Where can I buy hard acrylic box protectors?

[Code Monkey 1,683]

I've seen the hard acrylic ones for NES boxes and I'm wondering where is the cheapest place to get them. I'd prefer UV protection but I guess it's not a requirement if it's cheaper without. I found a place in Europe to get a dozen shipped for $200 CAD which looks like the cheapest so far. Anything else cheaper? I've found:

- Canadian Acrylic Display but I'm still waiting for them to send me a shipping quote, their website won't calculate it.

- Box Protector Shop in Europe which I wrote about.

- Collectible Grading Authority is $204 USD for a dozen cases which is way too expensive.

[Nesmaster 330]

That looks like the cheapest option by a healthy amount at Box Protector Shop. Never heard of them before, but just put in an order. Thanks.

[Code Monkey 1,683]

13 hours ago, Nesmaster said:

That looks like the cheapest option by a healthy amount at Box Protector Shop. Never heard of them before, but just put in an order. Thanks.

How did you pay? PayPal costs 9 Euros which is against their Terms Of Service.

[DoctorEncore 3,563]

Also interested in an answer to the above question and my own below.

Does anyone know of any box protectors for Arkanoid, Gyromite, and Stack-up? Thin plastic is fine.

[VGCollectaholic 110]

4 minutes ago, DoctorEncore said:

Also interested in an answer to the above question and my own below.

Does anyone know of any box protectors for Arkanoid, Gyromite, and Stack-up? Thin plastic is fine.

RetroProtection sells Arkanoid protectors:

https://retroprotection.com/searchquick-submit.sc?keywords=arkanoid 

[DefaultGen 4,456]

8 minutes ago, DoctorEncore said:

Also interested in an answer to the above question and my own below.

Does anyone know of any box protectors for Arkanoid, Gyromite, and Stack-up? Thin plastic is fine.

VGA has a Stack Up one if you're gonna pay the big bucks. VideoGameBoxProtectors has one for $1.50 and IIRC he's a NintendoAger (NintendoAge might even be a coupon code?)

Edited November 6, 2019 by DefaultGen

[DoctorEncore 3,563]

4 hours ago, VGCollectaholic said:

RetroProtection sells Arkanoid protectors:

https://retroprotection.com/searchquick-submit.sc?keywords=arkanoid 

 

4 hours ago, DefaultGen said:

VGA has a Stack Up one if you're gonna pay the big bucks. VideoGameBoxProtectors has one for $1.50 and IIRC he's a NintendoAger (NintendoAge might even be a coupon code?)

Thanks guys!

[Goodvibes 127]

Yeah the retroprotection arkanoid is good I have one. He also has one that is really close for stack up but there is room in it so I ended up going with an acrylic for my stack up. Retroprotection has quite a few sizes that would fit for other pieces. I usually message him and give my dimensions and he tells me if something fits or is close.

Edited November 7, 2019 by Goodvibes

[Nesmaster 330]

On 11/6/2019 at 12:53 PM, Code Monkey said:

How did you pay? PayPal costs 9 Euros which is against their Terms Of Service.

Used Paypal. Wasn't aware of that. On the invoice it is added as "payment cost", so PP might not even be aware they do this either.

They asked me to confirm address the next day, so we'll see. $312 CAD shipped for 15 acrylic, 50 GBA PET, and 1 NES PET.

Edited November 9, 2019 by Nesmaster

[Nesmaster 330]

Order shipped today, after placing it 9 days back. I'll report back when they come.

[Nesmaster 330]

I got them about a week ago. My thoughts:

- The GB ones are fine

- The NES ones suck. Vertically they're roughly 1/4" too big. The width is too tight for my comfort. Horizontal is cello dependent. I bought them for sealed games and am not comfortable even trying to get them in due to the width. For CIBs they are a hard MAYBE, but forget games with too many inserts/maps/bag.

Regarding the cases themselves, they are pretty amateur in the finished product:

- The sliding bottom is about 50/50 for being a good fit vs. sliding right out. Some are the wrong length and extend from the end of the case, albeit not a lot. But still.

- Visible cut marks in the acrylic 

- Most of the corners are ridged and ugly

- The one rounded end on the top has minor heat bulge

The PET cases on the other hand, might be my favorite kind I've tried out of 4-5 kinds. Very happy with those. I would not buy acrylic there again.

 

[DoctorEncore 3,563]

Just ordered from CGA (https://cgagrading.com). With their black Friday discount it was about $190 shipped for ten cases. Not a bad deal considering the usual cost. And there are only about ten $1000+ games for NES, so I doubt I'll need more.

Will update when I get them in a couple weeks.

[Code Monkey 1,683]

9 hours ago, Nesmaster said:

I got them about a week ago. My thoughts:

- The GB ones are fine

- The NES ones suck. Vertically they're roughly 1/4" too big. The width is too tight for my comfort. Horizontal is cello dependent. I bought them for sealed games and am not comfortable even trying to get them in due to the width. For CIBs they are a hard MAYBE, but forget games with too many inserts/maps/bag.

Regarding the cases themselves, they are pretty amateur in the finished product:

- The sliding bottom is about 50/50 for being a good fit vs. sliding right out. Some are the wrong length and extend from the end of the case, albeit not a lot. But still.

- Visible cut marks in the acrylic 

- Most of the corners are ridged and ugly

- The one rounded end on the top has minor heat bulge

The PET cases on the other hand, might be my favorite kind I've tried out of 4-5 kinds. Very happy with those. I would not buy acrylic there again.

 

a) I ordered 21 of these the same day as you and they haven't even shown up in Canada Post's tracking system yet.

b) I ordered 21 of these and I feel like I won't even want them now.

[Nesmaster 330]

1 hour ago, Code Monkey said:

a) I ordered 21 of these the same day as you and they haven't even shown up in Canada Post's tracking system yet.

b) I ordered 21 of these and I feel like I won't even want them now.

Here's the worst offender so far, on CIB, no cello. Not all of them fit exactly the same but this one is basically unusable due to the width. The inside of the acrylic got scuffed from being too tight. I also show the loose slider.

Edited December 3, 2019 by Nesmaster

[Code Monkey 1,683]

Mine finally arrived last night, I don't know why it took so much longer for mine than yours.

75% of them had nice, tight sliders but a few did just fall out when I tipped them. That's not too much of a big deal, they'll be sitting stationary on the shelf and not moving around at all.

I did initially try to insert a new box for Assimilate (NES) which I got from retrousb.com and it would not fit. The acrylic case caught the edge of the box and just scraped the ink right off of it, I have 2 white marks at the top of the box now. Not a big deal, I already have another box for that, that was free.

Then I started putting vintage NES boxes into them and they fit way better. Some were a little tight, especially my fully complete Ducktales 2 with cartridge baggie. I was a little afraid that one may never come back out again but after a few whacks against my hand, the weight of the item started sliding it out bit by bit. I'm confident I could get it out if I wanted to.

The scariest one was my Sqoon box which is in superb condition and still has the shrinkwrap on it. The wrap caught initially until I put it in on an angle and then slid it in. It did cause the wrap to be pulled down a little bit in the case but only on the back and I can live with that. Otherwise it fit in there fine.

I did try putting in Kid Klown for which I do not have a cartridge, only the box and I didn't feel comfortable with that. I felt like if I pushed it up into the case without a heavy cartridge inside, I'd never be able to whack it back out so I wasn't able to put that one in. All the rest were fine, I'll take a photo once my phone's new screen protector dries.

For $17 CAD per piece, I would recommend these. They're definitely not as nice as the one other one I have from somewhere else but when I looked on that company's website, they were about $25 each.

Total cost for 15 NES and 6 SNES with PayPal fee and conversion to CAD was $354.03.

[DoctorEncore 3,563]

1 hour ago, Code Monkey said:

Mine finally arrived last night, I don't know why it took so much longer for mine than yours.

75% of them had nice, tight sliders but a few did just fall out when I tipped them. That's not too much of a big deal, they'll be sitting stationary on the shelf and not moving around at all.

I did initially try to insert a new box for Assimilate (NES) which I got from retrousb.com and it would not fit. The acrylic case caught the edge of the box and just scraped the ink right off of it, I have 2 white marks at the top of the box now. Not a big deal, I already have another box for that, that was free.

Then I started putting vintage NES boxes into them and they fit way better. Some were a little tight, especially my fully complete Ducktales 2 with cartridge baggie. I was a little afraid that one may never come back out again but after a few whacks against my hand, the weight of the item started sliding it out bit by bit. I'm confident I could get it out if I wanted to.

The scariest one was my Sqoon box which is in superb condition and still has the shrinkwrap on it. The wrap caught initially until I put it in on an angle and then slid it in. It did cause the wrap to be pulled down a little bit in the case but only on the back and I can live with that. Otherwise it fit in there fine.

I did try putting in Kid Klown for which I do not have a cartridge, only the box and I didn't feel comfortable with that. I felt like if I pushed it up into the case without a heavy cartridge inside, I'd never be able to whack it back out so I wasn't able to put that one in. All the rest were fine, I'll take a photo once my phone's new screen protector dries.

For $17 CAD per piece, I would recommend these. They're definitely not as nice as the one other one I have from somewhere else but when I looked on that company's website, they were about $25 each.

Total cost for 15 NES and 6 SNES with PayPal fee and conversion to CAD was $354.03.

I read this entire thing on the edge of my seat in fear for those boxes.

[O.G. CIB 383]

On 12/3/2019 at 7:16 AM, DoctorEncore said:

Just ordered from CGA (https://cgagrading.com). With their black Friday discount it was about $190 shipped for ten cases. Not a bad deal considering the usual cost. And there are only about ten $1000+ games for NES, so I doubt I'll need more.

Will update when I get them in a couple weeks.

I only use cases from CGA (I have a few hundred; they are local to me) ever had a problem with their cases. You get whta you pay for. 

[DoctorEncore 3,563]

1 hour ago, Mr. CIB said:

I only use cases from CGA (I have a few hundred; they are local to me) ever had a problem with their cases. You get whta you pay for.

They seem high quality. Unfortunately I'm still waiting on a shipping notice. They said 1-2 weeks on the site, so I'm not worried, but I hope they ship soon.

[DoctorEncore 3,563]

I kept checking CGA's website and my payment status was stuck on pending for two weeks after ordering. I was getting a bit concerned so I emailed them, but got no response. Finally I went to their Facebook page (gross, I know) and commented there about the long delay. They had me message my order number and were able to confirm it actually is processing and will ship soon.

Based on this experience, it seems like they are a small company without enough staff. They also seem to take a very long break for the holidays. According to their Facebook page, they don't even check their emails everyday. So... Yeah. Buyer beware. I'll update again on the actual quality when I get them.

[Code Monkey 1,683]

14 minutes ago, DoctorEncore said:

I kept checking CGA's website and my payment status was stuck on pending for two weeks after ordering. I was getting a bit concerned so I emailed them, but got no response. Finally I went to their Facebook page (gross, I know) and commented there about the long delay. They had me message my order number and were able to confirm it actually is processing and will ship soon.

Based on this experience, it seems like they are a small company without enough staff. They also seem to take a very long break for the holidays. According to their Facebook page, they don't even check their emails everyday. So... Yeah. Buyer beware. I'll update again on the actual quality when I get them.

CGA, AFA and VGA are all the same company as far as I know so they must be busy with grading games and action figures. They're also doing loose figures now so they're getting a lot more submissions of those. And if they're running low on cases, they will likely be keeping their supply for graded games and waiting on a fresh supply to send to you.

I would actually recommend the company in the UK I used except for their PayPal fee which I still need to report to PayPal as a breach of terms.

[DoctorEncore 3,563]

On 12/19/2019 at 11:41 AM, Code Monkey said:

CGA, AFA and VGA are all the same company as far as I know so they must be busy with grading games and action figures. They're also doing loose figures now so they're getting a lot more submissions of those. And if they're running low on cases, they will likely be keeping their supply for graded games and waiting on a fresh supply to send to you.

I would actually recommend the company in the UK I used except for their PayPal fee which I still need to report to PayPal as a breach of terms.

You might be a psychic. After three weeks of nothing happening and no contact, I finally got a response through Facebook saying my cases would ship ASAP. Then a few days later another message through Facebook saying they only had 6 of the 10 cases I ordered and it would be several more weeks. So their promised 1-2 week shipping window is now looking more like 6-8 weeks. With them not answering emails, apparently losing my order, and a huge delay in shipping, I can't say I'm impressed with their service. Thankfully, I don't need the cases in any particular timeframe, so if the quality is great I may still use them again. I'll update when I finally get them.

[DoctorEncore 3,563]

My CGA cases were delivered today and as @Mr. CIB mentioned, they are top notch.

First of all, they came in a ridiculously oversized box absolutely filled with packing peanuts. At first I thought they sent me the wrong order because it was so big.

After some digging I reached the chewy center and found even more packing. These folks are serious about protecting their shipments.

Finally, under about 5 layers of bubble wrap, I found my cases. They are each individually wrapped in loose plastic covering to prevent scratches. They also come with a handy instruction booklet if you've never encountered this type of sliding door mechanism before.

The fit is exactly what I want it to be. Side to side and front to back leaves plenty of wiggle room, while top to bottom is appropriately snug. I had no problem fitting standard NES boxes or sealed games (as you can see from my highly coveted NIB copy of Remote Control). The slide gives the appearance it may scrape the box, but it did not actually do so on my tests.

So overall, I'm extremely happy with the quality of these cases. They look great and provide a perfect fit. There does not seem to be much variation in sizing speaking to the quality control at CGA. My only complaint is on the customer service side where I had to reach out through Facebook just to get some kind of movement on my order.

And don't worry, that copy of Remote Control will soon be freed from it's acrylic shackles, opened, and added to the list. 

Edited January 3, 2020 by DoctorEncore

[O.G. CIB 383]

@DoctorEncore glad they arrived! Their customer service is up and down but the quality is there. I’ve invested a ton in the the cases and they are worth it IMO. Now the itch will be how many to purchase over time for those CIB boxes for your chase to a complete set! 

[DoctorEncore 3,563]

Just wanted to update that I did find a Big Box Gyromite from CGA. The usual premium applies, but you get what you pay for and the quality is nice. I'm glad to finally have it protected. Of course now I want to upgrade my copy since the box is more worn than I remembered.

Edited February 27, 2020 by DoctorEncore

[Richardhead 2,169]

1 hour ago, DoctorEncore said:

Just wanted to update that I did find a Big Box Gyromite from CGA. The usual premium applies, but you get what you pay for and the quality is nice. I'm glad to finally have it protected. Of course now I want to upgrade my copy since the box is more worn than I remembered.

That’s a thing I’d beauty man. Now maybe take that picture a bit to the right. Wanna see how many cib Mutant Virus you have.

Edited February 27, 2020 by Richardhead