Jump to content
IGNORED

How much gets damaged by handling?


cartman

Recommended Posts

I've been thinking about how much of the stuff rally gets damaged between all the changing hands and shipping.

Are manuals/ads sliding around a little during transportation? How was the package being processed and put in the vehicle mass-loaded among other packages. What happens during winter, summer, rain someone at the very least is carrying the package into the store and i get to pick it up from there, that's how it's handled over here. Someone who collects the package might do it on foot or bicycle going home with it. Then someone might have washed his hands and they are moist, or he touched some object at home that will leave residue, or even when you think there's nothing on the hands produce their own oil right. Some people touch their pet and then interact with the games i'm sure that leaves something aswell. Some people are opening the game pulling out the cart and manual and then re-insering the shit again, it ought to cause some amount of wear.

I'm sure there's a LOT of decreased condition out there going on overall it might not be strikingly visible but the % of the condition is dropping.

Edited by cartman
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, unless it's transferred from the factory assembly line into a vacuumed sealed container, there's going to be some handling damage at some point.

Personally, unless it's blatantly visible, I generally don't worry about it, but then I don't store my games willy-nilly and do try to clean residue off of the labels, etc.

Edited by Tulpa
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Honestly, I think this is a real issue with NOS.  I've thought about this before.

You could have a case of games, in a sealed box from the Nintendo packing facility, crack it open and the contents will look great.  But, of course, if the items sat in a non-climate controlled warehouse for 20 years, batteries could be damaged and the plastic could be brittle from extreme swings in the heat and cold.

There's no way of knowing if the items inside are in good shape until you crack them open.  My first experience with something like this was back in 2016.  I purchased a sealed copy of Wheel of Fortune for the Game Boy.  I like to keep sealed items sealed, but for "science" I wanted to document what a new, "perfect" conditioned cart looked like, and try to tell if there was any wear from assembly. (There was.)

Anyway, the game was mostly fine but there was label lifting.  I assume that's because it dried out, but the biggest issue was the plastic tray that the game and dust cover were housed in.  The plastic coloring had yellowed severely and I can only assume this was from having set in significant heat in a warehouse, probably for years.

I know this isn't exactly what you are talking about, but sitting in a warehouse is a form of handling, considering it had to go from the factory, to their, to eventually the final destination of your front door. These types of issues bug me.  You can't know how mint something is that sealed until you open it but, one you do, it's no longer a sealed item and that sucks.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

36 minutes ago, DefaultGen said:

Just imagine how many boxes get crushed into bubble mailers every single day alone, let alone all the minor wear you're talking about. There's millions of games on Ebay. If you are condition OCD, the earlier you were in this hobby the better.

I usually have OCD about things being nice but for games I don’t since I mostly collect loose and my wallet is super happy about that. Don’t get me wrong I’m a Legend of Zelda guy so I have paid a premium to get that stuff CIB in good shape. Shoot most stuff I bought off people at NA and here I didn’t even request pictures for. I just assumed you all were collectors and valued how things looked!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, DefaultGen said:

Just imagine how many boxes get crushed into bubble mailers every single day alone, let alone all the minor wear you're talking about. There's millions of games on Ebay. If you are condition OCD, the earlier you were in this hobby the better.

I got a GB game sent like that once but i was fortunate it still arrived mint. I just assumed he's gonna package it well that it goes without saying but you can't underestimate how dumb many people are.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It depends what is your postal service. I only one instance of damage was part of two sega cd cases got crushed but the games and manuals were still intact. I manage to get  a full refund and use it to get a set of large jewel cases to swap the cd covers in along with the dozen or so cracked and damaged sega cd cases I had. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It happens all the time. If anyone handles the game before me, I can assume as a rule that it has been damaged in some way before it gets to me. Sellers (people who aren't collectors) dont apply the same delicate care we take. I expect an item gets damaged by each person it passes through before it gets to me. 

I just bought a new unused Gamecube locally. I'll bet you that from the time he took it out of the closet, to handing it over to me, it was damaged in some way in the transport. Also he broke the outer seal to see if everything was inside before selling it. 😬

I was at Movie Trading Company a few years ago and I still swear that these boxed snes games were sealed and opened by employees once traded in and put in the glass case. These things had to have never been touched before. They were all dead mint from this one trade in.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...