Incredibly disappointed

[Conquistador]

Got a great deal on a bunch of spear armed vintage Ral Partha Goblins on Ebay.  Fantastic price ($40 for 40 figures, many painted, only a few with broken spears,) and super fast delivery  but when I opened the box a few minutes ago...   

Reebok toddler shoebox (very sturdy) with "adequate" taping.  That was good, very solid external packaging.   

The top layer was a sheet of small cell foam folded multiple times to protect from USPS "love taps" on the top of the box.      

A bottom layer of roughly 1" foam cubes, some still spot joined, underneath.        

But     in between - 40 loose figures (mixed with some of the foam pieces from the base layer that probably came loose) jumbled off to one side in a custer fluck pile.  Over 50% of the spears were now "L" or "U" shaped and many had the butt ends bent noticeably.  Paint was chipped on the bent spears on many of the bends.  Amazingly no more spears appear to be broken off. (USPS "B" team in the package kicking section today?)   I fully expected worse when I lifted off the top packing and saw the pile.

Sent the seller a note saying I was taking 24 hours to be sure my wording in the comments was objective but I regretfully planned to give him/her a negative rating.  I don't really want anything from the seller (to make me "happy" and give him positive comments) - I do plan to give him 5 stars on the two ratings I can score him on (Ebay locks some when there is not communications and shipping is free) -  because the the price was almost exactly what I paid in the 1970's, the figures were exactly as described and shipping was fast.

I can't justify low numbers on the categories I can score and I am limited to a set number of characters on the comments box.  I really wanted to not say anything too negative but even I packed my first boxes sold on Ebay better.

Anyway, no comments from the LAF community are expected or requested or necessary but I wanted to vent some of the emotions before I took a look at the wording I think I should leave in the rating comment box. 

OH!     While I am ranting  - First, Sunday afternoon, a lady on crutches with a bum leg driving a stick shift pulls out from behind a SUV in the grocery parking lot in front of me just as I sneeze, we bump and the plastic bolts on her smaller car front bumper pop on the top;  the cop (talking afterward) says he wrote her up for failure to yield, driving with no insurance and a suspended license; THEN my insurance company (after days of phone tag) says my sneeze was culpability on my part of the accident, (my car is old and only had a smear from her plastic bumper on my right front equally bumper corner so how hard can the impact have been, especially since I am not claiming any damage on my car - mostly because there is none;) and today this relatively small stuff "cherry on top" moment.  Trying to keep perspective here and it is better then when I started typing this post.

Thanks for reading/listening.   

I will leave the "Incredibly" in the subject line for now.   

Gracias,

Glenn

[Braxandur]

Hi Glenn,

tough luck...  Although it won't help you, it's good to mention bad packaging, since it will also make the seller take more care next times. Had a few of these experiences as well and allthough no fun, just keep on buying and hope for better luck next time.

Probable the seller thought he did package the models good enough, especially if he never did send a lot off models out, since it's incredible how rough handling during shipping can be.

[Cherno]

How hard can it be to wrap each miniature or even in sets of two or three in some tissue to protect them against bumps? At least that's how I package all my sold figures, no matter how little money I got for them. Sounds like that seller was just lazy.

[Conquistador]

Hi Glenn,

tough luck...  Although it won't help you, it's good to mention bad packaging, since it will also make the seller take more care next times. Had a few of these experiences as well and allthough no fun, just keep on buying and hope for better luck next time.

Probable the seller thought he did package the models good enough, especially if he never did send a lot off models out, since it's incredible how rough handling during shipping can be.

Oh I am pretty sure that is it and I don't want to nuke a flea so that's why the 24 hour mandatory cooling off period.

Gracias,

Glenn

[Conquistador]

How hard can it be to wrap each miniature or even in sets of two or three in some tissue to protect them against bumps? At least that's how I package all my sold figures, no matter how little money I got for them. Sounds like that seller was just lazy.

A little over 1000 feedback, maybe so.

Bad day maybe?  Or am I being idealistic all of a sudden?

Gracias,

Gleen

[jthomlin]

Some people just don't get that whole 'physics' thing ...

I once had a 600+ figure army sent to me that included 100 odd rare and quite valuable Citadel Fantasy Tribes figures. All were painted and based, as well as having magnetic sheeting on the bottom of the base. The sender in his wisdom, decided to harness the amazing power of magnetism in his packing strategy, which was as follows:

Take one large box ~60x30x30cm.
Place a piece of heavy gauge sheet metal in box.
Using the power of magnetism, arrange 200 figures standing on the metal sheet.
Cover these figures with a layer or two of bubble wrap.
Place a piece of heavy gauge sheet metal on top of the bubble wrap layer.
Using the power of magnetism, arrange 200 figures standing on the metal sheet.
Cover these figures with a layer or two of bubble wrap.
Place a piece of heavy gauge sheet metal on top of the bubble wrap layer.
Using the power of magnetism, arrange 200 figures standing on the metal sheet, making sure you have saved all those heavy items like chariots etc till last.
Cover these figures with a layer or two of bubble wrap.
Tape box closed.

This was then handed off to the gentle caresses of the various postal services needed to get it from the US to OZ.

Needless to say, by the time I got them half of the figures were damaged in some way including 70% of the FT Orcs ... 

Scurv's note on package handling rings true, I once had cause to send a delicate parcel, so I literately covered it in 'Fragile' stickers. On presentation to the woman at the Post Office, she intoned: 'we don't do fragile', to which I replied: 'I know, but surely it can't hurt to alert those handling it'. At which, to emphasise her point, dropped it over a metre to the floor!

Always pack assuming the parcel will be used as a football and never, and ever suggest any fragility, it only encourages them!

Cheers!
Joe Thomlinson

[former user]

I made a similar experience some years ago when I bought a fully painted 40K army via EBAY. The miniatures looked lovely in the pictures and everything, and a good dal it was too.
Then the parcel arrives and they were laid out on the bottom of the parcel in one sheet of newspaper with no stuffing whatsoever...
Needless to say the PJ was destroyed.
But the seller took the figures back and refunded.
So the feeling of pity is all what remains.
And hopefully the lesson for the seller who apparently had bought the army cheaply from someone and did not know how to handle painted miniatures.....

[Elk101]

Yes, 'fragile' might as well say 'Hulk smash!'. I worked in a Royal Mail depot for a bit when I  was a student and fragile parcels were regularly drop kicked to the back of the truck. I wasn't inpressed.

[workerBee]

Of course, automation (aka 'machine mashing') is helping this issue, right?

Gracias,

Glenn

[Mason]

I feel for you,sir.

My worst experience with 'packing' issues was when I bought some terrain made from Hirst Arts blocks.

The seller put the whole thing in an envelope and wrote fragile on it.
He obviously thought this was enough.

I received a bag with several dozen pieces in it.....it was so badly damaged that, before I opened it, I had NO IDEA what it was, it felt and sounded like a bag of rocks.

Clever!

[Oldben1]

Packaging is interesting isn't it.  I have not shipped out a lot but I have had my own funny stories.  It seems to me that movement is the real key.  If you are able to prevent the miniatures from jostling around you'll be okay.  Some people think the trick is filling the package with styrofom all the way up to the top as if the miniatures will magically suspend themselves around the filler and not touch each other.  My wife got these little mini ziplock bags that are perfect.  I have one guy who sends me all his painted miniatures in jewlery boxes with felt inside.  I'm always nervouse to open them up, but it always works! 
The best shipper is Uncle Mike who shipped me two painted minis if a foam container box with each miniature in there own little slot. 

[workerBee]

I think the key is knowledge about how bad/difficult it really is to ship, a little experience, some real forethought, and a desire to protect the miniatures.

Gracias,

Glenn

[Smillie]

When ever I ship stuff I individually wrap each figure in toilet paper (I know weird but its cheap and if you use a couple of sheets the figures are nicely protected from paint chipping)  and then I liberally fill the gaps between the figures with more toilet paper so that the figures can't move around and bash each other.

Top and bottom of the box gets either a shed load of toilet paper as padding, or polystrene.

Never had any problems to date. And its cheap.

Frankly anyone that posts out figures without proper packing is just plain lazy as packing materials are really cheap if you think creatively.

Sorry to hear of your Insurance woes, can you not get a report from the Police about her being written up and use that as evidence of negligence on her part. Its what we would do in the UK, don't know if its different in the states.

[Conquistador]

<snip>


Sorry to hear of your Insurance woes, can you not get a report from the Police about her being written up and use that as evidence of negligence on her part. Its what we would do in the UK, don't know if its different in the states.

Probably should whine off topic but it has been referred to a "regional office" for "further investigation" by a different company agent... Anyone can get a copy if the police report, they are aware of the report number, and I bet they already have a copy.  My Professional Paranoia says they want another "statement" to look for excuses... I mean inconsistencies, of course... that can be exploited to reduce paying anybody anything.  I have no claim (I don't count small black smudges on my right corner of the front bumper as damage) so it must be a desire to not pay the other driver anything. 

I told the first agent I just wanted whatever legal and ethical obligations are involved for either driver to be fulfilled.  The silence was a bit longer then I expected.  I guess they don't know how to handle that.

My apologies for spending so much time off the main topic.

Gracias,

Glenn

[Conquistador]

 

Given my job I am viewed as pretty paranoid by my friends outside the "Community" but you are feeding that professional paranoia with stories like this.    

 

Gracias,

Glenn