Listing Title:
NEW 13 RCA VHS Standard Grade T120H T120: 6 hr slow spd 4 hr med. 2 hr fast=best
Notes on Listing Title:
NEW 13 RCA VHS means that we found we could fit exactly 13 of these into a USPS Priority Mail "Medium Flat Rate Box", even though depending on the buyer's choice for shipment (or free pickup) we might not be using that service option. See your options for shipping (and why we won't (actually, can't) use the inexpensive but usually very slow USPS "Media Mail" service to ship these videotapes, because doing so is actually illegal for blank "media" like these tapes).
Standard Grade refers to how "fine" a tape is being sold. RCA has lots of wonderful things to say about these tapes and their quality and durability, but they do say these are "Perfect for Dail Use" (see the box) such as for "time shifting everyday TV programs (meaning tape when shown, then watch the recording when you can) but also for "capturing special memories with your camcorder".
6 hr slow spd 4 hr med. 2 hr fast=best refers to a simple fact common to all video and audio recording tape (such as "reel to reel", "CompactCassette", and broadcast quality videotape): The more tape is used per second to make a recording, the higher the quality of the recording that tape will be capable of making. These tapes are commonly classed as "T120" meaning that at the fastest recording speed of "SP", you'll get better quality recordings than if you record at the "medium" speed called "LP" meaning "Long Play"; and if you record at the "slow" speed, called "EP" meaning "extended play", you get the most recording time, but at the lowest fidelity such tapes can record at.
Please check our other listings that will by May 26, 2024, feature various quantities, brand, and quality levels (from "normal" to "professional" grades), of CompactCassette type audio tapes; VHS and other types of various brands and quality levels of video tapes such as this listing may feature.
We also obtained some audio and video gear which will be listed soon, such as a high end Akai stereo cassette deck, Model GX-M50; Steadicam video equipment e.g. vests; hundreds of new wrapped T120 (and some T160) VHS videotapes, most from major brand names like Maxell, Sony, TDK, and Fuji; and much more.
PHOTO NOTES:
We are selling as a single lot, a total of 13 identical videotapes. So with the photos, we've shown 6 "group shots", followed by a "blank" image to set that first set of photos off from the rest of them, followed by 6 shots of a single videotape randomly chosen we'll show several different closeups viewsof one of them. Since all 13 tapes are 100% identical in every way, there's no reason to take individual photos of more than that one randomly chosen example.
RETURNS IN GENERAL:
Please be sure to save all shipping and packing materials (box, padding, etc.) for the length of the potential return period, in the event a return is to take place. If you have any questions at all about the condition of the shipping and packing materials, however, please contact us first to confirm that we would authorize you to re-use those materials in returning an item to us, since sometimes those materials get chewed up enough during initial delivery that they need to be repaired/reinforced before being re-used, or replaced.
BUYER NO-FAULT RETURNS:
30 calendar day return time, running from date of first attempt at delivery by the chosen shipper to your ebay verified shipping address, if you return these for any or no reason in the same condition as sent, at your expense. However, if you do something that causes one of these to fail in use, e.g., if you spill your drink into one of these and it shorts out and dies, that is a good example of something that would not qualify as a "BUYER NO-FAULT RETURN".
CLAIMED SELLER FAULT RETURNS:
Ebay lets you return almost anything within 30 days after receiving it, if what was purchased is not what the listing represented it to be, no matter what limitations a seller may try to put on the reasons for return (and many do). Please see exact details as provided by eBay at the top of this listing. To the extent that ebay allows it, you must use a shipping class and type that costs no more than what we used to ship your item(s) to you.
FREE LOCAL PICKUP (BY APPOINTMENT ONLY): PLEASE READ IF YOU WANT TO PICK THIS UP FROM US AT NO CHARGE TO YOU OTHER THAN YOUR PURCHASE PRICE (plus tax if added by eBay):
If you want the Free Local Pickup option, it is much better to make that choice during "ebay checkout" before you finish and pay. Ebay used to be very strict about that, though apparently it is now possible, if done very soon after purchase, to arrange with the seller for a local pickup, confirmed in writing by messages between buyer and seller so that ebay will be able to review those messages and decide if to approve an after-the-fact decision by the buyer to want the "local pickup" option, rather than the otherwise automatic choice by eBay of shipping if no other choice was made before Checkout was complete, to apply.
Since I almost always my listings set up to have a one business day turnaround time between date of payment and date of shipment (this will sometimes be temporarily seen as 2 or more days, usually because I will be out of town for a few days and won't be able to ship as quickly as usual after a purchase), any post-payment wish to change your choice on this topic has to be done quickly so that I don't get a "ding" on my timely shipments record for not shipping as fast as the listing says I would do, that I then have to spend what would could be an hour or more on the phone, trying to get ebay to remove.
And one more thing: We're a small outfit that does not have an always-available pickup or customer service department, so pickups must be by appointment only. Please don't show up unannounced and assume you can be helped. We're reasonable people at this end, however, as our feedback should show, so if we work together, setting up an appointment, possibly including evenings and weekends depending on our mutual schedules at the time of purchase, that works for all should not be difficult. Thanks!
"ECONOMY" CLASS SHIPPING FOR $8
This is our usually slowest, but always for this listing least expensive, option. As noted elsewhere we can't use USPS Media Mail for this shipping category, but we do have at least one alternative: FedEx Ground Economy. Our actual cost will likely be more than $8 but that's the flat rate we've set if you choose this option (and if you don't actually make a "choice" during eBay Checkout, eBay will automatically choose this option for you and charge you $8).
See near the end of this listing text why we can't -- and won't -- use USPS Media Mail to ship blank tapes like these. This is important for you to be aware of, as you could waste money and encounter delays in receiving a product (if receiving it at all) if you buy from another seller who uses "Media Mail" (the typical choice a seller makes if shipping tapes like these, if they make "Economy Class Shipping" available as an option) to ship blank tapes like these.
"STANDARD CLASS" SHIPPING FOR $10:
eBay has for years defined "Standard Class" (such as UPS Ground, USPS Ground Advantage, or FedEx Ground or FedEx Home Delivery), meaning a shipping service that is supposed to get a buyer's item to them within 5 business days after being given to the shipper by the ebay seller (which we would do within 1 business day after payment was completed). We will pick from several carriers, such as those mentioned above, that will commit to delivering your item(s) to you at least that quickly, based on whichever method costs us the least.
SHIPS VIA USPS PRIORITY MAIL FOR A FLAT RATE OF $12
That's less than our actual cost, but we're giving you a break here since we can use a box that the USPS provides us for free (though they do charge us around $18 to use it) and we wouldn't have to spend time looking for the perfect size box. In fact, we're stowing this lot of 13 in exactly that kind of box pending sale. If you opt for the less expensive "Standard" shipping for $8, we'll just have to find another box (if you use USPS Priority Mail boxes but try to cover up all references to "Priority Mail" and the USPS notices, the buyer will be charged "Postage Due" at Priority Mail rates to make up any shortfall in what was paid to ship, before the USPS will release their item to them).
BEST OFFER TIPS
We'd be most receptive to a "Best Offer" if either: (a) you make offers on several of our listings at once, because we might then be able to combine shipping several orders to save us time and sometimes some money as well, and/or (b) you promise in the "text box" that eBay lets buyers and sellers fill out, when making an offer or counter-offer, that you will use eBay's program for "Free Local Pickup". That promise needs to be in that text box, as a promise to choose "Free Local Pickup" (and actually be located a reasonable distance away from our location in San Leandro, CA, near Oakland CA). We're making this suggestion because it is actually relatively expensive to ship videotapes and/or audiotapes, in relation to their value.
AN IMPORTANT NOTE ON SHIPPING, PRICING, AND FAIRNESS (PLEASE DON'T SUPPORT ILLEGAL USE OF "MEDIA MAIL"), AND AVOIDING SHIPPING DELAY:
We've noticed for years that some eBay sellers (not all, but more than a few) of blank audio and video tapes and other "media" on eBay offer "Economy Shipping", either (1) "Free", or (2) separately charged either as a fixed fee or based on size, weight, etc. When we check the details of such listings, as part of deciding how to price blank media to sell on eBay, we've found that "Economy Shipping" always means the eBay seller plans on using "USPS Media Mail" to ship blank tapes, discs, etc. to buyers.
That is actually illegal for those other eBay sellers, under federal law, to do, and could result in your shipment never being received by you, received by you after first being returned to the seller to provide proper postage, or only being delivered to you by the USPS if you paid the difference in cost between the "Media Mail" cost paid by or through the seller, and the actual legal cost for the shipment to you by some other means such as by "USPS Ground Advantage".
Why? Because the USPS has the legal right to inspect any package labelled and shipped as "Media Mail" (all such packages must say so right on the shipping label, and the USPS might also ink-stamp "Media Mail" on the package; I've seen that done) to see if "Media Mail" postage is legally being used on that shipment. You can verify all that I'm saying here, about Media Mail, online.
Details follow, plus the reasons that I ask that you don't buy from sellers who ship "blank media" by illegally using "Media Mail".
Yes, blank tapes like these are a form of "media", but so would be boxes of blank paper. The point is if you look up what the USPS means by what is allowed to be shipped via low cost (and also often very slow) "Media Mail", the USPS gives the word "Media" a much narrower definition than you'd find for "media" in a dictionary.
Basically, any "media" to be shipped via Media Mail can't be blank. It must have something "on" it, whether that's printed words on paper in a book or magazine, images on a videotape, DVD, Blu-Ray disk, etc., or sound on audiotapes, to give just a few examples, to qualify for shipment via "Media Mail."
I'm not saying all sellers who misuse "Media Mail" by using it to ship blank media, know they are violating the law by doing so. But I have no doubt but that they do all use "Media Mail" for the same reason: It's cheaper to ship tapes like these via "Media Mail", especially I think for packages that weigh less than 10 pounds (this lot of 13 here, not including packaging weight, weighs about 0.1lb over 6.0 pounds exactly), than if using just about any other service offered by the USPS or any other shipper.
Why am I telling you all of this? Because sellers who misuse Media Mail this way, can sell for less than I can, or charge less for shipping than I can, or both, because of the lower cost of "Media Mail" that I can't use because I follow what's legal here, both for my own sake and for the sake of buyers. I think those who use Media Mail to ship "blank" media are engaging in "unfair competition" with sellers like me that follow the law here. So I ask that you don't buy from such a seller for 3 reasons:
(1) you might never see an item you've bought from them, or have it show up much later than you'd expect, because the USPS inspected your item and found that it didn't qualify for "Media Mail", so it got sent back to the seller, or
(2) if the item shows up even after the USPS found the item to be an illegal use of Media Mail, the USPS will only release it to you if you pay the extra cost, as " Postage Due", that shipping such items to you legally required to have been paid by the seller; and/or
(3) you feel, as I do, that those other sellers should not illegally use "Media Mail" as a way to unfairly compete with other sellers, like me, who won't misuse the system, and who either don't know or don't care of the problems for both them (when they get caught by the USPS), and for you as a buyer (higher than expected total costs and/or unexpected delay in getting your purchase), if the USPS "catches them in the act". In other words, if you believe in fair and honest competition, even beyond the reasons stated in "1" and "2" above, I ask that whether you buy tapes from me or not, please don't buy from the "cheaters" that unfairly, and illegally, use Media Mail when they have no right to do so.