Shocking reply from BBTS

[palitoy]

Nah, if the purchaser wants a pristine box, then he should return it.

Me? It goes in the recycle bin but at that price you should be happy.

[starsky]

glad bbts did the right thing.

[ODBJBG]

Perhaps, but that honestly is what amounts to a small scuff, a bit of a bend, or if we want to get technical, a ding.

Regardless, it's not comparable to the spine of a book, which is in fact part of the product.

Packaging, no matter what collector neurosis says otherwise, is meant to opened and generally disposed of. There are some exceptions where packaging is meant to help store an item's accessories, but even then it's not part of the item.

As I said in my original post, if I paid $250 for it and it had that small scuff/bend in it like this clearly has, I'd be upset. But I also totally understand why BBTS balked at exchanging it originally. Their 20% policy (assuming it even is a policy and not something they just told him in hopes of getting him to go away) is clearly there to prevent people from trying to return everything that isn't AFA 9.5 and above mint scale.

If you're someone who insists on having every scrap of paper perfect, you need to pay for the collector upgrade.

Likewise, pretty much EVERYTHING on BBTS says it is "Standard Grade: Packaging condition is verified to be 80% mint (C8) or better." Hence, your 20%. So when you bought it, you should have read the not-so fine print. Caveat emptor.

[palitoy]

In this day and age, packaging is part of the collecting experience for many.

This is an item catering to collectors with "Collector friendly" aestethic to it, not meant to hang on pegs at Wal-Mart, so no dice, they know half of these will sadly never get cracked.

BBTS can sell that one to me and I won't care but it's definitely a legitimate problem for some. To each their own.

[Hector]

The figure itself is probably fine. I will never know because I didn't open it. Doesn't matter. The amount of damage to the box is unacceptable to me, and that's all that matters.

I'm going by your own words: "UPS damaged the box and figure"

That's why I asked about the figure...

[Hector]

Here's my take, if you are picky about packaging, I fully understand...I'm in no way disputing that...you should be able to obtain and deserve mint packaging.

I'm personally not too fussy about that, especially with modern toys...my main objective is the figure itself.

I display my figures. The boxes are all stored in boxes in my basement.

I've sold Sideshow and Hot Toys with slightly damaged packages...and I always at least get my money back, if not more. By the time these toys are worth ten times their original price...I'd be long dead...

[sprytel]

Glad you were able to get the return, and you certainly were within your rights to ask for one... but I admit I am surprised. Aren't you usually the one advocating letting it rip and freeing toys from their packaging? Don't tell me you have had a change of heart!

[enyawd72]

Glad you were able to get the return, and you certainly were within your rights to ask for one... but I admit I am surprised. Aren't you usually the one advocating letting it rip and freeing toys from their packaging? Don't tell me you have had a change of heart!

LOL...no, no. I've always displayed stuff both ways. Some stuff I open, some I leave in the box. Some I display with the box behind it. In this case, the box was part of the whole package.

[drquest]

You weren't happy with the condition and unless the seller says, sorry no returns you should be accommodated. Personally I'm not real picky, but if I bought something for probably greater than $50 (might be my limit) and the packaging looked like that I'd send it back as well. If you were to turn around and sell this in 6 months or whatever, I can assure you having a nice original box will help that sale. As stated earlier, a lot of times the packaging is almost just as important as the contents. I bought a whole mess of empty vintage 1960's GiJoe coffin boxes recently. It felt funny opening up a box that just had empty boxes in it, but I was pleased with it.

[TrekStar]

This situation can be aggravating, since I'll bet it left the warehouse in good condition, and UPS handlers just tossed
it around from bin to bin, I've seen this with my own eyes, I've seen UPS drivers just tossing boxes around the back
of there trucks, since there usually stressing out over the work load, especially during the holidays.

With items like yours, a fragile or handle with care label might have helped, but who knows.