I will see your worst packing description, and raise you THIS:
A couple months ago, I received a poster from an eBay seller in Italy
("icetrap72": all I can say is "beware"); it was an Italian 2-fogli, so it's
roughly 39"x55". The seller's ad on eBay pictured the poster with a single
vertical fold down the middle, and three horizontal folds, as is standard
for these. The price of the poster was close to US$125, with shipping. I
actually already owned this particular poster, but was hoping to upgrade to
one in better condition, which this appeared to be.
The seller (who sells posters on eBay regularly, though not in huge numbers)
shipped it wrapped (from Italy to the US) in .. wait for it .. GIFTWRAP. No
cardboard, no protection, just wrapped in a single layer of paper that was
thinner than the paper the poster itself was printed on. (Of course, the
flimsy giftwrap paper was torn on arrival here in California, exposing the
poster itself, which was of course also torn).
And, to add insult to injury, presumably to save on giftwrap, he had folded
the poster an additional time or two prior to shipping it (so it arrived
with THREE vertical folds instead of one)! (Or, possibly, it had always
been tri-folded, but the poster he had pictured in his ad was a different
specimen.actually, I suspect that's closer to the truth.)
Needless to say, after getting no response to my complaints from the seller
(should have checked his feedback before bidding, as it was lousy), I went
through eBay's claims process, which surprisingly worked very smoothly. I
shipped the poster back, and got my $$ refunded by eBay, less my costs of
return postage (though, to Italy, those costs were substantial, because in
order to claim a refund you have to do the return shipment in a manner that
provides delivery confirmation).
He's probably sold the poster four more times by now.
_____
Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2010 12:55:32 -0400
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [MOPO] Lawrence of Arabia Oscars WC arrives in s*** condition.
To: [email protected]
You want a worst-packing description - I'll give you a worst packing
description.
A middle-grade auction house with no experience in posters (yes, I know I
should have been wary) had a movie poster auction a few years ago. Most of
the items were uttterly unremarkable but there were a few of passing
interest and I duly submitted my maximum bids and waited to see what would
happen. I won three lots at precisely my maximum bid - quite the
coincidence.
Two items had to be sent flat and were packed quite well, however the
Bullitt 1-sheet was tightly rolled into a flimsy (I could crush it with my
little finger) tube about 1.5" in diameter. Bad enough you might think, but
the kicker was the tube was about 6" too short so the packer got a second.
equivalent tube to cover the exposed 6", squeezed the open end of the first
tube into the second piece so the combined length now covered the poster,
then used a stapler to hold the two pieces of tube together. Since the
poster was right next to the area where the tube pieces overlapped the
multiple staples went right through the tube and into the poster, and since
the poster was so tightly rolled each staple made about eight holes. The
poster was probably in quite good condition before being sent, but on
arrival it had multiple crush marks and more perforations than a tea bag.
Colin
On TuesdayJun 8, 2010, at 9:35 AM, John Waldman wrote:
I guess we all have our shipping horror stories. I received another 1 sheet
in a Christmas wrapping paper tube. Hope that's not becoming a common
practice.
Window cards do tend to be packed very poorly because of their size, and
they are easily damaged when packed cheaply. Sometimes an Ebay seller
surprises me how well they pack WC's, but most times they are packed as
cheap as possible. (The professional poster sellers on Ebay are not a
problem as far as packing goes.)
The worst packed I've ever seen was the 1/2 sheet I received in a small
envelope. The poster had been folded to 1/8's to get it in the envelope. A
50 year old poster totally destroyed.
John W
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