SO I had a buyer purchase a rarish out-of-print audio CD. I won’t mention which marketplace.
Anyway, they claimed the new/sealed CD was crushed due to the extremely poor packaging, blah blah blah (I get overseas buyers raving about my packaging because their CDs arrive undamaged, which is apparently a rare occurrence).
The damaged package thing was a lie…i got the CD returned in perfect, UNSEALED condition. Buy, burn and return.
So I have this POS’s mailing address…I am SOOOOO tempted to send a letter addressed To The Theiving Amazon Buyer, xxxxx Dbag Dr. etc.
Inside, mentioning they didn’t get away with anything because their account is now flagged as belonging to a garbage human being, etc.
Yes. I can attest to the rarity of receiving an uncracked jewel case. Just left a positive feedback for an Amazon seller who did a very good job of maximum protection with minimum materials.
I still like physical media, and the last two times I bought music, I bought CDs over at Ebay…I was buying MP3s through Amazon but I’m trying to spend as little there as possible anymore. I really hate the platform.
Leaving aside my ever-present concern for leaving publicly-accessible Seller Feedback (or, for that matter, Product Reviews) for purchases made from ANY Amazon Buyer Account that Amazon can trace directly to one of our SoA Accounts’ establishment, may I ask if you can flesh out a description (sans pictures, which might compromise their identity in this bot-crawled environment) exactly what the above-board BMVD 3P Seller did to earn, in the way of packaging the goods in expectation of ensuring Customer Satisfaction, the admiration of one of the most-experienced BMVD Sellers I’ve ever heard tell of?
Well… I am really a bookseller. Never sold or offered or packaged music or movies. Just books. But I do buy other media.
It was a new CD, still cellophane wrapped. So no inner wrap needed. Next was piece of heavy duty cardboard – one dimension same as jewel case, then both overhanging ends sharply bent. The cardboard piece was not long enough for the bent “flaps” to meet – lacked a couple of inches – but that was not necessary. This inserted into a padded envelope sized just right (paper/bubble type envelope); then envelope very snugly folded over to prevent any movement of contents and taped. Pretty simple, quite effective, and not hard to get into.
I received a new, shrink wrapped CD yesterday, via U.S. Mail, ordered from Movie Mars, that was in only a padded, CD-sized vinyl mailer. Traveled the entire length of the country. I was shocked to find it was not cracked. It’s a regular size jewel case but a bit heavier as it’s a 2-disc set.
I pack CDs in thick cardboard. I cut one piece slightly wider than the case, and a second piece slightly taller. I then fold the ends over on all 4 sides and seal with clear packing tape. Then I seal it up tight in a small manila envelope (a padded one for international orders). I use clean, unprinted scrap cardboard. I have packed thousands of CDs this way with only one reported damaged.
I’ve received CDs packed in cardboard from other sellers. Techniques vary, but IMHO, corrugated cardboard is the key. It adds a tiny bit of weight but not enough to make much difference. I think the megas don’t bother because it takes time and effort – what a concept.
DVD cases, BTW, I wrap in at least a double layer of bubble wrap, making cardboard unnecessary if done securely. Anything bigger than a double case usually goes in a box.
Older-style double CD jewel cases, the kind that often include a booklet and/or third disc, are especially breakable and I always use a box for those now. We sell a lot of classical music that is not available to stream, and we find that those buyers are particularly, and understandably, concerned and appreciative of good packaging. A good percentage of our positive feedback is from happy CD buyers
I know how you feel. It’s especially irritating when the burned and returned item was cheap to begin with. Adds to the POSness of the scummy purchaser.
ive been experiencing a rash of buy, burn and return of my CDs…presumably because the streaming versions don’t have the bonus tracks, etc. that my special edition hard copies have…
I freely admit that I have gone beyond shipping CD’s in plastic bubble mailers to shipping CDs in Cardboard StayFlat mailers. No complaints about jewel case damage in the 18 months or more since I did. Never had any due to the plastic bubble mailers either.
The CDs in stayflats fit through the postal slot in my lobby, the bubble mailers did not.
So many CDs are worthless so if anyone decides to complain, I would probably refund without return.
I doubt if these CDs are burn and return, I would suspect they are rip and return, these petty thieves are not going to pay the cost of a blank CD.
Sort of brings back the memories of my college days. (late 70’s)
Columbia House had ads in many magazines, where you could order 10 Cassette Tapes for a $1, then be required to order X amount more. Or something like that.
Then, when I got the bill I would write moved, return to sender.
In the 60s, it was “10 LPs for 1¢” - a marketing scheme that in the 80s became “12 CDs for 1¢,” and netted billions for that particular mail-order ‘club’ back in those days.
I no longer have the LPs that Dad gifted me with under the original program, during the 2d ½ of the 60s, because they were destroyed in a warehouse fire while I was out of country back in the 70s* - but I’ve since replaced them all, because both the lyrics and the musicianship wound up making a profoundly-indelible impact upon me wee little psyche.
