Ever get a disc with a punched out barcode from Amazon? (1 Viewer)

[Josh Steinberg]

These days, I order most of my discs from Amazon, and I generally don't have a problem. Lately, though, I've noticed that when I've bought certain catalog titles, the website has listed a "fulfilled by Amazon" third-party seller, that ships from their warehouses and with Prime shipping, and is often cheaper than Amazon's own listing. Normally I've just accepted that and figured, new is new, and if it's a third or half off of what Amazon is charging, and comes with their shipping and guarantees, why not? But I feel like I've been getting burned lately, as many of the discs I've gotten have come with the barcodes punched out, with the case often physically cracked or damaged in that spot as well.

These discs with punch outs end up having the barcode and perhaps surrounding artwork torn, and the case gets cracked too. It's the kind of thing where if I had known ahead of time and chosen to buy something in that condition anyhow, I could live with it, but I hate the surprise and feeling stuck with it.

I hadn't done anything about it with my previous orders, but I got a disc tonight in that condition that really annoyed me, and I ended up writing to Amazon. (Haven't gotten the response yet.) In this case, it seems that the original seller put some kind of generic sticker over the broken barcode in the hopes that Amazon or a potential customer wouldn't notice, but the punch out crack is so bad that the whole spine is obviously cracked.

Has this happened to anyone else here? What do you do? I suspect I'm being a little more on the OCD side than most, but on the other hand, it feels like everyone involved should know better and the disc shouldn't be making its way out the door to me in this condition in the first place.

 

[Mark-P]

These are overstock (or cutout) items. They are a legitimate part of the retail process. The distributors have sold them to retailers at a greatly reduced price and the reason for the destroyed barcode is because the studio warrantee is voided, however the retailer will still guarantee the product at their own expense.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I didn't realize that - back in my day that was code for "reported to studio as destroyed".

 

[Malcolm R]

I haven't got any from Amazon,but a number of titles I've picked up at Big Lots over the years have been cut.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I think I may be overreacting here, but they didn't exactly do a subtle punch this time.

 

[KMR]

I didn't realize that - back in my day that was code for "reported to studio as destroyed".

You might be confusing cutouts with "stripped" paperback books. For books, the retailers would return the covers, and were required to destroy the books. I've never heard of cutouts having the same kind of meaning. I've been buying cutouts (LPs, CDs, etc.) going back the early 1970s, from all sorts of retailers, including the major chains.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I have updated the original post to reflect that these may not be illegal sales. Still, I think there's something deceptive about selling intentionally damaged items without any prior warning. It's one thing when you can walk into a retail shop and see that the barcode has been defaced, that the artwork underneath is torn, or that the case is cracked or shattered - then you still have the decision for whether or not you want to buy it. I think it's something else entirely to order what's listed as a new item on Amazon, and get something that doesn't look new. I don't care if the shrink wrap is still attached if you can tell that what's under the wrapping has been damaged.

In my opinion, Amazon should require sellers on their site to disclose when an item is a punchout, and should also disclose the level of damage caused by being punched. Is it just a cute little scratch over the barcode, or is the case and artwork outside of that small area damaged too? "New" implies mint or near mint condition, and some of these things are not shipping in anything close to that condition. In this case, it was a "fulfilled by Amazon" item that Amazon promoted ahead of their own copy; Amazon should have noted that right up front. I would have spent the extra fifty cents or dollar for their copy had I known.