The Stupid Things That CD Sellers Do

Today, I received the CD of the "Miles Ahead" Miles Davis film soundtrack.

It was "New & Sealed".

So I open it. And underneath the cd tray is one of those magnetic anti-theft strips... Now, this has cracked the cd tray cos there's not really enough room for it to be there. But, the strip isn't stuck to the tray, no, that'd be too sensible - it's stuck to the paper inner! So I peeled it off, ripping the paper, so my new cd now has a slightly torn back inner. Oh, my days.

Now if the record company did this before it was sealed, they're idiots. If it was the seller, it's idiotic.

Almost on a par with...

I once went into a cd shop where the guy kept the CDs behind the desk... And wrote their reference number ON THE CD BOOKLET'S BACK PAGE!

So, anyway... What are your stories about the stupid things that music sellers do?

 

I hate when places like Half Price Books put their price stickers right on the CD case.

 

Replacing an original 80s CD case with some modern crap.

 

The UK chain That's Entertainment had these horrible stickers that were impoosible to remove. Their new ones are much easier to peel.

 

How about sending jewel cased CD's through the international post system in a microscopically thin card wrap around package. Clunk! It hits the doormat and cracks the case. That's if it wasn't already broken when roughly handled by the mail service! Why not use padded envelopes with bubble protector? One particular online retailer sent me a CD which arrived with broken case. I complained and they sent another with broken case. I complained again and asked if they could simply send a replacement case. They could not so sent me yet another replacement CD which arrived with yet another broken case. I suggested that there packaging was the main fault. They said they'd look into it as they had never come across this problem before! After 4 replacement CD's I went online and purchased a pack of double jewel boxes and re-homed my multiple collection of CD's of the same album. The 'spares' all went to charity as it wasn't worth the return postage to send everything back. How short-sighted can they be?

LOL! This is such a first world problem!

 

The locations by me have better stickers on the more expensive CDs, they come off with no problem.

 

I think the stupidest thing that CD sellers do is ..., that they stop selling them!

 

I get quite irritated by those stuck on security labels that wrap over the top of the jewel case - only used in the US it seems. They never remove easily in one piece and you spend ten minutes tearing tiny shreds off with your finger nails until you give up and throw the case away for a new one! The glue takes some cleaning off too.

 

Oh man they used to be so much worse. Remember those hologram sticker thingies that pinched around the center where the CD opens? Impossible to remove. The sticker label up top is horrible too but an improvement over what came before.

 

What annoys me is poor packaging. Especially for fat boxes. I have grieved the old jewel case/new jewel case dilemma many times and realized I just can't win. Unless someone has a stash of thousands of empty jewel cases in storage since 1989 or something.

Writing ref. no.'s on the actual product is a very poor idea. Working in a music shop I process hundreds of CD's and would never imagine such a thing. You keep it as light and minimal and easy to remove as possible.

CD sellers from the record companies I might ask: Why the hype sticker on shrink? So many hours wasted. Especially in terms of jewel case releases. You can always replace!

 

So where would you put the hype sticker? (Polite answers only please!)

 

On the jewel box, or digipak even, and then seal the item. But I suppose it's a manufacturing thing. Some titles do come sealed with hype sticker on the product itself. These days even artists and album titles come on hype stickers only in some cases, and it just had to be rightfully placed and not torn apart or anything. Otherwise people cannot see who the artist is. It's all face value.

 

But then it's a major PITA for those of us who don't want it to have to remove it.

 

One used CD chain that I shop at regulalrly used to put little unremovable security sticker on the CD itself! Revoving it woud tear off the top coating and render the CD useless. It also helped them check which CDs were coming back to traded in again. Luckily, they feded them out a few years ago.

 

There’s a very simple method to cleanly remove the white security label on the top edge of the CD jewel box, which displays the music artist and album title, from the CD.

However-
You must be patient and have a soft gentle touch, and a steady hand!

First, unwrap the outer plastic.
Gently, carefully pop off the delicate bottom hinge of the CD jewel box.
As you separate the two clear transparent pieces, it’s only the annoying sticker that connects them.

(At this point you can remove the CD, and place it somewhere safe.)

Carefully holding both components, start peeling off the sticker from one end.

The sticky label should be removable with a steady hand.
Peel too fast, and it may leave the annoying residue.

Reassemble the CD jewel box.

Also -
Is there any residual stickiness remaining on the plastic jewel box pieces...?
Just “dab” or quickly touch a small piece of the sticky adhesive you just peeled off... it should easily pick up that leftover goo, (before it sticks to other dust and particles.)

YMMV - good luck!

 

My "winner" would have to be an Amazon CD seller who listed his CD as a LP 5 different ways / places in his listing. I bought it as if it was a LP and he then proceeded to ship me the CD. When I received it I immediately complained and asked for a refund. he then proceeded to tell me it was my fault as I should have known it was a CD as all he lists on Amazon are CD's. He refused a refund. After I contacted Amazon things were resolved in my favor quickly. A couple week after it was resolved I was searching Amazon for the same LP and saw he had relisted that same CD ... as a LP again. Champ.

 

They replace the old style stickers with new, easy peel ones a few years ago. If you have any CDs with hard to peel stickers, then I suspect they have been on the shelves for a long time. They even put the stickers on blister packs and other card cases.

 

The worst things that the companies do is put discs into cardboard pockets or cardboard sleeves without any protective sleeve around the disc, and even worse are the "deluxe sets" that group analog and digital all in one package, making the customer buy a format they don't use, in order to get what they want. Asinine.

 

Goo Gone works wonders on adhesive/stickers. Just go easy and be sure to get all the Goo Gone off afterwards.

 

get import cds does this

 

Lying saying a cd is rare out of print..
lying about condition. I don't care if replace the cd case I get rare cds that way.
Besides most cds cases are pretty bad shape from the 80's
Yes I do have few cds with the smooth case it's a product of it's time
nothing really special.

 

I find many CD cases from the 90s owards are in pretty bad shape. The evolution of the CD case is very useful knowldge in order to get cheap early CDs. It also helps to know what a lift lock CD case looks like.

 

I hate when sellers, who you've asked about something's condition, then put up new photos but RAISE THEIR PRICE.
This is both stupid and completely reprehensible. ("Someone's interested, I'm going to take as much advantage of the person as I can.")
The nerve it takes - I had even just left positive feedback for a seller,
waited all day for the pictures to be uploaded, they didn't until the next day, and shown no damage to the cover,
and then THIS.
It's treating buyers like garbage. It's a seller feeling they have the buyer by the b***s and doing whatever they want to do.

The fact that ebay lets sellers do this, and also does not let buyers retract positive feedback,
makes me think of leaving ebay completely.
But they win again - the greedy sellers, the scum.

 

This is excellent advice that all CD buyers should start using. It changed my life as a CD collector when I learned it about a decade ago. There is enough give in the jewel case's hinge that it can be slipped off fairly easily. The security sticker is far easier to pull off cleanly with this method. There are probably YouTube demonstrations if you want to see it in action.

One word of warning, it doesn't work so well with the Super Jewel Cases used for most SACDs.

 

IIRC, large annoying sticky price stickers slapped on CD jewel boxes, or worse, on paper Digipaks is why I avoid buying from Second Spin.

(I understand it’s probably because their inventory is also peddled in Bricks & Mortar stores. That’s still not a valid reason.)

That’s just one reason why they’re on my worst/“buy only out of desperation” list.