Roots Archives Forum

Hi there,
got a question bout uk sellers on ebay.

Can someone tell my why they always do use that bad thin cardboard mailers? They are nearly thin like an envelope and do not protect records anyway. Just received a 10 years sought after 12 inch disco from the UK - broken. HELL!! Not possible to purchase some quality packages? I never ever received a record from the uk in a heavy and stable box. Most records are dog-eared....or broken. Too sad!

So what`s going on, are there no quality boxes available in the stores or in the net?

ive never had a problem getting from the UK,im from the US

I haven't had any problems either. And I've received records basically wrapped in a newspaper. I don't know if any of you have ever tried, but it does take a reasonable amount of force to actually break a vinyl record. Who knows what exactly happened to your record but I'm guessing that it would've gotten broken even if it had been in a better mailer.

Some ****wit sent me a record in a standard envelope. Well, actually four or five peices of a record... She then said "I've sent many records like that and never had any problem" Oh my oh my!

But I agree, the standard of packaging from many sellers is very poor.

If sending in the UK I use the heaviest standard mailer I can find with TWO inserts inside. These are essential.

If sending overseas I use cruciform packing (a box!) plus stiffeners.

I worked for a few weeks in a UK sorting office and actually witnessed guys flinging record mailers around like frisbees, indeed, one record they did this to was being sent to me and got broken.

I've toyed with the idea of making a hard plastic, or Carbon Fibre, or similar re-usable mailer for REALLY expensive records.

Maybe the problem is that once you use decent packaging, and signed for secure posting, it puts up the postage price.

And then you get complaints from buyers.

I have got NUFF broken records from UK cos of these shity mailers !

Actually I've had two broken records arrive to me here in UK in two years.

One from a UK seller who didn't use any stiffener and one from a US seller who placed the item in a cruciform box. However, a heavy and sharp object obviously fell on it somewhere and it was broken despite good packing.

One of my pet hates is people using exposed sticky tape somewher inside the packing. You remove the sleeve and most of the spine stays on the tape...

I am peeved with the UK mailers also. What a joke. I received one where the record was broken because of the sever lack of sturdiness of the mailer. And I received two where the flap came loose and my vinyls just fall right out! WTF!? The records were obviously scratched even more since they did actually fall out during the ship and my honest post man put them back in the mailer. The adhesive on the mailers is a joke...sellers should have the common knowledge they are of poor quality and tape them up.

The weirdest mailers are from Japan. Very much like the US sturdy cardboard, but it folds like an origami. hahaha

So if all those UK mailers are bad quality, why do sellers use them? Are they cheap?

My question is if there is no better quality available in the UK??

Please let me know...

a friend of mine recieved a record he payed $100 for and the only protection was 2 EMPTY record sleeves. This was coming from germany i think. his record was broken in half. then the seller only refunded him half the money. ouch.