Do you keep the original packaging?

[loste_treasures]

Hello all,

Just some quick questions:

How many of you out there keep the original packaging for our beloved Biante models?

If you dont, what do you do with them?

Do you think that not having the original packaging lowers the value of these items?

Personally, i keep all the original packaging, no matter what type of collectable it is. I have read in bits and pieces in other posts that alot of you dont.

If the majority of Biante collectors do not keep the original packaging, should Biante consider re-designing the packaging to reduce costs thus lowering the purchase price of their models?

In todays market environment where costs are ever increasing, maybe Biante should look at this and hopefully reduce some of their overheads passing the savings onto the consumer.....us !!

[the_goldie]

Hi loste_treasures,

I keep the original packaging, not because I want to sell my models but in the case where I might need to move all of my models if I move house. If I did not keep the original packaging and decided to move house I guess they would have to get packed away with lots of care and tissues :D

At the moment the boxes are in the wardrobe taking up space and I have a couple in the drawers in my display cabinet.

My wife has quite a few of the Cherished Teddies and I have the original boxes for these in the back shed.

I think if you are going to sell your cars on the 2nd hand market or at auctions they will not necessarily fetch more because they have the original packaging, but they may sell quicker due to this.

It doesn't bother me too much what the cars come in as long as they arrive safe and in one piece I am happy.

[VRSS]

loste_treasures,

I don't think that any packaging change would lower the overall cost. If it did, it would probably be only a couple of cents.

To save a couple of cents, you would have to get rid of the coloured boxes, the clear plastic and then you would loose marketability with the general public. Sure we, the collectors, would still buy but the packaging would be unattractive to the public. A plain brown or grey cardboard box doesn't invite further inspection.

The foam inserts are worth their weight in gold as far as I'm concerned. They would have to be the best protection there is for our beloved cars.

The plastic straps stop the doors, boots and bonnets from flapping about in the box.

In the end you have to weigh up model protection and the box colours/printing against what would amount to as basically nothing in cost.

[loste_treasures]

yes, storage of the boxes ia a major issue. alot of collectors take the models out and display them in a cabinet.

what happens to the boxes? they can take up alot of space. often they can get damaged quite easily because they are not 'solid', i.e. nothing inside them.

i wonder if biante could make a box that could collapse on itself, reducing space?

who knows?

i think that in general, the original packaging is not given enough respect. if we find that yes, the majority of us dont think of this item as important, then lets change it.....

[perry]

I keep the boxes.

How can you store them??
Easy. Put four or six boxes into a garbage bag, wrap it up, and put it into a second garbage bag. Tie the end to secure it.
Write on the bag which boxes are inside (incase you rotate your models like i do), and chuck the whole lot up into your roof space above your ceiling.

The man hole to access this area will be in your laundry or hallway usually.

Make sure you chuck some Ratsak up there too, stops the mice.

[BATHURSTFAN]

I keep the boxes. But i get rid of the straps straight away.
I don't like straps etc being left on the car while I have some of them still in boxes.

I prefer the foam boxes. You don't have to worry about screwing the cars off and on the base plus the foam is better protection - and there are no straps.

The only good thing about the window boxes is that you can still display the model when not in a cabinet.

Glenn

[Glen Alexander]

I find this issue a little puzzling.....

I keep my boxes, because the cars are still in them as I don't have room to display them until I get my own place!! But when you look on the Buy, Sell & Swap most of the people asking for models all want straps and everything. I have had someone not want one of my models because I take the straps off when I get them. What difference does it make????:confused: If it was a case of the doors and bonnets etc opening when the car was in transport, a simple elastic band would've fixed that.

I say, who cares about all that, you buy the model to display and admire, not to sit in a cardboard box with plastic straps all over them.

I can't wait to display my fantastic collection of Holdens, Subarus, V8 Supercars, and WRCs.

[BATHURSTFAN]

I agree, who cares about straps, as long as the model is unmarked - thats the important thing.

It comes down to the individual collector. Some take it real serious, some don't.

Some collectors want things as they were when new - in every detail.

Glenn

[Oh Five]

I keep the boxes mainly because they are part of a collectable item, and if i ever have to sell them, they will be complete.
The clear window boxes, i leave the cars in on display, the other boxes get wrapped in brown paper and put up into the roofspace.
Cheers.;)

[Aussiecollector]

I would not advise that you put boxes with plastic windows in the roof space either covered or not as the plastic is held in with glue and the glue is heat reactive, it wont be long after to many sessions of hot cold, hot cold and the glue will give up and you will have a box with an open view.

Also if you live in Sydney and you do this the boxes will already have absorbed moisture due to our high humidity all year round and putting them in a plastic bag and introducing heat will only speed up the process, the roof space even in winter can be 20 degrees more then ambinent even in winter, trust me I am in roof voids every day.

I know the space is an issue but the best place if you can not store them indoors, if covered correctly is under the house up off the ground, and the advice about Rodent bait is good, but don't forget about silverfish and snails they are attracted to the starch in the paper and the glue so use moth balls or camphor flakes, with some snail pellets on the ground.

Good luck

Glenn

Ps: The closed boxes are way better and overall smaller, I wish that Biante could have two issues for each car, like the HRT collections giving us the true collectors and johnny public a choice as to what they want.

[oldxr]

I keep the boxes, they get wraped in the plastic bag the dealer supplies for me to carry them home in,
then they go in to the box the dealer receives them in (they come in a six pack size box, "perfect"), slip in a length of stocking filled with camphor flakes, then up they go into the roof space, the area the sit in has a very large plastic sheet hung from the rafters plus a large piece of laminated foil draped over the boxes.
What more can you do, their only boxes kept incase i ever need to transport the cars anywhere.

[ferrari fan]

most boxes are carefully stored in a Soft green bin and at the end of the week agovernment aproved company comes around to collect them all I have to do is ring up and ask them to bring them back ,so I believe, I haven't tried the latter part of the deal ,but believe that it could work!
What happens after I am dead with these models is not my greatest worry at the moment.
Try storing nearly a thousand boxes in the roofspace it cannot be done.:confused:

[Hati]

"Try storing nearly a thousand boxes in the roofspace it cannot be done."

Of course it can be done ;) It's called a warehouse. Oh .. thats not part of a house. Damn :D

[frosty]

Hati,

Do you have a 1000 models? :)

[Hati]

Working on it Wayne, working on it ;)

[lowndes]

Would any of you that just store the boxes away be interested in swapping any of your boxes. As i have a couple that are very slightly damaged and want to get MINT boxes.
Email me at jerrywang3@yahoo.com.au if you are interested.