Atari 800 Shipping Damage WARNING!

[Kyle22]

I want to let everyone know about the FRAGILE state of 800 plastic cases. Today, I received an 800 that I bought from ebay that was in "good cosmetic condition". It arrived with missing keys and a cracked case. This is the SECOND 800 that has arrived in such condition. The first one was shipped by USPS, the second one was shipped by UPS.

 

It seems that these 30 year old plastics aren't as tough as they once were. They are still perfectly fine for normal use, but, if you must ship one, I suggest you consider it FRAGILE and DELICATE, and pack and clearly mark it as such.

 

I really had my hopes up on this last one, See attached pic for slots cut out of top cover. This indicated to me that it may have a Bit3 80 col. video card in it. The hole is for the cable. My suspicion was ALMOST confirmed when it arrived with a 16K card, a 32K card, and AN EMPTY 3rd RAM SLOT. I do believe it had a Bit3 at one time (just not now)

 

The first picture is the BEFORE picture, from the ebay seller, the rest are the AFTER (shipping) pictures I took today.

 

Anyway, Please be careful when purchasing / shipping 800s.

 

In this case, the shipper is working with me to submit a claim with UPS, so hopefully, it'll get my money back, although I would have preferred to have a nice (non-cracked) 800 case to put my Ingognito system into.

 

-K

 

Edited March 11, 2014 by Kyle22

[RickR]

I had the same thing happen to me quite a while ago. It is such a sad feeling. In my case, USPS beat the box to h@ll. The seller packed it quite nicely, but someone at the post office played soccer with it or something.

[Bryan]

You've got to have a large-bubble wrap cocoon around these things if you want them to make it. A lot of shippers think it's enough to put them in peanuts, but they make their way to one side of the box and take a hit anyway.

[JamesD]

I've had it happen with an NEC Trek and an MSX machine. Both were poorly packaged.

[ACML]

I had something similar happen to a cherry mint 810. The photo showed a mint condition 810 and the shipper wrapped it twice with tiny bubble wrap, but the "coup de gras" was she packed it so tightly in the box that there was no room at all between the plastic and compressed bubble wrap. Case showed up cracked like yours. What a bummer. The 810 worked great, just ruined cosmetically. I eventually found a minty case on a non-functioning 810 at a local retro-gaming shop. Thankfully the 800's and the 48K 400 I bought made it unharmed. Makes you want to cry to see something that has endured three decades.

[Paul Westphal]

I have an extra 800 bottom.

[Kyle22]

I have an extra 800 bottom.

Thanks, but shipment from Portland to Pittsburgh may result in the same damage... I thought UPS may be a little better than USPS, but I guess not. Both of them were packed well with the large bubble wrap. Both boxes did, however, show signs of being dropped.

 

The next 800 I buy will be from someone in person, or a thrift store, where I can examine it before purchase and carefully put it on the back seat of my car.

[RickR]

Thanks, but shipment from Portland to Pittsburgh may result in the same damage... I thought UPS may be a little better than USPS, but I guess not. Both of them were packed well with the large bubble wrap. Both boxes did, however, show signs of being dropped.

 

The next 800 I buy will be from someone in person, or a thrift store, where I can examine it before purchase and carefully put it on the back seat of my car.

That's exactly what I did. Found a pristine 800 from an older gentleman who was the original owner. He wanted to make sure I wasn't going to "sell it on ebay". No way.

[Drummerboy]

Sorry men.

 

I know some similar cases. A member of another forum happened something similar with a Commodore 1551 Disk Drive (not be confused with C= 1541 Disk Drive) from Germany. When the package arrived, the unit came broke in many parts. He had to do a work of restoration in the plastic.

Two factor here:

And you know when he bought the Unit was in pefect cosmetic shape, all happened in the shipping.

 

1-But apparently the seller not pack properly for the shipping.

 

2- The shipping handling probably was wild.

Edited March 11, 2014 by Drummerboy

[flashjazzcat]

Anything less than yards of thick bubblewrap is remiss with ANY old machine... In fact with any tech at all, given the torture parcels seem to endure in transit nowadays.

[Nebulon]

Reminds me of a keyboard synthesizer that I'd ordered over eBay. UPS slammed the side of it into the front step and left it there in the middle of winter to freeze. Great big crack all down the side of the machine.

 

Good to know about the older A8 cases. I'm looking to purchase an Atari 400 sometime soon, so I'll certainly watch for this.

[+slx]

Had the same problem with a 400 shipped from the US to Europe. Case was cracked in so many places that 'shattered' wouldn't be the wrong word. At first I suspected the PSU but they might literally crack under the force of their heavy innards. Lots of jigsaw and glueing ahead if I can even find all the parts.

 

Must feel bad to come so close to a Bit3.

[OBO]

the quality of the plastic used at the time AND the age of these machines has caused probably the plastic to become very fragile...

If I do sell my other 400, it will be given personally to the buyer, so local sale only (or limited to a retrogaming convention I attend)

(sorry for bad order words sentence in, I have the flu, and when I have flu, my english is broken...)

[Stormtrooper of Death]

In Holland, people can get 3D prints done by commercial companies.(One is in Eindhoven) Instead of buying a rather expensive 3D printer, they just let the company print a design. Maybe these 3D printing companies are also in your location. My idea is then : Let the 3D printer print all plastic parts of the old Atari 400/800 and newer models.

Edited March 12, 2014 by Stormtrooper of Death

[atari8warez]

I want to let everyone know about the FRAGILE state of 800 plastic cases. Today, I received an 800 that I bought from ebay that was in "good cosmetic condition". It arrived with missing keys and a cracked case.

 

I understand the cracked case, but how come the key caps are missing unless the package was also ripped open . A bit of epoxy should fix that broken corner. I shipped a lot of small electronics in bubble wrapped envelops without problems, but heavy items probably need a lot more protection.

Edited March 12, 2014 by atari8warez

[Kyle22]

 

I understand the cracked case, but how come the key caps are missing unless the package was also ripped open

Sometimes the plungers crack, and a good hit will knock the keycaps off. That's no big deal, I think Best has the plungers.

[atari8warez]

Sometimes the plungers crack, and a good hit will knock the keycaps off. That's no big deal, I think Best has the plungers.

The keycaps may fall off but how are they missing!, anyway I was just curious.

[Kyle22]

The keycaps may fall off but how are they missing!, anyway I was just curious.

I found them when I was removing the bubble wrap from the box.

[ricortes]

~1987 I sent my son to a boarding school in Arizona. Once there he sent me a hit list of things he needed so I boxed up ~70 lbs<maximum weight you could send in a single box> worth of stuff like an 800xl, printer, and a pristine Indus via Greyhound IIRC. He said when it got there the box was damaged and apparently the Indus fell out and was lost. I always found it odd that the only other thing missing from the box was the Indus power supply!

 

To this day I do not know if a Greyhound employee cracked the package open and cherry picked the drive/power supply or if my son sold it and lied about it being missing.

 

I hate it when stuff like this, all the problems in the thread not just mine, happens because it kind of knocks the wind out your sails. I took down my bbs when I sent the system off and never restarted it. Never got another Indus either.

[Level42]

In Holland, people can get 3D prints done by commercial companies.(One is in Eindhoven) Instead of buying a rather expensive 3D printer, they just let the company print a design. Maybe these 3D printing companies are also in your location. My idea is then : Let the 3D printer print all plastic parts of the old Atari 400/800 and newer models.

That will never match the look or quality of the original plus f.i. a top cover is HUGE to print in 3D and will be pretty expensive.....and the worst thing: you need a 3D file that matches EXACTLY the shape that you want to print, and the 800 is a nightmare for that because of it's "weird" curves....

 

I double boxed the 800XL PAL I shipped to the US and it arrived just fine. It was a lot of bubble-wrap, then in a relatively small box than put that box in a larger box with lots of "crumbled" newspaper pages, so that it will completely fill the box.

 

I don't blame the plastic of the 800, I blame the bad packing habits of lots of sellers.

Edited March 12, 2014 by Level42

[fibrewire]

http://www.ebay.com/gds/How-To-Package-and-Ship-A-Vintage-Tube-Radio-/10000000020692651/g.html

[boxpressed]

It's more important to have padding on the bottom of the box than on the top (although you would want at least 3" on all sides). When these boxes are dropped, all those foam peanuts on top of the item aren't doing it any good.

[kenjennings]

It needs an even layer of padding surrounding it everywhere. There is no way of knowing that a thrown box will land on its bottom, top, sides, or a corner.

[flashjazzcat]

Yes - any assumption that couriers carefully carry items "right way up" the whole time would be rather misplaced. Newspaper is (in my experience) next to useless at absorbing impacts, as are expanded polystyrene pellets. Thick bubble wrap around everything; thick bubble wrap packing empty spaces in the parcel. I have on occasion even "drop tested" heavy items prior to despatch.

[+poobah]

I don't blame the plastic of the 800, I blame the bad packing habits of lots of sellers.

 

EXACTLY THIS.