The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Last year I ordered an Amberola V off of eBay. It had a decent looking mahogany case, and most of the parts seemed to be there, so I bought it almost as soon as I saw it.
The way this thing was packaged however, was far below what I'd expect a "reputable antique dealer" to do when boxing up something that large and heavy.

When I got the package, the corners were already dented in and partially torn- not a good sign. I opened up the box to find that the seller had simply wrapped the whole assembled machine in just two bath towels taped together. When I took it home, I took the towels off, and to my surprise, there was no denting or scratches on the lid or sides. I thought I was in the clear until I lifted it up out of the box.

The bottom of the box was covered in the splintered remains of the two front bun feet. The bottom edge molding had also cracked, presumably once the front feet got mulched in transit.
As of now, I have replacement feet made from drawer knobs on the front until I can get a couple replicas turned on a lathe. The molding glued up nicely, but that's the last time I buy a machine online from someone who doesn't specialize in phonographs.

Welp I finally joined the “Got a shattered record in the mail due to inexperienced seller club”

I got my $8.00 back and it wasn’t very valuable BUT I’m just dumbfounded with this.

It was shoved into my mailbox and this is ALL the seller used.

More people should look on YouTube and see videos of the CORRECT way to pack 78s! YouTube isn't just there for stupid and crazy stuff! edisonplayer.

There's an excellent resource on this at the APS Forum:

https://forum.antiquephono.org/topic/18 ... -shipment/

George P.

Why would it even be necessary to even look at a YouTube video (and obviously it is), how thick and naïve are people ?

JeffR1 wrote: Tue Apr 09, 2024 12:17 pm Why would it even be necessary to even look at a YouTube video (and obviously it is), how thick and naïve are people ?

I have no expectation that a seller who is unfamiliar with antique phonographs or records will know how to pack them. Period. I consider it my responsibility to tell them how. Sometimes machines/records have been saved as a result. I feel good about that.

Other times, they've been broken because the seller ignored my advice. I don't feel good about that, but that's on them. At least I did my best.

George P.

Raphael wrote: Thu Mar 28, 2024 9:21 am Mine is more of a "non-packing" story. About 10 years ago, I bought over $70,000 worth of clocks at an auction in Marshallton, Iowa. The auctions house listing said they do their own packing and shipping. After winning (and paying) for them, the auction house said "no way, we won't ship, too valuable". Great. So I found a UPS Store who agreed to pick them up and pack/ship. Hearing nothing after a few days, I called the UPS Store and they said "oh, yes, we have them here, but we're busy right now and it may take a few days or a week to get them out". Really? So busy that you can leave $70k lying about in a small shop? And not insured until after they pack and I paid the bill.
So, I emailed UPS corporate and contacted a friend high up in their system. They jumped on the store and got the clocks heading my way within 24 hours, and they did arrive safely.

Stanton is the only auctioneer that I trust 100%.

Raphael

I totally agree with you about Stanton

Raphael wrote: Thu Mar 28, 2024 9:21 am Mine is more of a "non-packing" story. About 10 years ago, I bought over $70,000 worth of clocks at an auction in Marshallton, Iowa. The auctions house listing said they do their own packing and shipping. After winning (and paying) for them, the auction house said "no way, we won't ship, too valuable". Great. So I found a UPS Store who agreed to pick them up and pack/ship. Hearing nothing after a few days, I called the UPS Store and they said "oh, yes, we have them here, but we're busy right now and it may take a few days or a week to get them out". Really? So busy that you can leave $70k lying about in a small shop? And not insured until after they pack and I paid the bill.
So, I emailed UPS corporate and contacted a friend high up in their system. They jumped on the store and got the clocks heading my way within 24 hours, and they did arrive safely.

Stanton is the only auctioneer that I trust 100%.

Raphael

I totally agree with you about Stanton

I'm dealing with one now. A simple mistake on the label where the shipper put the wrong apartment number down led to the shipping company now trying to say I requested future delivery (I didn't) and now there's a 1920s table radio floating around town.

Take a wild guess which shipping company is involved?


That's right! It's FedEx.

Not phonograph related, but I do have one from fairly recently.
I was shopping on eBay and found this wonderful looking IBM 5140 (commonly known as the IBM portable) for sale in the US. I was excited to see a working example and quickly paid quite the hefty sum of money to buy it and have it shipped to the UK. While I was at it, I bought the printer and parallel / serial port to go along with it. About 2 weeks later, a very large box arrives and opening it up was genuinely heartbreaking. All that was there cushioning it was a small, crumpled box on top of the power supply which had been put on top of the computer and as for the computer itself... where do I begin? The hinge for the screen was noisy and clunky, the keyboard didn't sit correctly as it had lost one of the plastic "arms\2 that hold it in place. The floppy drives were askew and were smashed to bits inside and the outer shell looked like it had been hit with a hammer in places. And to add insult to injury, the thing didn't work. It powered on and showed an error message which the manual says to "go to your local dealer and have it serviced", needless to say I doubt there have been any IBM dealers in the UK for nearly 30 years. I wrote to the guy who was initially apologetic about the whole thing, that was until I went through eBay and tried to get a refund. After a couple of back and forths, eBay refused to refund me, no doubt they had contacted the seller who told them nothing was wrong. Thankfully, I ordered through PayPal who were more than happy to look into the matter and just a few days later, I got my money back including the cost of shipping and kept the computer because the seller said "keep it." I have since bought a new one (again, from the US) and thankfully, that one was far better packaged and arrived like new. Needless to say, I'll be a lot more careful around buying electronic goods of such vintage overseas from now on.