Welcome to Bob Speray's Aboutme Page

I enjoy collecting laserdiscs and vintage paperback books. I used this ebay ID for buying and selling laserdiscs back in the days before DVD. I keep this about me page for the link to comments about sniping, and for the tutorial on packing laserdiscs. I'm busy with other things these days so this user id does not get much use.

An Active Buyer and a Sniper

You could see what I'm currently bidding on but not much would show since the rules of eBay auctions make early bidding a foolish choice for serious buyers.  It would be nice if eBay rules changed to make the auctions open ended with the high bid reflecting the most anyone would pay, but in the meantime I snipe as often as possible. This means bidding near the end of the auction so there is no time for any response to the bid. The auctions at eBay are really sealed bid auctions, with the winning bid being the highest one submitted by closing time. Bids submitted early are opened and revealed to competitors. You don't see that happening with sealed bid auctions for road construction contracts. On eBay, the only way to keep your bids sealed until the end is to wait until the end to submit them.  See my Analysis of Bidding Rules on eBay to see my full opinion on this point and understand why bidding at the last moment on eBay is fair, polite, and the best strategy. If you came here because you were just beat in an auction by my last second snipe,  please understand that it wasn't personal.  Ask eBay to change the auction rules.   If I didn't snipe you,  it WAS personal.   I let you steal the lot so you owe me. :-) I try to be a quick payer but once in a while an auction lot gets misplaced in the process.   If a week passes and you haven't gotten an email from me saying payment is sent, then please notify me before getting upset.   I'm not a deadbeat.   I bid on things I want to buy.

Sometimes an eBay Seller, Too

I may have some active auctions going on.   Here is the list in ending time order.   Here is my feedback. Thanks for bidding early and often on my auctions.   Don't pay attention to that sniping advice.

You Have Stuff That I Want

I'd rather buy what I want,  than sell what I don't.   If you have stuff for sale that you think might interest me, send details. If I'm a losing bidder and you have the same item for sale, tell me about it. Mail me at Please offer me original advertisement posters done in China during the 1920's and 1930's. They're heavily reproduced now, with low quality, but the originals are spectacular. Take a look.

Check Out Speray's Set Sale List of Laserdiscs For Sale

Speray's set sale list has hundreds of laserdiscs for sale at set price.   It is updated regularly with new titles.   Many titles are priced low to sell quickly, others not.   Take a look.   There's a few DVDs, VHS Tapes, and some books at the bottom of the list. If you're a winning bidder of a laserdisc, you can add more titles to your order with no added shipping cost.   If you just want to order something from the list, that's fine too,  Email to confirm availability and reserve the items. Send me your want list.  I have lots of titles that aren't listed yet.

Stop Damaging Jackets During Shipping:   Ship with the disc outside the jacket

Yes, I am a jacket collector. So one thing about buying laserdiscs on eBay has become a real bother.  I open a package and find a laserdisc with a damaged jacket, because the disc slid around inside the jacket during shipping and punched a hole in the spine.  This is foolish damage that's a big waste.  The jacket was nice when packed but was destroyed in transit, with normal handling. This kind of jacket damage should not happen. Everything on this page below here is a campaign to prevent it. There's nothing more below here if you don't care about this issue. Thank you for looking.        Click on Logo for Set Sale List

It's Easy to Pack Laserdiscs Right

Not one of the packages that I've gotten with a damaged laserdisc jacket was carelessly packed or crushed in transit. They all were packed with good box fill, but the platter was shipped inside the jacket, loose enough so that it could slide around inside during shipping. Laserdiscs are not records. They are much heavier and the jackets are more fragile. What works for shipping records does not work for laserdiscs. Laserdisc jackets are likely to be damaged if the platters are shipped inside the jacket. This leads to a simple solution.

Packing Rules for Laserdiscs An opened laserdisc should be packed with the disc outside the jacket A new and unopened laserdisc should be packed with pressure applied to the top and bottom, compressing the disc tightly inside the jacket so it doesn't slide

For unopened laserdiscs, the original shrinkwrap sometimes holds the platter tightly, but not always. If shaking the unopened laserdisc shows that the platter moves, then special work to put compression pressure on the platter is needed as part of the packing. My new strategy for preventing jacket damage during shipping is to mention the problem and the proposed solution in the email and cover letter sent to the seller. I hope that pointing out the problem and a solution from the start will prevent the problem from happening. Here is a short tutorial on packing laserdiscs that anyone can use in their own campaign to avoid the problem. Refer to this URL to take someone directly to this section of the page. URL: http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/speray/#packing_issue

How To Pack A Laserdisc for Shipping Laserdiscs have a special packing issue because the platters are so heavy and the jackets are so fragile. If the platter slides around inside the jacket during shipping, it will punch out a hole on the jacket spine. It's important to pack laserdiscs so that The crush of normal handling does not hurt the contents. The discs don't slide around during shipping. Here is a packing technique that does both. You can pack perfectly using newspaper, tape and a shipping box. There is no need for special materials like bubble wrap. You can use the eBay entry point to order free supplies from the US Post Office. Choose the "Shipping Supplies Online" and then "shipping supplies". Be warned that the shipping supplies page will take a long time to download. Get the 15.5 x 12.25 inch Priority Mail boxes (item#: 0-1095) and the Priority Mail tape (item#: Label 106A). The box and tape are free and will be shipped to your door Priority Mail. First, pull the disc or discs out of the jacket and wrap them tightly in two full sheets of newspaper forming a square. Put that folded square under the jacket and tightly wrap all of it with two more sheets of folded newspaper forming another square. After folding the newspaper, tape it tightly, going all the way around at the middle in one direction. This forms a solid, flat, square brick that holds the disc tight and prevents it from sliding. If you feel like it, do it again around the other side too. If the laserdisc is new and unopened, and shaking it shows that the platter can slide around, then it needs some special work to put pressure on the platter inside the jacket so it won't slide around, One easy way is to put 7 x 7 inch sqaures of cardboard centered on the top and bottom of the laserdisc and then put 13 x 13 inch squares of strong, thick cardboard outside the smaller pieces. Tape the whole stack tightly into a brick, pulling the tape tight on the outside cardboard pieces to put compression on the smaller pieces and onto the disc inside the jacket. Then wrap this with folded newspaper that is tightly taped around the whole thing. This tight taping should put the needed pressure on the platter so it won't slide around. Test this by shaking it. If the platter doesn't move, then it's ready to go, otherwise, it's still a problem. Try again. Next, fold up the shipping box to form a rectangular box. Using the shipping box flat does not give structural protection. Laserdiscs shipped in flat boxes are prone to corner bumping and corner bending. Without extra effort to build strong edges, the flat box does not give enough protection to withstand normal handling that puts weight on the box, at odd angles. Shipping laserdiscs inside a box that is simply folded flat is not an acceptable style for protecting the contents. It does not protect the laserdisc during the crush of normal handling. Place the taped-up brick inside the USPS Priority Mail shipping box and add some padding material around it. Wadded up newspaper, or styrofoam peanuts, or shredded newspaper all work fine for box fill and padding. Laserdiscs packed into this style brick fit perfectly into the 15.5 x 12.5 inch box by sliding in the brick on the diagonal. Do this before adding the box fill. The rectangular box and the box fill protect from crush damage, and the platter removal, wrapping and tight taping protect from sliding platter damage. With this style of packing, only a serious crunch can hurt the laserdisc or the jacket. This is not common or likely, and the contents, as packed, can survive quite a crunch anyway. This tutorial tells a simple way to pack a laserdisc that works for protecting the platter and preventing jacket damage. If you have more ideas on this, let me know and I'll integrate it into this page. For the record, the perfect shipping box for laserdiscs are the folding shipping boxes that were used by Sight and Sound of Waltham, MA in the 90's before they went out of business. They start off flat and fold tightly around the discs, leaving heavy fins on two edges. The folding box squeezes the payload tightly, and the fins give extra protection from crushing. The boxes comes in various sizes so that there is good compression pressure for different number of titles being shipped. Using the right size box for the number of titles shipped is critical to making this box perfect. They can be reused many times before wearing out. Send comments to

Packing Laserdiscs - an Email Exchange

A Strong Box Isn't Enough for Safe Laserdisc Shipping
Seller A:
	I don't need to worry about pulling the disc out of the jacket during shipping. I use a Pizza Box style like Dave's Laser in LA uses, so it's very safe.
My Response:
	The pizza style box protects against crushing since it has good corners and solid structure. It does nothing about holding the platter tightly so it doesn't slide around inside the jacket. If the pizza style box is completely full of cardboard inserts and the contents are pushed together tightly, then the platter is held tight. That would be fine, but most eBay sellers will not have enough cardboard inserts to fill a box, especially just to send a single title. Many eBay LD sellers use the pizza box model for shipping and they fill them with peanuts, wadded paper, or bubble wrap. This doesn't apply enough pressure to hold the platters tight. This style packing appears good but it only protects against crushing - it does nothing to keep the disc from sliding around inside the jacket. Here is an example of a pizza box shipment on arrival. The box was packed full with bubble wrap around the laserdisc. In spite of the bubble wrap fill, the platter slid around during shipping and punched a hole in the spine. This was a new laserdisc; the shrinkwrap did not give enough compression pressure to hold the platter tight. The weight of a laserdisc platter and the lightweight cardboard of the jacket produce a unique problem for laserdisc collectors and dealers. That's why I suggest shipping with the disc outside the jacket as the simplest solution for preventing jacket damage from the disc sliding around inside the jacket. This works as fine for pizza style shipping boxes as for USPS shipping boxes. Pull the platter out of the jacket, wrap it separately and tightly in newspaper and then put that next to the jacket and wrap both again in more newspaper. Tape that tightly before placing it into the pizza style shipping box. The separate wrapping of the platter outside the jacket protects against damage caused by a loose platter sliding around, and the structure of the shipping box protects against crushing during shipping. I don't like getting a laserdisc with a damaged jacket. The overhead to deal with it after the fact is too high. The right action is to mention the issue up front and do whatever can be done so that jacket damage won't happen. Of course, if an insured package is mishandled during shipping and there is damage caused by a crushed box, then the damage should be covered by the insurance. I've gotten hundreds of laserdisc packages through the post office over the past years and have never had a damaged laserdisc caused by a box being crushed or banged around. But over a third of the titles I've gotten, (seemingly well packed with lots of good box fill and no box damage from mishandling), have had laserdisc jackets that were damaged on the spine by the platter sliding around inside the jacket during shipping. This is the point of asking that you take the platter out of the jacket during shipping. I don't want to have jacket damage happen. If you have another solution to the problem of damage caused by a sliding disc, let me know. I don't care what the solution is, as long the jacket damage doesn't happen. Regards.