SuperII

Got my Bengans order yesterday. Wow. They really use shitty boxes.

Stuff was floating around loose with only a few air pockets on top of LPs and 10"s that slid all over the place. A large hole was punched in the top of the flimsy box that had no extra cardboard supports. Somehow the only damage was to the U2 and it was just a seam split that tore through that clear plastic sleeve and ripped the sticker as well (had it been snug this wouldn't have happened). All told it could be worse but for what I paid in shipping, really guys, it wouldn't kill you to take a little more care. These are records after all. You'd think they would know about them being somewhat fragile?

3 minutes ago, plucker said:

I ordered 7 RSD items from

them and they had them all in stock.  It took around 2 weeks for them to ship my order though.  Shipping is very affordable but I have had some issues with them in the past because they use a very flimsy mailer.  The box is so weak that the corners get damaged very easily and the box is very easy to rip apart (even by hand).  They once shipped 7 LPs to me using this mailer and it got destroyed in the mail.  The corners were all dented, some creased beyond belief and there were so many seamsplits.  I let them know and they said they would send replacement sleeves.  I requested that they use a stronger mailer, but that fell on deaf ears.  When the package arrived, they only sent the outer sleeves and in the same weak package, so of course those empty replacement outer sleeves got damaged in the mail too.  Their solution to this was shocking:

 

"Since this has been a problem earlier when shipping to your address, we can no longer send orders to your address due to the amount of damaged items."

 

Basically, they blamed the postal service, when the real problem was their flimsy mailer and packaging.

 

I took a chance and ordered again from them because their RSD selection was so vast.  This time they used the same cheap mailer but reinforced the package with 2 shipping bands on the outside which seemed to be better, but maybe I just got lucky.  One item still arrived damaged, so just be aware that their packaging is really bad!

Ack. That's a real drag with their shipping/packaging. Hope my package arrives unscathed.

I have been waiting a couple weeks for my initial order, so I see what you mean about the delayed shipments. 

Stock wise, they have been really great so far (although a touch on the expensive side compared to say Juno) but at this point we're lucky to find anything at retail.

8 minutes ago, djghost1976 said:

I was surprised to see some of the stuff they still had in stock (Coheed, Jason Isbell, Toto, etc)

Me too. Beatles 7", Prince 1999 7" Pic Disc as well...

FYI: Small boxes ship very affordably from them. Larger boxes are crazy expensive however.

Sale at Bengans on (some) of what they have left...

13 hours ago, djghost1976 said:

19 copies of The Smiths up on TL:  https://www.turntablelab.com/products/the-smiths-the-boy-with-the-thorn-in-his-side-vinyl-7-record-store-day

bah still looking for that one... 19 copies! maybe there's still hope

2 minutes ago, lastvaultboy said:

I've found quite a few places I order from here use reasonable mailers - Norman and Banquet being notable from memory. Otherwise yeah, those horrible 'paper' mailers are bad. Fortunately nothing has ever come worse than a corner ding, but that's domestic. 
Ever had any serious damage from those?

I have had some serious bends and cover damage (at least 3 or 4 times) from the flimsy envelope type mailers... There are most definitely some new designs in mailers lately that have extra corner protection that juts out over the edges and inner folders that hold sleeves tight. I've never seen these for sale in North America but I get packages mailed to me from Scandinavia, Germany that use this new breed.

1 hour ago, unknown pleasures said:

I've mentioned this before, but I still can't get over how horrible 90% of the packaging UK-based shops use.

 

When I see something arrive in one of those thin cardboard (or more accurately thick paper) mailers always get a little nervous. It's a miricle when things aren't damaged if those are used. And they seem the exclusive domain of UK shops; I used to sometimes get one from Europe but it seems all of those places have upgraded to sturdier cardboard. 

 

Doesn't matter if it's Rough Trade or a small indie shop, a LP or a single, a very cheap or a very expensive record: any packaging from Britain is usually cringeworthy. 

My only guess is that they are trying to keep the weight low to manage the shipping costs (to keep it under some threshold of 1kg or whatever). If that's not why they are using the flimsy packaging then I'm completely baffled. There is no excuse. 

I received my Juno order yesterday - it was in a flimsy mailer but somehow arrived safely...

Some day Michael Lewis will write an expose on RSD fills by region, short ships, late arrivals, retail price and aftermarket sales and it'll blow this thing wide open. Until then it'll feel like Vegas (but maybe it's just me who feels that way!)

Did people see the Black Crowes/Jimmy Page in their local stores on the day? I have yet to speak to anyone who got it...

2 hours ago, Plarocks said:

Anyone see an Ike Reiko for around $30-$40?

 

I generally collect records with boobies on them...

and I had it in my hand, but put it back because I had SOOOO much other stuff that I was buying on RSD.

 

Initially thought $30 was a bit much for a "curiosity piece."

 

But then I listened to some of the record online.....it was really "interesting." 

I've been looking around for this one as well - haven't seen it show up yet...

32 minutes ago, slipcraig said:

After shipping and currency conversion, it's $44.

Their international shipping is quite high unfortunately, 16GBP to North America...

5 minutes ago, timsimmons said:

I'll probably just buy an original pressing for the price this thing is going for. 

 

Right! I'm seeing it crack $100 on eBay. Grrr...

7 minutes ago, timsimmons said:

plenty have sold on the bay.  I love the album, but I wouldn't pay more than $50 for a limited RSD version and certainly no more than $30 for a standard (at import prices). 

 

 

 

 

 

ah ok. didn't cross reference it there. I got the red vinyl re-issue from years ago but would love to get this one with the flexi and book... Haven't seen it on very many sites even as sold out...

The Elastica appears to be in shorter supply than alomost any other RSD releases this year - let's hope the rumours are true about the late shipments. There's a total of 1 copy on Discogs and none sold.  

Super long shot but ISO The Black Angels Glow In The Dark "Death Song" LP

Thanks!