First post, by boxpressed
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An eBay seller sent me the wrong video card.
I returned it in the exact same bubble mailer he had used to send it to me.
So satisfying.
An eBay seller sent me the wrong video card.
I returned it in the exact same bubble mailer he had used to send it to me.
So satisfying.
Those are OK for video cards. It's when they're used to ship hard drives that I pull out my hair.
Is this too much voodoo?
Did the packaging include an anti-static bag?
My experiences with bubble envelopes have been mixed. I got shipped a large second hand PCI-E graphics card with large passive heatpipe heatsink and it got shipped in (I kid you not) an empty mangled pizza box with lots of tape around it. The heatsink had been slightly bend, but the card did appear to work perfectly fine, even when used for hours.
As long as you took some photos of the original package you have nothing to worry about, ebay will be on your side.
If he receives his card back broken, he can cry you a river.
Got a card coming from CEX, hope they use some decent packing.
PS. Collected a card from my Local CEX another time, just in a brown paper bag ... ....ooh! something in a brown paper bag from a CEX shop!!!!
I'm not worried about a refund since the return was accepted by the seller and the return label came through eBay's system. (By the way, an STB Velocity 4400 does look similar to a V3 2000.)
The card did not come in an anti-static bag and was wrapped in a sheet of bubble wrap.
I'm just taking great delight in reusing every piece of substandard packing to return the item.
Almost all of the cards shipped in a bubble mailer to me ended up working, but I still don't like the practice. It's a little more understandable when the shipping is free, but if I'm paying $6+ for shipping, the card better come in a box. I usually ask for a box unless the item is less than $15 and the shipping is free.
I received and sent countless video cards in bubble envelopes. I don't think I ever got a card that was dead. Minor damage to headsinks. But that's about it.
I had a Radeon 3850 come in and the cooling fan was busted internally (card would rev up multiple times and never show a screen).
Collector of old computers, hardware, and software
You must be the lucky few then.
When I get stuff shipped in bubble mailers from some ebay moron, there is usually damage involved.
Voodoo cards have their capacitors torn off, motherboards (kid you not!) having crushed and bent corners (90 degrees angle!).... 😵
Hence I now always (try to) make sure they use a stiff box, nomatter what they're shipping. I paid for the item in the picture, not some mangled broken version...
<rant mode off>
Shipping add-on cards in boxes+padding feels like an obvious thing, at least to me. It's too easy to bend a card in half in a bubble mailer. 😵
It really depends on the card and how it's packed. Any heaver cards or bigger fragile cards should aways be boxed. But a light small cars like a usb addin card will be ok. Abit static bag and some bubble rap or cardboard slips and it usually ok
Still better to box it.