M18 damaged in postal transit. :(

[PlaceOfBayonets]

Sigh.....

This kinda thing only happened to me once before but at least that first time the helmet was packed well by a collector.

When I brought the package in and openend it first thing I noticed was the helmet was right side up rather then up side down as would have been preferable to reduce stress on the pad. To make matters worse there was not enough packing bubble wrap to keep the helmet completly still so that when the box moved the helmet had wiggle room. Due to packing the pad never had a chance.

The Seller is not a collector as you can tell from the Ebay auction listing,

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=STRK:MEWNX:IT

Here is the before and after photos of the pad and then it torn away. The M18 went from an exciting example with partial liner to just basically a shell.

What do you guys think this detracts from the value of it considering the winning bid price? I might ask seller is it was insured and see about a claime if possible. Would you guys sweat this or blow it off? I would had the helmet been packed better.

I really need to write up a packing instruction sheet and email it to sellers whenever I buy something. I prefer all my helmets to be placed in one plastic grocery store bag, tied off and then placed in a second one to reduce any wear or scratching to the paint. That and other things that would help old liners make it though is a project I am going to get done post haste.

William

[PlaceOfBayonets]

Like the rest of it very much however. Here are some photos. This is a TJ 66

[PlaceOfBayonets]

More....

[PlaceOfBayonets]

Close up of the pad.

QUESTION!

Does anyone think that liner cord is an orginal?

W.

[C. Roelens]

Drawstring looks like it might be of WWII vintage.

Chuck

[PlaceOfBayonets]

Drawstring looks like it might be of WWII vintage.

Chuck

I kinda had that hunch too. I wonder.

W.

[C. Roelens]

W.,

It's also possible the front pad was placed for photo only. Anyway you look at it... it's basically a nice M18 shell.

Chuck

[afrikasandman]

Id ask for a slight refund as the item you received is not the one you bought. He packaged it poorly and it was damaged enroute and so he owes you something. I had this happen on a M40 SD Heer helmet I used to have. The chinstrap was broke in transit due to poor packageing.... pisses a guy off. But this helmet was already hurting before it landed so a slight refund wouldn't be unheard of I don't think. Matt

[PlaceOfBayonets]

Id ask for a slight refund as the item you received is not the one you bought. He packaged it poorly and it was damaged enroute and so he owes you something. I had this happen on a M40 SD Heer helmet I used to have. The chinstrap was broke in transit due to poor packageing.... pisses a guy off. But this helmet was already hurting before it landed so a slight refund wouldn't be unheard of I don't think. Matt

What % would you feel is fair?

W.

[C. Roelens]

W.,

I see he offered free shipping for this package. Did you insure it? If you review his feedback you'll see he's been down this road before.

Chuck

[PlaceOfBayonets]

I see what you are saying Chuck, I don't know if it was insured or not. It's one of those printed on line deals where you can't even see what the shipping price was.

W.

[afrikasandman]

I don't think $50 bucks would be unreasonable. You only paid 400 for it but that is still a lot for a ww1 shell in my opinion. Matt

[PlaceOfBayonets]

I am only being offered 20.00 on this. An amount that I believe is not in line with what the helmet is now worth.

W.

[ww1czechlegion]

Sorry to read about and see the damage to the lone pad.

Yes, there truly are a good number of knucklehead shippers. I can relate several stories of my own, but won't on your thread.

Sadly I can see from your photos that the lone pad has serious "red-rot" or "dry-rot" condition problems, which makes the leather exceptionally fragile and prone to damage caused by poor packaging and the results of what happened to it in shipping. Did you notice this serious leather condition problem when you bid on the piece? (I'm not making fun of you if you missed this on the auction listing, as we all make mistakes, and poor photos by sellers can easily play tricks on the eyes). It's just that in the photos on here, it's clearly visible to me that the leather has dry-rot, and will continue to deteriorate in the years to come.

The shell is indeed nice, with wonderful paint.

I wish you the best in haggling things out with the seller. If worse comes to worse and they won't bump up a % refund, you can simply threaten to send it back.

And always, always, always contact the seller at the end of the auction and tell them that you desire to add insurance to the cost of the shipping, even if they don't offer it on the auction listing. 99% of the time if you ask, and they had not offered, they will be happy to purchase insurance for you at the time of shipping if you are willing to pay for it. Trust me, it is ALWAYS worth it for you to offer to purchase insurance on a purchase from a seller on eBay, as the Post Office no longer stands behind items they damaged in their sorting facilities with their equipment if you don't have insurance on the package. In years past they would, but with their massive multi-billion $$$ deficits they've been running, they no longer take responsibility for damage that even they produce, let alone any damage caused by a bad package job that falls on the responsibility of the shipper.

I wish you all the very best!

Sincerely,

Alan Schaefer

[Hoss]

W
What a bummer. I might be putting my foot in it once again, but it does look like the pad was placed there for the auction photo. Is the helmet from a rare maker?
If not, I,d try and return it.

Eric