I have a recent story, only with a monster mag...
About a month ago, I snagged this Famous Monsters #26 from Mile High Comics... one of the most respected comic companies in the world. My 'vault' copy is an 8.0... Mile High stands by their grade (you can look it up in Wikipedia!) in that if they grade an old book "Near Mint", and if you send it to CGC and it gets less-than an 8.5 they refund your money, plus CGC fees... I figure I couldn't lose! Half of me wanted to call them to ask for special packing, but was afraid someone would catch wind that they were GIVING away FM #26s (Very tough in high grade... that damn white background.) http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=370373999153 They sent it in a Priority Flat Rate envelope. Although it was sandwiched in two (thin) layers of cardboard, the outer edge got banged-up pretty good in transit... unfortunately, it was a BEAUTIFUL copy otherwise... most likely would have beaten my 8.0. Crease or no crease, it was still 'worth' a heckuva lot more than what I paid. I went ahead and listed it myself and made a little money, but that wasn't my purpose of the transaction: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130392151034 What really chapped my ass is that some newbie listed ANOTHER #26 24 hours later which couldn't hold a candle to MY copy, but sold his for more than double that what mine went for... talk about pouring salt into the wound! http://cgi.ebay.com/Famous-Monsters-Filmland-26-Jan-1964-/190397828736?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c54984e80 I was just SICK over it for a couple of weeks... I thought I had gotten over it, but then this thread came along. Now, to make matters WORSE, I just noticed THIS one... http://cgi.ebay.com/Famous-Monsters-Filmland-26-FN-6-5-Warren-1964-/400124023122?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5d29401152 No Way this could have been as good as the one I sold! Makes me want to just throw in the towel. Just had to share MY recent shipping-damage horror-story. Frankenwick -----Original Message----- From: Claude Litton <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Tue, Jun 8, 2010 2:23 pm Subject: Re: [MOPO] Lawrence of Arabia Oscars WC arrives in s*** condition. In addition to posters I collect plaster statues (most around 18 inches in height) of celebrities. i have around 400 including most movies stars of the 30', 40's and 50's. I once bought Abbott and Costello from a seller whose place was 30 miles from me. When the box came everything inside was rattling so I knew I did not own two perfect statues. Each was in a supermarket paper bag with no protection. They were both smashed to pieces. When I called the seller and asked why he did not protect them with bubble wrap this was his answer: "They were only going 30 miles." I told him that the way the shipping companies toss the boxes they would not have lasted 30 feet. In any case, I got my money back and bought a perfect pair from another seller. These statues go well on a shelf below one's favorite posters, which is how I got started. You can find them on ebay by searching ESCO. If you would like to see them, email me. Claude Litton In a message dated 6/8/2010 2:57:11 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: 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 Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
