adam242 Posted August 9, 2014 Share Posted August 9, 2014 (edited) So I bought an XEP-80 complete in box on eBay last week. I missed out on the new units Best has finally sold out of, and this one looked nice. Another piece for my collection, bought on a whim. Here's the picture from the auction listing: And here's what showed up on my porch this morning: This idiot didn't package it!! Just slapped a shipper on the original box and called it good! The whole idea of collecting vintage stuff complete in box is to have a decent box, I thought... now I've got a beat-to-shit box with a glued-on label. Way to go, buddy. Edited August 9, 2014 by adam242 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted August 9, 2014 Share Posted August 9, 2014 Awesome skills there. Reminds me of the guy who posted me a 15.4" LCD panel in a brown padded envelope. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tillek Posted August 9, 2014 Share Posted August 9, 2014 Awesome skills there. Reminds me of the guy who posted me a 15.4" LCD panel in a brown padded envelope. What? Flat screen, flat envelope... don't see the problem with that? (Just out of curiosity, did it arrive functional?) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tep392 Posted August 9, 2014 Share Posted August 9, 2014 The real kicker is that the seller describes it as being in "like new condition", so he clearly understands that people value the condition of it. You should complain to ebay and request a full refund from this idiot. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariBrian Posted August 9, 2014 Share Posted August 9, 2014 Open a claim ! Alot of times I ask how they are shipping it and if they dont even answer then you know you shouldnt buy the item . He has no right to be selling on ebay . 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted August 9, 2014 Share Posted August 9, 2014 Same thing happened to me with a VIC-20. Box got ruined. I complained to the seller, but he had no clue why I would want a nice box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miker Posted August 9, 2014 Share Posted August 9, 2014 Ok, one word form me: Have you been more interested with the box or with the interior? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hyperboy Posted August 9, 2014 Share Posted August 9, 2014 As long as its pink Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adam242 Posted August 9, 2014 Author Share Posted August 9, 2014 Ok, one word form me: Have you been more interested with the box or with the interior? Well, both, really... but that is the question: Is $30 a good enough price to tape up the box and deal with it? Assuming it's all there and functional.. I haven't opened the one edge the guy did tape shut. What are these things really going for these days? Best was giving them away for $20 or $25 if I remember correctly. But now, this one went for $75. And this dreamer wants $184 for his.. in a box just as shitty as mine! I'm leaning towards just keeping it and leaving some scathing negative feedback. I can't believe he has 100% positive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted August 9, 2014 Share Posted August 9, 2014 What? Flat screen, flat envelope... don't see the problem with that? (Just out of curiosity, did it arrive functional?) Nope - it was smashed. Opened an ebay case and the seller got abusive... all got sorted in the end, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boxpressed Posted August 9, 2014 Share Posted August 9, 2014 Check out my old thread on idiot shippers: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/200534-ever-had-a-console-shipped-to-you-like-this/ I think that finding a good shipping box is a monumental task for some sellers. The only reason I can fathom is utter cluelessness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
am1933 Posted August 9, 2014 Share Posted August 9, 2014 Awesome skills there. Reminds me of the guy who posted me a 15.4" LCD panel in a brown padded envelope. Did you get it from Rumbelows or Dr O'grady's personal organ enhancement clinic? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted August 9, 2014 Share Posted August 9, 2014 Did you get it from Rumbelows or Dr O'grady's personal organ enhancement clinic? Well, when it said "comparable in size", I didn't think they meant "an awful lot smaller than". 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariGeezer Posted August 9, 2014 Share Posted August 9, 2014 Well, both, really... but that is the question: Is $30 a good enough price to tape up the box and deal with it? Assuming it's all there and functional.. I haven't opened the one edge the guy did tape shut. What are these things really going for these days? Best was giving them away for $20 or $25 if I remember correctly. But now, this one went for $75. And this dreamer wants $184 for his.. in a box just as shitty as mine! I'm leaning towards just keeping it and leaving some scathing negative feedback. I can't believe he has 100% positive. I bought 2 of these on eBay 3 years ago, 1 for $5 Boxed and the 2nd for $12 Boxed. The first one didn't work, but the other one did Two years ago, I bought an old Remco Crystal Radio on eBay for my Grandson, it was exactly the same one I had when I was 5. The box and contents were perfect before shipping, but the seller used brown packing paper and used a shit load of tape right on the box to hold the paper. The box was ruined because of it and the seller didn't think an item from the 50's to 60's had "collector value" ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atari181 Posted August 9, 2014 Share Posted August 9, 2014 Ok, one word form me: Have you been more interested with the box or with the interior? That is irrelevant. If you purchase something in any condition. A reasonable expectation is to receive it in the same condition. Doesn't matter what he values more. This seller is a dumbass, like many sellers now are. Collectors want nice boxes in every hobby, it's not fucking rocket science! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted August 10, 2014 Share Posted August 10, 2014 I bought a boxed 130XE a couple of years ago for $100. The seller just wrapped the boxed item in brown paper and sent it out. Luckily for me it survived well; only a couple of corners got compressed slightly, and it worked fine and was as described/shown otherwise. It was actually the seller's first sale. So in this case I decided to just tell him the scoop about sending boxed items like that, and I noted what happened on his feedback. I also told him that if he did the same thing to a more reactionary eBayer, he'd have a good chance of getting slammed. Thereafter, with every boxed item I've bought, I've specifically told the seller, before even bidding on the item, that I care about the box and would like some assurance of how the item was going to be shipped. My opinion: You're due to make a claim. You didn't get what you paid for, period. I would contact the seller first though, as most are willing to fix things up -- all in the few cases I've encountered. I once bought one of those plastic cartridge cases that the seller shipped in a brown padded envelope. Needless to say it got smashed some. I got all my money from the seller and kept the item, with some initial hesitation on her part, without having to take it to a claim. The fact is, if they know they're going to lose a case -- and this was back before eBay was so much for the buyers as they are now -- it's in their best interest to just get it over with and save the extra hassle. That should be even more true now. Just determine what portion of the price the box is worth to you and ask for it. Boxes are often worth 50%, or much more in the cases of rare cartridges and such. Although I think that's declined somewhat in the last 1.5 years, with the Atari market being down overall. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
high voltage Posted August 10, 2014 Share Posted August 10, 2014 (edited) My Atari ST stuff (1040ST, Laserprinter, Monitor, MegaST4), the seller used the Atari boxes as shipping boxes with labels and brown tape all over the place (just like your XEP80), so you're not alone. Edited August 10, 2014 by high voltage Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPA5 Posted August 10, 2014 Share Posted August 10, 2014 I'd open a claim before leaving neg feedback. Sure, the sellers a goof but a claim allows you to settle things before going straight for acerbic feedback. At the very least, you take the road higher than the seller, and if the seller gets nasty in the claim than you can leave feedback that scorches the earth. Besides, the seller needs to understand why you want to leave neg feedback. Perhaps you can help someone else experience the same issue with this seller in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACML Posted August 10, 2014 Share Posted August 10, 2014 I won a pristine 810 on Ebay. I only bought it because it was cosmetically flawless and didn't have confirmation that it worked. The seller knew my reason for buying was based on cosmetic condition. I requested she take care in packaging. She assured me she wrapped it in bubble wrap. It showed up in a box exactly the size of an 810 (danger Will Robinson!!! - arms waiving). She wrapped it twice with tiny bubble wrap and stuffed it in a box that couldn't be any tighter. The case was chipped and cracked in several placed. She could have just sent it in a large ziplock plastic baggy and it would have shown up in better shape. The "coup de grâce" was that the unit was completely functional. It appears that it sat in a box for 30 years and had no wear and tear which is why it was in such good cosmetic condition. This was a felony in the retro collecting world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted August 10, 2014 Share Posted August 10, 2014 My favorite was a turntable I bought which was just barely small enough to fit into 2 free Priority Mail boxes shoved into each other. What I received was a turntable jigsaw puzzle. Some people honestly think that the postal service places your parcel on a pillow and then tiptoes across the country with it. With collectibles, you have to ask for exactly what you want if the seller doesn't specify their packing practices. It sucks, but there are a lot of people selling on ebay who have very little experience and can't envision a gorilla throwing a box against a wall. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted August 10, 2014 Share Posted August 10, 2014 (edited) Some of the supposedly seasoned and like-minded sellers aren't much better than clueless amateurs. I once bought a 1084S monitor from a professional Amiga parts seller who used a mandatory premium-rate courier service, since it was the only one which "covered glass breakages". The monitor arrived in a single-wall carton loosely packed with rolled-up newspaper (a notoriously ineffective shock-absorber). One corner of the bezel was smashed in, and the drop-down flap (which had previously been intact) was broken in half. I contacted the seller, and he advised me that the courier insurance effectively wasn't worth the paper it was written on. It kind of begged the question "why use a top-rate courier, if you're going to pack the thing poorly anyway and there's no come-back if it gets broken?". Anyway - I inveigled the seller into regurgitating half the monies paid, and was able to do a quite rewarding invisible mend and full spray-paint job on the monitor, which is now in daily use. But I think if a seller is gonna start feeling pains in his wallet post-sale - especially when a reasonable price was paid and the P&P is flat-rate - it'll be when he's packing the thing up and thinking how much his bubble-wrap costs and how much under-weight he can make the parcel. Edited August 10, 2014 by flashjazzcat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tezz Posted August 10, 2014 Share Posted August 10, 2014 I guess it's often lazyness with bad packaging as it takes extra time and effort to do it right. I always go to town when I'm packaging anything to be posted/couriered with bubble wrap around all the items individually, peanuts and other packing materials then in the box around the items so they don't move around at all in transit, I then double box it with polystyrene in the inner walls of the outer box to protect from impact damage. It's far more hassle to deal with damaged post than the effort to package them correctly. As we can't prevent couriers drop kicking it all the way it to it's destination I try to give it a fighting chance to get there in one piece I stopped putting fragile labels on packages years ago as they almost always arrived in bits most likely for the above reason. I sent a PC years ago via Parcelforce with fragile labels on each side of the box, the state that arrived in had to be seen to be believed, it was completely annihilated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tezz Posted August 10, 2014 Share Posted August 10, 2014 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Q6_9A90cUk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tschak909 Posted August 10, 2014 Share Posted August 10, 2014 Some of the supposedly seasoned and like-minded sellers aren't much better than clueless amateurs. I once bought a 1084S monitor from a professional Amiga parts seller who used a mandatory premium-rate courier service, since it was the only one which "covered glass breakages". The monitor arrived in a single-wall carton loosely packed with rolled-up newspaper (a notoriously ineffective shock-absorber). One corner of the bezel was smashed in, and the drop-down flap (which had previously been intact) was broken in half. I contacted the seller, and he advised me that the courier insurance effectively wasn't worth the paper it was written on. It kind of begged the question "why use a top-rate courier, if you're going to pack the thing poorly anyway and there's no come-back if it gets broken?". Anyway - I inveigled the seller into regurgitating half the monies paid, and was able to do a quite rewarding invisible mend and full spray-paint job on the monitor, which is now in daily use. But I think if a seller is gonna start feeling pains in his wallet post-sale - especially when a reasonable price was paid and the P&P is flat-rate - it'll be when he's packing the thing up and thinking how much his bubble-wrap costs and how much under-weight he can make the parcel. I had bought a Korg MS-10, an ARP Axxe, and a Moog Rogue that had been packed, using the same method... The MS-10 had a bent key, The Rogue had a hole in the side of the case, and the Arp Axxe required me to completely rebuild the keyboard. -Thom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted August 10, 2014 Share Posted August 10, 2014 As we can't prevent couriers drop kicking it all the way it to it's destination... That's exactly it: the packaging strategy should be built around the assumption that this will happen. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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