This is an inauspicious beginning to a new project. Ebay purchase single-boxed with a little bubble wrap and styrofoam popcorn and a little wadded up newspaper, shipped by USPS. Still, I'll keep it and see what I can do.


-DS

I'm sorry but I would return it to the shipper and get a refund. What a goofy, lazy way to box a radio.

I have to agree. The only way some people will learn not to do something like that is if it "costs" them (either money or aggravation).

Curtis Eickerman

I'd send it back and get a complete refund!!!! That's almost "criminal" to ship a radio like that!!!!
Dave - WA6VVL

X2 on the return. That qualifies as "SNAD"....

While it's a pity that a good radio got destroyed, that seller should not walk away unscathed. Get your money back.

Maybe it got that way when the PO had an intermittent just as that last country came back

Im surprised these boneheads are even allowed to ship....Ebay needs to have a packing seminar on line that has to be read and signed before even being able to list.

Carl

I vote with the send it back group. What would you have offered for that radio at a hamfest that was in this condition? I am sure a lot less than the ebay auction price. If you are really willing to restore it with the amount of damage then at least open up a dialogue and, if needed, a dispute resolution process via Ebay/Paypal. Then if you want to negotiate a significant refund of your original price to keep and restore it then at least you aren't paying the penalty for poor shipping prep.

This would be roughly the equivalent of buying your totaled vehicle back from the insurance company and from a value point of view that 2-B is totaled. It doesn't mean it cannot be restored to like new condition but given what your time is worth the seller needs to eat most of that cost.

Rodger WQ9E

The totaled car analogy does seem appropriate here. The seller's initial response was that he was willing to refund my money. I think something can be worked out. What a shame, though!
-DS

The cabinet can be worked out. Is that dirt on the panel?

Its that gorgeous chassis that makes the radio, is anything damaged on it? If not pick up a rusted chassis 2A or 2B just for the cabinet.

Carl

I have not figured out what is on the panel. The radio is dirty, but that stuff on the panel doesn't want to rub off easily, and I'm pretty much leaving it alone until the other issues are resolved. The chassis is bent in one place under the power transformer but it looks pretty easy to straighten out. The chassis is not all as pretty as the back part that shows in the photo. The seller refunded my money this evening with no trouble or fuss and he is to be commended for that. Right now, basically, I'm trying to see if he wants to re-sell the radio to me "as is" -- and if I do send the radio back to him, who pays for that. Also, I must assume he is reading our comments, since I directed him to the photos I posted here.
-DS

I would reserve judgement until I knew what you paid for the radio. You have the calibrator, which is typically worth $50 and not that often found with the radios. As Carl said, the case can be straightened out with a bit of hammering and a coat or two of paint. The chassis isn't corroded, which makes it work more than most out there - including the two that I have. Those front panels are tough to fix once the rust starts coming through from behind. I have one that I had to touchup, but fortunately, it wasn't in the area of the lettering.

I'd take the radio out of the case and do a variac check on it to see if it suffered internal damage - maybe work out a deal with the seller.

arnie

It's really painful to see an old Drake mutilated like that. I tried to sell an SX-100 on Ebay a while ago but the bidders apparently didn't want to pay for a good packing job, so it didn't sell. I told the bidders that it would be double boxed with a thick layer of bubble wrap around the radio in the inner box with rigid foam and styrofoam peanuts in the outer box. I got a packing estimate for about $40, which included all materials and two new boxes. The UPS shipping cost ranged between $25 to $80 for the Conus. I put a reserve price of $250 on the radio. I figured that was a fair starting point because it was recapped and in operating condtion. I think the high bid was about $200. I probably could have sold it if I had scrimped on the packing costs but I didn't want to take a chance on having it trashed by UPS. How do you sell something on Ebay if the bidders don't want to pay for good packaging? I think I'll try Craigs list next. That way the buyer will pick it up. What has been your experience with shipping boatanchors?

I recently rebuilt a B&W 3 KV pwr sply for the B&W L-1000A amp. It was being shipped back to MN. I triple-boxed it because of its weight and the shipping was $60. And worth every penny of that $60. I routinely double-box with bubble-wrap and peanuts, allowing quite a bit of "crush-depth". When I sold my own SX-100 and HQ-180A, I double-boxed them. Every once and awhile, I will triple-box if the units demands it. Probably over-pkging, but after viewing that 2B, I'm quite satisfied with my pkging. As a buyer, I will request dbl-boxing. If the seller refuses, saying "I know how to pack", I just pass on the unit. It's not worth the heartache and the headaches of rcving something like that 2B. Several years ago I paid a lot of $$$ for an absolute primo Ranger II and arranged for the seller to triple-box it. He did. I also pass on "foam in place" pkging, because it just transmits way too much shock to the unit - it's too rigid. I have rcvd way too many units that have been damaged using "foam in place".
I'm sure we all have our favorite methods of pkging, and mine has been the result of several decades of shipping (and rcving) stuff.
Dave - WA6VVL

I think it may also be that a lot of bidders have heard before how well something will be packed and why it will cost so much only to have items arrive packed like that Drake 2B. It doesn't take having that happen very often to make people gun shy.

Some sellers overprice the packing (suck in the bucks) then under deliver (scrimp on the packing). They play the odds and hope not to get caught. Maybe they have to fork over a refund once in a while, but pay for it "out of their winnings."

Curtis Eickerman

As far as shipping boatanchors is concerned, I've been doing more buying than selling and my closets are sort of filling up. I did sell an SX-100 about a year ago on ebay. It had been recapped and was working (though not as well as I think it might have worked when new) and it sold for under $200. I double boxed it and it arrived safely. I think I had just lost interest in it, but hated to see it sitting in the closet. My scariest experience recently was buying an HP606A, which is about four times as heavy and four times as large as this Drake, from a seller in Houston. I was quite pleased when it arrived safely, double boxed.
-DS

That's good to know. I was thinking about using foam in place but I don't have anyone in my area that can do it. Maybe using it between the two boxes would work.

Out of doing "the right thing" you should get a refund. But if you're like me, I have looked for several years for a fixable 2B and haven't yet found one that I thought was affordable. If you're happy with the price - keep it. Maybe you can straighten the case or fab a new one. - Don

I suspect that I am like you in that respect. But what you consider affordable is probably different than me. I see 2As and 2Bs going on ebay for anywhere between $100 to $400 (yikes!). When you consider the cost of gas getting to hamfests, plus admission, and the time spent -- well then I consider a price toward the low end of that range to be "affordable." I've only once gotten a "deal" to brag about: an NC303 with the deluxe calibrator and matching speaker for $30. (I still spent about $50 on gas going to pick it up.) Nobody has yet offered me a decent radio for free.... but I'm waiting.
-DS

Doc,

Once you collect enough the gravitational pull of the collection will attract the free ones

A couple of years ago I was in downtown Normal running some errands after leaving the university and one of the local hams came over and told me to open my trunk. He then proceeded to transfer a Multi Elmac AF-67 transmitter, 1070 power supply, and PMR-7 receiver from his trunk to mine. I was so surprised at the time I didn't ask him if he had been driving around with this gear until he found me. The story was it came from a house his daughter bought up in the Chicagoland area. I have been given several free lower end receivers and some other stuff but this was the best free setup thus far. It was all in very nice shape and even the often bad audio driver transformer was still fine.

Something tells me a lot of gear will be available free in the not so distant future as the supply begins to exceed the number of people who have any desire for it. A lot of folks collect what they wish they had but couldn't afford when they got into ham radio and unfortunately we are far too rapidly losing a lot of that generation of radio operators.

Rodger WQ9E

"Gravitational pull!" That's an interesting metaphysics and my own experience generally supports it - like when you already have a lady-friend there always seem to be more available but when you don't -- then it's nearly impossible to find even one!
-DS