WATA damaging games?

[JVOSS | 1,762]

On 7/6/2021 at 9:04 PM, RH said:

Well I hate to go full conspiratorial but it makes me wonder if that's even your box/game.

just what i was thinking!!!!!

[JVOSS | 1,762]

On 7/7/2021 at 7:21 AM, Startyde said:

Noone is swapping games. Business are business, and there are much easier ways to make legitimate money than committing crimes.

The answer is always the simplest, aka, Occam's Razor.

1. The damage happened in transit, on accident. 

2. The damage happened at Wata, on accident.

Wata's QA has been all over the map since being inundated, it would be highly advised to use the Warp Zone tier if you absolutely MUST grade now, otherwise just wait for them to stabilize a bit and avoid these questions. 

@Startydeyou WATA employee?  the defense is at the leave of a CS selling someone an upgrade. 

[darkchylde28 | 1,546]

On 7/7/2021 at 12:04 AM, RH said:

Well I hate to go full conspiratorial but it makes me wonder if that's even your box/game.

This reminds me of a person I knew who dealt in high dollar, high rarity, generally high condition CCG cards toward the earlier days of eBay.  After getting burned by people basically stealing his cards in order to (presumably) upgrade copies they had in-hand, he started marking the edges with an ink that wasn't visible once it dried but would fluoresce under certain light (presumably blacklight, but I honestly don't remember at this point).  He'd take photos of the cards under normal and fluorescent conditions before mailing, then send them on their way.  As I recall, he only had to deal with a handful more people trying to rip him off (unsuccessfully) before people seemed to wise up and knock it off.

With all the scrutiny stuff like sealed games are under, I don't know how feasible this would be, but I imagine if you could get it onto a corner or somewhere where it wouldn't be quite so obvious once it had dried, it might be a measure folks could employ in order to guarantee they're getting back what they sent.  The copy you get back isn't in the condition you sent it in AND doesn't fluoresce where you've documented it should?  Threaten to file a police report unless things are resolved appropriately and see where it takes you.

[Startyde | 175]

2 hours ago, JVOSS said:

@Startydeyou WATA employee?  the defense is at the leave of a CS selling someone an upgrade. 

I barely understood your sentence. No, I don't work for Wata. I wasn't suggesting an upgrade, I was suggesting what you need to do as of July 2021 to get fast, hassle free Wata grading.

[darkchylde28 | 1,546]

40 minutes ago, Startyde said:

I barely understood your sentence. No, I don't work for Wata. I wasn't suggesting an upgrade, I was suggesting what you need to do as of July 2021 to get fast, hassle free Wata grading.

Dude, I've read enough accounts to know that as of July 2021 (and quite a while prior), there's no such thing as fast or hassle free grading from WATA. 

The instructions for getting what you suggest might as well include the step, "rub the lamp until the genie comes out, then carefully enunciate exactly what your wish shall be." 

[JVOSS | 1,762]

1 hour ago, darkchylde28 said:

The instructions for getting what you suggest might as well include the step, "rub the lamp until the genie comes out, then carefully enunciate exactly what your wish shall be." 

yes what he said.

[JVOSS | 1,762]

2 hours ago, Startyde said:

I barely understood your sentence. No, I don't work for Wata. I wasn't suggesting an upgrade, I was suggesting what you need to do as of July 2021 to get fast, hassle free Wata grading.

to translate "@Startydeyou WATA employee?  the defense is at the leave of a CS selling someone an upgrade."

Dude you (@startyde) like work for WATA or what?  You act like, you know, a customer service (that like "CS") person who's like only job is to sale upgrades services, because that is what the manual said to do.

[JVOSS | 1,762]

as for @minty, sorry your had such bad luck with a now poor company.  but on the lighter side it's safe to say your not using wata again!!  btw have you checked out @CasualCartgrading company i hear it is one top notch grader.

[Code Monkey | 2,010]

You mentioned you put the game into a plastic case when shipping and this looks like something that could happen in one of those cases. The cases aren't completely snug so the game can move around a tiny bit inside them. During shipping it's likely this game moved back and forth probably 100 times or more so this can happen easily.

When I shipped my games I only used bubble wrap for this reason.

[JVOSS | 1,762]

21 minutes ago, Code Monkey said:

You mentioned you put the game into a plastic case when shipping and this looks like something that could happen in one of those cases. The cases aren't completely snug so the game can move around a tiny bit inside them. During shipping it's likely this game moved back and forth probably 100 times or more so this can happen easily.

When I shipped my games I only used bubble wrap for this reason.

what kind of box did you use?  did you double box?

[zoiks66 | 72]

55 minutes ago, Code Monkey said:

You mentioned you put the game into a plastic case when shipping and this looks like something that could happen in one of those cases. The cases aren't completely snug so the game can move around a tiny bit inside them. During shipping it's likely this game moved back and forth probably 100 times or more so this can happen easily.

When I shipped my games I only used bubble wrap for this reason.

I think you’re out of your mind of you think an NES game packed as game-plastic box protector-bubble wrap-box-bubble wrap-outer box got damaged all the way across the front of box when I mailed it.

[Code Monkey | 2,010]

47 minutes ago, JVOSS said:

what kind of box did you use?  did you double box?

I used a box probably twice the size I would have used for something the size of 6 games. Then I bubble wrapped each game individually and laid them on their sides, no double box like the website suggests. I couldn't afford it because shipping in Canada is so expensive. Now that I have the return box they used to send back to me with the foam board inside and individually separated slots, I'm now going to just use that when I need to send back.

[Code Monkey | 2,010]

14 minutes ago, zoiks66 said:

I think you’re out of your mind of you think an NES game packed as game-plastic box protector-bubble wrap-box-bubble wrap-outer box got damaged all the way across the front of box when I mailed it.

It doesn't matter what's on the outside of the box protector, if the game is able to move around inside the box protector, then it can possibly move fast enough to bang into the inside of the box protector hard enough to damage it. Think about if someone tosses that box to someone else and your game is moving inside, then suddenly comes to a stop. It'll slam up against the inside of the box protector and cause damage. That's why I avoided them.

[zoiks66 | 72]

3 minutes ago, Code Monkey said:

It doesn't matter what's on the outside of the box protector, if the game is able to move around inside the box protector, then it can possibly move fast enough to bang into the inside of the box protector hard enough to damage it. Think about if someone tosses that box to someone else and your game is moving inside, then suddenly comes to a stop. It'll slam up against the inside of the box protector and cause damage. That's why I avoided them.

It looks like someone rolled a pizza cutter with fine teeth across it.  Unless it travelled through a black hole into a new universe while on its way to WATA, I’m 100% confident it wasn’t damaged during my shipping.  WATA’s awful return packaging is another story.  The shipping box they used was thinner than a typical shoe box.  I realize arguing with a WATA fan is like trying to convince a MAGA fan that Trump lost the election, but here I am.

[inasuma | 1,203]

9 hours ago, Code Monkey said:

It doesn't matter what's on the outside of the box protector, if the game is able to move around inside the box protector, then it can possibly move fast enough to bang into the inside of the box protector hard enough to damage it. Think about if someone tosses that box to someone else and your game is moving inside, then suddenly comes to a stop. It'll slam up against the inside of the box protector and cause damage. That's why I avoided them.

I’ve shipped hundreds of games this way. No issues.

It would need to be a special kind of event to damage a game that way in a plastic case. Lol

Edited July 9, 2021 by inasuma

[Code Monkey | 2,010]

9 hours ago, zoiks66 said:

It looks like someone rolled a pizza cutter with fine teeth across it.  Unless it travelled through a black hole into a new universe while on its way to WATA, I’m 100% confident it wasn’t damaged during my shipping.  WATA’s awful return packaging is another story.  The shipping box they used was thinner than a typical shoe box.  I realize arguing with a WATA fan is like trying to convince a MAGA fan that Trump lost the election, but here I am.

I'm not that kind of fan.

[Tanooki | 4,934]

I see some conspiracy stuff here, but is it entirely?

My reason, your fuzzy first image compared to their damaged sharp one.  It seems your box along the edge doesn't seem to wrap over some art over the rear top to back transition that their sharp image does.  That to me, on that alone, looks like an entirely different box.  I can't be the only one seeing this.

Tell me you have a better image of the top/rear of that box on your side before sending it out.

[RH | 4,904]

22 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

I see some conspiracy stuff here, but is it entirely?

My reason, your fuzzy first image compared to their damaged sharp one.  It seems your box along the edge doesn't seem to wrap over some art over the rear top to back transition that their sharp image does.  That to me, on that alone, looks like an entirely different box.  I can't be the only one seeing this.

Tell me you have a better image of the top/rear of that box on your side before sending it out.

I saw it but didn't point it out due to the poor #1 photo. It's the whole reason why I suggested it.

[Tanooki | 4,934]

1 hour ago, RH said:

I saw it but didn't point it out due to the poor #1 photo. It's the whole reason why I suggested it.

Good, bugged me instantly.  A lot of my actual job work over the years has been in some form of attention to detail with quality checking and all that in various forms so weirdness stands out.  I think I see another bit of stuff, but the original non-wata clean image stinks.

I think the side is bulging more on the wata image more than the original but could be angle.  There's another white mark off the top rear left of the shield, then the obvious white creasing of the ink looking junk in the top right corner too.  That same corner itself firm and flat all 3 sides on the original, looks frayed/ink gone on the wata one too.  Then like the shield wrap, the same overwrap is present on the right side flap of the box toward the rear too I don't see any hint of in the old image.

This screams not my copy, if it were my copy, and I'd be throwing a fit.

Edited July 9, 2021 by Tanooki

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

Yikes. I don't have anything else to add that I haven't already said a dozen times.

[GPX | 1,369]

On 7/10/2021 at 3:31 AM, Tanooki said:

Good, bugged me instantly.  A lot of my actual job work over the years has been in some form of attention to detail with quality checking and all that in various forms so weirdness stands out.  I think I see another bit of stuff, but the original non-wata clean image stinks.

I think the side is bulging more on the wata image more than the original but could be angle.  There's another white mark off the top rear left of the shield, then the obvious white creasing of the ink looking junk in the top right corner too.  That same corner itself firm and flat all 3 sides on the original, looks frayed/ink gone on the wata one too.  Then like the shield wrap, the same overwrap is present on the right side flap of the box toward the rear too I don't see any hint of in the old image.

This screams not my copy, if it were my copy, and I'd be throwing a fit.

It seems to be the angle that makes it look a lot different with the corner wear. Extra wear doesn’t imply it’s another copy, because wear can happen at any stage into the future.

The best indicator of the same copy, would be if they both share identical flaw(s). An exact flaw with the exact location would be similar to a fingerprint. Any subtle crease or indents to the box in the original, that’s not present in the WATA-received game, you’d have a case of “this smells fishy”.

[Tanooki | 4,934]

While I agree, that's why I left it open asking for a better image as it's hard to compare.  At face value, it looks bad, but if there's a clean image, not that blurred one to run side by side it's hard to say for certain on much of it.  The wrap of the shield though, even in the blurred original is oddly missing and not hidden with like light flare of the image along the bend of the box.  That there bothers me.

[phart010 | 1,707]

On 7/7/2021 at 12:04 AM, RH said:

Well I hate to go full conspiratorial but it makes me wonder if that's even your box/game.

I’ve thought about this before. And it’s not a conspiracy theory when it is something so easily doable and get-away-with-able.

Running a business like this, you could very realistically take keep someone’s 9.7 sealed game and swap it out with your own 9.5 sealed game of if it’s an identical variant without being detected.

Edited July 16, 2021 by phart010

[tidaldreams | 654]

24 minutes ago, phart010 said:

I’ve thought about this before. And it’s not a conspiracy theory when it is something so easily doable and get-away-with-able.

Running a business like this, you could very realistically take keep someone’s 9.7 sealed game and swap it out with your own 9.5 sealed game of if it’s an identical variant without being detected.

I always take pics of mine before sending them in, pokemon cards as well.

[kell | 102]

1 minute ago, tidaldreams said:

I always take pics of mine before sending them in, pokemon cards as well.

Definitely a good idea.