Anecdote: yesterday I received two 8GB DDR3-1600 ECC unbuffered memory modules from eBay. Each stick was individually wrapped in bubble wrap. I took no special precautions freeing the sticks from the bubble wrap other than grounding myself once, and so far, so good - 18 hours and 19 passes in memtest86+ without issue.

DIMMs have fewer exposed parts than graphics cards. And, you're in the USA. And, humid Florida air is dissipating ESD continuously.

UK sorting hubs are heated dry inside, most packages are plastic, highly mechanised, and uniforms are synthetic - it's a hotbed for static electricity all round.

By comparison the US mostly ships corrugated cardboard and may have stricter ESD controls - science aligns with online reports suggesting items should survive more in that kind of environment.

Either way I'm doing everything I can to extract a working graphics card because the I can count 10+ death-by-bubblewrap graphics cards - I don't want another.

I would bet anything provably killed by bubblewrap was killed when wrapped, not killed when unwrapped. The act of spooling wrap off a large roll is probably when static risk is extreme.

BitWrangler wrote on Yesterday, 15:35:

I would bet anything provably killed by bubblewrap was killed when wrapped, not killed when unwrapped. The act of spooling wrap off a large roll is probably when static risk is extreme.

You are right! 🙁

Wrapping in bubble wrap is one of the times the silicon chips become charged, but technically it is the discharge that kills those chips - the charge and discharge can occur in the same event.

Hypothetical scenario: Rolled bubblewrap can store thousands of volts, which charges the card in the seller's hands. Then the seller places the packet on a grounded surface (e.g. fridge, kitchen sink drainer, or similar earthed surface). In that moment the package discharges thousands of volts and the card ships dead. The seller is clueless. The recipient isn't even part of the equation!

In a situation like that the only winner is eBay. My view is that eBay bears responsibility because eBay should be taking actions to ensure its customers (e.g. sellers) are sufficiently informed to participate in the transaction that eBay arranged. Sadly, our laws are not sophisticated enough to hold eBay accountable but it's an easy fix for eBay to write, "It looks like you might be selling electronic equipment - click here to follow our advice on antistatic packaging."

Back in the real world, there is an outside chance the bubble wrap was grounded and an outside chance the seller was grounded ... but that really is an outside chance because if they knew to ground everything then they would have known to use an antistatic bag!

Either way. I can't know if it's dead until I insert it into a PC and try to boot.

This is too much drama. Just test it already 😁

Towncivilian wrote on Yesterday, 12:46:

Anecdote: yesterday I received two 8GB DDR3-1600 ECC unbuffered memory modules from eBay. Each stick was individually wrapped in bubble wrap. I took no special precautions freeing the sticks from the bubble wrap other than grounding myself once, and so far, so good - 18 hours and 19 passes in memtest86+ without issue.

I would guesstimate that more than 75% of the used hardware I have ever purchased on ebay has shown up in bubble wrap with no anti-static bag.

Anything listed as working has been fine, anything that was listed as "dead or for repair" was in fact dead.

MattRocks wrote on Yesterday, 11:09:

I have left the package in my current PC overnight.

this is phone in a bowl of rice levels of placebo. What good do you think this proximity to PC case does to bubble wrap? Plastic is an insulator, it wont discharge just by looking at nearby ground 😀 Either it is charged and needs to discharge slowly with aid of high humidity (or water spray) or its not charged and nothing will happen.

Not to mention if it WAS charged PC case with all those delicate components would be the last place I would put it 😀

pete8475 wrote on Yesterday, 17:21:

Towncivilian wrote on Yesterday, 12:46:

Anecdote: yesterday I received two 8GB DDR3-1600 ECC unbuffered memory modules from eBay. Each stick was individually wrapped in bubble wrap. I took no special precautions freeing the sticks from the bubble wrap other than grounding myself once, and so far, so good - 18 hours and 19 passes in memtest86+ without issue.

I would guesstimate that more than 75% of the used hardware I have ever purchased on ebay has shown up in bubble wrap with no anti-static bag.

Anything listed as working has been fine, anything that was listed as "dead or for repair" was in fact dead.

No ESD protection + seems to work = worst of both worlds. Goodbye refunds and hello latent damage.

According the MetOffice, conditions are good and I am cleared to begin cutting.

Cutting shall commence when the children have calmed.

Sorry folks. It was all rather uneventful and inconclusive. When I sliced through the paper and sellotape with a razor blade I could not see any bubble wrap. There was nothing to see on this occasion and the PC booted without issue.