Stamp Sellers And Scotch Tape

What is it about stamp sellers and tape? I received an order yesterday and it was so well taped I ended up after ten minutes cutting and of course ruining a plate block, yikes. What a can of worms. Has anyone else experienced this?

*** Moved by Staff to a more appropriate forum. ***

There are several other threads about this, so yes. I keep a sharp X-acto knife on hand to carefully pick open a slot in the tape.

My theory is that for some, stamp collecting is a compulsive activity, and their compulsive behavior is manifested in several other ways, excessive taping being one of them.

"stamp collecting is a compulsive activity"
Bravo!!
))))
...just recently... I laughted at a birthday card addressed to some Grandfather - a Stamp Collector.
His grandchildren attached to the card many different stamps and put a clear scotch over them....))) Beautiful idea!

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As about stamp sellers and tape - I appreciate an extremely good packing. Once I received an envelope totally broken by some kind of fluids (it was dried already, but obviously broken because someone spilled some drink on it; U.S. post office packed the envelope in additional cover). Lucky me, all the stamps inside of the envelope were very well packed - so no stamp was broken.

I was once accused of "overtaping" by an ebay buyer. So, to some extent (while I was still a seller), I reduced my tape usage. But then there are other stories ... before I reduced my love affair with scotch tape, I had a buyer who purchased a rather inexpensive item (less than $10). It was apparently delivered by the USPS in the midst of a heavy rainstorm & arrived thoroughly drenched. The buyer initially assumed that the stamps had to be ruined only to happily learn that, due to excessive tape usage, the stamps were dry & in good condition. But such stories are very uncommon. So, in the main, I agree with the original post. Too much tape is usually not a good thing.

Yes, it drives me nuts. Some sellers do, some don't. One guy who sends me several hundred dollars of stamps on approval just licks his envelope well and sends it off. No tape. And no problems. A guy I buy from on ebay, sometimes a grand purchase of $2.00 or so, tapes it up like crazy. The tape must be worth almost as much as the stamp. I haven't destroyed a stamp yet while undoing the tape, but I've come close.

Don

It shouldn't be hard to tape an envelope very securely while still leaving at least one strategically placed small gap that will allow the buyer to open it safely with a scissors or letter opener. But there are some sellers who simply entomb the envelope in a solid mass of tape. In such cases I have had to take scissors to the body of the envelope itself, fortunately without yet ruining any contents. It helps if the envelope is at least a bit translucent so you can see where the contents are before you cut.

well said dudley.

Tape is annoying and 90%+ of the sellers use too much. What do they think is going on inside that envelope? I have received thousands of items in the mail and I have not one time had anything damaged. The most dangerous thing happens to be the stiffeners that are included in the envelope. I frequently get stuff that shows evidence of being lodged in the sorting machines and a semicircular chunk is chewed right out of the envelope. For that reason, I try to make sure the stamp cannot make it to the edge of the envelope. I also try to make a tab with the tape that I do use so that it can be easily removed.

The only tape I use is one small piece taping a glassine to the packing slip, just so it doesn't slide around inside the envelope. But that's it. There's no danger that glassine is going to come open while inside the letter, and if it gets mangled in a machine, more tape wouldn't save it.

I will say some come well packaged - one seller ships in a stiff cardboard mailer, then there is two cardboard stiffeners around a bubble wrapped package. The bubble wrap contains a small plastic package sealed with tape on all side and stamp is usually in a cut up approval card. A lot of tape.

The one time I did not like tape is when I bought some plate blocks and they came in glassines taped to cardboard stiffers. It was hard to remove cleanly.

I buy frequently on ebay and I agree that there seems to be a profusion of tape everywhere. Tape on all envelope flaps, tape around the edges of the stiffener, tape on the envelope or sleeve the item is in, etc. I find it excessive and frequently risky.

This is one of my pet peeves. Basically, I find the "we have to wrap everything in Scotch tape" from Canadian sellers. I'm convinced that every Canadian dealer has a huge portfolio of 3M stock.

Glad I'm not alone in this.

Several collectors on another forum complained about "stamp mummies," two small squares of cardboard with tape all the way round and a stamp somewhere inside. Good luck with that! Definitely a seller's responsibility to package so that a product is not damaged upon being opened. Luckily, my only damage resulting from over-zealous packing so far is to have almost completely removed the flap off of a low-value cover.

I would think that excessive tape on the outside of a machinable letter would actually be a risk factor for getting damaged. I'd think such a taped up letter would actually be more likely to get stuck in a machine somewhere along the line. The machines are meant to handle paper, not paper coated in tape. It shouldn't matter if it's handled in the non-machinable stream, though.

It happened to me getting the tape off the two cardboard protective cover. It was really not a loss as I can use the 4 3c stamps for postage and just reorder them. Just peeved a little. Will not stop doing business with him.