CCL Messageboard

We've all had times when our books have been sent to us poorly packaged. I've personally had a bit of a bad run recently (not from any CCL sellers I'm happy to say though). I realise items won't always be packaged exactly how I'd like them to be and I do accept that as long as some care has been taken to try and protect my books. It's got to the point where, if I think the person I'm dealing with seems a little "iffy", I've asked how my books will be packaged and requested they be sent sandwiched between cardboard. On several occasions I've received a reply like 'Don't worry, I use safe packaging, your comic will be sent in a padded envelope'. Don't people realise a soft plastic, bubble padded envelope does absolutely nothing to protect a single unbagged comic book. In fact, it would probably do better in a normal envelope and a hundred times better between two pieces of cardboard (not to mention much cheaper than one of those prepaid padded envelopes).

Anyway, here's a package I received today containing 16 comic books (see photo below). They were all unbagged but a least they were all in one large plastic bag I suppose. Yes, that's them poking out each end of the parcel (the term is used loosely here). Why even bother with the bit of cardboard wrapped around the middle - may as well just slapped the postage on the plastic bag the books came in. By some miracle, the books don't appear to have suffered any damage caused in transit (a real credit to the postal service here in New Zealand as not only was there poor packaging, the incorrect postage was used meaning the parcel was bounced around for 2 weeks internally within the postal service before making it to me - and the seller lives in the same town as me!).

Again, I'd like to reiterate that I haven't had any issues with the packaging from any sellers here at CCL. If you have any poor packaging stories of your own - please share

That's just plain lazy.

If he lives in the same town as you, I'd have asked for local pick-up!

Yeah, I would've liked to have done that but the seller expressly listed these items as not allowing pick-ups (this is an option they can choose when listing on an auction site we have here in NZ).

U.S. mail wouldn't have accepted that because, you know, it's not actually a package.

Wow.

WOW

hehe - actually, they would. There's a very short list of items that USPS won't mail, but in general if it's got a stamp on it, it can be mailed. I've seen many a time where people visiting Hawaii will put stamps on a coconut and have them sent as a 'postcard'.

Really? Wow. Must just be the office by my work. They bust people down for poor tape jobs and overfilled packages.

I'll have to check if there's an actual rule about this. Could be there is, but most offices just don't enforce it. Heck, I've seen somebody mail a skillet in a Flat Rate Box, where the entire handle was sticking out from the corner of it!

Patrick--being a Transformers fan, you'll appreciate this:

My brother used to tell me the story of a Transformers collector who managed to snag one of those ultra-rare Combiner Gift Sets from the 1980's. Don't remember which one it was, but apparently this one was some European-only release--so SUPER RARE. The seller didn't know what he had, so the collector managed to get a killer deal on it.

ANYWAY. The seller made sure to tell him that it would be shipped in a box. Except that he forgot to mention that he meant the Transformers packaging was the box! Literally--the buyer covered the outside of the Transformers gift set with paper, wrote the address on it, and slapped some postage on there.

Can you imagine getting that in the mail? The horror!!

I got a single comic a few months ago from a seller on that auction site that came in a plain 9 X 12 envelope that they wrote " PLEASE DO NOT BEND" on the front and back. Inside the comic was taped inside a Ritz cracker box folded flat. So, it was taped between cardboard, just the thinnest cardboard he could find. Lucky for me the book was in good shape and the postal employees did not bend it.

I once had a seller (ebay) ship me a $200 comic in a mailer tube. By the time I got it, it was a $100 comic, luckily I only paid $10 for it so was still happy :)

This is an almost exact description of several comics I've purchased there as well as here on CCL. Some people just don't get it, some just don't care.

I once received comics that were mailed to me in a taped together ice cream sandwich box.Needless to say the books didnt survive the journey unscathed.It was a seller on ebay.

The only time I have ever had problems with getting comics in the mail came from Ebay. I can't remember ever having gotten a poorly packed CCL package.