A fairly busy 2020, the figures are in!

[Tinman]

The number of Matchbox I've restored and customized for 2020 is just shy of 200 models from various ranges. If I include other brands, the total is over 200. My most active year still remains 2005 where my total was all but 300. I used to keep a grand total but stopped counting at 2,500.

Some of this years models were a real challenge and required heavy repairs. others were simple straight forward restorations. Covid issues did factor in and in a negative way. For most of the summer, model paints and certain supplies were very difficult to obtain. Other supplies were also hard to obtain because of lock downs and suppliers that stopped shipping to the USA due to postal issues.

My decal paper supplier has been out of stock for months and is still out of stock. I finally switched to another source and their decal paper seems adequate.  However, the new company does not mark the backing paper to indicate if the film is clear or white.  I've had to go and mark the backs of the sheets with pencil.  Since I cut away small pieces at a time for my needs, I had to mark the back of every sheet about 30 times.  In retrospect, I should just have filled up a page with text indicating clear and white and printed the back of each sheet (I'll do that next time if I get additional paper from this supplier).

By far, the strangest thing that occurred was the interaction I had with one collector via ebay. I've detailed his destructive actions in a previous post.

[Squid]

I'm glad to see that you continue giving these models a new life. Fingers crossed that the issues with USPS will be worked out sooner rather than later. My Steve Flowers order, much to my amazement, only took 15 days to get from his shop to my porch.

Edit: after going through almost 100 pages of Tinman posts, I couldn't find the interaction he referenced...

[Tinman]

IEdit: after going through almost 100 pages of Tinman posts, I couldn't find the interaction he referenced...

Sorry, my post was in the moderators forum. I have edited the post to be more generic and added it here:

I have a "problem child" on my hands: eBay name xxxxxxx (ebay name deleted) based in the USA. Claims to be a collector but looking at his eBay account he seems to be a buy low sell very high kind of guy. Also lots of stuff being sold as RARE which is just junk. Wondering if anyone knows this man or has had any less than positive dealings with him?

Without going into details, he wanted to return some items after having them for over a month. I told him that I didn't accept returns unless there was some problem with shipping damage or similar serious issue. Since he had the items well over thirty days after receiving the items, I told him buyers remorse was not a valid reason for return. I highly suspect he had inflated the prices of the items and been unable to flip them over the last 40 days. About a week went buy and he filed a claim with eBay (for two items) under "Item not as described." I refused return and ebay took the return shipping cost and purchase cost (and outbound shipping cost) out of my paypal account and he printed the shipping label (that I paid for) and sent the items back. Item one had been twisted so badly that only two wheels touched a flat surface and the model was marred by tool marks from twisting the truck. Item two literally had the diecast boom broken off the truck and the paint and body were ruined by the tool marks used to destroy the model.

I took a bunch of photos of the models and their packaging before mailing (as I always do, he's not the first jerk I've had to deal with), which I forwarded to ebay along with photos of how the models were returned. On the bright side, eBay reversed the charge back and I was compensated for the initial and return shipping costs and the purchase price of the models. I don't know what (if any) action eBay took against the buyer, but I see he's still flipping stuff and claiming that every odd sticker and owner paint job is something rare.

There was some frustration (to say the least) over having two models destroyed by the purchaser and having ebay refund their money plus return shipping costs (even though that was corrected/returned with significant effort on my part). But, what strikes me as odd was in one email he was bragging about all his rare Matchbox models which he has in his fantastic and large collection. Unless that's fiction, then surely a collector with so many rare models is someone that's not unknown. So I ask if anyone does know who this is and if he really is a collector or just some jerk out to make a fast buck at the expense of others.

If anyone wants the guy's ebay name, email or PM me and I'll pass it along. I have blocked him from my auctions, I've also passed along his mentally defective deeds to some others from which he has purchased so they can block him. One other person who restores models also had a run-in with him. The guy requested a very specific custom model (much like he did with me). The victim put much effort into creating the model to the man's specifications. When it was finished, the would be buyer ghosted the builder and left him swinging in the wind. Fortunately, the creator of the model was able to sell it on ebay and it even sold for more than the agreed upon price with the mental defective would be buyer.

[Squid]

And I thought the one who left me neutral feedback over USPS' poor performance was an ass. Hopefully eBay has closed his account, as he's clearly a Hall Of Shame-level jerk.

[Tinman]

Hopefully eBay has closed his account, as he's clearly a Hall Of Shame-level jerk.

Nope, he's still out there buying low and selling his junk high. He likes to cut up the Bronner cases and sell off the cover pic, handles and hinges by themselves