The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

As collectors we’ve all had incidents buying items off eBay. (machines or records) and the total letdown we experienced when the item you were looking forward to all week comes though UPS, Post Office, or FedEx smashed to bits. (Sometimes even if we give the sellers proper instructions.)

What are some of those letdowns you’ve experienced though your collecting careers?

Mine would be the VV 2-55 “Professionally packed” by FedEx. Showed up with the records STILL IN THE HOLDER! Yeah, that was going to last a trip from Georgia to Nebraska.

I was able to JB weld the tonearm bracket but it’s never going to be the same. I never found out how to fix the record holder and latch. That experience left me so disappointed I’ve hardly even played it in the past year that I’ve owned it. And it was the only time I’ve ever given someone negative feedback on eBay.

So what’s your story? And were you able the fix the item, or was it a total loss? And did you get your money back?

How about a much sought-after Vera Lynn 78 that arrived in a paper bag? Needless to say, smashed to pieces.

Caruso Pathé shipped from--Hungary, I think it was--to the United States merely slipped into a padded envelope. Arrived snapped neatly in two; I'm surprised it wasn't in more pieces.

lot of really interesting country 78s shipped from Texas, in a USPS priority mail box, no padding, just loose. All but 3 or 4 broken into pieces, some so tiny it lookedl ike I got a bag of coal

A rare, perfect condition, "London" cylinder packed in a tin can!
The seller told me she "Thought the metal would protect it"
It was atomised whe I got it.
She hadn't even sent me the original box!

Guy I work with spent a month rebuilding and restoring a small off brand that had been in the clients Family for @ 75 years, wife was at home and witnessed the UPS delivery guy stop 4-5 feet from her front porch and throw the package, it bounced twice before hitting her door, she got it all on video luckily... In short she got the driver fired and my friend now has to do a full repair over again, but at least UPS is going to have to pay this time, tone arm was broken off, horn was broken, case was busted into 5 pieces! Shipping is the absolute worst part of this business...

I bought 8 binders full of records on eBay once. I told the lady to pack them carefully and sent instructions. She said she would take them to the UPS store to get them packed professionally. When it arrived, the albums were loose in a refrigerator box ⅓ filled with packing peantuts. I never saw a worse "professional" job of packing.

Mine is:

I received 131 unprotected cylinders in 8 ratty cardboard cases thrown into one box and shipped only 2 states to me.
I ended up with 74 cylinders in the end which is more than I thought I would have.

OldRestorer wrote:Mine is:

I received 131 unprotected cylinders in 8 ratty cardboard cases thrown into one box and shipped only 2 states to me.
I ended up with 74 cylinders in the end which is more than I thought I would have.

Did you by chance have a 2 minute "Stars and Stripes Forever" by Sousa? Been trying to find for a few months with no luck ...

Well here's one with a happy ending....

76 of my best, most valuable Diamond Disc records. Each box weighs 50 pounds or just slightly less. That's the airline transatlantic weight limit these days. Each disc in a jacket with a plastic sleeve over the jacket. Inner box just fits around the records, stuffed with a few packing peanuts, tight packed so there could be no movement. Outer box lined with hard styro insulation all the way around and packed with further peanuts.

We got home to Europe from Minnesota according to plan but the boxes were lost. They showed up about two weeks later and delivered to our house. Because we were not home, (we work and stuff) the delivery service just put them over the wall from the street.

Not a scratch.....