Half-Blood Prince set

[Guest]

[stoney]

My case breakdown has now been posted

[tammguid]

whoopie! that was a decent case!
I'm thinking myself getting another one just for fun lol 

I had 2 of each incentive, so selling one of those off now and from the money i've sold all my double stuff i could easily get two, or i could just buy the one auto I'm missing, what to do, what to do.... 

[stoney]

Thanks tammguid. I was pretty pleased with it.

It will be just the one case for me though.
I don't know if i am going to go back to buying single boxes of different sets or slowly card by card get myself to a Master Set of HBP.
The only problem...is that the cards i have left to get (particularly the Autos) are all the rare and expensive ones!

[Fizzingwizbee63]

Hi Everyone,

Has anyone noticed, or had a problem with the quality of the Metal Box Toppers from this set?

I sold a set on  , and when the buyer received them, they left me this message:


i received the cards today - each in their individual package and envelope - and they arrived safely - however, every single card has scratches on the metal - underneath your plastic.
i have no idea how they got scratched by you - but they are still in your sealed plastic
do you have another set? id like to exchange these for an undamaged set.



The set I sent the buyer had never even been removed from the plastic sleeves.
Upon inspection of my other Box Toppers, I noticed that the plastic was actually a little scrachy, and some of the metal cards actually do have an occasional knick.
The imperfections appear to have occured during manufacturing, and not shipping, as the paper sleeves are in great condition, and were pulled directly from the boxes and shipped to the buyer surrounded by cardboard in a padded envelope.

Please let me know if you have seen this with your own Box Toppers.

I sent the buyer a  full refund, and apologized.
However aside from being out the purchase price , listing, final value, Paypal, and shipping fees, I hate the feeling that all the cards are probably the same, and I lose no matter what I do. :'(

[kbmum]

The quality of Artbox's cards has steadily gone downhill since they switched to a manufacturer in China.  I just pulled a Tonks auto that is dinged on three corners and has rough edges.  I'm going to contact Artbox after SDCC to see if they have any replacements.

It stinks that the buyer thinks you damaged the items, then sold the cards.  I've found that when I want to sell Artbox cards, I have to really look them over and be specific in the listing about the condition.

[Fizzingwizbee63]

I too have noticed the card quality to be much less than perfect, in recent sets.

I used to be able to use the terms Mint/Near Mint in the descriptions, however the expectation of those terms  no longer seems to apply to most of the cards. As a result I  refer to the condition of cards only if there is a noticable flaw (edges,surface or other),  anything I as a buyer would want to know about.

It didn't really occur to me to closely inspect the Box Toppers , 
My mistake, lesson learned.
Although if all the Box Toppers are of the same quality as I received, should the buyer really expect to find a set without imperfections?

Argggggggggggggggggggggggggggg

[stoney]

Sorry to hear about your cards guys. I may have to join your club
I have just checked all my box topper cards more closely and some of mine have scratches too.
One of them is in a completely different plastic bag to the others too. The others are all smooth and neatly folded down at the top whereas this plastic is completely creased, roughly folded down and twice the size of the others!

My Jessie Cave Auto card is also not perfect and has rough edges at the top and bottom. Nothing major and only a minor gripe but still...the card shouldn't be like it.

It is very annoying when you know yourself a card is mint in the fact that it is brand new as you have just pulled it and placed it in a protective cover straight away but looks damaged through no fault of your own.
Which leads me nicely onto my last question

The other thing i would like shacker's opinions on is my Just Like That Hat Boxes card.
I have included a pic of it so that you can see what i mean.
The swatch itself is black shiny card but has two white crease marks (one a lot bigger than the other) where the card has clearly been folded or bent.
I'm not certain if this has been damaged or if it is supposed to be like this. The card itself is perfectly fine and in mint condition. It's just the swatch.
So if it has been damged then it has been done before placing it in the card.
I just wondered if you thought the piece of prop is meant to be like this or if any fellow shackers have the same card with similar swatches or do you think that someone has damaged it and still place it into the card.

Sorry that the photo is blurry. I always have trouble with closeups but you can clearly see the crease marks.

[Roz]

The quality of Artbox's cards has steadily gone downhill since they switched to a manufacturer in China.  I just pulled a Tonks auto that is dinged on three corners and has rough edges.  I'm going to contact Artbox after SDCC to see if they have any replacements.

There was definitely a drop in quality from GOF to GOFU (if I recall correctly this was the first Chinese Set)  but in defence of China's honour no artbox set, or really no single artbox card could ever really be described as 'gem mint' right from PoA!

*Edit*

Stoney, If they are hat boxes they will have been 'broken down' or unglued and folded to be put into cards. Surely there will be some with folds/edges/oddities and you just seem to have one of those. Perhaps a little annoying? But with some cards which naturally have very boring contents a bit of edge tends to brighen them up a bit... 

[kbmum]

Very true.  I won't say that the quality is bad necessarily because it's produced in China, but perhaps it's due to not having direct oversight from Artbox during the manufacturing process.  When the printer was in the U.S., people from Artbox could go to the plant and have an easier time dealing with any issues.

Stoney, I think you have a section of the hat box that had a crease in it, possibly from an edge, and was straightened out for the card.  I've seen at least one other on eBay that was very similar.

FW, the buyer probably will not be able to find box toppers without defects, but won't know that until he buys them from other sellers.

[Gallifrey]

What were the order of the set releases? 

[Roz]

A good but surprisingly tricky question

Something like -

PoA
PoAU
SS
GoF
GoFU
CoS

Then it gets fuzzy in my mind...

I think

MM
Wo3D
OOTP
OOTPU
MM2
Wo3D2
HBP

Though please do correct me Cindy

Or was Wo3D after OOTP?

[stoney]

Thanks Roz and Kbmum!
If you both think that it's supposed to be like that then that is good enough for me!.
Your answers about breaking down the boxes and straightening them do make a lot of sense.

It's good to know that my card isn't the only one out there kbmum.
Can you remember if the seller didn't realise or wasn't sure like me and put in the description that he/she thought the card was damaged?.

I wonder if we are going to get a number of irate buyers complaining that they have received damaged Hat Box cards.

Hey Gallifrey!.
I think this is the right order of set releases.

PoA
PoAU
SS
GoF
GoFU
MM
CoS
Wo3D
OOTP
OOTPU
Wo3D2
MM2
HBP

I just know i've got it wrong!

[Fizzingwizbee63]

Hi Everyone,

Hey Stoney,

Some (swatches) with creases or crinkles could been considered a variant , as was the case with the Flying Memos Prop card swatches from OOTP.

Those swatches ranged from a full Ministry gold seal , to some with writing, and then there were folds or creases, followed by some with just plain purple paper.

I have not seen many Hat Box swatches other than the black. The one I pulled has light yellow paper with a little black line.

I did pull a Burrow Cushions where the card itself was very damaged, and Kay at Artbox said to send it back and they would attempt to replace it.

I don't think I have the heart to call back and complain about the Box Toppers though, and I think kbmum is correct that my buyer probably won't find them (Mint) from anyone.
After all they are (metal etched), and I would think that process itself would lead to imperfections on the surface

[stoney]

It's just a very strange card to have. The card itself is perfect but if you didn't know exactly what was involved with making the swatch (see Roz's & kbmum's explanations ) you would definitely think because of the swatch "oh..this is damaged".

It's a shame my photo isn't better. It's very hard to see exactly what i'm talking about.
If you rub your finger over the swatch the hat box prop material is very bumpy and then you have the two scratches/lines down the middle.
My best way of describing them is this. It's like when someone has scratched your car with a key and you get the white line underneath where the paint has been scratched off the top.

[kbmum]

Stoney is correct about the set order and Roz was close.

POA (May 2004)
POAU (November 2004)
SS (May 2005)
GOF (November 205)
GOFU (May 2006)
MM1 (October 2006)
COS (December 2006)
WoHP 3D Series 1 (June 2007)
OOTP (July 2007)
OOTPU (December 2007)
WoHP 3D Series 2 (June 2008)
MM2 (April 2009)
HBP (July 2009)

[rns91294]

Stoney, my biting teacup swatch is sticky, as if there was once a sticker on it that was taken off. Your card is not damaged at all. I think the ones with creases on eBay are selling for more than the plain black perfect swatches, if that helps you any.

[stoney]

I am very happy with my card now thank rns.
I just wanted some reasurance and opinions from fellow shackers who are more knowledgeable about cards than i am that the card wasn't a damaged one.

Stoney is correct about the set order and Roz was close.

Do i win a prize?.

[Roz]

Do i win a prize? 

Yes... what would you like? I can get a cup of tea on...

MM1 (October 2006)
COS (December 2006)

That'll be why CoS seems a 'new' set to me... even though it's 2.5 years old! Wow! 2.5 years eh?? Amazing!

[allender]

Stoney is correct about the set order and Roz was close.

Of course, don't forget:

Literary Collector's Card Set (June 2005)
Posters Set (August 2006) [premiere and SDCC versions, 1100/200]

I think those months are right, or at least that's when I got mine. They might not have been distributed in packs, but they ought to be part of the "sequence." 

[stoney]

Yes... what would you like? I can get a cup of tea on...

That's probably the only cup i'm ever likely to win in my lifetime Roz!

That'll be why CoS seems a 'new' set to me... even though it's 2.5 years old! Wow! 2.5 years eh?? Amazing!

Wow!..Time certainly does fly by. It feels like ages ago now to me since i opened my Cos Case.This set holds some very fond memories for me. This was the first Harry Potter case that i ever bought back in June 2007 and it was also the subject of my very first post here on the yakshack the day before the case arrived on the the 15th June 2007.