Iron Draggon
03-31-2005, 09:46 AM
UGH! Shipping damage! It's not something that we like to think about, and to be honest, I've never really thought about it before myself, but now that it's happened to me, I realize that it is a very real and unfortunate possibility. So, this thread is for discussing your worst importing nightmares coming true!
I'll start with my own horror story. I recently ordered a factory sealed copy of the original version of Terra Phantastica. I don't know how scarce it is in that condition, but for me it's been very difficult to locate one. All I've seen for months is factory sealed copies of the Saturn Collection version, with the awful white border around the awesome artwork on the cover, and used copies of the original version. So I was really looking forward to it arriving.
When it finally got here, I noticed that the plain paper envelope that it was packed in had a fairly large hole in it, and I could see the bubble paper that was wrapped around the game through it, but I didn't think much of it. I foolishly assumed that the game inside would still be in the same condition that I saw it in the auction photo when I jumped on the BIN button for it.
So, I eagerly ripped the envelope open using the convenient hole that was already in it, and proceeded to unwrap the one thin layer of bubble wrap from the game. I didn't think anything of the fact that it was only wrapped in one layer of bubble wrap either, except that it did seem very unusual, since normally whenever I receive a new import game it's wrapped in several layers of bubble wrap. I always thought that all that extra bubble wrap was redundant before, but I will never think that again. Nothing can ever be wrapped in too much bubble wrap! The damage was about to be revealed...
The horror was far worse than I could've imagined if I had even suspected that the game was damaged. At the worst, I thought that maybe the CD jewel case could have some small cracks in it that weren't there before, but it didn't matter because I was gonna open up the game and play it anyway. However, the damage was shockingly massive. One corner of the CD jewel case had been crushed so badly that it literally looked as though it had been bitten and chewed off! The factory seal was torn open, every page of the manual was either torn or bent or both, the disc holder was broken, and the insert was torn as well. Nothing escaped the wrath of whatever damaged this unfortunate game except the spine card, and interestingly enough, the disc itself. I can't see any scratches on it at all, on either side of it. The data side appears to be perfect, and the label side appears to be perfect as well.
So, I was spared the sadness of an unplayable game, or one that might as well have been used. But otherwise, of course everything else has to be replaced. So, the first thing that I did was fire off an email to the seller to let him know that I got the game, and to tell him about all the damage to it. Hopefully he'll offer me a partial refund or a discount on my next order or something, but I don't really expect him to. It's not exactly like it's all his fault, although the way he packaged it certainly left alot to be desired, and it surely contributed quite a bit to all the damage. And worse yet, I have more items on the way from this seller. I've never dealt with him before, and he seems to be pretty new to selling on ebay, so I told him that I hope the rest of the items that I've ordered from him are packaged better and they arrive safely. I still haven't paid him for one of them yet, so I'm gonna have to ask him if he can ship that one in a box for me. I don't care if he charges me more for it because of that or not. For what he's charging me for it already, it's worth any additional charges. Not to mention it wouldn't be very easy to find another factory sealed copy of that game, so I want it shipped in a box!
Anyhow, pending a response from the seller about the damaged game, the next thing that I did was search for another copy on ebay. And much to my surprise, fortunately another seller had a factory sealed copy of the original version. It was even a few dollars cheaper than what I had to pay for the one that got damaged. So that was a big relief, although it was another $30 that I wasn't expecting to have to pay, and really I shouldn't have to pay another $30 for another copy of the game, because I already paid $30 for a copy of it! But that's not the other seller's problem, so of course I bought it.
But what if I hadn't been able to find another factory sealed copy of the same version of the game right away? And what if it wasn't very reasonably priced? What if this had happened to a really expensive game? Needless to say, I'm very concerned about shipping damage now, and I may have to start paying extra for insurance on every order. Normally I'll only pay extra for insurance if it's something extremely expensive, or if it's a very large order. But now, even though I know that these sorts of accidents are very rare when an order is packaged properly, I'm paranoid about shipping damage!
I can't say that I haven't been very lucky. I've ordered dozens of import games during the last few months, and this is the first time that something like this has happened to one of my orders. So I know that it's not very likely to happen again anytime soon, but now I'm very painfully aware that it could happen again at any time, to anything that I order. And that's very scary!
So, has anything like this ever happened to you before? How did you handle it? How did the seller handle it? Did it work out alright for you in the end, or did it happen to something that was virtually irreplaceable? Share your horror!
I'll start with my own horror story. I recently ordered a factory sealed copy of the original version of Terra Phantastica. I don't know how scarce it is in that condition, but for me it's been very difficult to locate one. All I've seen for months is factory sealed copies of the Saturn Collection version, with the awful white border around the awesome artwork on the cover, and used copies of the original version. So I was really looking forward to it arriving.
When it finally got here, I noticed that the plain paper envelope that it was packed in had a fairly large hole in it, and I could see the bubble paper that was wrapped around the game through it, but I didn't think much of it. I foolishly assumed that the game inside would still be in the same condition that I saw it in the auction photo when I jumped on the BIN button for it.
So, I eagerly ripped the envelope open using the convenient hole that was already in it, and proceeded to unwrap the one thin layer of bubble wrap from the game. I didn't think anything of the fact that it was only wrapped in one layer of bubble wrap either, except that it did seem very unusual, since normally whenever I receive a new import game it's wrapped in several layers of bubble wrap. I always thought that all that extra bubble wrap was redundant before, but I will never think that again. Nothing can ever be wrapped in too much bubble wrap! The damage was about to be revealed...
The horror was far worse than I could've imagined if I had even suspected that the game was damaged. At the worst, I thought that maybe the CD jewel case could have some small cracks in it that weren't there before, but it didn't matter because I was gonna open up the game and play it anyway. However, the damage was shockingly massive. One corner of the CD jewel case had been crushed so badly that it literally looked as though it had been bitten and chewed off! The factory seal was torn open, every page of the manual was either torn or bent or both, the disc holder was broken, and the insert was torn as well. Nothing escaped the wrath of whatever damaged this unfortunate game except the spine card, and interestingly enough, the disc itself. I can't see any scratches on it at all, on either side of it. The data side appears to be perfect, and the label side appears to be perfect as well.
So, I was spared the sadness of an unplayable game, or one that might as well have been used. But otherwise, of course everything else has to be replaced. So, the first thing that I did was fire off an email to the seller to let him know that I got the game, and to tell him about all the damage to it. Hopefully he'll offer me a partial refund or a discount on my next order or something, but I don't really expect him to. It's not exactly like it's all his fault, although the way he packaged it certainly left alot to be desired, and it surely contributed quite a bit to all the damage. And worse yet, I have more items on the way from this seller. I've never dealt with him before, and he seems to be pretty new to selling on ebay, so I told him that I hope the rest of the items that I've ordered from him are packaged better and they arrive safely. I still haven't paid him for one of them yet, so I'm gonna have to ask him if he can ship that one in a box for me. I don't care if he charges me more for it because of that or not. For what he's charging me for it already, it's worth any additional charges. Not to mention it wouldn't be very easy to find another factory sealed copy of that game, so I want it shipped in a box!
Anyhow, pending a response from the seller about the damaged game, the next thing that I did was search for another copy on ebay. And much to my surprise, fortunately another seller had a factory sealed copy of the original version. It was even a few dollars cheaper than what I had to pay for the one that got damaged. So that was a big relief, although it was another $30 that I wasn't expecting to have to pay, and really I shouldn't have to pay another $30 for another copy of the game, because I already paid $30 for a copy of it! But that's not the other seller's problem, so of course I bought it.
But what if I hadn't been able to find another factory sealed copy of the same version of the game right away? And what if it wasn't very reasonably priced? What if this had happened to a really expensive game? Needless to say, I'm very concerned about shipping damage now, and I may have to start paying extra for insurance on every order. Normally I'll only pay extra for insurance if it's something extremely expensive, or if it's a very large order. But now, even though I know that these sorts of accidents are very rare when an order is packaged properly, I'm paranoid about shipping damage!
I can't say that I haven't been very lucky. I've ordered dozens of import games during the last few months, and this is the first time that something like this has happened to one of my orders. So I know that it's not very likely to happen again anytime soon, but now I'm very painfully aware that it could happen again at any time, to anything that I order. And that's very scary!
So, has anything like this ever happened to you before? How did you handle it? How did the seller handle it? Did it work out alright for you in the end, or did it happen to something that was virtually irreplaceable? Share your horror!