How to Ship a Print

[jcbudny]

I would like some thoughts on this by veteran EB traders/sellers.

I'm wondering why "veteran" EB sellers think shipping like this is OK. I received two prints from a seller this week (to remain anonymous as I'm not hear to flame him, just get suggestions). He's got loads of positive feedback as a seller so I figured I could trust his shipping skills. Well when I picked up the tube from the Post Office I could hear the kraft paper sliding from end to end in the tube, a sound that always scares me.

Got home, popped the tube open and found the $200 in prints rolled in .10 cents of kraft paper and nothing else. The ends of the kraft paper looked like an accordion. When I unrolled the print the right edge of the print had a nice dent in it about an inch long, deep enough to crease the paper.

How many of you just put a kraft roll in the tube and send it on its way? When I approached the seller about the condition and my concerns about it he blew it off telling me "it's no big deal" "we don't make a deal about that around here". He told me to just rub it out with a spoon. Really...? I'm new to collecting prints, only about a year into it but condition concerns me and regardless of the good deal I got when buying the print I still expect it to arrive in the condition agreed upon.

So is this normal with EB sellers/traders, do I need to be more vocal in my expectations when getting a print shipped to me? What's the etiquette with veteran members when it comes to this sort of thing?

Here's some pics of the kraft accordion and the dent in the print. I'd love to hear some thoughts on it.

[TKuczynski]

At a minimum, the rolled print should be padded at the ends to reduce any sliding and eliminate impact like that. Nobody who fancies themselves good at packing prints would disagree.

Those are nice photos by the way.

[BennyR502]

This too has bothered me the entirety of my few years of collecting and no, I don't think this kind of edge damage is something you should have to expect when you spend hundreds of dollars on a poster. I personally have started taping the kraft roll to the tube on both ends of the tube to keep this lateral shifting from occuring, especially with bigger prints or when I am shipping more than one print. It requires a little more effort to open the tube and I let my buyers know ahead of time but I find that it inhibits that kind of damage from happening.

[skis007]

"we don't make a deal about that around here"

I would like to see his reaction when he receives a print in the same condition.

[ceevee]

I wholeheartedly agree about making sure that the craft is sufficiently long to not move around in the tube. And I would suggest using thicker craft and/or a longer cut to provide more material resistance against accordian-type crunching. Also, the more buffer room between the edge of the print and the ends of the craft, the better.

Personally though, I don't like taping the craft to the edge of the tube for two reasons:
1) I've gotten tubes where the tape came off of one end and ended up inside the roll(!), getting stuck on or near the print.
2) Having the roll secured to one side eliminates the ability for the roll to evade a small dent on the side to which it is taped.
Neither of these are an issue in most cases, but definitely considerations.

[ejg904]

i think i can read the name in the "from" section -- he should know better than that

as other members have mentioned - this isn't acceptable. poor form that he tried to dismiss it and tell you it's "not a big deal"

if he doesn't make it right - name and shame

edit: just saw his username pop up in the list of users viewing this thread

[BetterCallSaul]

The initial post in this thread is the best way to pack a print. Period.

[jjbehren]

That packing job would have been fine if he would have used better quality craft paper. I send tubes all the time where the print roll has lateral movement. If you use the good, thick craft paper like the 3M stuff they sell at Target then nothing will go wrong. While I usually cut the craft paper to almost the exact length of the tube, a little lateral movement won't cause an issue if the paper is thick (meaning that it won't crinkle like what happened above). I'll often cover the art itself with tissue or another piece of craft paper before I roll it, but not all the time. It depends on the piece. So seeing only the craft paper and nothing else is not an unheard of in a tube coming from me.

At a minimum, the rolled print should be padded at the ends to reduce any sliding and eliminate impact like that. Nobody who fancies themselves good at packing prints would disagree.

Ummm. Can I conditionally disagree? Often times when I receive a tube where someone tried to pad the ends whatever they used ends up working its way into the roll, making direct contact with the ink. While I haven't had a print actually get damaged because of this, I'd rather they just try to minimize the sliding by using good craft paper that fits the tube.

I personally have started taping the kraft roll to the tube on both ends of the tube to keep this lateral shifting from occuring...

This method, however, has resulted in a damaged print or two. I'd strongly suggest not taping the roll to the tube. Way more often than not the tape will break free. Adhesives and posters don't mix.

Long story short, the seller should be accountable for the damage, and should have used better craft paper, but overall, the methodology was sound, IMO.

[jcbudny]

I wholeheartedly agree about making sure that the craft is sufficiently long to not move around in the tube. And I would suggest using thicker craft and/or a longer cut to provide more material resistance against accordian-type crunching. Also, the more buffer room between the edge of the print and the ends of the craft, the better.

Personally though, I don't like taping the craft to the edge of the tube for two reasons:
1) I've gotten tubes where the tape came off of one end and ended up inside the roll(!), getting stuck on or near the print.
2) Having the roll secured to one side eliminates the ability for the roll to evade a small dent on the side to which it is taped.
Neither of these are an issue in most cases, but definitely considerations.

Funny you should mention this, my Dreaming print from Josh Keyes arrived this week and he tapes the kraft roll in the tube. The tape came off (ripped) on both sides and re-adhered itself on the inside roll of the kraft paper. Thankfully it didn't get the print, there was enough slack.

I don't know what my Postal Carriers are doing but I'm getting a lot of prints with damage like this and just want to know how best to handle purchases/trades with other members so I can get prints without this needless damage.

I've been sending my prints out with bubble wrap around the kraft paper which keeps it tight in the tube and prevents it from shifting. So far it seems to be working as I've not gotten any complaints of damage. I'll start putting padding on the ends of the tube as someone suggested though, that should help with the edge damage.

[jcbudny]

i think i can read the name in the "from" section -- he should know better than that

as other members have mentioned - this isn't acceptable. poor form that he tried to dismiss it and tell you it's "not a big deal"

if he doesn't make it right - name and shame

edit: just saw his username pop up in the list of users viewing this thread

I edited the picture you are referencing to blur the address, I don't want this to turn into a flame it was not the intention of my post in the least. I'm trying to get help from the community so I can avoid situations like this in the future. The seller and I are hopefully resolving this amicably between us and I'd like to keep it that way.

[TKuczynski]

At a minimum, the rolled print should be padded at the ends to reduce any sliding and eliminate impact like that. Nobody who fancies themselves good at packing prints would disagree.

Ummm. Can I conditionally disagree? Often times when I receive a tube where someone tried to pad the ends whatever they used ends up working its way into the roll, making direct contact with the ink. While I haven't had a print actually get damaged because of this, I'd rather they just try to minimize the sliding by using good craft paper that fits the tube.

If what they use to pad the ends "works its way into the roll", they're doing it wrong.

Edit: just look at the first post in this thread; bubble wrap padding

[PLUSH]

Yeah, that kraft paper sucks. However, that is some serious 'accordion' scrunch there. I would say that happeneds because the person used too long of kraft paper and then capped the ends pushing down the rolled print. I normally have 2-3" on each side and have even tried to see what happens when I slam the tube about to see if the kraft paper will scrunch or the print will move. I then take it and the print out to look at it. It doesn't do much. That pic looks like he tried to fit 30" rolled kraft into a 24" tube.

[Prisco077]

To answer the original post, this drives me nuts but it is not infrequent. Even Mondo ships with the kraft rolling around in the tube. Now, if there is enough slack between the print and the end of the kraft, it will be okay. But why even take the risk? In my eyes, if a print gets damaged because it's banging around the tube, it's 100% the responsibility of the sender.

Also, if you're every worried about the the padding going down into the roll, just fold over the top of the kraft or use a handle, as displayed in page one, and nothing will get down there.

[Cragars]

That Kraft paper sucks, everyone should use a heavy paper. It won't scrunch down like that and you won't have to pad the ends or whatever people are doing now.

Also, feedback doesn't mean a whole lot because it's not mandatory. Just this past month I ran into a supreme boner that happened to have substantial feedback. Never ask the buyer to fix a print you sold them if it arrives damaged. Christ.

[Cinlabyrinth]

I used bubble wrap on all of the prints I PB'd at the Mondo Disney show, which ended up being like 6 tubes total. I folded and taped sections of the bubble wrap to the ends of the cap, instead of just putting the wrap in there, this way it was at least adhered. I cut the kraft (used thicker paper than in the above images) to try to fit as snug in there, then I shook the hell out of the tubes and dropped them a couple times from normal heights to ensure no movement, rechecked the prints, repacked the prints. All prints arrived to all folks just fine.