The last couple of weeks has been a mess for me eBay wise !! I bought a bunch of stuff lately and had about 75 % either arrive with some sort of damage or just plain end up M.I.A. !!!

 I bought a used A/C compressor for the SubaFord as I can't find one locally and can't afford a new/reman one . WELL , the seller CAN'T FIND IT !!!   REFUND !!

 I bought 4 250w clear MV lamps , One arrived slightly damage but works and one is complete crap !! PARTIAL REFUND !!

 I bought a 3pk of spare MR-16 GU10 lamps for the lights in the soffit of my garage . One arrived DOA ! Waiting on seller to respond for a PARTIAL REFUND !!

 I bought a 450w Clear SBMV lamp . It was defective . REFUND !!
 
 NOW , the best for last !! I bought 2 N.O.S  , CGE , 120/240v 1000w MV REACTOR ballasts !! The BOX arrived EMPTY with a large hole in the side half-assed covered with clear packing tape !!  As soon as the UPS driver handed me the box I told him "We have a problem !!" The shipping label SAID the box weighed 51 lbs. ! It weighed more like 1 pound !!  The delivery was REFUSED and I took photos of the box and damage and sent them to the seller with an "unhappy" message ! Waiting on the seller for a REFUND !!!

  I'm still waiting on delivery of an oddball incandescent lamp , A 35/55w SOX ballast (Coming thru FedEx !!) and a vintage incandescent fixture which still hasn't shipped yet .

 ... I'm REALLY NERVOUS !!!!   I seem to have attracted some REALLY BAD JU-JU somehow !!!

 

Good job you were there to refuse the delivery.!!

Good thing you refused delivery of that ballast and looks like a poor packing on the seller for that. Hopefully your other pending eBay purchases arrive ok.

Wow. Just wow. I don't know what else to say 

 Thanks everyone !
  WELL , I got a full refund for the ballasts today and a 1/3 refund for the bad MR-16 lamp . PLUS , The weird odd ball incandescent arrived today in ONE PIECE and working !!

 The ballasts were definitely BAD PACKING on the seller's part ! I'm guessing they just threw them in the oversized box with minimum packing !! Honestly , both probably would've fit nicely in a USPS large flat rate box .  To me , he best solution would've been to tightly pack each ballast in it's own box and then pack both boxes inside one larger box with plenty of padding to help prevent and cusion any movement  .

 It just sucks as the possibility of finding another 120/240 1000w HX ballast is next to impossible let alone finding a pair !

Glad to hear. Too bad about the CGE ballasts, I found the listing on eBay and they seemed to have been pretty cool, especially since they were 1000w HX, which is really rare to come across. Unfortunately things like ballasts have a nasty habit of breaking out of their packaging if they're not packaged properly during shipping. 

I'm sorry to hear what happened with your purchases. At least your incandescent lamp arrived intact and working.

Thanks for the replies !!  I was starting to get a bit discouraged due to how many things I ordered were broken , missing or or otherwise damaged . I've NEVER had this many items arrive damaged or defective !!

 Update : 7/14/23 , my 35/55w SOX ballast arrived today in what appears to be pristine condition. I still have to test it .

Glad to hear, hope the ballast works.

@ Widelite-1000: Wow, talk about bad luck! I've had close calls too...currently waiting on some GE LU70's that I ordered over a week  and a half ago for my dad...it still hasn't been sent!

 It's never happened to me before and I hope it never happens again !

They're eBay sellers yet can't pack items properly for shipping... 

Back in the early days of this website I traded items with one of the regulars at the time (Jace a.k.a. TudorWhiz if you're curious). I had recently found three vintage exit globes, the ancient type that was screwed onto standard fixtures. Jace wanted one and he also had some stuff I wanted to get.

I shipped a very fragile triangular globe from Quebec, Canada to Maryland (through Canada Post then USPS, I gave myself a fighting chance  ) and it got to destination in perfect condition!

That was my very first shipment, no kidding, but I figured out that the globe had to sit TIGHT in the box, so I took a bunch of styrofoam pieces and custom-cut them to a sturdy box just big enough. Then I filled the remaining gaps with an absolute TON of newspaper sheets. Before sending the box I shook the box like mad to be sure the globe didn't move even a little bit!

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 NOW , the best for last !! I bought 2 N.O.S  , CGE , 120/240v 1000w MV REACTOR ballasts !! The BOX arrived EMPTY with a large hole in the side half-assed covered with clear packing tape !!  As soon as the UPS driver handed me the box I told him "We have a problem !!" The shipping label SAID the box weighed 51 lbs. ! It weighed more like 1 pound !!  The delivery was REFUSED and I took photos of the box and damage and sent them to the seller with an "unhappy" message ! Waiting on the seller for a REFUND !!!

[...]
 

If the ballasts gained enough momentum to PUNCH their way through and out of the box, the box was either massively oversized, largely if not completely empty besides the ballasts, WAY too flimsy for shipping purposes, or all three!

I would've used some light wood to support those 1000W ballasts. First thing that comes to my mind is reuse two empty clementine crates top-to-top to form a box (or just one with the bottom of the second to close it if big enough), with the ballasts inside, then filled with some rather firm filling material like shreds of scrap styrofoam or cardboard, strap the crates shut with steel wire, put the whole thing in another box with styrofoam sheets or multiple layers of cardboard sheets all around, then tape the crap out of it. Yes it's extra bulk, yes it's extra weight, but when I ship something I want that thing to get to its destination and intact at that!

 That was my thought also .  I've shipped several ballast to LG members both in the states and overseas ! Everyone made the trip just fine.  THe box was big enough to ship a bowling ball with it's bag !! As I said above , a large USPS flat rate box and some extra cardboard or stiff foam used to imobilize everything would've worked perfectly .

 I guess that's what I get for "Free Shipping " 

Out of the 5 SOX 180 lamps I've bought over the years, one has arrived intact. I have a 200w SLI that arrived intact because the seller shipped it in a 10" rigid plastic sewer pipe suspended in foam. All of the fixtures I've bought from the UK have arrived in round boxes which shattered two bowls, the other two thankfully made it.

Ironically I bought a SOX 135 a few years back from a distributor several states away and it arrived on my front porch in perfect condition in NO OUTER BOX at all!

That was my thought also .  I've shipped several ballast to LG members both in the states and overseas ! Everyone made the trip just fine.  THe box was big enough to ship a bowling ball with it's bag !! As I said above , a large USPS flat rate box and some extra cardboard or stiff foam used to imobilize everything would've worked perfectly .

 I guess that's what I get for "Free Shipping " 

The problem I've had at times is that eBay vendors use miscellaneous stuff, AKA junk foam rubber, styrofoam chunks to pad items. Does it work? Yes, but now I've got a lot more junk to try and dispose of...