Friday, December 11

The Austrian Japanese VHS Annoyance and Some eBayer Tips for Sellers

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So early last month, I'm combing eBay and run across a seller in Austria (who know, the land of Arnie and Fucking) with a plethora of Japanese pre-records. He's got a 100% feedback with many positive remarks from buyers, but shipping on each tape is a bear at $12.50USD for international standard air. Activity on the listings isn't bad though. So on November 7th, I entered the fray.

That night, I scored CIC's edition of Bruno Mattei's Double Target and Pony Canyon's Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. The "no other bid" minimum for each tape was $22 shipped, so I wanted to be very conservative with my selections and waved goodbye to what seemed like three dozen other cassettes that sold like hot cakes. I get no word from the buyer on these two until a week later when I win Columbia's Class of Nuke 'Em High. I then get an invoice with a note from the seller about the three not shipping until a week later because of work. Now granted, "work" can mean any number of things. Perhaps something unexpected came up on this end? Though let me say this: If you're an eBay seller, don't list anything if you know actual work is heavy and you'll be too busy to ship out items promptly. I can not tell you many how times I've had this happen and how incredibly annoying it is. As an eBay buyer, I always pay quickly, usually as soon as the auction ends. If I would have known the seller was going to pull this kind of shit; I wouldn't have paid as nearly as quickly. When this occurs, it feels as if the buyer is being punished for holding up his end of the transaction. Also honestly, I couldn't care less about most anything concerning said transaction until I'm holding the item in my very hands. So cut the make-nice bullshit sellers, I only want what I paid for, unless you want to cut a special deal with a buyer.

This is where the importance of tracking comes in. After that crap about delayed shipping, I didn't hear anything again from the seller. No shipping confirmation or even a quick sentence about finally shipping them off. Thirty-two days after initially winning Double Target and Henry; they arrived in my mailbox yesterday. Nuke 'Em High arrived a few hours ago. I'm glad I actually received them. After that much time, I was figuring the odds were 50/50. Though I did leave a kind message for the seller this past Monday and to his credit he responded same day. He told me to wait another week and if they don't show up he'll get the tracking number from the post office. Here's another big tip: if you have tracking number, always give it to the buyer ASAP after you ship the item(s). This is a big load off the mind even if it still takes a month to be plopped in the box. Especially if shipping across the damn globe or should I say central Europe. I don't know what it is about this area of the world, but I've received standard airmailed packages much faster from Britain, Hong Kong, and Australia. Order something standard airmail from say, France or Germany, and you might as well forget about it until it makes a surprise appearance.

So yeah, in the end I got 'em, after this quiet drama that could be easily avoided. One last thing for sellers, please don't fashion the package to look like an atypical pound of china white recovered in a drug bust. Both of the packages from this guy were roughed-up white paper over thin bubble wrap taped together with a roll of thick tan tape with crushed edges. I bet the tapes glow-in-the-dark from being ran through every security measure imaginable at every stop. One of the packages even has what looks like a strategically poked hole to make sure it's not the yayo. Argh, you can do it eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeebbbbbbbbaaaayyyy...
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4 comments:

Anthony1138 said...

Wow, that's quite an ordeal. I hope the videos are worth what you went through to get them. Is that the elusive "uncut" version of Class of Nuke 'Em High?

There's something about eBay sellers from Austria/Germany sending packages in weird packaging, though. Many years ago I received the numbered German Guinea Pig and Laser Paradise Zombie Survival Kit DVD box sets sent from Germany in a big old taped-up shoe box, with random broken-off pieces of styrofoam floating around inside. The box sets were OK, but the best part was that the mailman left the box sitting in a puddle on the front step of my house, in the rain. Ugh.

Anonymous said...

i`m your permanent reader now

Jayson Kennedy said...

Based on the back cover, Nuke 'Em High is the usual 86 minute Troma cut. Dang it, though they were worth it, all are in very good shape.

I've had other times sellers shipped in crazy packages. My Magnum Entertainment clamshell of Drive-in Massacre arrived in this:

http://www.ghoulbasement.com/2009/03/dude-i-love-cheez-its.html

hahahaha...

Anthony1138 said...

Yeah, that's pretty good too. I've had some things sent in normal packaging that arrived banged up. It's amazing when you get something in packaging like that, and it actually arrives intact.

...do you dare tread upon the staircase?

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