to get more spares, but I am trying to get rid of stuff! (I just redid my rack yesterday, and it is going to be FULL - I am going to do a huge update to my FS thread tonight if I have time!) It is almost worth it just for the backplanes and power supplies even if they don't come with the pictured, but not mentioned in text rails!
Yes, although the 36-bay units often come with SAS1 expander backplanes, which need to be replaced, the 45-bay is only SAS2! (if anyone wants 5 sets or maybe more of the 24-drive and 12-drive SAS1 backplanes for drive wiping, experimentation, etc., PM me!)
I have generally heard good things about this seller, but I never bought anything myself. Am I misremembering someone being unhappy with their packing quality of a large heavy system maybe a year ago or so? Has anyone received anything large and heavy from them recently? What kind of packaging do they use?
My personal peeve is with sellers using inadequate packing, especially for 3U and 4U systems - At least 5 times I have been suckered in and bought from a seller I haven't dealt with before, I get burned with a sheared off handle, bent chassis, or worse (smashed power supply once!), and a return and waste of my time. You would think that sellers would realize jamming a server into a box less than 1/2 an inch larger than it with some bubble wrap is just going to result in a return. Sometimes when I'm feeling more cynical I think they deliberately pack poorly so UPS will pay them out on a damage claim - nowadays UPS pays out quickly and collects the item for their own liquidation sales, I have heard this is because people typically underinsure, and they can make money on it.
If the original Supermicro shippers are not available, the heavy duty expanding "instapak" foam in the silver plastic covering seems to be the next best thing if there is enough of it, although one seller used the consumer grade version in white plastic, which is a lot softer, and the left handle of one of these 45-bay units sadly got sheared off (including the 3 mounts) in transit
That was before these went on $300-400 fire sale instead of 900-ish apiece, but if anyone wants to pick one up locally, it's yours for $240.