Damaged Boxes

momof2boys99

I purchase a ton of Lego to sell and for my kids. As a family...we do not keep our boxes, so we are not picky about the condition of the box. However, as a seller I have noticed that the boxes I receive in the mail are mostly flawed. I order mainly from Amazon, Target, ToyRUs, ect. My boxes arrive in all sorts of condition. The outer boxes are sometimes smashed or opened. The Lego sets inside usually have minor creasing or a corner that has a problem. I do list in my auctions that the boxes are not perfect. The only place that I seem to have a great record with is Lego.com. I have yet to call and complain to anyone. Does anyone else find that this is a common growing problem?

Pitfall69

It's hit or miss with anyplace you order from. I received a destroyed Imperial Shuttle from Lego during the May 4th Promo. I know the box was messed up prior to shipping because the shipping box was pristine. Why bother putting it into the box? They were great in sending me a new one, but they lost money in shipping. Also, they TC-14 poly was thrown inthe box with my SSD and it pressed against the box and I have dig marks in the box from it.

I have never had 100% damage free boxes, but Lego seems to be the best, then Lego, then TRU and then Target. For me, Target is the worst.

momof2boys99

O.k. I am not the only one. Target is good because of the extra AAA and redcard discount. However, they send the oddest sized boxes.

dougts

i have thus far been lucky. using LEGO, Target, TRU, WM, B&N, and Amazon I have yet to receive anything (hundreds of shipments total) that has been damaged beyond some very minor box dings at most. Can't say the packaging is always ideal, but I guess the carriers in my neck of the woods must take better care of stuff in transit than seems to happen to others around here.

momof2boys99

^ I am happy to hear that you are receiving good boxes. I guess I was just interested in knowing if I was the only one that has this issue.

BrickEnvy

I buy from all over the world and 9 times out of 10, the boxes come in horrible condition. I got in a few of the 2006 Batman sets that I found on bricklink. They were in pristine condition in all of the pictures. By the time they got to me, they were completely crushed due to being wrapped in paper...with an awesome boot print right on top of it. What happened to shipping expensive stuff in nice sturdy boxes? lol

[email protected] is really good about replacing damaged boxes from shipping issues. TRU and Target on the other hand are just horrible at shipping LEGO, in my opinion and its very hard to get any issues fixed with them. Target sent me cases of the Imperial Shuttle in the original shipping boxes, with huge holes on the side but patched up with Target tape =(

Renny

I can say from my personal experience that it's 50/50 when ordering from any retailer such as Amazon, TRU, Target, [email protected] or even YoYo. I have received damaged boxes, damaged shipping boxes as well as perfect boxes from each one of them. Just today I received really big sets from TRU and all of them were great and looked like they were just packed from the factory. However, just a week ago TRU had sent me the wrong items (and the wrong items were also damaged).

For me as long as the return process is easy I will continue to order. Although I do really like Walmart's ship to store pickup option since I can refuse the items at the store and not have to deal with sending stuff back. What's nice is that you can ship even exclusive sets like UCS or Modulars that they don't usually carry in store.

LegoFanTexas

Wow, UPS just left, all my recent orders just arrived in perfect condition! This must be a record of some kind! :)

I have a new driver this week, maybe that is it? :)

cbaker1974

I just got an order from Amazon France...2 Mobile Excavators in perfect condition.

An order from TRU's fulfillment warehouse that is 10 miles from my house...smashed :(

momof2boys99

^ I had that happen with my Cargo trains from Amazon France....perfect condition. I am anxious to see how my Walmart orders from this morning end up.

Basta

Just wanted to ask what people experience with TRU, with regard to the boxes they use for shipment and specifically how often do they send the larger items in the actual Lego shipping box?

I have an Imperial Shuttle and Fire Brigade on the way, and would like a rough idea how I may receive it.

Additionally I have ordered a lot from Amazon.fr and Amazon.es and all my items have arrived safe and sound so far, but a lot of the time they use vary large boxes that are not completely filled with packaging (so excess movement of contents) and the boxes are not tapped up very well, so there is normally gabs.

LegoFanTexas

I have never had TRU ship Lego sets in the original shipping boxes, they use terrible boxes that don't hold up well.

I have had so many damaged sets from them, I have stopped buying completely, but you may well be fine, so don't let my experiences turn you off until you get them.

beegeedee

I've only used S&H home once (europe) since the postage is way too high to make it worthwhile. However, on that occasion they were well packed and no damage.

Aside from that, about 80% of my lego comes from Amazon UK since they do free shipping to Ireland and only have had 2, perhaps 3 boxes with some damage to them but not serious amounts - in fact, the most recent one was actually shipped from Europe, Germany I expect, as they occasionally do and it was knocked at the corners as was the outer box.

As it happens I bin my boxes so I don't really care as long as the content is fine. I get more frustrated about the DSS being mangled or the instructions and that can happen off the shelf as I have recently found from a local store with 2 sets.

Basta

Thanks for the answers, would be nice if the box arrives in tacked, but as long as I get all the contents of the box that will be ok.

tamamahm

While I can't speak to Lego inside boxes, I can state that I have received very poor outer shipping boxes from both Toys-R-Us and Walmart.

In both cases, the boxes were essentially opened already when they were delivered. The tape they are using and boxes are just not holding up during shipping. I did however, finally receive an order this year from Toys-R-Us that was packaged and shipped well.

My outer packages from Amazon have always been in good condition. I did order the fire temple from Amazon.uk, and that arrived in great condition.

prof1515

Box quality does matter to me and I have thus kept note of it from various sources. I have a 100% failure rate at ordering undamaged boxes from Amazon and about 25% from eBay (unfortunately, I've ordered vintage Lego from eBay that makes that figure even worse via inaccurate descriptions of the condition of the set, ie. using "MISB" to mean "[Not At All] Mint In Sealed [Sandwich] Bags").

By contrast, I've only had three orders out of hundreds from Lego that were damaged. Once, the shipping box was exposed to water at some point, damaging the contents and the other two times it was crushed in shipping. I find Lego's shipping to be impressive and the second-best of any source I've purchased Lego from (the best being Entertainment Earth where they pride themselves in the condition of packaging).

Yodalicious

Seems like everyone has different experiences from different places, as have I. I ordered the 4 current modulars from Amazon and the shipping box was destroyed causing bends to all the set boxes. I don't keep the boxes, so I wasn't worried too much, but I was surprised at the shipping box condition. That and it was closed together by one thin strip of tape. 4 heavy, large LEGO sets inside and one thin piece of tape.

More recently from Target, I ordered the Death Star and it came in the original LEGO shipping box. It was in perfect condition. A few weeks later, ordered the latest X-Wing and TIE Fighter. They came in a shipping box together and were packaged nicely. Again, great condition.

I have also ordered a few things direct from LEGO and have had good experiences too. The one I've stayed away for is Walmart. I've read about the most horror stories from them.

prof1515

Interestingly, the few Lego I've ordered from Wal-Mart have all arrived in well-packed and in pristine condition. I just object to ordering from them when other sources are possible due to their labor policies.

ColoradoBricks

60% of the damaged LEGO boxes I received is caused by over-stuffing the box with air bags (as discussed in another thread, they inflate with altitude where I live) and that happens all across the board, except from Amazon where they seems to be aware of the "issue".
Last week I received #4436 from Target, the box was crushed by the air bags, after I took it out, I could not even close the small shipping box with just the air bags (only 4 of them)

I have luck and back luck with all 3 US carriers, no one stands out, I always feel bad returning an item for a crush box, I rarely do it when it is set from my self unless I suspect damages (like an #8810 Unimog from TRU crushed down to half the box volume...)

Renny

I have learned that when ordering from anywhere to pay attention to the combination of sets I am ordering. I always make sure I order like sized boxes in one order. I have had orders from Amazon and [email protected] where I ordered a bigger set and a smaller set together and the smaller set would move around and cause creasing and damage to the bigger set. One time I ordered a mid sized set and the Star Wars planets...well turns out the air bags pressed down on the planets causing BIG craters in the bigger box.

Lesson learned :)

littletoki

Might be a regional thing as @dougts mentioned. No issues at all with TRU, Target, Walmart, BN, Amazon and Lego [email protected]

rocao

For me in Northern California, from best to worst is: LEGO [email protected] > Target > Barnes and Noble > Walmart > Amazon > TRU.

LEGO [email protected]: sturdy box, bigger ones have inner wall, rational grouping of like sized items.

Target: sturdiest boxes, sufficient air pack, occasionally odd grouping

Barnes and Noble: good box, sufficient air pack

Walmart: good box, poor grouping of items

Amazon: weak box, insufficient paper packing, occasional crushing, good return/replacement customer service

TRU: good box, boxes too large causing frequent crushing & shifting, insufficient air wrap, poor return/replacement customer service

momof2boys99

Once again after ordering from various places over the past few weeks.....Lego.com gets my vote for the best packing. They are always consistent for me. However, if the discount is good enough from another retailer then I have no problem purchasing from someone else.

CupIsHalfEmpty

TRU shipped my 2 TB and 1 TH in three separate boxes. My two TBs had creasing because TRU's shipping boxes were to flimsy. The TH arrived in perfect condition.

Dougout

Well [email protected] dropped the ball for me this time, both TBs I ordered had slight damage from the holiday set pushing on them. The boxes were big enough to put the set on the side, but of course it was thrown on top with insufficient room for the lid to close so the holiday set was literally pushing on the TBs and vice versa. On top of that, the B-wing I ordered was thrown on top of the tc-14 creating many dings and a huge dent along the box bottom.

I would have rather not gotten the freebies and had mint box conditions as they would have been without the careless packing. Now I contemplate returning these, but I most likely will just deal with it. :(

FireFox31

Is it worth buying from discount online retailers like Target and Amazon even though they sometimes damage our Lego boxes?  What have you done to resolve issues with damaged boxes from online retailers?  Is there a price threshold below which you don't care if the box is damaged?

I recently opened my Amazon box with #76895 Speed Champions Ferrari to find one box edge mashed in.  This happened in transit because the shipping box also held the weighty DK Minifigure book (with the orange spaceman!) yet had no packaging to protect the items from each other.  Having paid only $16 for the set, I'm not sure if I want to fuss about this damage, but it annoys me.

I used to think that buying on Black Friday yielded the best prices.  Actually, it yields damaged boxes from overworked warehouse staff rushing to fill orders.  Target online sent me more damaged boxes than anyone else.  Yet, I got the sets at 20% off with additional store credit for each certain amount of money spent.

I am reluctant to return a damaged boxed item, knowing that it may go in the garbage or be resold by some sketchy seller.  Too much extra energy wasted.  Now, if it were a $100+ set, I'd be annoyed.  But it's a tough call for cheaper sets.  What do you think?

EGRoberts

Personally I by lego for myself and have no intention for resale. If I get a discount on a set that I want because the box is damaged I might buy more as it is just packaging that I recycle. That's just me though, I know others save the boxes which if I had the room I might consider but I always look at any space available as more space to store bricks not cardboard.

Astrobricks

If you buy from Target, pick it up at a store. Amazon is a total crapshoot these days. You might get nicely packed pristine boxes, or you might get a bare set box shipped with the address label and probably some packing tape slapped on the outside.
If the condition of the box is important to you, try to avoid shipping at all.

madforLEGO

Astrobricks said:

If you buy from Target, pick it up at a store. Amazon is a total crapshoot these days. You might get nicely packed pristine boxes, or you might get a bare set box shipped with the address label and probably some packing tape slapped on the outside.
If the condition of the box is important to you, try to avoid shipping at all.

Yeah and returns for damaged boxes is a bit of a crapshoot with Amazon as well, though I think one of their return reasons is for a item damaged, but the shipping box is not (implying damaged at the warehouse) but who knows how many times Amazon will let you do that before they ban you from Amazon.

SumoLego

Holy Zombie Thread Ressurection!

Yellowcastle

To those who have discussed before, we salute you.

panchox1

Amazon is the worst for me. more and more often ,they shove stuff in padded envelopes and they get totally smashed in transit. I've complained in the past and have gotten refunds.

Fizyx

Yeah, the trend lately of shipping smaller sets in padded envelopes from Amazon is horrible.

The other thing I've noticed is that there are several 3rd party Amazon sellers who are absolute jerks about it.  They will list like 1-2% below the other prices, so they will get to be the 'buy now' seller, and it will usually be on sets that are generally on sale (that I've seen, anyways), so they will end up being like 21% off or 26% off, basically not some multiple of 5.  I have found, without fail, that every one of them ends up coming in a pristine shipping box, and damaged LEGO box.  And if you return them and get a replacement (if they allow it), the replacement will have the SAME PROBLEM.  I am convinced that these sellers undercut in this way intentionally and specifically to get rid of damaged goods.  This has happened to me enough times that I actually refuse to purchase when the prices show this kind of discrepancy any more, because I already know they are sending me damaged sets.

dehnehsu

I hate when Walmart straps their higher priced LEGO in the electronic "Spider Wrap" security bands. The wires dig into the edges of the boxes. 

Marshallmario

My Walmart does that but only on like the first 4 sets on the shelf. The back 2 sets and the ones up high don’t have the security device on them. No idea why they think destroying the boxes on the most expensive and largest Lego is good for sales. For me the more expensive the set the more particular I get about the box condition.

Astrobricks

Marshallmario said:

My Walmart does that but only on like the first 4 sets on the shelf. The back 2 sets and the ones up high don’t have the security device on them. No idea why they think destroying the boxes on the most expensive and largest Lego is good for sales. For me the more expensive the set the more particular I get about the box condition.

Yeah, but the thieves have different motives.

Marshallmario

How do you get a box that big under your shirt?

MugenPower

Ah, I remember those spider wraps from TRU (R.I.P.) as well. 

MinifigInSpace

95% of the time I buy sets for purely parts to build MOCs, so box damages don't typically bother me. I do buy occasional sets for future resale, and for those I've learned to buy them in-person or through lego.com. 

But I agree with everyone else that Amazon ranks among the worst in keeping LEGO boxes pristine. I have a close friend that used to work at Amazon, and he's confirmed multiple times how employees and managers alike didn't seem to care about the quality of their shipped products. I guess it wasn't uncommon to see a recently boxed laptop carelessly dropped on it's way to be shipped. Even the following "smash!" sound wasn't enough to stop the shipment. My friend quit Amazon for many reasons, but a big one was their lack of quality and care.

I'm going to buy a few 501st Battle Packs for resale, but I'm definitely NOT getting them though Amazon.

veyniac

Is there a site somewhere that sells sets with destroyed packaging for reduced prices? I know of several places that buy up overstocked or imperfect clothing for resale, so it seems logical that there would be something along those lines for other products.

MinifigInSpace

veyniac said:

Is there a site somewhere that sells sets with destroyed packaging for reduced prices? I know of several places that buy up overstocked or imperfect clothing for resale, so it seems logical that there would be something along those lines for other products.

When it comes to damaged/imperfect LEGO sets, the company is (unfortunately) very strict with what can be done with them.

For example, at Costco when they receive a damaged LEGO box they are required to throw it away. LEGO won't accept the return, and they don't even allow the business to donate the set. It's the same for Costco returns. If someone returns a LEGO set to Costco, Costco is required by LEGO to throw it into the dumpster. I randomly learned this from someone who used to work in returns at Costco.

560Heliport

I worked at Amazon for about six weeks last year. There simply isn't time to be careful about packaging. I was told that the condition of the package did not matter, as long as the contents were present and intact.

autolycus

Barnes and Noble puts extremely aggressive stickers on all or nearly all of their boxes. It’s quite frustrating, especially on Architecture boxes, which are really nice and store well!

Astrobricks

autolycus said:

Barnes and Noble puts extremely aggressive stickers on all or nearly all of their boxes. It’s quite frustrating, especially on Architecture boxes, which are really nice and store well!

It depends on how long the sticker has been there. If it’s new enough, you can easily peel them off if you are careful and patient.

Astrobricks

Marshallmario said:

How do you get a box that big under your shirt?

They aren’t that subtle. They just grab and run.

ReesesPieces

MinifigInSpace said:

For example, at Costco when they receive a damaged LEGO box they are required to throw it away. LEGO won't accept the return, and they don't even allow the business to donate the set. It's the same for Costco returns. If someone returns a LEGO set to Costco, Costco is required by LEGO to throw it into the dumpster. I randomly learned this from someone who used to work in returns at Costco.

So, how many bricksetters will I run into when I go dumpster diving behind costco this weekend? 

Marshallmario

See you there!

datsunrobbie

Good luck! My local Costco, and the local Target, run stuff through a compactor before it gets to the dumpster, so dumpster diving is not really an option. 

Astrobricks

datsunrobbie said:

Good luck! My local Costco, and the local Target, run stuff through a compactor before it gets to the dumpster, so dumpster diving is not really an option. 

Is compactor diving a thing? ;-)

SumoLego

Astrobricks said:

Is compactor diving a thing? ;-)

Just once.

It's much like incinerator diving.

FireFox31

My local Lego store once had some small damaged box sets available at a nice discount.  One was a small holiday set with minifigures (back before Brickheadz took over).

I picked up some small sets from Target today.  Found a few slightly damaged boxes on the shelf.  Made me want to try and haggle their price down with the checkout clerk.  They did lower the price on the sets I bought because they were listed cheaper on their site, so price adjustment at the register is possible...